How to Tell if You Have a Stomach Flu or a Common Cold



If you’ve recently been feeling under the weather, it can be difficult to tell if you have a stomach flu or a common cold. Here are some tips to help you figure out which one it is:

1. Look at the Symptoms: Stomach flu symptoms typically include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal cramps. Common cold symptoms usually involve coughing, sneezing, sore throat and a runny nose. If your main symptom is stomach-related (nausea, vomiting or diarrhea), then it’s more likely that you have the stomach flu rather than a cold.

2. Duration of Symptoms: The duration of your symptoms can also give clues as to whether or not you have the stomach flu or a common cold. Stomach flu symptoms typically last for 1-2 days whereas common cold symptoms can linger for up to two weeks. If your illness has been going on for longer than two days, then chances are it’s not the stomach flu but rather a common cold instead.

3. Fever: A fever is usually an indication that something more serious than just a common cold is going on in your body – such as the stomach flu or even food poisoning – so if you’ve been feeling feverish lately then it might be worth getting checked out by your doctor right away just in case!

By looking at these three factors – your symptoms, duration of illness and presence of fever – you should be able to determine whether what you have is the stomach flu or just a regular old common cold!

Tags:

stomach flu, common cold, symptoms, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal cramps, coughing, sneezing, sore throat, runny nose, fever,

Topics