How to distinguish an allergy from a cold in a child, adult, baby?

With the onset of the off-season, not everyone can avoid colds or SARS. Colds almost always occur with a runny nose, cough and fever. Symptoms similar in nature are also noted with allergies.

How can you tell an allergy from a cold at this time of year? We will try to figure out how to do it correctly and avoid mistakes.

Cold and allergy symptoms

Distinguishing a cold from an allergy is essential. Since, despite all the external similarity between themselves, these two diseases have completely different origins. This means that the drug effect on them will be fundamentally different.

Consider the differences between similar symptoms of allergies and colds according to the table, which will tell you how to determine the correct diagnosis.

Symptoms	Allergy	Cold
Runny nose	Profuse watery nasal discharge, frequent, almost constant sneezing and itching.	Clear nasal discharge lasts for the first few days, then the symptoms of a runny nose subside, the discharge becomes thick and yellow-green, sneezing is rare.
Lachrymation	Great lacrimation from both eyes, with signs of conjunctivitis, redness and excruciating itching of the eyelids.	It is rare, poorly expressed.
Sore throat	Sometimes mild perspiration in the throat, dryness and pallor of the mucous membranes in the throat.	Intense pain on swallowing with soreness and irritating dry cough.
The condition of the lymph nodes	In a calm state.	They are enlarged, sometimes sharply painful.
Temperature	Fever is rare, mainly among children.	It often rises to 38 degrees or more, and lasts for several days.
Duration	Allergy is eliminated by excluding contact with the allergen and with adequately initiated therapy. The duration can be 2-3 months.	Colds last no longer than 10 days.
Skin manifestations	They occur very often in the form of: small-point rash, redness, itching.	Colds are rare. These may be small hemorrhages, punctate hemorrhages (petechiae).

How to distinguish an allergy from a cold in a child?

In childhood, the clinical signs of these diseases will practically not differ from adults. Therefore, age is not critical.

ALLERGY. The fact that the child has an allergic reaction will be indicated by his appearance: swollen, reddened eyelids, lacrimation, constant touching of the nose and abundant transparent discharge from it. Children are more likely than adults to experience fever with allergies. The heat can reach 39 °. Often, skin manifestations of an allergic reaction are found: excruciating itching, rash, peeling, redness of certain parts of the body.

COLD. If a child has a cold, then he becomes lethargic and capricious, refuses the offered food. Nasal discharge from a cold will be yellow, sometimes with an admixture of blood and pus. Redness of the eyes and lacrimation practically does not occur.

BREASTS. In infants, it is more difficult to recognize signs of allergy from a cold due to the lack of symptoms of allergic rhinitis. But a runny nose caused by allergies has one definite nuance - the younger the patient, the less often he is pursued by allergic rhinitis. Thus, in preschool children, this condition is extremely rare, and in children under one year old, it practically does not occur.

If the baby still suffers from an allergic disease, you can understand that this is really an allergy, and not a cold disease. on the expressed anxiety of the baby, frequent crying, persistent refusal of the breast, skin rashes, stool disturbance and constant regurgitation.

Distinguish allergies from colds in expectant mothers

The difference between a cold and an allergy during pregnancy will not show any special signs. Women expecting a baby are more likely to be at home, so their hypersensitivity may manifest themselves to dust, pet hair, feather pillows, etc. For this reason, expectant mothers are advised to pay attention to reducing contact with animals, frequent airing and more thorough cleaning, which it is advisable to entrust to someone from family members, so as not to once again encounter dust.

Less often, allergies in expectant mothers are manifested as a result of hormonal changes. It should be noted that during pregnancy, a woman is advised to equally protect herself from any diseases, be it allergies or colds. Since both of these conditions negatively affect the developing fetus, especially in the first weeks of gestation.

The link between allergies and colds

For example, allergic rhinitis provokes edema of the nasopharyngeal mucosa, against which mucus is partially not can leave the nasal cavity naturally and accumulates in the cavity of the paranasal sinuses (maxillary). As a result of its stagnation, favorable conditions are formed for the development of pathogenic microflora (bacterial), which provokes the development of sinusitis. Therefore, in advanced situations, even a specialist finds it difficult to answer the question of how to distinguish an allergy from a cold in an adult and a child.

Treatment

Treatment of allergic and colds will have significant differences between themselves.

To treat allergies, your doctor may prescribe:

• adherence to diet and refusal to use medications containing a potential allergen;
• antihistamines aimed at inhibiting histamine, a biologically active substance that provokes rhinorrhea and nasal congestion;

• decongestant vasoconstrictor drugs, which reduce the swelling of the upper respiratory tract, preventing the development of suffocation;
• steroid drugs in the nose, which reduce nasal discharge and eliminate swelling of the nasopharynx;
• specific immunotherapy, the task of which is to rid the body of hypersensitivity to a certain irritant by the gradual introduction of special allergic vaccines and the formation resistance to them.

For the treatment of colds, the following are prescribed:

• non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) to reduce pain, inflammation, and fever
• symptomatic remedies: drugs for cough, runny nose, sore throat;
• plentiful drink, bed rest.

PREVENTION
Allergy	Cold
Like treatment, prevention of colds and allergies requires separate approaches. To prevent the risk of developing an allergic disease, it is necessary to avoid contact with substances, medicines and food that provoke it. With an advanced form of allergy, it is recommended to follow a strict diet, and if the condition worsens, consult a doctor.	Cold prevention consists in limiting contact with persons suffering from acute respiratory viral infections and influenza. The most important thing is to protect the child from contact with viruses, since the immune system in childhood is imperfect and the body is more difficult to cope with colds. Also, the prevention of colds is frequent hand washing, wearing a protective mask in crowded places during an outbreak of acute respiratory viral infections and influenza, taking multivitamin complexes.

Everyone should know how allergies differ from colds. The relevance of this issue lies in the fact that timely started correct treatment will help protect the body from the development of side effects and complications. It is not recommended to delay a visit to a doctor in order to accurately determine the diagnosis and start taking exactly those drugs with which you can get rid of the clinical manifestations of pathology and neutralize the fundamental factor.