The winter season brings many colds, viruses and flu-like symptoms. However, winter is also a time when allergies are prone to strike.
Fall and winter allergies, it turns out, are just as common as spring and summer allergies, but many people mistake their symptoms for the common cold.
"These just don't bring patients out of the woodwork, complaining because many of them are just living with them," said Dr. Stanley Goldstein to The Detroit News. "If you walk around congested very early in life, you don't realize what it means to feel normal."
The symptoms of a winter cold and allergies are strikingly similar. Both can produce a cough, sneezing and a stuffy or runny nose.
Here are some ways you can tell the two problems apart:
- Duration: A cold should last less than seven to ten days, whereas seasonal allergies can last for weeks at a time.
- Fever: A cold may be accompanied by a low-grade fever, but allergies will recur without a fever or body aches of any kind.
- Onset: Allergies will tend to flare up at the beginning of a change in weather, while a cold can occur at any period of the season.
- Sneezing: Itchy eyes and nose, as well as sneezing, are symptoms that point toward allergies.
If you suffer from allergies, stop by Allergy Be Gone today to try our best allergy control products. It's no fun to suffer from allergies, but with the right treatment and preventative methods there's no reason you can't enjoy the winter season just as much as everyone else. Take the first step now and start the new year off right, by taking control of your health and wellness.
