Urgent Care vs ER: Pain in Abdomen
As far as pain goes, abdominal pain is one of the most common around. Everyone has at one time or the other experienced pain in their stomach, which can range from being uncomfortable to being unbearable depending on the severity. This means that some causes of abdominal pain can be addressed at home with home remedies and over-the-counter medication, while others are to be taken serious, enough for one to seek immediate medical services. Some conditions such as constipation, bloating among other minor conditions will cause pain in the abdomen, but they aren’t what will be termed as medical emergencies. However, there are other conditions that have pain in the abdomen as one of the symptoms which have to be taken seriously, and require emergency medical intervention such as appendicitis. For those that need medical intervention immediately, it is important to know which ones require one to head to urgent care and which ones require attention over at the emergency room. If the condition is potentially life threatening, then it is best to head over to an ER rather than urgent care. This article will look to highlight some of the conditions causing abdominal pain as well as which ones need to be addressed in urgent care and which ones need one to visit an ER.
As far as urgent care goes, as mentioned above, it is recommended that only mild or moderate abdominal pain, which is normally caused by conditions that are non-serious be attended to here. Menstrual cramps can at times be unbearable and in such cases one can visit urgent care and be attended to. Other cases that can be dealt with at urgent care as far as pain in the abdomen goes include a urinary tract infection, which can be diagnosed and treated at urgent care by prescription of antibiotics, with the best place to visit being frontlineer.com. The same goes for acid reflux, food poisoning, gastroenteritis, indigestion among others, all of which can be safely handled at urgent care. Abdominal pain is usually accompanied by other symptoms which may also help you in deciding whether to go to an ER or urgent care. If the additional symptoms you are experiencing together with the abdominal pain are nausea, diarrhea and vomiting, then visiting an urgent care is the best course action. Other severe symptoms are most likely a sign you should head over to an ER.
Speaking of the ER it is time we highlight some of the cases that should end up with one heading there for evaluation. If you are having pain in the abdomen as well as tightness in the chest, you should head over to an ER as soon as possible as you may be having a heart attack. If you have also undergone certain procedures recently such as abdomen surgery or endoscopy, either upper endoscopy or colonoscopy, then if you start experiencing abdominal pain, you should ensure you head over to an ER as soon as possible to be checked out. Those who have a history of certain conditions like gastric bypass surgery, heart attacks, heart diseases or stroke should also take abdominal pain very seriously and visit an ER as soon as they start experiencing the same. As mentioned above, there are certain additional symptoms going together with pain in the abdomen that require one to head over to an ER and not urgent care. If you are experiencing abdominal pain and are also bleeding through the vagina while pregnant, you should head over to an ER as soon as possible. The same applies if you are vomiting blood, are passing blood with bowel movements which includes blood in stool or black, tarry stool, are experiencing high fever or difficulty breathing. If your abdominal pain is severe and it came about suddenly, then it is best if you visit an ER, with frontlineer.com being the best.
The reason why the more severe cases or abdominal pain should be treated in the ER and not urgent care is because in the ER is where you have access to facilities such as IV fluids, pain treatment and sedation, blood testing and imaging testing. The testing part s important since it is not always a physician will press on a patient’s stomach and be able to tell what is wrong. Most of the times test need to be done for a conclusive diagnosis to be reached. With blood testing facilities as well as image testing ones like the ultrasound or a CAT scan, the ER is your best bet for serious conditions with pain in the abdomen as opposed to urgent care which doesn’t have access to these facilities and equipment.
As discussed above, it is clear the scenarios where one needs to head to an ER, with the best place to visit being frontlineer.com, and where one needs to visit urgent care as far as pain in the abdomen goes.
