I wasn't sure what the most appropriate place for this question would be. So hopefully this is it.


This is the third say I've had a fever. With tylenol it stays at about 99.1. once the tylenol wears off its gets up to about 100.2 and I take more tylenol. So it's not too high but it's also not going away. I have an awful cough. It hurts to cough, my head hurts, my chest hurts, everything hurts when I do. My ears hurt. And my nose is stuffy. And my workplace is pretty much being wiped out with what everyone has so far referred to as "a nasty bug."

I tried calling my dr's office to get in but was only told that they're closed on the weekends and there is no on-call dr that I can see but I can go to urgent care. But what's the difference between the emergency room and urgent care? Last time I went to the emergency room I sat there for 6 hours because by the time I got there I'd finally stopped bleeding. And it's in a bad part of town so I'd rather not go there again. But is urgent care different? Because if it is, then I may be able to find one closer to home.

I'd prefer to always use an ER as the resources are there but that's not the best use of our medical system. So, in a nutshell:

An emergency room is just that, a place to go for an emergency. If you're bleeding severely, can't breath, have extreme pain, or any life threatening condition, then that is where you should be.

Urgent care is for when you're not feeling well but it is not life or death. You may feel like crap but if you're tolerating it, you'll do fine.

From your symptoms, urgent care is the most appropriate place for you to go.

The biggest problem in the US healthcare system is a lack of urgent care facilities. That is why our ER's are overloaded.

Yes. After calling around for an hour, I finally found someplace in my area that actually accepts my insurance. Stupid hmo's...

I have nothing to add to what Dan said. However, you should be alternating Tylenol and Motrin for the most effective fever reducer. Tylenol... 2 hours later Motrin... 2 hours later Tylenol and so on.

But, remember, with a virus, which it sounds like you have, fever is your friend. Viruses cannot outlast prolonged periods of heat, i.e. fever, so fever actually kills the virus faster. By reducing the fever, the virus lasts longer.

OK. Good to know, thank you

So, the dr recommended a netti pot and mucinex dm. so I'm not coughing so much. And I can mostly breath again. But my ears still hurt. Any tips on making that go away? I'd already taken tylenol before j_9 suggested letting the fever stay. But it's not helping the pain.

Alernate the Tylenol and Motrin for the pain. Get rid of the pain, don't worry about the fever right now. Also, for the ears you can try alternating Sudofed and Benadryl to help dry you up.