Medically reviewed
It’s Monday morning and you wake up with a sore throat. Then a cough. That cough feels scratchy; could it be bronchitis? Laryngitis? Strep? Self-diagnosing is never a good idea, and DayQuil is just a band-aid for an afternoon. But we get it, calling the doctor usually means waiting a few days for an appointment, and who knows how you’ll be feeling by then.
When you ‘have a cold,’ do you know which type of cold you have?
Bronchitis, laryngitis, sinusitis, viral pharyngitis, and strep throat are the five common types of colds. Some of these share symptoms with one another; for example, viral pharyngitis shares symptoms with strep throat.
However, some of these colds are viral while some are bacterial. Antibiotics only work against bacterial infections, such as strep throat, but will not work against viral infections, such as bronchitis, viral sinusitis, and the flu. It’s important to understand which type of cold you have, then learn what actions you can take to get better faster.
Check your symptoms and get personalized health answers for free
Download the appWhere does AI come into all of this?
K Health is the new-school, AI-powered app to check your symptoms and keep track of your health. K Health uses data from 2 million people and 25 years of clinical charts to show you what might be wrong. It’s free, fast, and based on real cases.
Start by telling K Health your symptoms and the app will compare your case to people like you; you’ll see which conditions others had and the actions they took to get better. Within two minutes of chatting with our AI, your results may show that people like you had strep throat and were prescribed medication from their primary care doctor. Or you may see that your symptoms are similar to cases of sinusitis. You might find out doctors simply recommended rest and chicken soup.
In addition, K Health will follow up after your initial chat, to see if that cough progressed or if your sore throat is still hanging around. It’s especially important to refer to the app if your symptoms worsen. Your doctor may not follow up on your symptom progression, but K Health does.
So, K Health is basically a doctor?
No. And K Health won’t tell you whether or not to go to the doctor, but it shows you which doctors people like you saw, and which test, treatments, and drugs they recommended. You can share your K Health report with your doctor before your visit through the app, so your doctor knows what it might be before you arrive. Only your doctor can provide a diagnosis and treatment information, so think of K Health as the initial information-gathering first step on your journey back to health.
Got it. But what if I really need a doctor ASAP?
You can see a licensed clinician directly through the K Health app, 24/7. Try it out today.
