Conversation: The conversation between human and AI assistant.
[|Human|] I have a background of hay fever which gets quite severe with an almost contantly runny nose and mild asthma. I find it quite hard to tell the difference between allergies and a cold. for a week now i have had varying symptoms which started with sneezing, a runny nose (extremely so!), there was a slight sore throat with it, and i now have a slight cough and a little breathlessness. There has been no fever but i do work in child care, germ central. unless i have a fever im never sure if i have a cold or allergy and im not sure if the breathlessness is asthma symptoms or not. thankyou
[|AI|]  HI, thanks for using Chat Doctor Allergies and common cold can be associated with similar symptoms. The main differences would be fever, change in appetite or energy level that may occur with the common cold. The time frame would also vary, if the symptoms are acute then it is more likely a cold, if they are long term-allergies. The treatment of both would be the use of decongestants (topical or oral), oral antihistamines and cough suppressants if needed. I hope this helps