REALLY?; It's a cold. No, it's an allergy. By ANAHAD O'CONNOR
Published: July 15, 2008 A stuffy head, a sore throat and
sneezing fits that could leave you with a migraine: according to
some surveys, about 20 percent of Americans report experiencing
symptoms like these at the same time every year. That would
suggest they are due to an allergy, not a cold. But how to tell
the difference? Symptoms of seasonal allergies and colds
overlap, but studies suggest there are ways to tell them apart.
The first is the onset of symptoms. Colds move more slowly,
taking a day or longer to set in and gradually worsening -- with
symptoms like loss of appetite and headache -- before subsiding
after about a week and disappearing within 10 days. But
allergies begin immediately. The sneezing is sudden and
overwhelming, and the congestion, typically centered behind the
nose, is immediate. Allergy symptoms also disappear quickly --
almost as soon as the offending allergen, like pollen, is no
longer around. Then there are hallmark sy