I suffer from seasonal allergies which usually means sniffling, sneezing, and red watery eyes in the spring but this fall has thrown me for a loop since I’m experiencing similar symptoms. How do I know I have allergies instead of a cold? At first it was tempting to think that I had a cold but the symptoms persisted and the way I felt was more in line with the allergy symptoms than ones for a cold. If you’re not sure, this handy graphic can help!
Those of us with pollen allergies, or hay fever, tend to experience flare ups in the fall when cooler weather comes that WebMD says are caused by “weed pollen grains that fill the air from August through October (up to the first frost).”
As miserable as my daughter and I are from our fall allergies and as tempting as it is to give her just a tad more of her usual over-the-counter allergy medicine to relieve her stuffy nose and itchy eyes, it’s more important to keep her safe. Instead I’ve sought advice from our pediatrician and consulted OTCSafety.org’s page on allergy medicines to read up on how allergy medicines work to be as knowledgeable of a consumer as possible.
As we’re getting farther into allergy season with cold and flu season just around the corner, it’s so helpful to know that OTCSafety.org has lots of resources for parents on medicine and medicine safety, like posts such as Giving Medicine to Children, that can be a great help to me as I look to comfort my kids when they aren’t feeling well.
I received compensation for this post as part of the CHPA OTC Safety Ambassador Program. All the opinions reflected here are my own and based on my family’s miserable allergy experiences. Images courtesy of OTCSafety.org.
