It is that time of year or allergies.
Cold flu, plus of course.
COVID is still hanging around some
of the symptoms are the same.
So how do you tell the
difference and what should you
do if you're not feeling well?
Joining us for two year?
Well being is cone health
doctor Laura Murray to start,
let's just go ahead and say how
similar are the symptoms of
the seasonal allergies,
the cold, the flu and COVID-19.
Unfortunately Tanya they're very similar,
so lots of crossover. These are.
These are largely respiratory
symptoms and a lot of them are
caused by respiratory viruses,
so they affect the nose and the
throat and the upper airway passages,
and so a lot of the symptoms
are very very similar.
OK, so that is there is the issue right?
A lot of the symptoms are very similar,
but there are some symptoms that
may be unique to each one to help
identify what we're experiencing.
So what would those be?
So when we think about allergies,
let's start with with maybe the easiest one
and the least deadly one is is allergies,
so allergies are are essentially
reactions to particles that we breathe in,
and so typically we have symptoms
really in the nose and the eyes.
And so whenever you get into itchy,
especially with the nose in the eyes,
that's often allergy and and so
that's something to keep in mind.
Runny nose, sneezing,
itchy eyes, watery eyes.
Especially if that's all there is high
likelihood that it could be allergies,
although it could also be just the
beginning stages of a cold or COVID or flu.
Alright, so then what then gets
us into symptom wise into flu
and then COVID? So I think when
we when we think about the flu and we
think about COVID, these both have a
lot more of what we call systemic signs.
So a lot more with the whole body
getting involved and less with just
the nose or just with some some
sniffling or coughing or or watery eyes.
So we tend to have more in the way of
fever or feeling feverish or feeling achy.
We tend to have more with Draghi.
I don't want to get off the couch.
I feel terrible.
It might be a key I might have
actually sore muscles.
Or whatever it is that usually hurts
is actually also hurting more now.
And then sometimes I wouldn't say that
the GI symptoms are the predominant
feature necessarily of COVID or flu,
but you can certainly see key
vomiting or diarrhea with the flu,
or with COVID,
and typically not so much with the cold,
right?
And there are there just a few certain
symptoms that we should look for?
COVID wise? I mean,
back in the day we were hearing it
was the loss of taste and smell.
Is that still one of the most common
may be more likely to occur in COVID?
There's a high likelihood of not having
kids taste and smell when you have COVID.
There are a few other things bad sinus
can also give you some loss of smell,
so I wouldn't hang my hat on that,
but I do think there's a lot more with
loss of taste and smell with COVID
than there are with other illnesses,
so higher likelihood if you have lost a
case. So we kind of went over
the symptoms that might help us
figure out what we're dealing with.
Is there anything about how
any of those start that could
help us signal what it is?
Our cold starts or how COVID starts,
or how flu starts.
That's a great question.
So typically we in classic flu we think
of flu starting suddenly sudden onset
of I felt fine a minute ago and now
I can't get off the couch and I feel
hot and I'm coughing and I just feel
miserable and it happened really fast.
So that's like a classic definition of flu.
Everybody who has flu doesn't feel that way,
but but a number of people will
have sudden onset of symptoms.
So that can be a clue.
I think with with a cold you tend
to have symptoms creep up over.
A day or two, and with allergies,
certainly you can see symptoms creep
up over a day or two and with COVID,
honestly, it seems to take a little
bit longer so people are exposed
especially last year with the first
waves of COVID we saw people taking
a little bit longer to get sick and
feel sick after they were exposed
to COVID and be sure that there
really was something going on.
So a little bit of a difference there,
perhaps between flu and COVID.
OK, So what do you do if you
start to feel like you're
having some kind of symptom?
Whether it's you know flu
or if you think it's kovid?
If you think it's allergies,
do you call your doctor at the first sign?
Do you go run and get a COVID
test at first sign?
What's what is your recommendation?
That's a great question.
We get that one a lot, so you know.
The first thing to keep in mind
is that if you are coughing or
sneezing or blowing your nose a lot,
you are potentially putting infectious
particles into the air and you could make
other sick and so that's the first thing
just to be aware of is that coughing,
sneezing, blowing your nose a lot.
These are all things that are are suggest
a respiratory virus and should be.
Treated with caution and so so at this
point I would say mask social distance.
Keep away from people if you you know
if you're coughing uncontrollably
or blowing your nose a lot really
shouldn't be out in public.
Sharing that with people,
regardless of what's causing it,
and then I would say if you have fever or
achiness or other more severe symptoms
that aren't just sort of sniffles,
or cough or runny nose,
then I would think about getting
a COVID test.
And I think a lot of places
you'll see this here are going
to be testing not just for COVID,
but also for flu,
because as we get into flu season,
it may be hard to differentiate
sure. And is there a time when
we should go to the emergency
room like just don't even pass?
Go just go to the emergency
room anytime you are having trouble
doing usual activities with
your usual level of assistance.
So for example, if you're usually
able to be open around without
any assistance at all just fine,
and suddenly you really can't
get off the couch without help.
That's a marked change that
should not be ignored,
and so it suggests something
could be could be going on.
If you're somebody who usually needs
a little bit of help to get out of
the chair and go to the bathroom
and suddenly you need two people
to help you get up and out of the
chair and head for the bathroom,
that's that's a big change in
status and what you're able to do
compared to what you can usually do,
and that should be a big warning sign.
It's a big red flag.
Go get help now. Stick with us.
We've got more talk about COVID
flu and colds and allergies
and all that coming up. Next