Is It a Cold? Or an Allergy?

If you’re feeling a bit lousy these days (like yours truly) and your eyes are watering, your nose is running, and you’re slightly fatigued, you may have a cold. Or… an allergy. But how can you tell the difference? Colds and allergies often have similar symptoms.

As you can see by the following chart, coughs are usually something that comes with a cold, but not as often with allergies. Often allergies are accompanied by asthma and the cough can come from that. Itchy eyes usually mean it’s allergies, whereas some general aches and pains mean it’s probably a cold.

Still, even with the help of this chart, the symptoms for both are usually very close. Allergies last for several weeks, but the “common cold is easily spread from person to person and usually lasts from three to 14 days.” Also, if your symptoms arrive seasonally at the same time each year, it’s very possible it’s allergies.

Images: MSN and sxc.hu.