As everyone heads back to school, children will be mingling with each other and starting the concoction of germs that will inevitably cause someone to come down with a sinus infection, cold or other illness. And, as many parents know, once your kid gets sick, you’re likely up next. Studies have shown that every year in September there is a rapid rise in cold and upper respiratory illnesses (URIs) about two weeks after school opens(1). Which means that right about now you are at prime risk of being inoculated by those kiddos.
So what if you do get sick? Well, the first thing to do is figure out exactly what is wrong. The good news is that most colds only require conservative measures (that we talked about in a prior blogpost). But, symptoms lasting longer than a week may signal that you have a sinus infection caused by a bacteria.
Some other symptoms concerning for a bacterial sinus infection include:
Green, yellow or otherwise discolored nasal drainage lasting longer than ten days
Facial pressure or facial pain
Nasal congestion
At SmartDocMD we have you covered. We spent the last couple years combining expert medical society guidelines into a triage system to help you figure out exactly what is going on. Our free triage system uses Artificial Intelligence or “AI,” and continues to learn from current health care research. We call it SmartDocAI. It uses up-to-date medical information to tell you what might be going on, including alerting you to more serious conditions. All you have to do is tell SmartDocAI your symptoms through a free online interview. SmartDocAI will gather your symptoms and then provide a personalized health screening specific to you and your problem. If SmartDocAI determines you might need a doctor, it will give you the option to have one of our U.S. board-certified doctors review your symptoms and provide a formal diagnosis and treatment plan, including prescriptions as needed for only $20.
(1) Markovich M, Glatman-Freedman A, et al. Back-to-school upper respiratory infection in preschool and primary school-age children in Israel. Pediatr Infect Dis J. 2015 May;34(5):476-81.
Hello all, Over the last 5 years we have had over 450,000 visitors to our…
Ugh. You are feeling sick again. Instead of heading to the student health center or…
Sinus Infection or Cold? A Hard Distinction When illness hits, you may find yourself wondering…
If you are trying to find a cure for the common cold, we do not…
Do I have a Migraine or a Sinus Headache? Allergies could be a cause of…
Scientists and other researchers are learning more and more each day about the human body…