Allergies or strep?

It’s sum­mer time here in San Anto­nio, and while that means soar­ing tem­per­a­tures and kids out of school, it’s also allergy sea­son. We’ve writ­ten before about what causes aller­gies and some ways to com­bat them, so I won’t go into too much detail about that here. What’s con­cern­ing is that we’re start­ing to see some cases of strep throat mixed in among peo­ple com­ing in for their allergies.

You can mud­dle through allergies on your own (or we can help you if you’re really mis­er­able), but strep needs extra attention.

How can you tell if you have strep or just bad allergies?

Strep

• Sud­den sore throat
• Sore throat and tonsils
• Painful swal­low­ing
• Ten­der, enlarged cer­vi­cal nodes
• White exu­dates on tonsils
• Fever
• Headache
• Occa­sion­ally nausea/loss of appetite or abdom­i­nal pain
• Occa­sion­ally a rash 12–48 hours after onset of symptoms
• Usu­ally no res­pi­ra­tory or nasal symptoms

 Allergies

• Usu­ally pro­longed dura­tion of illness
• Runny nose
• Sneez­ing
• Itchy, watery eyes
• Nasal dis­charge
• Recurs at a par­tic­u­lar sea­son or with expo­sure to allergen
• Occa­sion­ally cough, hoarse­ness, sore throat (from drainage)

Here at Impact Urgent Care, we have rapid strep tests avail­able that can con­firm our doctor’s find­ings if we believe you have strep. Then, we can pre­scribe antibi­otics and other med­ica­tions if they’re needed. Untreated strep can leave you sus­cep­ti­ble to nas­tier dis­eases, and it’s not a good idea to see if it’ll clear up on its own.

Even if it’s just a sum­mer cold or bad aller­gies, we can help you feel better.

Try out our new online check in sys­tem to beat the crowds. Just look for this

 in the upper right cor­ner of our web­site, and you’ll be auto­mat­i­cally placed in our queue. You can wait at home or any­where you please once you’re checked in online, and our new sys­tem will txt you when it’s your turn!

Is it IBS or just tummy troubles?

You have a chronic condition that causes pain, occasional embarrassment and lifestyle restriction. Nobody really knows why or how you got it, though there are theories. There’s no cure, though the symptoms are treatable. Sometimes you can eat whatever you want, others even looking at something as innocent as white rice causes spasms.

It sounds dreadful, doesn’t it? Well, if you are one of these people, you may have IBS, or Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

For those who don’t have IBS, have you ever had food poisoning? Imagine that happening to you every day or even several times a month. The problem is that it’s not well understood. IBS can effect you either with diarrhea or constipation, and it’s estimated to effect 3-20% of the population. It’s a wide estimation because not everyone will seek medical help or even think they have a medical condition.

IBS can be treated in a variety of ways, including dietary, hypnosis, lifestyle changes, yoga, medications, therapy, etc. Some doctors will perform gastrointestinal scans to rule out other medical problems, while others will just write a prescription for an anti-spasmodic and allow you to go on your way.

Do you have IBS? How do you deal with your symptoms?

There are lots of resources out there to learn more about IBS and how to treat your symptoms. The US Department of Health and Human Services has a good overview. Thehelpforibs.com site has a lot of information and message boards (fair warning--they also sell supplements and books about IBS). There’s even a site directed at women with IBS.

In the end, you’ll need to have a conversation with your primary care doctor if you’re not sure you’ve got IBS and to make sure it’s not something more serious.

And if you have any unexpected emergencies remember we're always here to help! 

Photo credit: Dranik / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-SA and http://help-health.com/stomach-pain-after-eating/