The Heart Of Winter

Like the blazing sun of summer, winter has dark cold days and nights. And rightly so, when different places go well below zero, winter is blistering cold.

It’s not those things of winter that I want to discuss, but rather the things that come with the heart of winter.

Some of these things you may have thought about, and I’m sure others you may not have realized or have attributed to other seasons and events.

The Heart Of Winter...

can bring with it…life threatening illnesses.

Top Known Illness Of Winter

If I said to you that you were probably going to have a cold or acquire the flu for the winter, you’d probably respond with a positive response. An awareness that yes every year you get sick at least once with one of the two of this.

On the other hand, you may not consider that either or both of these illnesses could in fact be life threatening to you. Colds clearly depend upon any predisposition or weaknesses within your lungs. I know this one with my daughter she has asthma and can’t take any cough syrup because it will allow for the microbes to stay within her body and not be coughed out. That makes getting a cold a serious thing for her.

Flues on the other hand, are known to cause dehydration and in turn potential death due to that factor. I have a friend, who has family members that can become dehydrated within the first series of food passing, that need to be hospitalized because of dehydration. Dehydration is definitely that serious and can cause death within a short period of time.

Your sore throat is also a common and well known sign of the winter. Unfortunately people don’t tend to take time off of work or school because their throat is sore. Pop a lasanger and you continue about your day. It’s understandable, but it also cause the bug to spread and others to get sick.

Feel like you're turning green?

The winter flu has probably gotten to you!

The Lesser Known Challenges

While colds, flus, soar throats and even pneumonia, are not lesser known. After all, if you ask any given person at any given time to name winter health issues. You will find that they almost all will name 2 or 3 on my list.

But what about those lesser thought about or known winter illness.

These illness are often thought about at different times during the year. Perhaps the spring, perhaps the early morning, but not in the winter.

So let’s begin with a heart attack. That’s right, heart attacks actually climb in the winter months when it’s coldest. The theory behind this simple. It gets cold so the heart has to work harder to keep the person warm and function. As a result, it brings on the attack of the heart. Unfortunately, that means many loved ones are lost during the holidays.

What about asthma. I bet you think that it is only a spring and summer problem, but it’s simply not the case. Cold air is a major trigger for asthma, and it’s causes increases in coughs, wheezing and shortness of breath. The simple solution is to stay as warm as possible. This can be done by staying indoors and wearing warm clothing.

Lastly is dry skin and joint pain. You may be thinking that one should be in the top list. But it can cause bleeding, infections and frost bit. Skin drys out because of the cold. To cold and you get frost bite. I put joint pain here, for similar reasons. It’s often over looked as an winter problem, but in reality, how many of us have said or heard someone say, “a storm is coming, I feel it in my bones.” That’s because the damage to joints is magnified in the winter.

Asthma, frost bite and heart attacks...

can all be life threatening, if the proper conditions are present.

Where To Go?

This may seem out of line in a winter article, but if you’re not feeling well, the last thing you want to do is wait in the emergency room for hours and hours. You also can’t afford to wait until your doctor can get you in 2 weeks down the road. So, what’s the solution?

This is a really simple solution that you may not have thought about. The solution…go to an urgent care. Most if not all of them can get you in within an hour. Not only that, but most of them can now have you book online. Boca Regional Urgent Care is on such place that can and does get their patients in swiftly.

I know many people are concerned with the quality of care in an urgent care. But consider most of these doctors have emergency room training and experience. That makes them just as qualified, if not more so than the average doctor.

The heart of winter...

is illness and managing them to the best of your ability. So that when winter is over, you are stronger than you were when winter came in.