Is it a Cold or Allergies?

Allergy season came early this year!  We've already got a number of folks coming in for runny nose, congestion, cough, etc.  So is it allergies or is it a cold?

It is sometimes hard to tell because a lot of the symptoms may overlap.   Here is a great chart from webMD that summarizes the difference:

Characteristic	Cold	Allergy
Duration	three-14 days	Days to months -- as long as you are exposed to the allergen
Time of Year	Most often in the winter, but possible at any time	Any time of the year -- although the appearance of some allergens are seasonal
Onset of symptoms	Symptoms take a few days to appear after infection with the virus.	Symptoms can begin immediately after exposure to the allergen
Symptom	Cold	Allergy
Cough	Often	Sometimes
Aches	Sometimes	Never
Fatigue	Sometimes	Sometimes
Fever	Rarely	Never
Itchy, watery eyes	Rarely	Often
Sore throat	Often	Sometimes
Runny or stuffy nose	Often; usually yellow mucus	Often; usually clear mucus

Last year, I did a Q&A with my cousin, Dr Joann Lin, who is an allergist in Dallas, TX.  If you have further questions you want to ask, you can email them to me at ellenkimmd@gmail.com and I'll compile another Q&A post with her.