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Cold or allergy? Your nose knows.
- Article from:
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The Boston Herald
- Article date:
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June 1, 1997
- Author:
- Kahn, Robert M.
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Copyright informationCOPYRIGHT 1997 Boston Herald. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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It should be a simple process: Your eyes start itching, your nose starts running. So you beat a quick path to the drugstore thinking, "I need some relief, sniff." But walk down the crowded aisle of medications and you immediately sense that choosing an allergy medication is nothing to sneeze at.
Your first task on the road to a tissue-free day is to establish whether your sniffles are caused by an allergy or a cold. The two often are confused, because they both produce runny noses. But colds are caused by viruses, and allergies result when "histamines" in your body, aggravated by pollen, mold or some other allergen, rush into your bloodstream - a common occurrence in ...