When Allergies And Illness Co
Remember that children with seasonal allergies can still get sick. With chronic nasal congestion, people dont clear germs as well from the nose. Therefore, they can get more viruses and those viruses can linger longer, Dr. Siegel. This means that if your child has allergies and then gets new symptoms that dont respond to allergy medications, its important to check with your pediatrician.
Anyone who has any illness symptoms must make sure to quarantine at home to avoid spreading the germs.
Allergies Do Not Cause Fevers
People often wonder if allergies can cause a fever. The answer is no. Allergies cannot cause a fever, though you could have an allergy flare at the same time youre experiencing a fever from another infection.
With a cold, your temperature can run warmer, but typically it will be less than 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
How Do Allergy And Covid
Some of the most common allergy symptoms include sneezing, itchy or watery eyes, congestion or runny nose. Common COVID-19 symptoms include fever and chills, muscle and body aches, loss of taste or small, nausea or vomiting and diarrhea. Symptoms in which both allergies and COVID-19 can have in common include cough, fatigue, headache, sore throat, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, congestion or runny nose.
“While allergy sufferers may have difficulty breathing due to congestion, allergy sufferers without asthma typically won’t have shortness of breath, nor will they have a fever,” says Dr. Barnes. “They also usually experience facial pressure rather than a headache.”
An Introduction To Sore Dry And Itchy Throats And Seasonal Allergies
Dry, itchy and sore throats are common symptoms which many seasonal allergies sufferers have to endure. They may not be the symptoms which spring to mind when we think of allergies, but for those who experience it, they can be some of the most irritating, making it painful to swallow.Dry throatWe all know that if we hold our nose, we have to breathe through our mouth. Holding your nose creates a similar effect to that of nasal congestion. If seasonal allergies is causing a blocked nose, you will be forced to use your mouth to breathe.
Your nose is lined with fine hair and mucus, making it more effective at warming air than your mouth. Having a blocked nose means that cold air is entering your mouth and throat when you breathe, drying out the moisture created by saliva. As the tissue in your throat is more sensitive than your mouth, we tend to notice the effect of dryness in our throats first.
Itchy throatYour nose is also better at filtering air than your mouth. This means that it traps pollen particles before they can enter into your system. However, when you begin to breathe through your mouth, the pollen particles have direct access into your body. They land at the back of your throat, irritating the tissue.
Sore throatThe combination of a dry and itchy throat, particularly over a prolonged period of time such as throughout the seasonal allergies season, often causes the throat tissues to become inflamed this is experienced as a sore throat.
Despite Symptoms Its Not The Flu
COVID-19 is not the flu.
As one of a class of pathogens known as coronaviruses, its actually more closely related to the common cold than the seasonal flu.
However, despite some overlap, the typical symptoms of COVID-19 are more similar to the flu than the common cold .
The new delta variant of COVID-19, however, may have more cold-like symptoms.
In terms of differentiating between flu and COVID-19, it can be almost impossible to distinguish, Dr. Jake Deutsch, co-founder and clinical director of Cure Urgent Care centers and Specialty Infusion in New York. Thats why people are recommended to have flu vaccinations so it can at least minimize the risk of flu in light of everything else.
Fevers, body aches, coughing, sneezing could all be equally attributed to them both, so it really means that if theres a concern for flu, theres a concern for COVID-19, Deutsch said.
If you have a mild case of COVID-19, the flu, or a cold, treatment is geared toward management of symptoms, said Cutler.
Generally, acetaminophen is recommended for fevers, he said. Cough drops and cough syrups can also help keep mucus secretions thinner. If there is associated nasal congestion, antihistamines may be useful.
There Are Various Reasons Why You Could Be Experiencing A Cough Or Sore Throat
Post-nasal drip will also irritate your esophagus and occurs because of sinusitis or the more chronic allergic rhinitis also known as Hay Fever. Post-nasal drip occurs when your sinuses become clogged, hence the term plugged up. Usually, youll experience additional symptoms, such as nasal congestion, sneezing and a runny or itchy nose, similar to symptoms we notice when our are acting up.
Even food allergies can cause a sore throat. Generally, youll notice almost instant swelling and enlarging of the throat, which can quickly advance to anaphylaxis. This is a much more serious allergic reaction than an irritated throat. Often allergy medications , such as Benadryl, can have side effects such as a dry, scratchy throat, along with dry mouth. Consult a doctor before taking any medication and monitor your reactions to these types of allergy medicines.
For those with more serious allergies, symptoms can last an entire season, especially in the springtime. The flu and common cold will generally only have symptoms for a week to two weeks. If it is allergies, you will most likely also experience:
- tiredness
- itchy, watery eyes
- post-nasal drip
Its important if you are experiencing these symptoms to get tested by your local allergist. Rather than treating the symptoms, its best to find and treat the cause.
When Should I See My Healthcare Provider About Hay Fever
Although hay fever doesnt cause any serious health problems, you should see your provider to rule out other conditions, such as asthma. Seek care if hay fever symptoms are getting in the way of your daily life or making it hard for you to sleep. Your provider can help you identify the allergens that are causing a reaction and recommend treatments to help you feel better.
A note from Cleveland Clinic
Hay fever symptoms can affect your quality of life and keep you from doing the activities you love, but effective treatments are available. Millions of adults and children manage hay fever with medications and lifestyle changes. Talk to your provider about steps you can take to relieve symptoms, breathe easier and feel better.
Last reviewed by a Cleveland Clinic medical professional on 07/30/2020.
References
- Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. Accessed 7/30/2020.Rhinitis .
- American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology . Accessed 7/30/2020.Rhinitis Overview.
- InformedHealth.org . Cologne, Germany: Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care ; 2006-. Hay fever: Allergen-specific immunotherapy in the treatment of allergies. . Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK279487/
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How To Relieve Your Allergy Symptoms
If youre convinced your cough is a result of allergies, start by making a few changes to decrease your exposure to potentially irritating substances: Keep your windows closed, shower as soon as you come inside after being outdoors, brush your pets after walks, or invest in an air purifier for your home.
OTC medications are also a great starting point, Dr. Bassett says. Oral antihistamines, like and , help block the histamines that set off symptoms in the first place. Nasal steroid sprays, like , can help clear a stuffy nose if youre dealing with that, too.
But the right treatment depends largely on the cause for a cough, Dr. Bassett says. If you dont see any improvement after taking these steps, reach out to an allergist, who can give you a proper diagnosis, help you identify your triggers, and potentially recommend prescription allergy meds or allergy shots.
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Is It Allergies Or A Cold
Cold and allergy symptoms often overlap, so its easy to mistake cold symptoms for allergies, and vice versa. Understanding the cause of your symptoms helps you choose the right treatment. It also gives you a better picture of your overall health.
Clinicians use the5 factors below to help distinguish between colds and allergies.
What Causes Allergic Rhinitis
Allergic rhinitis occurs when your bodys immune system reacts to an irritant in the air. The irritants are so tiny that you can easily inhale them through your nose or mouth.
Allergens are harmless to most people. But if you have hay fever, your immune system thinks the allergen is intruding. The immune system tries to protect your body by releasing natural chemicals into your bloodstream. The main chemical is called histamine. It causes mucous membranes in the nose, eyes and throat to become inflamed and itchy as they work to eject the allergen.
Seasonal and perennial allergies can result from many allergens, including:
- Dust mites that live in carpets, drapes, bedding and furniture.
- Pollen from trees, grass and weeds.
- Pet dander .
- Mold spores.
- Cockroaches, including their saliva and waste.
Food allergies can also cause inflammation in the nose and throat. If you think youre having an allergic reaction to something you ate, get medical help right away. Food allergies can be life-threatening.
When Does A Sore Throat Happen In Covid
A sore throat is an early symptom of COVID-19, usually appearing in the first week of illness and improving quite quickly. It feels worse on the first day of infection but gets better on each following day.
On average, a sore throat will last two to three days but can last longer in adults . If your sore throat is persisting, its unlikely to be COVID-19.
How To Treat The Sore Throat Caused By Allergies
Fortunately, sore throat allergies can be treated very well, through either over-the-counter remedies or home-based cures. But always remember that the best way to avoid sore throat allergies is to prevent allergies altogether.
1. Prevent Allergies
Start by avoiding the allergens if you can. For instance, if you wind up with sore throat allergies after being around a smoker, make sure to avoid cigarette smoke. Not sure what you are allergic to? You can see your doctor to get an allergen test and figure out what makes your body react. Once you know what you are allergic to, you might be able to get a regimen of shots that will keep you from having symptoms from those irritants.
2. Take Medications
Sometimes you cant prevent allergies. In that case, turn to the great over-the-counter medications that are designed to treat all the symptoms, including sore throat. Allergies are often relieved by antihistamines such as Zyrtec and Claritin, as well as some others that treat only very specific symptoms, like Benadryl.
3. Try Home Remedies
Though these home remedies below might not get rid of the problem, they do decrease the symptoms and make allergies more tolerable.
Steps For Managing Your Sore Throat
The first step in managing your allergy-induced sore throats is visiting a professional. From there, we can determine the root cause of your allergy, and help you create a personalized plan for removing the trigger from your life and/or ways to manage your allergies when removing the trigger isnt a realistic solution.
Short Term Relief
Providing short-term relief for a sore throat can usually be accomplished through the use of simple but effective home remedies. Drink warm liquids, especially tea with honey or lemon, and chicken broth or bouillon. Cold liquids can also help. Suck on Popsicles, hard candy, or throat lozenges to soothe irritation. Gargle with warm salt water several times a day. Use a humidifier or vaporizer to moisten the air.
Long Term Relief
More long-term solutions can involve immunotherapy, which is a series of allergy shots designed to build up your bodys immune system against the allergen causing you and your body stress.
Problems Of Sore Throat Allergies:
Most sore throats are attributable to a virus and go away on their very own. All well-being care shoppers should concentrate on when sore throats will be severe and when theyre possible self-limiting.
Dying is a threat of life, however, its not often associated with a sore throat. Throat abscess could result in respiration issues because the swelling within the throat reduces the power to breathe.
Diphtheria can result in respiratory failure. Untreated GABHS can affect the guts valves and has the potential to result in coronary heart failure.
These severe problems are uncommon. Rheumatic fever is without doubt one of the commonest preventable problems of sore throat. It happens after GABHS goes untreated.
The final inhabitants shouldnt be as vastly affected, as individuals generally consider. It takes treating 3000 to 4000 individuals with antibiotics with strep throat to forestall one case of rheumatic fever.
The incidence of rheumatic fever is about one case per million individuals. Therapy with antibiotics doesnt assure the prevention of rheumatic fever.
Rheumatic fever happens about Three weeks after an untreated GABHS an infection. Its characterized by joint ache and swelling, erythema marginatum , coronary heart murmur, or subcutaneous nodules .
If that is suspected a right away analysis with a well-being care supplier is crucial.
Soothing A Sore Throat At Home
Here are several home remedies that may help soothe a sore throat from allergies, according to Harvard Medical School:
- Stay well-hydrated to help to thin the mucus.
- Consume more hot liquids, such as chicken soup.
- Use a humidifier or inhale steam.
- Prop yourself up with a few extra pillows at night, since mucus can collect in the back of your throat when you lie flat.
There are also many over-the-counter medications available, including oral decongestants and antihistamines. Nasal decongestants may also be helpful, though Harvard Medical School cautions that they shouldn’t be used for more than one to two days. For help choosing the most appropriate product, talk to your doctor or a pharmacist.
While these steps can help soothe a sore throat from allergies, they won’t prevent future allergy symptoms. Pollen, whether from grass, trees or ragweed, is a common culprit of seasonal allergies, according to the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, so avoiding exposure to it can help. The Mayo Clinic recommends staying indoors on dry, windy days and, if possible, keeping your doors and windows closed on days with high pollen counts. If you need to do outdoor chores, such as lawn mowing or weed pulling, wear a pollen mask.
Are There Conventional Medicines To Help Me
If your sore throat is the result of seasonal allergies or some other type of allergic reaction, anti-histamines can be used to ease the symptoms. However, some people develop a tolerance to anti-histamines, or experience side-effects such as drowsiness which can prevent you from driving or using machinery.
There are also various types of sore throat lozenges or painkillers which are available from a pharmacist to help to ease pain and inflammation in the throat. You should be careful to follow instructions which come with the medication as the wrong dosage can be potentially harmful.
Why Can Seasonal Allergies Cause A Sore Throat
Allergies happen when the body perceives a foreign substance as a threat, and the immune system produces antibodies and histamine in response. This creates an inflammatory reaction that makes you feel downright crummy. Common allergy symptoms include sneezing, congestion, runny nose, sinus pressure, and dark circles under the eyes . But under the right circumstances, allergy sufferers could develop a sore throat as well.
Why does this happen? Children with allergies often have increased mucus production in the nasal passages that drips down the back of the throat. This is referred to as postnasal drip, explains Sanjeev Jain, M.D., a board-certified allergist and immunologist at Columbia Allergy. As the mucus drips down the throat, it causes irritation to the mucosa that lines the throat, and this can result in the sensation of a sore throat.
Keep in mind that sore throat can have other causes as well. For example, it often appears with viral upper respiratory infections and bacterial infections , says Natasha Burgert, M.D., a board-certified pediatrician for Pediatric Associates in Overland Park, Kansas. Sore throat might also be a symptom of COVID-19 in kids. Contact your pediatrician if you dont know the cause of your childs sore throat; they may need to diagnose and treat it.
Soothing The Sore Throats Of Allergies
Itchy eyes and runny noses are par for the course during spring and fall for those who suffer from seasonal . But if you happen to wake up in the middle of the night with a throat so sore you can hardly swallow, you might also be dealing with allergy symptoms.
Exposure to allergens causes your body to ramp up mucus production. For some people that causes a runny nose, but in others the extra mucus drains down the throat, a symptom called postnasal drip which can lead to a tickle in the throat or scratchy pain. Irritants that cause an allergic reaction can include pollen, cigarette smoke, dust mites or pet dander.
Sore throats caused by can be painful. A few ways to help soothe them include: Avoid irritants. Limit your time outside as much as possible when pollen counts are high, stay away from second hand smoke and avoid coming into close contact with furry pets. Run a humidifier to keep the air moist in your home, especially in the bedroom while you sleep. Drink plenty of water to soothe your throat and stay hydrated. Use cough drops or hard candy to coat your throat and ease the pain. Over the counter pain relievers can help reduce inflammation, and antihistamines can help control the mucus production.
Here at Piedmont Ear, Nose and Throat Associates, our experienced medical staff can help isolate your symptoms and get you on the right course to feeling better in no time.
Questions? Contact us, or call 768-3361 today to schedule your appointment.
How To Treat A Sore Throat Caused By Allergies
Allergy meds are usually the best place to start. Antihistamines, like , , or , can help tame inflammation and ease your symptoms overall, Dr. Mehdizadeh says. Nasal sprays, like , and nasal glucocorticoids, like , are good for easing postnasal drip, too.
Natural remedies could also make a difference. Gargling with warm saltwater can help get rid of irritating mucus, and drinking plenty of water or inhaling steam may soothe scratchiness.
Of course, prevention might be the most effective tactic of all. Minimizing your exposure to allergenssay, by keeping your windows closed and showering as soon as you come inside after being outdoorscan keep your symptoms from flaring up and help stop that sore throat before it starts.
Are You Treating Multiple Symptoms
For a cold, get extra rest and drink plenty of fluids, including water, tea, or soup with lots of broth. For allergies, it can help to shower and change your clothes often because allergens cling to skin, hair, and clothing. For both colds and allergies, over-the-counter antihistamines, decongestants, and pain relievers may help you feel better, although they wont make a cold go away any faster. And no matter what ails you, avoid medications that treat multiple symptoms, especially if you dont have some of the symptoms the medication is meant to treat.
If home treatments arent working and you still dont feel well, connect with our Consulting Nurse Service or if you are in the Seattle area,visit a CareClinic by Kaiser Permanente at Bartell Drugs.
Can You Get A Sore Throat From Allergies And What Causes It
Yep, and how you develop it all comes down to how your body reacts when its exposed to an allergen like pollen. If you have allergies, your immune system will react to being exposed to an allergen by releasing histamines, chemicals that cause allergy symptoms.
For many people with seasonal allergies, those histamines can cause a stuffy, runny noseand that can trigger post-nasal drip, i.e. mucus running down the back of your throat, explains Purvi Parikh, MD, an allergist with Allergy & Asthma Network. And that can cause irritation back there. Cue the sore throat. Often, first thing in morning it will be worse from laying down all night, Dr. Parikh says.
Save Your Itchy Eyes With These Allergy Eye Drops
Post-nasal drip isnt the only reason you might develop a sore throat from allergies, though. Coughing and mouth breathing can also mess with the way your throat feels, says Kara Wada, MD, an allergist at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.
Of course, not everyone with allergies gets a sore throat. Allergies can affect each of us differently, Dr. Wada says. There are some things that might make you more prone to struggling with a sore throat from allergies, Dr. Parikh says, including how severe your allergies are and the anatomy of your nose.
How Can You Tell If Your Sore Throat Is From Allergies
Sore throat, especially during the winter months, can also signal a cold or a virus, making it hard to tell what you’re dealing with. It can be difficult to differentiate between a cold and allergies, but the best way to differentiate between the two would be length of symptoms and past history of allergies, Dr. Li says.
“Both allergies and the seasonal cold can cause runny nose, stuffy nose, sneezing, watery eyes and cough,” he says. “However, cold symptoms typically last only a few days while allergy symptoms will often last several weeks to months.”
Allergy symptoms also typically flare up during the spring, summer and fall seasons, while colds usually come during the winter times, Dr. Li says. Allergy symptoms are also more responsive to oral antihistamine and nasal steroids while cold symptoms typically are more resistant to these types of treatments. Lastly, colds or viruses that can cause sore throat will usually will present with more fevers and body aches than allergies will.
Certain symptoms, such as runny nose or itchy, watery eyes, are more common with allergies than a cold, Dr. Simpson adds. If you’re also experiencing aches and pains or a fever, you most likely have a cold or virus. Thick yellow mucus is often more typical of a cold or virus.
A Pollen Allergy: Symptoms Of A Sore Throat
A sore throat is discomfort, pain or swelling in the throat, according to MedlinePlus.A pollen allergy causes the hormone, histamine, to be released in the body, causing inflammation and irritation in the throat.Once the throat swells, it becomes increasingly sensitive and agitated. The best treatment for a sore throat from a pollen allergy is to avoid pollen exposure and treat the allergic reaction with an antihistamine, according to National Jewish Health. If a sore throat persists, seek medical advice, as it may be sign of a more serious condition. Begin treating a sore throat at the first signs and symptoms.
If you are experiencing serious medical symptoms, seek emergency treatment immediately.
Can Allergies Cause Sore Throat
Sore throat and allergies often go together to compound the misery of people living with allergies. Typically, an environmental allergen causes nasal congestion and sinus drainage down the back of the throat, making it scratchy or painful. This irritation can cause coughing and throat irritation or even trouble speaking.
Some of the most common allergens that cause a sore throat include:
- Cigarette smoke
- Pet dander, particularly dog and cat fur
What Is A Skin Prick Test
This common test is painless and accurate, though it may be a little uncomfortable. Your provider places a small sample of different allergens on your skin and scratches or pricks the skin with a needle. Scratching the skin allows the allergen to get under the surface.
If youre allergic to the allergen, the area will become red, itchy and irritated in 15 to 30 minutes. You may develop raised, hive-like welts called wheals that show an allergic reaction. A skin prick test is a safe, effective way to determine which allergens are causing your symptoms.
