Is It a Common Cold or Allergies? 10MAR16

ALLERGIES or common cold or something else? The past week I have been miserable. No fever, but flu like symptoms, though today has been the worst with the pollen count at 9. Here's an article from WebMD that might be some help for fellow sufferers....

Is It a Common Cold or Allergies?

In this article

• What Are Colds and Allergies?
• Differences Between Colds and Allergies

It's a question that puzzles lots of folks when those familiar symptoms hit: Is all that coughing and sneezing from a cold or hay fever?

It's sometimes a tough call, but how long your problems last is one of the big clues.

Natural Relief for Cold & Allergy Symptoms

What Are Colds and Allergies?

They have different causes. You get a cold when a tiny living thing called a virus gets into your body. There are hundreds of different types that can get you sick.

Once a cold virus gets inside you, your immune system, the body's defense against germs, launches a counter-attack. It's this response that brings on the classic symptoms like a cough or stuffed up nose.

The viruses that cause colds are contagious. You can pick them up when someone who's infected sneezes, coughs, or shakes hands with you. After a couple of weeks, at the most, your immune system fights off the illness and you should stop having symptoms.

It's a different story with allergies. They're caused by an overactive immune system. For some reason, your body mistakes harmless things, such as dust or pollen, for germs and attacks them.

When that happens, your body releases chemicals such as histamine, just as it does when fighting a cold. This can cause a swelling in the passageways of your nose, and you'll start sneezing and coughing.

Unlike colds, allergies aren't contagious, though some people may inherit a tendency to get them.

Differences Between Colds and Allergies

Take stock of your symptoms and how long they last to help you decide what's causing your trouble.

Characteristic	Cold	Allergy
How Long It Lasts	3-14 days	Days to months -- as long as you're in contact with the allergy trigger
When It Happens	Most often in the winter, but possible at any time	Any time of the year -- although the appearance of some allergy triggers are seasonal
When It Starts	Symptoms take a few days to appear after infection with the virus	Symptoms can begin immediately after contact with allergy triggers
Symptom	Cold	Allergy
Cough	Often	Sometimes
Aches	Sometimes	Never
Fatigue	Sometimes	Sometimes
Fever	Rarely	Never
Itchy, watery eyes	Rarely	Often
Sore throat	Often	Sometimes
Runny or stuffy nose	Often	Often

The most important difference is that colds usually don't last longer than 14 days. So see your doctor if you still have symptoms after 2 weeks. These may be allergy symptoms or signs of another problem.

WebMD Medical Reference

View Article Sources 

Reviewed by Melinda Ratini, DO, MS on 3/, 014

Tell the FDA: Don't approve GMO salmon 2FEB13

I don't eat salmon as much as I should, but I don't want this on my plate when I do. Here is your chance to tell the FDA not to approve this frankenfish for release into our food system. I told the FDA in my comments the Consumers Union should conduct a two year study in which the ceo and executives of aquabounty consume their own product and then are tested. If they aren't willing to do that then this shouldn't be approved for the rest of us.  Click the link to send your message to the FDA.....

This is our last chance to stop approval of GMO salmon. Submit a comment to the FDA now. The FDA is one step from approval of GMO salmon — the first genetically modified animal in our food system.

Late last year the FDA quietly took a major step toward approving the "frankenfish," AquaBounty's genetically modified salmon.

Its approval would be a radical move by the FDA — the first genetically modified animal ever to enter our food supply. It's no wonder the FDA posted its final review, clearing the way for approval, on the Friday before the Christmas holiday, when few people would notice.

The FDA is now taking public comments on its study, which is expected to lead to approval of the frankenfish. This is our last chance to keep GMO salmon off our grocery store shelves, and stop the dangerous trend of introducing GM animals into our food supply.

Tell the FDA: Don't approve GMO salmon. Submit a public comment now.

AquaBounty's frankenfish is an Atlantic salmon, spliced with genes from an eel pout and growth hormone from a Chinook salmon. The result is a salmon that produces growth hormone year-round and grows twice as fast. The risks are myriad.

The fish hasn't been proven safe for humans. But the FDA is preparing to approve it based on a limited, flawed and inadequate study — even thought the same study identified elevated allergy-causing potential,¹ and elevated levels of the IGF-1 growth hormone, which is linked to colon, prostate and breast cancers. Clearly more study is needed to determine the safety or danger of GMO salmon.²

Were GMO salmon to escape its farms into the wild, the fish would pose a serious risk to wild salmon populations. The GMO salmon consume five times more food than wild salmon, and are more aggressive. Introducing these traits into the wild population would be serious — and irreversible.³

Separate from any risks, the GMO salmon are less healthy to eat — producing less of the beneficial omega-3 fatty acids than conventional salmon — and a less efficient food source — requiring 1.5 to 8 kilograms of wild fish to produce one kilogram of conventional farmed salmon.

Worse still, without GMO labeling, these frankenfish would be totally unlabeled on store shelves, and indistinguishable from other farmed salmon, so consumers will have no way of making an informed choice.

Tell the FDA: Don't approve GMO salmon. Submit a public comment now.

The White House knows that the public is opposed to GMO salmon and is feeling our pressure.

A recent report even documents that the White House may have delayed the release of the FDA assessment, which was completed in May, until after the election, to avoid upsetting the president's political base.⁴

Significant public opposition in this comment period is our best shot at preventing approval of GMO salmon. But this is our last chance. So now is the time to make your voice heard. Submit a comment now:
https://act.credoaction.com/campaign/gmo_salmon/index.html?p=gmo_salmon&r=6996284

Thanks for fighting for safe food.

Elijah Zarlin, Campaign Manager
CREDO Action from Working Assets

Learn more about this campaign

1. "Consumers Union Says FDA Assessment of GE Salmon Is Flawed and Inadequate," Consumers Union, 12/21/12
2. "AquAdvantage Salmon Ready for Commerce?," Permaculture News, 9/23/10
3. "Tell the FDA: No Frankenfish," Organic Consumers Union
4. "White House Ends Its Interference in a Scientific Review," Slate, 12/21/12