Over your lifetime, you’ll likely experience numerous bouts of mild illness and injury. Since your body comes equipped with an immune system and amazing self-healing properties, most minor maladies, aches, and pains resolve themselves with rest and time.
But when the condition is more serious, you may need medical intervention. The problem most people face is figuring out what types of health problems warrant a sick visit to the doctor.
Here at Millennium Park Medical Associates in Greenwood Village, Colorado, our internist, Dr. Farah Khan, understands your confusion and has compiled a list of general guidelines to help you decide when to stay home and let the condition run its course and when to call for an appointment.
When to see a doctor: the general rule of thumb
The reason you (and everyone else) has trouble figuring out when to make a doctor appointment is because there are no set rules. There are so many different possible illnesses with varying degrees of severity, and they each affect people differently, so the best rule of thumb is to go with your gut.
Most people know their body well enough to recognize the difference between a shallow cut and a laceration that needs stitches, so trust your instinct. If something seems seriously wrong, don’t hesitate to call us.
Coughs, colds, and viruses
Coughing, sneezing, sore throats, and stuffy noses are the main reasons people see their doctors, so let’s explore what they mean.
The common cold is a viral infection that affects your upper respiratory tract. The symptoms are typically mild and include sore throat, stuffy or runny nose, cough, congestion, sneezing, and body aches. Occasionally, a cold comes with a fever.
The flu virus also attacks your respiratory system and has many of the same symptoms as a cold, except your cough will be dry, and you may have chills and sweats, nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, and shortness of breath.
COVID-19 is also a viral infection with similar symptoms, although many sufferers report loss of smell and taste, which is unique to COVID-19. Otherwise, COVID-19 and flu symptoms are so similar, it’s even difficult for medical professionals to tell the difference without a test. We offer both the COVID nasal PCR and the antibody test by appointment.
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