Urgent Care Clinic or Emergency Room? Allergic Reactions
The percentage of people who may have at least one thing they are allergic to may not be as significant as one may assume, even though allergies are quite common. A sizeable number of people have something that triggers some form of allergic reaction, be it popular allergens such as pollen or peanuts to not so common ones like certain drugs or even perfume, according to the numbers by subject matter experts like those over at frontlineer.com, 1 in 5 people suffer from allergic reactions every year. What is clear though is that allergic reactions vary when it comes to their severity, with other reactions being minor and only involving mild symptoms such as a rash only on a small part of the body, runny nose among other mild symptoms. This sort of rash normally goes away with the help of over-the-counter medication. There are however severe allergic reactions which are severe and may be life-threatening if not addressed with immediate treatment. These are normally called anaphylactic reactions in professional circles. The tricky part is knowing when to head to an urgent care clinic and when to visit an emergency room for allergic reactions. This article will look to help with exactly this quandary.
As a rule of thumb, it is recommended that only symptoms of allergic reactions that are not severe or life-threatening should be treated at an urgent care clinic, with frontlineer.com being one of the best around. If for instance you only develop a rash that is only restricted to a small area of your skin, you can head over to an urgent care clinic to have yourself examined and have the allergic reaction taken care of. If you are having an allergic reaction and are also experiencing mild nausea and vomiting, then you can also head over to an urgent care clinic and have yourself checked out. However, it is important not to take allergic reactions lightly as they can get serious very quickly and become life-threatening. That is why it is advised that any severe symptoms of allergies be treated in an emergency room and not in an urgent care clinic.
Having established that symptoms that appear suddenly and are severe should all be treated in an emergency room not an urgent care clinic, it is time to highlight these symptoms so that we can stay in the know as far as they are concerned. If you develop a severe, unknown rash as well as severe itching, you will be best served heading to an emergency room and not an urgent care clinic as per the experts over at frontlineer.com. As far as the skin goes, other red flags to look out for involve red bumps and welts on your skin, redness of the skin, as well as hives, which can develop all over your body and call for an immediate visit to an emergency room. If you develop an allergic reaction that comes with flu-like symptoms such as nausea and vomiting as well as coughing and wheezing, you should also ensure that you get yourself to an emergency room as soon as you can to be checked out. Symptoms that compromise breathing as far as allergic reactions are concerned should also always be treated at an emergency room. Some of these symptoms include tightening of the chest, shortness of breath, swelling in the mouth and throat that will make it difficult to breath due to closing of the airway. Other symptoms include an itchy throat or mouth, difficulty swallowing, which is observed as drooling in children, diarrhea, abdominal pain, increased heartbeat low blood pressure, rapid pulse, as well as a general feeling of confusion. The symptoms that interfere with the normal functioning of the heart should always be taken seriously.
Allergic reactions that lead to a loss of consciousness should also always be handled in an emergency room and not an urgent care clinic. There are a number of reasons why almost all cases of allergic reactions, apart from the a few mild cases as discussed above and also on frontlineer.com in much more detail, should be treated at an emergency room and not an urgent care clinic. This is because urgent care clinics will only administer epinephrine, which in most cases is not enough to treat allergic reactions. Some get better after epinephrine is administered and then come back more severe. Emergency rooms not only have epinephrine shots to administer, they can also administer IV fluids if needed, especially if some of the symptoms involved were severe vomiting and diarrhea which may have caused dehydration. Emergency rooms also have facilities and qualified staff to administer airway control in cases where the airways have closed due to swallowing. They also have facilities to admit patients, which is what is usually required as most patients with allergic reactions are asked to stay for a number of hours to be monitored.
As can be deduced from the discussion above, allergic reactions should in most cases be treated at an emergency room and not an urgent care clinic for reasons explained above, with frontlineer.com being the best place to check out for additional information on this and other related topics.
