Philip Robinson is medical director of infection prevention, Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, Newport Beach, CA.
If you think that you might have the flu, don’t head to the emergency room at the first sign of fever.
Emergency departments were created to handle emergencies – heart attacks, strokes, severe trauma, and other life-threatening emergencies. No matter how awful it feels, the flu typically doesn’t fall into this category – unless you are in a high-risk category for complications. This includes children younger than 2, adults over 65, …
“Get rest and drink plenty of fluids,” might not sound like adequately aggressive medical advice. If you’ve dragged yourself out of bed to visit an urgent care or your doctor’s office, you will probably feel somewhat cheated by an admonition to head right back to bed and stay there until you feel better.
Most likely, you’ll want a prescription for an antibiotic. You might even demand it.
Don’t. Antibiotics are not the …
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