Is it a Cold or Allergies?

It’s that time of year again and with our unpredictable Texas weather it can be hard to determine a cold from allergies. Your nose is runny or stuffy, your throat is sore with a cough and that unavoidable fatigue begins to set in. So is it a cold or allergies? With their overlapping symptoms its often hard to tell the difference between the two, even for health care professionals. One main clue in determining what you may be suffering from is the length of time associated with your symptoms. A cold typically sticks around for three to fourteen days as where allergies can linger on for weeks even months, as long as the allergen is present. So with the holiday season bringing a swarm of fresh cut trees into our homes, what we may believe to be a cold could just be an overactive immune system responding to the presences of mold and pollen carried in by the tree. In conclusion, whether its a cold or allergies it is recommended to see a health care professional at the first sign of symptoms, to monitor your situation and ensure its not something worse.