Is it really allergies?

[shoutlouder]

For the past 2 1/2 almost 3 weeks I have been having a stuffy, runny nose, sore throat, coughing, and mild sinus pain here and there. The sore throat comes and goes as does the coughing.

I went to the Doctor (ENT) the other day and he said he thinks its allergies and gave me some Clarinex and Nasonex spray. I've been taking them both for the past few days and while my nose is slightly less runny my throat is still sore.

I am just skeptical that it's allergies because of the throat thing, and also my mucus is a yellowish color which I thought was a sign of infection and not allergies. I might go back for an allergy test anyway but I'm just curious if any of you have any thoughts on this. Thanks.

[CheerAngel]

Hi 'shoutlouder', go back to your ENT doctor and request for an allergy test! What does he mean by saying that he thinks it's allergies. It can only be confirm by an allergy test. It may or may not be allergy that's causing your problems since you didnt mention itchy nose or sneezing which are 2 'main' symptoms for allergic rhinitis sufferers.

The yellow mucus could be a sign of infection and might mean that you have sinus infection. That can be checked out by doing a CT scan to see if your sinus are indeed infected.

The Nasonex is a nasal steroid spray and is good if used long term for problems like congestion/stuffiness, runny nose... If you have allergies, the clarinex(antihistamine) will help stop the allergic reaction in your nose. The coughing that you have could be due to the post nasal drip(PND) where the mucus flows back into your throat and cause irritation and make you cough. Hope your doctor can tell you what your problem is!

[shoutlouder]

Thanks so much for replying! I am actually going back for an allergy test tomorrow afternoon. We'll see what happens with that.

[kitkat77]

There has been a nasty virus going around that has the identical symptoms you are describing. Having yellow mucus is actually normal in most viral infections, and is definately a characteristic of this one. Allergy sufferers have clear nasal discharge.

My 10 year old son and I have both had this "bug" (at separate times though), and it took us each 9 weeks to get rid of it! The sore throat was the worst! It felt like strep and lasted a full 6 weeks before finally going away - it and the cough, came from the post nasal drip like Cheerangel mentioned.

By the way, when your cough becomes "rattly" it actually means that the virus is coming to an end, and not that you have developed a chest infection (which is what people often think).

I would wait a while before going back to the doctor, treat the symptoms and try to ride this out.