PLAY AUDIO
When you have a medical emergency you may sometimes feel your problem is exacerbated by the long waits in the emergency room.
Unless you have a life-threatening wound or allergic reaction, an ER visit can take hours and the chaos around you can make a hospital seem like a scary rather than a healing place.
Go to the ER if you have: Signs of stroke
…like sudden numbness or weakness in a limb or one side of your face; sudden speech difficulties (such as talking gibberish or jumbling words); trouble seeing out of one or both eyes; unexpected dizziness or loss of balance; or an excruciating, inexplicable headache.
Go to the ER if you have: Any loss of consciousness or fainting
…even if you think it’s just because you haven’t eaten all day. It might be nothing, but it could also signal a heart or circulation problem or even a stroke.
Go to the ER if you have: Bleeding
…that doesn’t stop when you apply pressure for 10 to 20 minutes; any wound that impairs your ability to function (like a leg injury that bleeds like crazy when you bend your knee); or a gaping wound that fully penetrates the skin (so you can see muscle, for example).
Stay Healthy!
