Living with chronic illnesses can be challenging. It helps to have a team of experts on your side who understand the difficulties associated with these conditions and how to provide support for those experiencing them. The team at MD First Primary & Urgent Care helps patients suffering from chronic illnesses like high blood pressure, sleep apnea, lupus, and diabetes, among others, live a complete and full life through their care. We’re proud to provide support in the form of counseling, treatments, and therapies, along with suggestions for lifestyle changes that will improve their quality of life.
What Is Acute Care?
Acute is commonly perceived to mean “severe,” but actually means that an illness or condition requires immediate care of a resolvable issue related to illness. The most important part of this concept is ‘resolvable,’ the purpose of acute care is to provide treatment for a condition that can go away. Broken bones may take time to heal, but they need immediate care and will eventually be fully recovered. The pain present at the time the break occurs, being both sudden and sharp, is known as acute pain and requires immediate relief. This term can also be applied to diseases as well, specifically those that can be treated and cured. A cold is an acute disease, whereas a condition that can be expected to return or flare-up, such as herpes, is chronic in nature.
What Is A Chronic Illness?
Put simply; chronic illnesses are the exact opposite of acute illnesses or conditions. These conditions are long-lasting and are usually expected to be with the patient for a lifetime. This last point isn’t always true, sometimes the cause of a chronic condition can be found and eliminated, but it usually isn’t immediately clear. Recurring migraines, arthritis, diabetes, and asthma are all examples of a chronic illness. Pain is another condition that can be referred to as chronic, especially when the cause of it cannot be located or at least isn’t possible to eliminate. In many cases, chronic pain can be eased or treated, but typically it can’t be cured. Back pain is a common example of a chronic condition and is thought to affect at least 80% of adults.
What Causes Chronic Illnesses and Conditions?
The cause of these conditions varies as much as the conditions themselves. Chronic illnesses sometimes don’t have a discernible cause. This doesn’t mean that a cause doesn’t exist; it simply means that medical science hasn’t been able to identify it yet. Further, treatment may be available for a condition without knowing its underlying cause. Other forms of chronic conditions, such as back pain, may have an identifiable source that cannot be cured. Surgeries, injuries, and other traumatic events can be the cause of ongoing chronic pain. While it’s normal for chronic conditions to develop slowly over time, there are times when they can have a sudden onset, such as the aforementioned injury.
If you’re suffering from a chronic illness or condition and want to know if the staff at MD First Primary & Urgent Care can help you, give our office a call at 1-803-283-2300 for an appointment. You can also drop in at our urgent care during our office hours to see one of our medical specialists at 1130 Hwy 9 Bypass W in Lancaster, SC. There’s hope of relief for patients with chronic conditions and illnesses, come in and let us help!
