Allergies vs Cold: Signs It’s Time for Allergy Testing
Often, alleges and colds look an awful lot alike. But, you take different approaches to treating them, which makes it important to know the difference between allergies vs cold symptoms.
Colds come from viruses, and typically need to run their course while you take fever reducers, increase your fluids, and sleep extra to heal. Allergies happen from your bodies response to specific antigens, which you can avoid and/or treat with different approaches.
Do you know whether a cold or an allergen is causing your symptoms?
Comparing Allergies Vs Cold Symptoms
Determining if you suffer from allergies vs a cold will help you choose the appropriate course of action to help you feel better. Read on to figure out which plagues you.
Temperature
Allergies are not cool, but they do not raise your body temperature like a virus does. Medically, a temperature exceeding 100.4 constitutes a fever.
A cold often causes a slight fever. Allergies however will not raise your body temperature very much if at all.
Drainage
Both cold and allergy symptoms cause drainage from your nose. But, it will appear different depending on which one ails you.
When your white blood cells battle viruses, they may produce enzymes that create a yellow or greenish tint to your mucous. But, allergies simply irritate your mucous membranes, so the discharge remains clear.
Skin
Both allergies and colds can cause skin irritations. But, if you look closely, you will see that they differ.
Allergies typically cause hives. They may appear quickly and then suddenly go away.
The bumps may appear red, pink, or flesh-colored. When you press on them, they turn white.
Allergens can cause other itchy rashes as well, but the viral rash will often spread across different parts of the body, rather than remain localized.
Persistence
Most colds last for about three days. Some linger for about four to ten days, but the symptoms taper as time goes on.
Allergies do not simply go away on their own when exposure continues. You probably suffer from chronic allergies if your symptoms last for more than a week and do not start to diminish.
Onset
When and how did your symptoms begin? Usually, you will feel a twinge of something prior to actually feeling sick with a cold.
But, allergies may suddenly hit you hard without warning. They may also disappear and then come back, depending on when you are exposed to the allergen.
Allergy Testing
If you want to know for sure, take an allergy test! You used to need to schedule an appointment with a specialist to do this.
You may still need to do this in special circumstances with unusual allergies. But now, you can order it online to test for many common allergies from the comfort and privacy of your own home!
Order Your Test Today
You can play detective breaking down the differences between allergies vs cold symptoms. But, even expert doctors use trusted testing to know for sure.
We want to allow people the option to privately test for themselves. Order a test that suits your needs!
