Allergy or cold: How to differentiate between the two?

With rains come the onset of cold and allergies. When the first sneeze occurs, you start being extra careful and keep all your herbal tea, kadha, tissue box and warm jackets near. Most often than not, it is labeled as a common cold and ways to keep it in check are resorted to. However, have you ever thought if it’s really a common cold or an allergy? Allergy or cold have certain differentiating factors and with close monitoring you would be able to identify the correct problem and opt for the right treatment.

Allergy or cold: key differences you should observe

If you are confused about the nature of your sickness, then here are 8 parameters that you should keep in mind.

Trigger: Allergy always starts at a trigger point. These can be dust or pollen or even the rainy weather dampness. But cold always takes place through a virus attack on the body.

Inception: While allergies kick off immediately without warning, a cold may develop over a course of time. It starts showing subtle warnings but they are mostly ignored by many, and thus a full fledged common cold strikes within 2-3 days of being exposed to the virus.

Duration: Allergies do not have any fixed duration. They will be on as long as you are exposed to the allergen. Ideally, when you notice dust and pollen etc, in the presence of which you may start feeling sick, it is best to move farther away from it and see if the uneasiness stops. A cold, on the other hand gets cured within 3-5 days.

Fever: With allergies there is no fever but if you catch a cold, you might develop mild fever.

Observe your nose: Whether allergies or cold, the nose is where the symptoms of differentiating between the two starts. For any kind of allergies, you would be sneezing very often, have an itchy nose which might turn red at times, and having a runny nose is common. If you develop a cold, there will be mucous formation which often leads to a blocked nose. This is a major sign of having a cold.

Eye check: In an allergy you will tend to have red or itchy eyes but during colds the eyes are not affected much.

Body pain: During cold you might experience light body aches and pains while no such issues occur during allergies.

Throat issues: Allergies may induce dry cough at times, but a cold is frequently accompanied by dry or wet cough with a constant irritation in the throat.

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