Warning TMI Ahead: The Not-So-HealthyConcerns Household

I have a theory. Bear with me because I came up with it at 3AM while unable to sleep due to this nagging crappy cough. (and my S.O.'s even more nagging and even more crappy cough.)

My theory is that medical dramas on TV are where most of us get our casual medical knowledge. And while this may help us when we want to diagnose Munchausen's or some other rare, but compelling disease, it doesn't help us much when it comes to knowing when to get our own butts to the doctor. Not only that, but because we never see such common but unexciting ailments as the common cold, sore throat or ear aches on TV, it reinforces a notion that people don't actually go to the doctor for things like that.

We Day 8 of our Vacation Virus here. The S.O. woke up feeling bad on Monday morning the 26th. By Thursday evening I knew I wasn't escaping. And we're both waiting in vain to feel better. We're drinking our liquids and taking our Robitussin and Sudafed and Aleve. But the cough is hanging around, and what's worse...it is exacerbated when we lie down, so sleep has been in short supply.

And there is that nagging question: when does this warrant going to a doctor? (And the even more nagging question...could my voice student have spread her whooping cough?)

This morning (look away if you're squeamish) I coughed up some green phlegm and thought "A ha! That's a sign that a doctor visit is required, right?"

Apparently not. According to this Web MD column even chest colds with ugly output are cured by time, not antibiotics. And that length of time can easily stretch into 3 weeks!

Great.

And as my S.O. has been grumbling: how are we supposed to sleep until then? And who has 3 weeks of vacation time?

But my original point is that as our health care system gets more and more expensive, and more and more plain old cumbersome and time-consuming, we get more and more of our information from sources outside our doctors' offices. In fact, most of us don't feel like we have a doctor's office (my Primary Care Physician is my gynecologist, for example...I don't even know who I'd call if I did decide to go in for this cold.)

So, anyone up for a medical drama that deals with common colds and acid reflux and twisted ankles?

Comments

[Denise]

Pst your link to the WebMD article isn't working. ;-) Every time Dr Moser posts on his blog or on his boards about green not necessarily meaning anti-biotics I just shake my head. It's hard to teach an old dog new tricks. Green still means doctor and meds to me.

[Elisa Camahort]

Thanks for the heads up Denise. Blogging at 5AM is always fraught with peril. Link is fixed.

Well, I'm a big believer that antibiotics are over-prescribed, but no the other hadn't I'd sure like to feel like we were able to take some *action* to get better!

[Denise]

All blogging is fraught with peril but WebMD links come naturally to me. Those I can do in my sleep, it's the others that get me screwed up. ;-)

That whole do something to feel better thing is the killer. I understand it completely and fall prey to it often. That's why the snake oil sales folk prosper. As do the pharmas...

Feel better tea, (My s/o makes this for us anytime someone feels bad - sort of a Russian tea. I'll get her to blog the recipe and link you!), sleep and a fun novel if the words don't swim on the page too much are my RX for you. (Doctor that I'm not!)

[Joan]

I'll tell you what the pediatrician told us in the handy-dandy booklet they gave us at the hospital before we took our first kid home. You need to call the doctor if you have a fever that lasts more than 3 days with no sign of improvement.

Calling is good, because it's usually free, and the nurse will do triage on you to determine if you actually need to come into the office.

I've found one of the most important things to do is too listen to the chest. Normal breath sounds like, well, Darth Vader, sort of -- just air moving in and out. If you have a lung/chest infection, it will hurt when you cough, and you'll most likely hear squeaks, pops, or crackles when you listen to the chest. You can listen with a stethoscope, of course, but you can also just put your ear right up against the chest, in the back -- if you try to listen from the front, you'll get a lot of heart sounds, too. So you can listen to your S/O's chest, and your S/O can listen to yours, and you can go from there. Needless to say, if you're hearing anything other than normal breath sounds, to the doctor it is.

Also: eyes, normal or glassy? energy level? appetite? bowels? sleeping OK? Any weird rashes, muscle aches, stiff neck? Swollen glands below the jaw or elsewhere? How are those tonsils looking, if you have them? Is the throat very red, any red spots on the roof of the mouth, any white stuff in the back of the throat (use a flashlight to look)? You can look at all this stuff yourself so when the nurse asks you, you'll have the info ready. And then you'll get a trained professional who'll tell you whether or not you need to come in.

Again, I say: call, if you can. It's the best thing to do if you have any doubts.

Generally, viral stuff starts slow and doesn't hit as hard; if you've got a bacterial infection, you're likely to get a high fever pretty quickly, whereas with a virus you can drag around with a low-grade fever for days. Can't do anything but treat symptoms if it's viral, but if it's bacterial you'll want to get treatment asap.

Good luck!

[Name withheld to protect the guilty]

"My theory is that medical dramas on TV are where most of us get our casual medical knowledge."

That's not just a theory, that's well-accepted to be fact, and often leads patients to think they should be getting certain treatments that aren't actually right for them. The Internet isn't helping much, because most people don't seem able to discriminate between legitimate medical sources and crap ones.

[Elisa Camahort]

Thanks Joan...that's a great idea. Lots of great information! Actually, the S.O. slept all day yesterday (finally) so he's feeling a lot better today (although still coughing.) I don't actually feel that bad. Just can't get a good night's sleep and can't kick the cough.

Name withheld: well now, I don't think the inability to distinguish between legitimate and crap sources online is limited to medical info!

[Kim]

Hmmm....I'm suspicious of anything that is green other than Kermit the Frog and vomitus from an empty stomach.

Green phlegm would have gotten me to a doc.

And/or a fever over three days. Only because if the fever lasts over three days it is more likely to be a bacterial infection than I viral infection. Or so advises my pediatric triage protocol book.....

[Elisa Camahort]

We never had fevers, which would have, I suppose, pushed us to the doctor more urgently. As it is, we are both still not 100%, and the cough is lingering on, even as the rest of us feels pretty good. Pretty tiresome, but somehow doesn't feel urgent.

I really have to thank everyone though who weighed in on this.It's nice to have a passel of people offering their opinion and expertise.