Runny nose

Call your health care provider if:

• Your symptoms last more than 10 days.
• You have a high fever.
• What comes from your nose is yellow and green. Your face hurts or you have fever. This may be a sign of a bacterial infection.
• What comes out of your nose is bloody. Or your nose keeps running after a head injury.

Call your child's doctor if:

• Your child is younger than 2 months and is running a fever.
• Your baby's runny nose or congestion causes trouble nursing or makes breathing difficult.

Self-care

Until you see your health care provider, try these simple steps to relieve symptoms:

• Avoid anything you know you're allergic to.
• Try an allergy medicine you can get without a prescription. If you're also sneezing and your eyes are itching or watering, you might have allergies. Be sure to follow the label instructions exactly.
• For babies, put several saline drops into one nostril. Then gently suction that nostril with a soft rubber-bulb syringe.

To relieve saliva that builds up at the back of the throat, also known as postnasal drip, try these measures:

• Avoid common irritants such as cigarette smoke and sudden humidity changes
• Drink plenty of water.
• Use nasal saline sprays or rinses.

• Causes