Sniffling, sneezing, feeling run-down? Colds, flus, and seasonal allergy symptoms can all share signs, making it powerful to find out the trigger to your malaise.
But there are some telltale variations. Determining what’s ailing you may allow you to finest deal with it and recuperate extra rapidly — and forestall spreading it to others.
“This query comes up yearly because the seasons change,” says Ken Redcross, MD, an internal-medicine doctor in New Rochelle, N.Y., and a spokesperson for the homeopathic drugs firm Boiron USA.
“Colds and the flu are each brought on by viruses and are contagious, which implies they’ll unfold simply from individual to individual. Allergy symptoms, then again, are brought on by an overactive immune system reacting to triggers equivalent to pollen, mud, or pet dander, and they don’t seem to be contagious,” he explains. “All three could cause congestion, fatigue, and a runny nostril, which makes them straightforward to confuse.”
So how do you inform them aside?
“It may be troublesome to tell apart between them, however there are just a few methods you may inform,” says Purvi Parikh, MD, an allergist and immunologist with Allergy & Bronchial asthma Community and a medical assistant professor within the Division of Medication at NYU Grossman Faculty of Medication.
Whereas seasonal allergy symptoms could trigger most of the similar signs as a chilly or flu, they don’t make you “sick” within the conventional sense of getting an an infection, she explains.
“Allergy symptoms normally final for much longer, usually weeks to months, and usually observe a predictable seasonal schedule. Probably the most basic allergic indicators are itchy eyes, nostril, or throat,” Parikh says.
“Viruses are likely to deliver extra full-body signs, equivalent to aches, fatigue, and typically fever or abdomen ache,” she provides. “A cough with a virus may additionally produce coloured mucus or phlegm, which is rare with allergy symptoms.”
Viral infections like a chilly, flu, and even COVID-19 are typically short-lived, operating their course in about seven to 10 days.
Sneezing, a runny nostril, or a sore throat might be current in each allergy symptoms and viruses — and these signs can even set off bronchial asthma signs, explains Parikh. “So, taking note of the length and whether or not you’re feeling that itchiness [of allergies] is the clearest approach to determine it out.”
Nonetheless, sure signs might be revealing, says Redcross.
“The important thing distinction is that allergy symptoms normally don’t trigger fever or physique aches,” he notes. “Colds are likely to develop step by step, whereas the flu strikes all of the sudden and with extra depth, usually together with fever, chills, and muscle ache. Allergy symptoms additionally deliver extra itching, notably within the eyes, nostril, and throat.”
One additional warning: Seasonal allergy symptoms could make you extra prone to viral and bacterial diseases on account of power irritation and an overstimulated immune response, Parikh explains.
“Allergy symptoms can even disrupt sleep and trigger stress, which predisposes you to sickness,” she says. “Those that undergo from bronchial asthma on account of their seasonal allergy symptoms are additionally extra prone to catch upper-respiratory viruses and infections. As a result of lung involvement, these respiratory diseases are usually extra extreme for bronchial asthma victims.”
Should you aren’t sure what’s ailing you — and whether or not it’s contagious to others — Parikh recommends utilizing a fast flu or COVID take a look at, “as even physicians might be fooled, pondering one thing is allergy symptoms when it could be a virus.”
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