Should I go to the doctor?

My general rule is, if you have to ask you have to go. You know your own body, you know what is usual and what is not, you also know what being sick feels like for you, if it is anything out of the ordinary, go to the doctor.

Sounds like the flu to me. Heat up some chicken soup…pop a few Tylenol and ride it out.

What are the “meds” you are taking?

@omph I’ve been taking Alka-Seltzer Cold and Flu, which includes a fever reducer. Today I started taking Mucinex for the congestion.

It sounds like you are just sick and there probably isn’t much you can do besides rest and hydrate. It is a bit early to consider it more serious. But if you aren’t starting to at least starting to feel better in a few days I would contact a doctor.

Sounds like the flu to me. If you don’t feel any worse over the next few days, and you don’t have any underlying health issues, you’ll probably be able to treat it at home the way you are doing.

I don’t want to worry you but in my country, Ireland, bird flu is going around, so maybe you should look up the symptoms, just incase.

You sound pretty sick. Hope you feel better soon. Do you have any other health problems? If so definitely go to your doctor. Also, if you are young and fit, don’t think that protects you. With some influenza type viruses, younger people get into the most trouble because their immune system goes into overdrive and can start attacking the body. You could telephone your doctor and ask? If they are seeing a lot of people with this flu, they will be able to tell you what the best course of action is. If you get any worse, I think you should most definitely see you doctor though.

You say chest congestion. Are you coughing up a lot of stuff, or just coughing a lot? Do you have stuffy nose congestion? Cough, being extremely tired, muscle ache, and fever, with little to no congestion is usually the flu. I never go to the doctor for the flu. They can’t do anything, unless you are willing to take Tamiflu, wich I am not. Tamiflu needs to be taken within 48 hours of symptoms I think.

Take 600mg ibuprofen every 4–6 hours to control your fever (don’t wait to get hot, ibuprofen takes around 50 minutes to work from the time you take, stay in front of the fever) and make sure you take the pill with a full glass of water and a little bit of food, toast, cracker, anything. Use a cool compress on head and arms if you get hot to aid in keeping your fever down. Your fever should break around day 4 or 5. If the fever persists longer, you might need to go to the doctor, if you cannot control the fever go to the doctor (remember ibuprofen takes 50 minutes to work. You can take aceitomenophin in addition if the ibuprofen is not enough, but do not take over 800mg of ibuprofen).

If your congestion is very bad and mucous/plegm is green you might need an antibiotic. That would need a doctor. If you suddenly feel much worse, go to the emergency room.

Oh, and alka seltzer cold and flu is not good enough for high fever. And, if you don’t have a lot of congestion you are taking unnecessary medicine. I never recommending taking those combination drugs, take exactly what you need for each symptom.

@JLeslie I’m not coughing up A LOT of stuff, but I can tell I’m congested because of the chest pain and the little bit I am coughing up. I have no underlying health problems except for extremely mild asthma. I’ve felt fine all day today. No fever, just the cough for now. If it gets worse, I’ll see a doctor. If not, then I saved myself some time and money. And I took the Alka Seltzer for the fever because I had no other fever reducers last night. The mucinex is what I’m taking for the cough and congestion and I’m taking Tylenol to control the fever.

So you are stuffy head congested? Or, you mean chest congestion?

If you feel fine, I would play it out a week. If the cold last more than a week, and not improving, then it might be bacterial. I never go to the doctor until after a week, unless It seems really scary, like not being able to move my neck or something like that. As long as your asthma is not making it difficult for you to breath, sounds like you have it under control.

@JLeslie It’s chest congestion. Within the last hour I feel the nasal congestion kicking in as well.

I would if it doesn’t go away in a few days.

I think people are going to the doctor too quickly these days when it’s likely just a cold. I know how miserable you can feel and I know how bad I’d feel if I sent my child to bed with a stiff neck and found him dead of menengitis in the morning. But even a bad fever rarely kills anyone. The doctors I worked with discourage taking anything to bring the fever down, it’s the body’s way of killing germs.

Oh yea and then there’s MRSA pneumonia. Bad stuff! If you don’t feel good and your temperature doesn’t go down go to the ER.

Sounds viral. If it keeps up for a day or two more or you get worse, go be seen. Otherwise stay in bed and away from everybody else.

@faye I like what you said about people running to the doctor too fast, in fact it pisses me off people with colds and flu are at the doctors office. But, I guess the advent of tamiflu means more people with the flu go to get their drugs. I avoid the GP/internist all fall and winter because of it.

But high fever should be treated. The body, especially in children, sometimes reacts with a much higher fever than necessary to trigger fighter cells and help kill pathogens. Similar to the immune response of an allergic reaction that causes problems. The body does not always do the right thing, it sometimes goes overboard. Especially during the sleeping hours of the night, fever can spike, because we might sleep through a rising fever, might be too covered with blankets, medicine wears off, etc. 105 and higher, which does not respond to over the counter meds or a cool bath is doctor time. Over 106 brain damage can begin occuring.