Cold symptoms, all the time?

[Niteowl]

I've had ongoing cold symptoms for years - I can't say for how long, but for three/four years at least. It's one of the causes of my social anxiety. I say cold symptoms, because I don't know what else to call them. Basically, I'm always sneezing, my nose is always blocked, I'm often feeling tired when I shouldn't be, but some of the things are more like allergy symptoms - eyes watering, every day, for example. I don't cough that much. You'll have to forgive me, by the way - I'm not clued up on viruses, allergies and the like at all. None of it makes any sense to me.

Some days, it's worse than others. It's been quite bad this weekend. Normally, I can hide some of the symptoms - by just drying my eyes, blowing my nose, et cetera - but some days I can't. It seems my dad asks me why I'm crying almost every week - that's just my eyes again.

I know when I have a real cold, because it's more extreme then. What I'm experiencing right now are the year-round symptoms. Somebody suggested about three years ago that it could be hay fever, but I'm not sure about that. To be honest, I don't know what that means, and when I've tried to find out about it, the medical words make no sense, haha. We have a cat, and I often let him lie on me, or I cuddle him, but we've had him for about eight years, and I'm not sure these symptoms have lasted quite that long. I might be wrong though - I'm just going off a few memories related to these symptoms, about three-four years ago.

Something stood out for me on Wikipedia - "Other physical signs include folds in the skin below the lower eyelid known as Dennie–Morgan folds, and rings under the eyes, known in patients with allergic rhinitis as "allergic shiners". There can also be behavioural signs; in order to relieve the irritation or flow of mucus, patients may wipe or rub their nose with the palm of their hand in an upward motion: an action known as the "nasal salute" or the "allergic salute". This may result in a crease running across the nose, commonly referred to as the "transverse nasal crease", and can lead to permanent physical deformity if repeated enough." I don't have that crease - I don't rub it that hard, and I usually rub it more diagonally than upright, but the rest of it sounds like me. I thought those folds below my eyes were normal - I don't pay attention to whether other people have them or not.

Like I said, some days, it's worse. Every few weeks, my mum will ask me if I've got a cold again. Those are the days when I sneeze like five times in a row, and the symptoms are quite noisy. The rest of the time, they're quiet. I get the irritating feeling in my nose, and I sneeze a few times, but nobody really notices it. Nobody has ever caught these symptoms off of me, which also points to an allergy. If it is an allergy, then how can I find out what it is? My habits aren't particularly consistent, (ie. I don't eat a lot of the same thing, I don't always go to the same places) but these symptoms clearly are.

I'll say again, they're one of the causes of my anxiety, because the symptoms are quite embarrassing, and I have to hide them. I have to admit that when I'm out, with people around, I stop my sneezing by blocking my mouth and nose. I know I shouldn't do that, but it's preferable to the alternative.

Like most things, this isn't something I want to ask my parents about, even though my mum knows I'm always having these symptoms. She has said a couple of times that it's because I "don't go out". I get where she's coming from, kind of, but I don't think she knows the difference between a cold and an allergy either. There are people that I can ask, (because it's easier to ask people I don't know as well) but I would like to know a little more for myself, first.

Advice would be much appreciated. If any of you ever had an unidentified allergy, how did you deal with it? Or is anyone else having the same symptoms right now, and not sure what is causing them? I've mostly ignored it for years - I've just Googled the symptoms once in a while, gotten tired trying to read the confusing words, and given up, because it's so hard to concentrate. If I can find out about how I can avoid these symptoms, and that leads to me feeling a bit less anxious, then I'd like to do what I can to deal with them.

Unless it's the cat causing them. Then I'll have to live with them.

 

[WeirdyMcGee]

Cat could very well be causing them since they sound like allergy symptoms to me.

You could clean your room from top to bottom and get an air purifier (and keep the cat out of your personal space) and see if you get any better?
Or see your doctor and get tested for allergies.

It's not normal to have those symptoms non-stop.
I'm sure you will feel much better and more clear headed once you figure out how to put a stop to it.

 

[vitalis]

It really sounds like an allergy symptoms, an standard hay fever. I'm allergic to the pollen, so there are two or three months every year that I basically have exactly what you described. In my case they started something like eight years ago or so, by that I mean it's something that you develop in a certain time, you are not necessarily born with it.

I'd very much recommend and encourage you to go to a doctor to do the allergy tests, and I'm sorry to say I guess the cat may have something to do with that, if not all. The tests are harmless BTW. So after all, in my case, I've been vaccinating for a year now, and the symptoms in this spring have been somewhat relieved (just a month and a half, but it was a dry winter so...), so maybe this can also work for you.

 

[Phoenixx]

I would go get tested for any sort of allergy if I were you. It could be anything, your cat, molds, pollen, all different types of foods, or it could even just be candida albicans. (Overgrowth of yeast in your body. Anyone can have it.)

When I was 12, I was experiencing much of the same symptoms as you are; constant stuffy nose, always blocked and/or running, my face would be puffy, my sinuses would hurt, my eyes were always itchy, dry, and watery, the lymph nodes under my jaw were constantly swollen, I got headaches once in a while, and I started getting icepick migraines. I ignored everything though, as did my parents, as we all thought it was just from seasonal allergies (since I've always had a problem with dust, pollen, and mold). These symptoms lasted three years and only got worse. When I was 15, I finally started getting weird back pains, joint pains, and muscle cramps (I don't work out at all, so this was strange too), and eventually became too painful to even bear it anymore. My mom finally took me to a special allergist she started using after she was diagnosed with a severe soy allergy. The first time around my tests brought up that I was allergic to wheat, rice, cauliflower, dairy, apples (only raw; strange I know), bananas, and was sensitive to tomatoes and potatoes. Once I avoided those, I felt a lot better (took about a month or two for full results), but was still having some problems. Long story short, some months later I went to a different specialist to get tested yet again and got the same results, but also added to the list was corn, paprika, bell peppers, and a sensitivity to oranges. I also had candida which took forever to get rid of because it was so bad.

Anyway, fast forward to now, I'm basically allergic to 10 different foods, the usual dust, pollen, mold, and penicillin. BUT since completely changing my diet and avoiding all those foods, I hardly ever have those symptoms anymore. Of course I still get my seasonal allergies, but I don't have anymore strange muscle pains, or joint pains, or cramps, I don't get headaches nearly as bad as I used to, my face isn't puffy anymore, my eyes aren't nearly as itchy, my nose and sinuses are no where near as blocked as they used to be, and no more swollen lymph nodes. I still don't know why I have all this, I don't know why my body just developed sensitivities to everything, but it does happen to some people. Guess I'm just one of those unlucky ones. I really hope this isn't your case, but like I mentioned I would just go get tested anyway.

 

[MarionBerry]

I know how you feel. It really doesn't help to have a good attitude if you feel terrible all the time.

I bet you have allergies. You can try some over-the-counter allergy meds. Some work better than others depending on you own chemistry. It's also a good idea to get tested for allergies so you know exactly what's going on and can make life adjustments accordingly. Allergy testing is pretty easy. They prick you with a bunch of different needles and if you react to the different allergens then that's what you are allergic to.

 

[AsTimeBurns]

I've been like that for about a year since I moved and started a new job, I think it's the ridiculous amount of dust everywhere.

 

[Opaline]

I can relate. I have what I always assumed to be symptoms of seasonal allergies, but maybe it's something more. I wouldn't know how to go about figuring out just what the problem is though, since those symptoms could be caused by so many different things. Like my migraines :/

 

[Hellhound]

Allergies?

 

[JuiceB]

It could be mold. We discovered mold in our bathroom when a plumber came to fix a leaky pipe. When he pulled the paneling back the entire inner wall was covered in black. Dangerous.

 

[Niteowl]

Thanks for the replies/advice/suggestions. It's been helpful. I'm still none the wiser, but hearing about the experiences of other people - and learning about allergy tests - has been useful.