HCE Blog

It’s a sad fact of life: Everyone gets sick. Although, the frequency and severity of the sickness depend on the strength (or weakness) of your immune system. The immune system, more specifically known as the lymphatic system, is the system made up of the organs such as your lymph nodes, tonsils, spleen, and others. The system’s main purpose in the body is to store and distribute white blood ce...

You’re out for a jog and your foot catches in a crack in the sidewalk. You stumble and pain shoots up your leg as your ankle begins to throb and ache. Or maybe your child was running about on the playground having fun, but then falls because their foot got caught in a hole and they twisted their ankle. Sounds like you may both have a sprain. Sprains occur when the ligaments in your ankle tear o...

I’m sure you’ve all heard that once you get chickenpox you’ll never get it again, and while that’s true if you came down with chickenpox in the past it’s possible that you may eventually find yourself with a case of shingles. Shingles are most common in the elderly but can develop in children and young people if they have had chickenpox. The chickenpox virus stays dormant in your body even afte...

With the scare of the Coronavirus sweeping the nation, many people have forgotten about a more threatening virus for our country: influenza. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), around 8,200 people have died from the flu this season and over 140,000 have been hospitalized. An even more frightening estimation of 15 million people have been diagnosed with the flu so ...

Headaches come in all different horrible shapes and sizes, but it can be hard to tell them apart and determine their cause. Is it stress triggered? Is it too loud or too bright? Is it caused by sinus pressure? It’s easy to confuse one type of headache for another, one of the most common mix-ups being between sinus headaches and migraines. The symptoms between the two are quite similar, though t...

Is your child feeling sick? Well, don’t call the school office just yet! Normal body temperature is 98.6 °F, but everyone’s body temperature (adults and children) fluctuates throughout the day depending on age, activity level, and many other factors. The magic number for a fever in everyone though, no matter the age, is 100.4 °F. It’s important to know that a fever itself isn’t an illness but ...

It happened again. You got the flu. Your body aches, your nose keeps running, you can barely hold food down, and you don’t want to get out of bed. All you want to do is cuddle up with a nice warm cup of chicken soup like your grandma used to make … but you’re out of paid sick time. Should you go to work and risk spreading the virus to your coworkers? Probably not. And should you even eat chicke...

This year, the influenza virus has run rampant throughout the country. Most states in the South— including Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma— have suffered from a high density of outbreaks of the virus. Typically, the strain of influenza encountered at the beginning of the flu season is influenza A. This year, however, more cases of influenza B have been reported. Influenza B is more lik...

It starts off as just an unfortunate case of the flu, but instead of feeling better you start to feel worse. You have violent chills and break out in a cold sweat. Your chest aches with pain each time you cough. Your fever keeps climbing and climbing. 100. 101. It spikes. 104. You feel hot and cold all at the same time, and you didn’t even know that was possible. You can barely breathe. What’s...