It can be scary when your kiddo comes down with an illness, especially if it’s sudden and you have no idea where they could have caught it. A simple cold that an adult would take a few days to recover from could be more dangerous to a child’s immune system. It’s important to seek medical help from a local emergency walk-in clinic near Clearwater when your child’s symptoms strengthen or become more severe.

Some kids will have sniffles and a sore throat or dry coughs for a day or two before returning to their normal energetic selves. However, there’s a bigger issue if your child experiences:

• Fevers of over 100 for longer than 48 hours.
• Chronic headaches or migraine pain that pounds or lasts for more than 24 hours.
• Sharp pains in the abdomen or lower back.
• Shortness of breath or persistent coughs that leave your child in pain.
• Severe sore throat that prevents eating or drinking normally.
• Diarrhea that lasts for more than 24 hours or vomiting.
• Lethargy, confusion, or dizziness.

While children are resilient for the most part, the average school-aged child will get sick two to four times per year. Most of these illnesses are everyday colds, but symptoms like the aforementioned could lead to more severe illnesses.

When it comes to your child being sick, the saying goes, “it’s always better safe than sorry.” Never ignore severe symptoms of illness. We at Polmed Primary Care would rather your child be reassured of good health than suffer through an undiagnosed, untreated sickness.

For more information about our local emergency walk-in clinic in Clearwater, give us a call at (727) 339-2054. We are happy to accept appointments too! Our teams of nurses and doctors are well-trained and well-equipped to handle a vast range of illnesses in both children and adults.