Tell the difference between a cold and allergies, flu, and COVID-19
It can be tricky to tell whether your sniffles, cough, and other symptoms mean you have a cold, allergies, the flu, or possibly COVID-19. All of these conditions share some common symptoms but also have key differences. This article explains what distinguishes coolness from allergies, flu, and COVID_19. After reading, you’ll have a better sense of which one is causing your misery.
Why It’s Important to Know the Difference
When that scratchy throat and stuffy nose strikes, your first thought may be to simply treat the symptoms and try to push through. However, there are good reasons to take the time to discern whether you have coolness, allergies, flu, or COVID_19:
- treatment differs. Colds and allergies can often be managed with over-the-counter medications and home remedies. Influenza and COVID_19 may require prescription antiviral medications. Knowing what’s ailing you ensures proper care.
- Severity varies. coolness is unpleasant but typically short-lived. Allergies flare and subside. However influenza can lead to serious complications, and COVID_19 can become severely or even life-threateningly dangerous. Identifying the culprit allows you to take appropriate precautions.
- Others are at risk. Both influenza and COVID_19 are very contagious. You’ll need to take steps to avoid transmitting them to coworkers, friends, family, and vulnerable community members. Pinpointing whether you have coolness, sensitivities, influenza, or COVID_19 enables smart isolation choices.
1. How can you tell the difference between seasonal allergies and a cold?
In spring and summer especially, congestion or a runny nose, and sneezing beg the question: seasonal allergies or a summer coolness? There are key distinguishing factors between these two common conditions:
Colds are caused by viruses and come on rapidly. Sensitivity symptoms develop more gradually as exposure occurs to triggers like pollen and tend to follow seasonal patterns. coolness isn’t usually confined to particular seasons.
Allergies rarely cause bodily aches and pains. coolness often makes joints and muscles sore.
Coolness almost always comes with throat pains. Sensitivities may bother the sinuses more than the throats.
Coolness leads to discolored nasal mucus. Sensitivities result in fluid, clear drainage.
Cold symptoms come on abruptly and improve slowly over days to weeks. Sensitivity issues wax and wane with allergen exposure.
If your sneezing, dripping nose, and congestion get bad every year when the same flowers bloom or seasons change, sensitivities are probably to blame. Otherwise, the odds tilt towards a stubborn coolness hanging on.
2. What are the common symptoms of cold and allergies?
That fluid nose, headaches, sneezing, coughing, and throat pain can signal both seasonal allergies and the common cold. This overlap makes self-diagnosis tricky. However, a few key characteristics can still set them apart:
Colds usually come with painful, scratchy throats and hoarse voices. Throat pains aren’t typical sensitivity fare.
Fluid noses tend to become worse at night during coolness. Sensitivity drainage often peaks in the morning.
Coolness causes malaise and low energy. Most sensitivity sufferers feel otherwise fine.
Cold symptoms like sore throats, runny or stuffy noses, and malaise last 5-10 days. Sensitivity issues can persist for weeks or months.
So if your scratchy throat and headache have you feeling cruddy for over a week come springtime, you likely have a coolness. But seasonal allergies are probably the culprit if you wake up congested every day for weeks once flower dust rises.
3. Does your cough and sore throat mean allergies or the flu?
That nasty cough, painful throat, and exhausted feeling seem like influenza. But during sensitivity season, having these symptoms for weeks rather than days points to allergies. Here’s why:
Influenza attacks fast with fever, chills, body aches, and dry cough. Meanwhile, sensitivities develop gradually, rarely cause fever, and produce wet, drippy coughs.
Influenza wrecks energy levels and puts people out of commission for days. Sensitivity issues allow normal activity between sneezing fits.
Influenza sore throats are extremely painful. Sensitivity sore throats tend to be itchy and irritating rather than agonizingly sore.
So if that cough has you continuously clearing your throat for a month, sensitivities likely explain why. But if a sudden high fever, body tremors, harsh cough, and throbbing throat keep you in bed - it could be the nasty influenza instead of hay fever.
4. When do colds or allergies cause body aches and fever?
Neither colds nor allergies commonly cause body pains and significant fevers like the flu. However:
Low-grade fevers under 101 F sometimes happen with bad coolness as immune responses rev up to battle viruses. So an evening spike in temperature suggests a coolness.
Allergies occasionally make muscles, heads, and joints throb from inflammatory chemicals released by cells responding to allergens. Unlike with coolness and influenza, the discomfort shifts locations and comes and goes.
In both cases, body pains happen secondary to nose and respiratory symptoms, not alongside other serious flu-like issues. Taking an antihistamine, decongestant, or pain reliever, and getting extra sleep often helps.
5. Why are my eyes watery and itchy during allergy season?
If your eyes turn red, swollen, and irritated enough that you can't keep your hands off them for weeks at a time every year, seasonal eye sensitivities are almost certainly to blame.
This happens in sensitivity-prone people because the immune system mistakes harmless airborne allergens like tree pollen or pet dander for dangerous invaders. It then produces antibodies to attack them.
Some of these antibodies trigger the release of a chemical called histamine. Histamine promotes fluid leakage from local blood vessels - explaining watery eyes - and stimulates nerve endings causing itchiness. It also results in runny or stuffy noses, sinus pressure, and more.
So if sunny springs or summers make your eyes maddeningly itchy and you simply can’t stop rubbing them, consider getting tested and treated for seasonal allergies. Less misery will help avoid complications like eye infections from constant irritation.
6. How can I tell if watery eyes mean allergies or a cold?
Fluid, burning, irritated eyes bothering you day after day probably means seasonal eye sensitivities. If the problem comes on suddenly and lasts a week or two it more likely signals:
Viral eye infections are often caused by the same bugs behind colds and flu. Telltale signs include yellow or green eye discharge, crusted eyes upon awakening, and sensitivity to light.
Colds themselves sometimes irritate eyes when nose drainage trickles backward. Blinking helps flush out the irritation.
In both cases, 10-14 days of protective eyewear, lubricating ointments, coolness compresses, and daily cleaning help the eyes heal. Lingering red, sticky, and painful eyes need medical attention to prevent damage.
So if your eyes water miserably month after month as seasons change, get a sensitivity workup. If symptoms hit rapidly out of nowhere but improve within several weeks - a cold virus probably passed through tear ducts en route to infecting sinuses and throat.
7. How can I tell the difference between cold and COVID-19 symptoms?
Some early COVID_19 signs resemble allergy and cold symptoms. But critical distinguishing features still exist:
The most common early indicators of COVID_19 are fever, chills, cough, shortness of breath, and sudden loss of taste or smell. Less common are throat pain, headaches, and muscle aches. So while some crossover exists, dramatic differences separate COVID_19 and cold signs overall.
Colds almost always cause stuffy, runny noses and sneezing. However, nose issues don’t typically happen with COVID_19. So if your nose drips like a faucet or gets completely plugged up, odds strongly favor a coolness over coronavirus.
The majority of coolness improves markedly within 10-14 days. Meanwhile, most coronavirus cases worsen dramatically 7-12 days post-exposure - progressing to critical illness requiring emergency care and oxygen therapy in hospital.
So while early on, some symptoms like headaches, muscle aches, and throat pains may feel similar to bad colds versus mild COVID-19, differing trajectories soon make it abundantly clear which you’re dealing with. When in doubt though, get a COVID test!
8. What makes allergy symptoms differ from getting a cold?
As allergy season kicks up along with coolness and influenza activity, having a stuffy head, throat pain, and cough means deciphering what’s plaguing you. Here are telltale signs that signal sensitivities to a virus:
Sensitivity issues persist on and on once tree pollen, molds or other triggers appear each year. Coolness and influenza cause misery for 7-14 days before resolving.
Those with sensitivity flares don’t usually run fevers, lose energy, or appear noticeably ill. Common colds and flu make people look and feel unwell.
Allergy symptoms are confined mostly to nasal passages, throat irritation, and eye redness. Coolness and influenza symptoms affect the whole body with aches, pains, exhaustion, digestive upset, and more.
So if you feel fine except for the ongoing nose and eye agony as bloom seasons start, blame sensitivities. But if you suddenly get flattened with mind-numbing fatigue, body tremors, and weakness lasting over a week - a cold or flu virus probably ambushed you instead.
See your doctor if uncertain since dangerous complications can arise. If symptoms aren't clear-cut, chat with your doctor about getting tested. Proper diagnosis and management are key to feeling better sooner and avoiding unnecessary antibiotic use!
9. Should I expect to sneeze more with allergies versus a cold?
Yes, allergies trigger sneezing far more often than coolness does. Here’s why this symptom points strongly toward hayfever:
Sneezing happens when inhaled irritants tickle nerve endings lining the nose and throat. For sensitivity sufferers, harmless allergens like pollen, pet dander, and mold act as instigating irritants.
By contrast, coolness and flu viruses lead to poor nasal drainage as inflammation swells tissues and excess mucus clogs passages. This usually makes noses too congested and stuffed for forceful sneezes to happen often.
Some sneezing occurs initially with coolness before stuffiness sets in strongly. Later on, sneezes tend to evolve into wet, loose coughs as drainage heads toward the chest and lungs.
So if you suddenly can’t stop ferociously sneezing while otherwise feeling fine, blame sensitivities. But if initial sneezing rapidly gives way to blowing your nose like crazy before endless coughing and hacking takes over - you likely have a miserable cold.
10. Understanding Allergic Rhinitis
Allergic rhinitis, or hay fever as most folks know it, is such a pain in the nasal passages. As someone who gets hit hard by seasonal allergies, I can spot the signs pretty easily. My sniffles and sneezes become constant whenever the mold spores or pollen counts are high.
I notice Sensitivity flare-ups during the times of year when my triggers are most common. In the spring, it's tree flower dust that gets my immune system in a scratchy, Fluid-eyed tizzy. Then in the fall, the goldenrod takes its turn wreaking havoc on my upper respiratory system.
The congestion and liquid nose symptoms make it easy to mistake my Sensitivities for yet another coolness or viral infection. But unlike coolness, I don't tend to suffer from body pains or fatigue. Over-the-counter decongestants and antihistamines usually do the trick in taking down several other symptoms as itching.
11. How can I tell a cold versus allergies if I feel unwell?
When allergies or common colds make you equally miserable, key indicators help distinguish which ails you:
Sensitivity issues tend to cause fluid eyes and runny noses. Coolness leads to thick, discolored mucus and phlegm.
Diehard allergy symptoms usually last for weeks or months as exposure continues. Meanwhile, most uncomplicated coolness improves steadily after a week or two.
Sensitivities let people carry on with normal routines between flare-ups. Chills, fever, headache, and body pains leave cold sufferers wanting only to crawl back into bed.
So if staying upright through nonstop sneezing and fluid discharge makes life seem barely worth living for way too long, blame Sensitivities. But if suddenly feeling like death warmed over has you horizontal and motionless for days - it’s likely just another cold.
Seek medical advice when uncertain since many treatments exist for both. Diagnostic testing can also pinpoint specific sensitivity triggers to possibly avoid. Why suffer more than necessary?
12. What causes allergies versus flu with cough and fatigue?
That severe fatigue and hacking cough have you wondering: Do these unpleasant influenza symptoms mean you’ll be laid up for a week or is compounded sensitivity misery to blame? Key clues differentiate the two:
Influenza (flu) symptoms appear abruptly just 1-4 days after viral exposure. Sensitivities develop more slowly over hours or days as sensitizing irritants accumulate.
Body and muscle aches from high fevers distinguish influenza. Coughing fits irritated by drainage can make sensitivity sufferers sore but significant fevers don’t occur.
Most influenza coughs turn wet and productive within 3 days as lung involvement increases. Chronic sensitivity coughs remain dry and hacking over weeks due to nasal drip irritation.
So if cough and exhaustion symptoms explode with a promptly spiking fever above 102 F, influenza likely ambushed you. But if similar issues intensify insidiously after long exposure to irritants, blame hay fever instead.
See a doctor right away when seriously immunocompromised since influenza complications risk becoming life-threatening. For most sensitivity sufferers though, over-the-counter symptom relief lets them press on.
13. Why Allergies May Flare Up at Certain Times of Year?
There are certainly certain times throughout the year when allergies tend to flare up more than others. For many people, it's three pollen seasons in the spring that'll have their eyes watering and noses running like a faucet they can't turn off. I'm one to feel it, especially in late summer when the goldenrod starts spreading its yellow dust everywhere. Doctors say it's probably got something to do with higher concentrations of irritants being in the air at different points in the year depending on plant growth cycles and such.
If you've been starting to feel that familiar itch in your throat or notice the usual suspects aren't doing the trick to stop your sniffles anymore, it may be a sign your Sensitivities are acting up again due to the change in seasons. Rather than mistake it for yet another coolness, talk to your healthcare provider about doin' a Sensitivities test to confirm what's buggin' you. They can help recommend the proper medicines, like decongestants, to take the edge off symptoms so you don't have to just suffer through seasonal flare-ups year after year.
The Bottom Line
As seasons change, understanding whether a cold, Sensitivities, flu, or COVID-19 lies behind your misery makes a real difference. Key variations in timing, symptoms, severity, and duration provide helpful clues.
When uncertain which condition you have, call your doctor. A telemedicine consult can often distinguish possibilities. Diagnostic testing also helps pin down causes.
Knowing exactly why you feel lousy allows proper treatment, care, and prevention choices best suited to your situation. Don’t just muddle through! Take action tailored to what ails you most.