How to Tell Cold and Flu Apart?

This article will teach you how to distinguish between flu and the common cold.

Since the jolly cold/flu season have arrived, we thought it best to give you a couple of tips on how to tell them apart. With most of the symptoms of the two conditions overlapping, it’s difficult to distinguish between them and to take the proper medication.

A short trip to the doctor can solve this dilemma, but we will show you a couple of tricks that will save you a trip to your physician’s office.

1. Stuffy or a runny nose

If you have a stuffy or a runny nose and run out of tissue quickly, then you definitely have a cold. However, there have been cases when patients with the flu had these symptoms, albeit very rare.

The symptoms can last anywhere between seven and ten days, and, in most cases, will go away on their own. Don’t forget to drink plenty of fluids and to get some rest.

2. Sneezing

While most patients with flu don’t usually sneeze that much, patients with the cold will sneeze quite frequently. So, if you sneeze a lot during the day, it’s safe to say that you’ve got the cold and not influenza.

3. Coughing

Patients with the flu will usually have a dry cough, with no mucus secretions. On the other hand, patients with the cold will always yellow or green dunk.

4. Sore Throat. Flu or Cold?

Definitely a cold. A sore throat has always been the telltale sign of a cold.

5. Body aches.

If you have a mild body and headaches, then you’ve definitely got a cold. On the other hand, if you experience severe muscle pains, then it means you have the flu.

6. Nausea

None of the patients diagnosed with the common cold even experienced nausea. On the other hand, patients with the flu sometimes experience nausea-related symptoms

7. Fever

In very rare cases, patients with the common cold have elevated body temperature. However, if you have the flu, then you’re bound to have a fever.

8. Chills/sweats

If you experience chills and sweats, then it’s a, sure enough, sign that you have influenza. Chills and sweats are not consistent with the cold’s symptomatology.

9. Symptoms onset

If the symptoms progressed slowly over a couple of days, then you definitely have a common cold. However, if the symptoms came out of blue, like in a few hours, then you have the flu.

Image source: Flickr

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John Birks

John holds a diploma in journalism from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. He covers the technology, social media, green business, eco-travel, politics, arts culture.