WHEN we’re hit with a bout of sneezing or sniffles, most of us would tend to assume we’d picked up a cold.
But wait – could be hay fever? Or Covid-19 even?
GettyIs your runny nose caused by a cold, hay fever or Covid? Here’s how to find out[/caption]
With a pollen bomb set to drop on parts of the UK in the coming days and Covid still swirling around, your runny nose could be caused by any of the above options.
The Met Office has warned that pollen levels will be “high” across all of England on Thursday and Friday, as temperatures are expected to reach 20C in places.
As for Covid, cases have certainly decreased since January, when health chiefs warned of the new JN.1 variant – an offshoot of Pirola and Omicron – spreading across England to make up 60 per cent of cases.
Though symptoms of hay fever, a Covid infection and a spring cold are undoubtedly similar, there are some key differences in how each condition manifests.
Here’s how to get to the bottom of what’s causing your sniffles.
Is it hay fever?
With pollen counts peaking across England over the next few days, there a good chance your sneezing and stuffy nose is caused by hay fever.
Hay fever – also known as seasonal allergic rhinitis – is an allergic reaction to pollen and other airborne allergens such as fungal spores.
As your immune system overacts to antigens such as pollen, releasing histamines, here are some typical symptoms you might experience:
Sneezing
Coughing caused by postnasal drip (mucus dripping down the throat from the back of the nose)
A runny or blocked nose
Itchy, red or watery eyes
Itchy throat, mouth, nose and ears
Less commonly, you may also experience:
Loss of smell
Pain around the sides of your head and your forehead caused by blocked sinuses
A headache
Earache
Feeling tired
Though both allergies and colds can cause coughing and sneezing.
But allergies tend to cause itchiness around your eyes and in the throat, while a cold may cause a sore throat but not itchiness.
You may also notice that your eyes are particularly watery.
And while colds usually lasts one to two weeks, while hay fever can last for weeks or months, depending on the pollen count.
The higher the pollen count, the worse the symptoms will be.
If you have asthma, your asthma symptoms may also get worse when you have hay fever.
How to treat hay fever
THERE’S currently no cure for hay fever and you cannot prevent it.
But you can do things to ease your symptoms when the pollen count is high.
Put Vaseline around your nostrils to trap pollen
Wear wraparound sunglasses to stop pollen from getting into your eyes
Shower and change your clothes after you have been outside to wash pollen off
Stay indoors whenever possible
Keep windows and doors shut as much as possible
Vacuum regularly and dust with a damp cloth
Buy a pollen filter for the air vents in your car and a vacuum cleaner with a HEPA filter
Try to stay at home and avoid contact with other people if you have a high temperature or you do not feel well enough to do your normal activities
Source: NHS
Is it a spring cold?
Though we usually associate colds with the winter-time, it’s possible to get them at any time of the year, including the spring.
The main symptoms include:
A blocked or runny nose
Sneezing
A sore throat
A hoarse voice
A cough
Feeling tired and unwell
According to the NHS, you may also suffer from:
A high temperature
Aching muscles
A loss of taste and smell
A feeling of pressure in your ears and face
A cold will usually only last for about one or two weeks – so if your sneezing persists for longer than that, you probably have hay fever.
Seasonal allergies don’t usually cause fever, but you might get one with a cold.
Meanwhile, allergies most often won’t cause a cough and sore throat like a cold would.
How to treat a cold
YOU can usually treat a cold at home without seeing a GP.
Do the following things to help get better quicker:
Get plenty of rest
Drink lots of fluid, such as water, to avoid dehydration
Eat healthy food
Gargle salt water to soothe a sore throat (not suitable for children)
Drink a hot lemon and honey drink to soothe a sore throat
Breathe in steam to ease a blocked nose – try sitting in the bathroom with a hot shower running
If you have a high temperature or do not feel well enough to do your normal activities, try to stay at home and avoid contact with other people until you feel better.
You can also try medicines like paracetamol and ibuprofen to ease and aches pains and lower your temperature.
Is it Covid?
Health chiefs raised the alarm over rising Covid cases in January, as a “devious” new Covid strain nicknamed JN.1 accounted for almost two thirds of new cases.
Recent UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) data indicates that cases increased slightly by 3.5 per cent in the week leading up to April 5 – but they’ve still dropped off significantly since the start of the year.
The most common Covid symptoms include:
Runny nose (31.1 per cent)
Cough (22.9 per cent)
Headache (20.1 per cent)
Weakness or tiredness (19.6 per cent)
Muscle ache (15.8 per cent)
Sore throat (13.2 per cent)
Trouble sleeping (10.8 per cent)
Worry or anxiety (10.5 per cent)
The most common symptom of JN.1 variant was runny nose, with 31 per cent of patients reporting the symptom, an ONS report said.
But loss of taste and smell – once a hallmark sign of the bug – is only reported by two to three per cent of infected Brits, according to the winter Covid report from the Office For National Statistics (ONS) in the UK.
Fever, another typical symptom of older variants, was only experienced by two per cent of people.
ONS scientists suggest that anxiety can also be a sign that someone has the bug, as 10 per cent of Brits with Covid reported anxiety, excess worrying or trouble sleeping since early November.
Meanwhile, 23 per cent of people reported experiencing a cough, and 20 per cent a headache.
Nearly 20 per cent of people with the bug reported weakness and fatigue, 16 per cent reported experiencing muscle aches, and 13 per cent had a sore throat.
How can you tell if you have Covid or hay fever?
Covid-related coughing is commonly persistent and dry, whereas a cough associated with hay fever is more “tickly”, due to mucus from the nose trickling down the throat, according to Senior Lecturer in Genetic Immunology at Nottingham Trent University, Samuel White.
If you experience loss of smell and taste, with pollen allergies it’ll be caused by a blocked nose, Dr White wrote in The Conversation.
If you have this symptom without a blocked nose, it could be more likely to be Covid.
Hay fever also won’t cause muscle aches, though Covid might.
And like colds, Covid most likely won’t last more than a week or two.
If you suspect you have the virus, or your hay fever symptoms feel dramatically worse, it might be useful to take a Covid test.
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