About Symptoms
A common cold starts with a sore throat, then moves on to nasal congestion, a headache and maybe even a low-grade fever. Understanding the progression of symptoms and how they compare to allergies, the flu and sinus infections can help you manage the illness more effectively.
During the incubation period, you are most likely to spread germs when someone coughs or sneezes nearby. Germs can also be spread when a sick person touches you or a surface (like a doorknob) that you touch later. You are contagious until all of your symptoms have stopped, usually about a week.
If you notice a change in your health, it’s important to tell your doctor about the changes and how they occur. For example, a sore throat could be a warning sign of cancer or diabetes.
Sometimes a small symptom may seem insignificant or unrelated to the rest of your health concerns, but to a trained medical professional it may be the key piece of information needed for diagnosis. For example, a minor tingling feeling in your hands could be a sign of multiple sclerosis (MS). Fatigue is also an important symptom of MS. It’s different from the tiredness you might feel after a long day at work and can cause difficulty walking or standing for extended periods of time, which can be dangerous if you’re older or a wheelchair user. For some people, MS may cause numbness and tingling sensations in the legs, which is called spasticity.
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