Do I have an allergy or a cold?

If you’re like me you suffer from both allergy symptoms and cold symptoms, but how can you tell if you have the common cold or if  the neighbors pet lion is causing your allergies to kick into high gear? 

Many people think (and you can lump me into this category once upon a time) that in order to have a cold it must be ……… well COLD outside, a.k.a. winter time. Well guess what your mother never told you? You can in fact get a cold at any time of the year even in the middle of summer and an allergy doesn’t just come out when the flowers bloom either.

An allergy is typically caused by some type of irritant (allergen). Examples of this could be pollen, dust or yes, your neighbors pet lion! If you have allergies, you'll probably experience such symptoms as itchy watery eyes, sneezing, and sinuses. Allergies are the body’s immune system mistakenly identifying some common and normally harmless objects as something it must destroy.

A [tag-tec]cold[/tag-tec] on the other hand comes from a viral or bacterial infection. If you have a cold, you might get some of these same symptoms, but you'll probably feel sick in general. Colds also only tend to hang around for a short period of time while an allergy can persist for months.

At least for me I’ll take the sickness that allows me a hot cup of chicken noodle soup! Mmm, mmm, good.