General Practitioner, Dr Knut Schroeder says, "We all develop new health problems sometimes. Often, problems such as a mild back pain or a headache are familiar to us and are not especially troublesome. But what if the back pain doesn’t settle? What if the headache gets worse rather than better? And what if you develop other additional symptoms such as sweating or a fever? At some stage you’re likely to start worrying and wonder what to do next."
it is a point that many of us experience and the key question we ask ourselves is - at what point should we go and see the doctor?
Other options we might like to consider when something goes wrong include:
- Do nothing?
- Should i just take some pain killers?
- See the pharmacist?
- Consult the GP?
- See a specialist or other health professional privately?
- Go to the nearest Accident and Emergency department – or, in the worst case, should I phone 999 for an ambulance?
As Dr Schroeder goes on to say, "In many cases you’ll be able to make the right decision just by using common sense, but it’s easy to feel out of your depth."
The article 'When Should you see your Doctor' aims to provide a better footing for deciding when you can deal with your health problems yourself, and when it’s best to seek medical advice.
"In the same way that you don’t have to be a software engineer to deal with simple computing problems yourself, you don’t have to be a doctor to be able to recognise some common or potentially serious health problems and know what to do about them."
