In the summertime, we like to go outside and stay outside. WGTS 91.9. I'm Claude. He's Jerry.
But sometimes you're outside and you got a little bit too much sun on the skin, or maybe you've been playing in the grass and you got a little bump on your arm and you're wondering, what in the world bit me? Some things aren't so serious, other things can be serious. How do we know the difference? How can we tell?
Well, doctor Neil Roy is the chief medical officer at Adventist HealthCare, Shady Grove Medical Center, and is joining us to talk about, okay, when is it serious, When is it not?
Okay. Doctor Roy, let's start with what symptoms should never wait for an appointment? Like, we need to head to the doctor or the urgent care right now.
So as we get older, symptoms become more serious. But in general, if someone has chest pain, shortness of breath, they feel like their throat, lips, or tongue is swelling, if you feel confused or dizzy, you really should come to an emergency department and be seen immediately. I wouldn't wait to go to an urgent care or somewhere else in those circumstances.
Now when is urgent care the most efficient choice, and when can your primary care provider handle it?
Urgent care is great for things like ankle sprains or if you, that's not open or no large cuts, but a small cut or something that looks like a tick bite that you need to get evaluated or a small rash, including things like seasonal allergies. Those are reasonable for urgent care. Urgent care is the right place to be for scrapes, twists, and injuries, but not the place to go for things like chest pain or shortness of breath.
How do we know a normal bite reaction for something that's a little bit more serious, and how can we lower our risk of getting those serious bites?
It's normal to have some redness and swelling around the site of the bite.
So if it's a bee sting or an ant bite, that's normal. If it starts to spread rapidly, you have any tongue or lip swelling or anything beyond where the bite is in isolation, you should get evaluated pretty quickly.
Tick bites are particularly concerning because they can carry Lyme disease.
This year, we're seeing a significant uptick in tick bites. Even my one year old daughter recently had a tick crawling on her leg that I got really concerned about. If you have a tick bite and that tick is removed, we can give antibiotics to prevent Lyme disease. So if a tick has been on you and seems to be engorged, that's a good opportunity to go be seen either at an urgent care or an emergency department or even by your primary care as long as you can do it pretty timely.
Alright. Doctor Neil Roy helping us out. Thank you so much for your time. You can catch this health minute and Health Minutes on the website wgts919.com.
And of course, want to say a big thank you to Adventist HealthCare for sponsoring today's Health Minute.
