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My husband is the king of allergies. He actually jokes with me that I’m not sympathetic enough when it comes to his allergies. I guess its hard to relate to something that you don’t have, but today I am going to try because so many of you are going through this and I wanted to help. Is it a cold or Allergies?
When we used to go to my grandma’s house, on Hilton Head Island (my favorite place in the whole world!), my husband would have the most red, itchy, watery eyes that I’d ever seen! The first time that we went, I remember thinking that maybe he was getting really sick, but it didn’t stop until we left. I started noticing it more: around my family’s dog when we were in high school (my husband and I are high school sweethearts), around the cat that we got when we first got married (that we kept for two days and had to give away because of his allergies), around any sort of dust, in the springtime, etc…
Our nephew has allergies, too. Poor sweet boy! He is just sneezing and coughing when he goes outside in the spring at all (and that little boy loves to play outside!)
So~ how can you tell if it is a cold or allergies?
I found this on WebMd.com and I really thought that it was helpful…
Allergies usually come with nasal secretions that are watery and clear, itchy eyes and throat and symptoms persist for weeks. You will have sinus pain and pressure (Sudafed is a great resource for this!) Click the picture to be taken to their page for info on this.
If you have a cold, nasal secretions tend to be, but aren’t always, discolored. You may have chills and body aches, as well. Symptoms for a cold last about 7-10 days. (I would always tell my husband, when he would have a cold, “You don’t need to take medicine. It will be gone in 7-10 days with our without medicine.” (maybe this pushed him towards the “You aren’t very sympathetic” comment. He has known me since I was 13, so he knew this going into our marriage! haha!)
Anyways, if you aren’t sure if it is cold or allergies, getting to the root of a the illness is important. It costs money and time to continue going to the Doctor’s office over and over again. This is time that you really don’t want to have when you are dealing with sinus pain- you want to feel better quickly.
When I asked my husband this:
“Babe, how does sinus pain & pressure make you feel?”
His answer was…
“You want to know? It feels like someone has just punched me in the face. It hurts in my eyes, my cheeks, I have a headache that I can’t get rid of. It feels like someone is just pushing against your face. It hurts to breathe through your nose and everything.”
There you have it!
Ok- So now that I know, I decided to have a little fun with it. Sudafed has an tool on their Facebook page – the Sudafed OPEN UP™ application – and it lets you sketch how you are feeling. Let me warn you that I am a terrible artist in real life, so if you give me a computer & tell me to draw on there, yep… even worse. Here are 2 pictures that I made, using this app, of my husband when he has allergies… (these are my screenshots from my computer)
Ok- and just for fun… I made this picture! My Family…
You should go to Sudafed OPEN UP™ application & make a picture.
Share it with me on Facebook ~ @Yourmodernfamily
Sudafed knows that suffering from sinus pressure and pain can leave individuals feeling crushed, beat down, congested and even squeezed, desperately looking for a way to OPEN UP. Serious sinus sufferers are invited to creatively share how their sinus pain and pressure looks and feels to them by using Sudafed’s OPEN UP™ application on Facebook.
Then, beginning on December 2, the Sudafed Facebook community will vote for one of five finalist sketches that best illustrates the pains of sinus pressure. The winner will receive $5,000 and a chance to have their work included in a Sudafed advertising campaign. For more information, visit the Sudafed Facebook page.
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Sudafed.
Oh, I’m sorry for your hubby, hope he’ll get better! When allergy season starts, I do have some body aches in the first few days, it always feels like a cold, but it’s the starting of my allergy which fades within 2 weeks every summer.. 🙂
Thanks! 🙂
That must be hard on your husband and to you too because you have to find remedy when allergy strike. You learn a lot about allergy relief and remedy when you are dealing with someone with allergy. this is a helpful article because dealing with allergy is not that fun.
Very cute post! Love it!
I have sinus issues that I have dealt with for years now. Sudafed is my first choice of medicines when they flare up.