Can Body Aches Be a Symptom of Allergies?

Seasonal allergies can lead to body aches and pain, in addition to more common symptoms like congestion, coughing, and watery eyes. This is primarily because allergic reactions can trigger inflammatory responses in the body. Repeatedly coughing and sneezing can lead to even more pain.

There are a number of ways to treat and manage body aches and related allergy symptoms, from over-the-counter (OTC) medications and warm baths to resting sore muscles. Keep in mind, though, that many other health conditions can also lead to muscle aches and joint pain.

This article discusses how body aches may be a symptom of seasonal allergies, as well as some possible causes and treatments. It also offers tips for preventing body aches and other seasonal allergy symptoms.

What Are Body Aches?

Body aches are a symptom you feel in your joints and muscles, including pain, stiffness, and generalized weakness. Body aches have a number of possible causes, including:

• Muscle injuries from sports or work
• Certain medications, among them common blood pressure drugs
• Electrolyte imbalances, such as occur with dehydration
• Infections, like the flu
• Chronic conditions, like lupus
• Acute conditions, like chest pain from myocardial infarction (heart attack)

Seasonal allergies also can lead to body aches, although there are a number of types of allergies (food allergies, for example) that can occur with a range of different symptoms.

Are Body Aches a Symptom of Allergies?

Body aches may be a symptom of seasonal allergies, which are also called allergic rhinitis. This may occur along with more common symptoms as part of a body-wide (systemic) immune response to allergies.

Some of the reasons for body aches with seasonal allergies include:

• Inflammation
• Excessive coughing and sneezing
• Seasonal allergy symptoms aggravating another condition

Your healthcare provider can help to diagnose the exact reason for your body aches.

Inflammation

When your immune system reacts to allergens, it triggers an inflammatory response. During inflammation, chemicals are released by the immune system that bring white blood cells to the affected area to fight off a harmful substance. Pain can also be part of the inflammatory response.

Seasonal allergies that lead to body aches also may cause symptoms of:

• Sneezing, coughing, and congestion, with a stuffy or runny nose
• Urticaria, a skin rash also called hives
• Sinus pressure, red and itchy eyes, or sore throat
• Headache and fatigue

Excessive Coughing and Sneezing

Seasonal allergies most often affect your respiratory system—nose, sinuses, throat, and lungs. However, pain from allergies can also affect other parts of your body.

Repeatedly coughing and sneezing can strain the muscles between your ribs or the cartilage that attaches your ribs to your breastbone (a condition called costochondritis), causing a lot of pain. This pain is usually sharp and intense and worsens when you breathe, sneeze, laugh, or cough.

Pain can also come from your diaphragm, or breathing muscle. The pain can spread to your shoulder or neck.

Body Aches and Other Health Conditions

In some cases, body ache symptoms caused by seasonal allergies may occur alongside another health issue. For example, your seasonal allergy symptoms may be made worse by the cold or flu.

People who have other inflammatory conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis, may experience body aches with their seasonal allergies. Some studies have shown an association between the two conditions.

Treatment and Management of Body Aches

Medications can help relieve body aches or pain along with other allergy symptoms. The main OTC options for allergic rhinitis include:

• Antihistamines like Benadryl (diphenhydramine) or Allegra (fexofenadine)
• Nasal spray steroids like Flonase (fluticasone), also available in prescription strength

Allergy shots also may be used to prevent seasonal allergies.

To reduce muscle and joint pain, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) like Aleve (naproxen) or Advil (ibuprofen) may help. You also can try:

• Taking a warm bath or using a heating pad
• Using an ice pack (cold treatment) if heat doesn't work
• Hugging a pillow or towel against your chest when you cough or sneeze
• Avoiding excess physical activity to allow your muscles to heal

Seasonal allergies usually strike during spring, summer, or fall, depending on your specific allergens. Unfortunately, there's no way to prevent seasonal allergies and body aches. However, there are things you can do to help manage your symptoms. You can try to:

• Avoid your allergens whenever possible: Plan outdoor activities during times of the day when allergen levels are lower. For example, pollen levels tend to be higher in the mornings than in the evenings.
• Wear a mask: If you have to be outdoors for significant periods of time during allergy season, consider wearing a mask to help filter allergens out of the air you breathe.

Weather can have a significant impact on seasonal allergies. While rain washes pollen away, pollen levels can spike right after a rainfall. Other allergens, such as mold, thrive in hot, humid weather.

Try staying inside on windy days, because wind lifts allergen particles off the ground, making you more likely to breathe them in.

When to See Your Healthcare Provider

Body aches related to allergies can also often be a symptom of cold, flu, or viral infection. They also can be due to a more serious chronic condition. Consider visiting your healthcare provider if:

• Your body aches last more than three to five days.
• You have a rash or severe skin redness.
• You have a fever that doesn't get better (a temperature of higher than 104 degrees in kids).

Persistent nausea or vomiting, or pain in the ribs, lungs, or chest, are symptoms that need to be diagnosed by a healthcare provider.

Although it's very rare, a person can cough hard enough to crack or break a rib. This injury, called a rib fracture, typically causes constant, severe pain that does not improve with medications. See your doctor if you suspect you've damaged a rib.

Summary

Seasonal allergies can lead to body aches along with more common symptoms, including watery eyes, a runny nose, and coughing and sneezing. That's because muscle aches and joint pain are part of the body's immune response to inflammation caused by your allergies.

Body aches also can be caused by excessive coughing and sneezing due to allergies. It may help to support your chest with a pillow or apply a heating pad while you heal.

Home remedies and over-the-counter medications often bring relief from body ache symptoms. But don't ignore chest pain (it may be heart-related) or pain symptoms that either don't go away or worsen over time.