When illness strikes on the weekend, you may wonder whether or not it is bad enough to warrant a trip to the urgent care clinic, or if it can wait until your doctor's office opens on Monday morning. Get to know some of the situations that would warrant that trip to the urgent care clinic so that you can take the guesswork out of dealing with weekend illnesses.
Urinary Tract Infection Symptoms
Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are a lot more common than you would think and they can come seemingly from out of nowhere. Because UTIs can be quite advanced by the time you notice or complain of symptoms, swift and immediate treatment is always important.
Symptoms of a urinary tract infection include a need to urinate frequently (as soon as any urine is in the bladder), pain or burning when urinating, cloudy or bloody urine, and abdominal or lower back pain. UTIs can also cause fever and chills when the infection has spread to the kidneys, which is a serious medical condition that needs to be treated right away.
Because UTIs can be so uncomfortable and can easily spread to the kidneys, you should get to the urgent care center right away if you see these symptoms. The sooner you can get an official diagnosis and an antibiotic prescription, the sooner you will reduce your risk of any further complications.
A Severe Sore Throat
When you wake up Saturday morning with a horrible sore throat, your first instinct may be to reach for a cough drop or lemon tea and go back to sleep for a while. It is important to understand, however, that a severe sore throat can be a sign of strep throat.
Strep throat is a bacterial infection in the throat that can make it difficult to swallow, give you headaches, cause fevers, and make your life pretty miserable overall. While strep throat is fairly common, particularly among people who have children in school or daycare, this does not mean it isn't serious. If left untreated strep throat can also cause rheumatic fever, an inflammatory disease that can cause permanent damage to the tissues and valves in the heart.
So, if you wake up with a severe sore throat, with or without the additional strep throat symptoms, go to the urgent care clinic to get it checked out rather than just trying to numb it and move on with your day. The sooner you get it diagnosed, the sooner you can make that severe sore throat a distant memory.
Now that you know a few of the illnesses and symptoms that warrant a visit to the urgent care clinic, you can make the right decision for you and the other members of your family when illness strikes on the weekend. Remember to err on the side of caution and know that it is not always a good idea to wait until Monday for medical treatment. If you're ever uncertain, call your local urgent care center, like 24 Hour Urgent Care of the Desert for advice.
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