When to Stay Home If You Don't Feel Well

Slight fever. An irritating cough. A sore throat. These symptoms make a person feel miserable, but they probably won't keep him from going to work or school.Amanda Demmel, for example, is a freshman at DePaul University with perfect attendance. Making it to class every day means going to school when she is sick."I can't stand missing school, and I'll try to keep outside symptoms to a minimum," said Demmel, 18, of Lincoln Park.

Demmel packs cough drops and takes over-the-counter medication so she doesn't disturb her classmates. And though it's tolerable to sit through a statistics seminar with a sore throat or slight fever, there are times when a person is too sick to go to work or school.

So how sick is too sick? There are some clear indicators on when adults should put on their pajamas and head back to bed.

Consider staying home

• If you have abdominal pain. It may be a precursor to vomiting or diarrhea, said Dr. Russell Robertson, professor and chair of family medicine at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine.

• If you are experiencing frequent vomiting or diarrhea. Robertson said working with these symptoms may be difficult, to say the least, and both could be a sign of a viral illness.• If you have an incessant cough or yellow-greenish sputum. Both are indicators of an upper-respiratory infection, and Robertson recommended seeing a doctor and staying home from work because the infection could be passed to co-workers.

• If you feel light-headed, have a poor appetite or dark urine. These symptoms suggest dehydration, and mental focus may be affected. For a dehydrated and lethargic person, "simply driving to work can be dangerous," Robertson said.

• If you have been diagnosed with an infection and just started taking antibiotics. Robertson said it's best to stay home for at least 24 hours so the medicine can take effect. This will reduce the risk of sharing the infection.

When to think twice

Some low-grade fevers can be controlled with ibuprofen, which makes it harder to determine whether you should stay or go.

• Stay put if you have a fever for more than 24 hours. "You are likely infectious," Robertson said. "You will take what you've got and spread it to people you come into contact with."

• Also stay put if you have a fever of 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit or higher and you have co-workers or classmates with chronic illnesses who may not be able to handle an infection as easily. Robertson said people who have diabetes, asthma or heart disease or who are undergoing chemotherapy can be more harshly affected by the same virus.

Keep kids home

Keeping kids home can be just as confusing. Parents don't want to send a sick child to school, but they also don't want to keep a faker home on the day of a test. So how can parents tell whether their child is really ill?

• If the child has a 101-degree temperature (in the same neighborhood as Robertson's 100.4) or more, said pediatrician Lori Walsh with Glenbrook Pediatrics in Glenview.

• If stomach pain moves from the middle of the belly to the lower right quadrant. Walsh said this type of progressive pain probably means the child is ill, not just hoping to skip school or dealing with anxiety.

• If the child has a combination of sore throat, headache and stomachache. "That's a triad for strep throat," Walsh said.

Send them to school

• If the symptoms show up suddenly in the morning. Walsh said sudden symptoms may be more manageable or even a bit imaginary. In contrast, kids who complain of symptoms during the night are more likely dealing with an illness.

• If they can get out of bed and eat their breakfast. "If they say 'I've got this pain' and they are eating their breakfast, I would let them go and have the nurse call me," Walsh said.

• But be aware about whether your child is even welcome at school with an illness. Walsh said some schools have policies that forbid attending with illnesses.Of course, it's easy to tell kids to take the day off. But the decision can be more complicated for adults, especially if an employee is paid hourly or fears retribution for missing work."There is some anxiety on calling in sick," Robertson said. "There is a tendency to drag yourself in."But workers may not be all that useful to employers when they are sick. "You can go to work in that state, you will take longer to get better and you lose more with productivity and time," Robertson said.

If you must go to work or school with a mild illness, be mindful of not spreading your sickness. Bring disposable tissues for coughing and sneezing, and pack disposable wipes to clean communal phones and doorknobs, Robertson said.