When to see a doctor

By Mayo Clinic Staff

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.

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April 07, 2023

See also

  1. Alcohol intolerance
  2. Allergies
  3. Allergy medications: Know your options
  4. Allergy-proof your home
  5. Alpha-gal syndrome
  6. Aspergillosis
  7. Bronchiolitis
  8. Chronic cough
  9. Chronic daily headaches
  10. Cluster headache
  11. Cold and flu viruses: How long can they live outside the body?
  12. Cold or allergy: Which is it?
  13. Cold remedies
  14. Cold symptoms: Does drinking milk increase phlegm?
  15. Common cold
  16. Common cold in babies
  17. Dust mite allergy
  18. Flu shots
  19. Flu: When to see a doctor?
  20. Granulomatosis with polyangiitis
  21. Guide to different tick species and the diseases they carry
  22. Headaches and hormones
  23. Headaches in children
  24. Headaches: Treatment depends on your diagnosis and symptoms
  25. High-dose flu vaccines: How are they different from other flu vaccines?
  26. Humidifiers
  27. Influenza (flu)
  28. Mayo Clinic Minute: Why getting vaccinated for the flu is doubly important this season
  29. Measles
  30. Measles vaccine: Can I get the measles if I've already been vaccinated?
  31. Milk allergy
  32. MRSA infection
  33. Nasal Cleaning
  34. Nasal polyps
  35. Neti pot: Can it clear my nose?
  36. Nighttime headaches: Relief
  37. Nonallergic rhinitis
  38. Pain Management
  39. Peanut allergy
  40. Pet allergy
  41. Plugged ears: What is the remedy?
  42. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)
  43. Roseola
  44. Rubella
  45. Swollen lymph nodes
  46. Vicks VapoRub: An effective nasal decongestant?
  47. Warm-mist versus cool-mist humidifier: Which is better for a cold?
  48. Whooping cough
  49. Whooping cough
  50. Do zinc supplements shorten colds?