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How to Tell if You Need Emergency Care
At Excel ER, we advise our patients to visit an emergency center if they are facing a life-threatening injury or illness. While most all other illnesses can be cared for at urgent care, we offer a wide range of emergent and non-emergent services to fully care for our community.
Let’s look at a few different conditions that may require emergency care, so you know when to get the medical attention you need:
Allergies
Patients who have a food allergy are at the highest risk of having a medical emergency, as they risk developing a life-threatening and sometimes fatal response called anaphylaxis. Patients with any form of allergies may all develop a severe asthma attack and need help breathing.
Anaphylaxis requires an injection of epinephrine and a trip to an emergency room. If you don't have an EpiPen prescribed by your doctor or allergist, you should go to an emergency room immediately.
Flu-Like Symptoms
If you believe you have the flu or COVID-19, you may not need to go to the emergency room if you are mildly sick. This is because there isn’t much your doctor can do about the flu; in most cases, the best treatment is rest and fluids until symptoms stop.
However, the flu has the potential to become a medical emergency for some patients, especially if these symptoms are present:
- Fever or cough that improves but then returns or worsens.
- Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath.
- Persistent pain or pressure in the chest or abdomen.
- Persistent dizziness, confusion, inability to arouse.
- Lack of urination.
- Severe muscle pain, weakness, or unsteadiness.
Vomiting
While you may have the stomach flu or another related condition, vomiting can be a sign of a serious condition. If you are throwing up uncontrollably, can’t keep anything down, and are becoming dehydrated, you should seek medical attention.
Strep Throat
If you have an extremely sore throat and a fever you should get tested for strep, but not every case requires a trip to the emergency room.
Typically, if your sore throat lasts longer than a few days and is accompanied by these other serious symptoms, you should seek emergency care:
- Joint pain.
- Difficulty breathing.
- Inability to swallow.
- Abdominal pain.
- Fever.
- Rash.
Pneumonia
During 2017–2018, 37.2% of emergency room visits for influenza and pneumonia by adults resulted in hospital admission. Some warning signs and symptoms to be cautious of include:
- Severe coughs resulting in bloody, yellow mucus.
- Persistent coughs.
- Fever or chills.
- Slow or heavy breathing.
- Chest pain.
- Loss of appetite.
Emergency Treatment in Longview, Nacogdoches, and Odessa
If you experience any of the above symptoms, don’t hesitate to seek the emergency care you need. Contact us online, call us at (903) 500-7321, or stop in for quick and effective relief or visit one of our locations in Longview, Nacogdoches, and Odessa today.
