Winter Weather and Close Indoor Quarters Often Lead to the Beginning of Cold and Flu Season

Cold and flu season has hit hard this year. From your older daughter who is 12 hours away at college fighting the stomach flu to your younger daughter who spent the entire in weekend in bed, it seems that no part of your family, or the country, are safe. Thinking back to the days when you often spent the first few weeks of winter in and out of appointments with ENT doctors, you realize that you have always been dealing with illnesses, especially in the coldest months of the year.

Ear nose and throat doctors are known for the care that they offer the youngest of children, but it is important to realize that they also provide needed help for people of all ages.

Have You Suffered with Illness Already This Winter?

From doctors in Texas to doctors in the midwest, it is important to make sure that you are in contact with the health professionals with the most experience. Knowing that you can get in to see a physician when you need to can help you tackle the worst winters when cold and flu symptoms seem to come one after another. Consider these facts and figures about the many kinds of patients that ENT doctors serve:

• Swimmer’s ear typically clears up within seven to 10 days, but sometimes requires the help of a doctor.
• 25% of people in the U.S. 65 and older struggle with disabling hearing loss.
• The likelihood that asthma or allergic rhinitis will spontaneously go away is only 1% a year.
• 15% of adults ages 18 and older have some form of hearing trouble.
• 10,000 cases of vocal cord cancer are diagnosed in the U.S. every year.
• Anyone of any age can see symptoms of it, but meniere disease, an inner ear disorder that causes episodes of vertigo, is typically seen in people in their 40s and 50s.

Whether or not cold and flu season has hit your home yet or not this year, it is important to make sure that you do everything you can to prepare for the inevitable illnesses that are so often a part of this season.