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When to Seek Medical Care

When to call the doctor

Sometimes laryngitis may be more serious and may indicate laryngeal cancer. Several symptoms should cause you to see a doctor:

• High fever with a sore throat
  
  
• Coughing up yellow or green phlegm (possibly suggestive of bronchitis or sinusitis)
  
  
• Coughing up blood
  
  
• Inability to drink liquids
  
  
• A history of throat or breathing problems
  
  
• Symptoms that last for 2 to 3 weeks despite resting your voice

Children are different than adults because they are more likely to become infected with certain microbes, and potentially may be contagious depending on the infecting organism.

• If a child just has a hoarse voice, with or without other symptoms of a virus such as low-grade fever (less than 100.5 F or 38 C) runny nose, muscle aches, cough, or nasal congestion, then the treatment is the same as for an adult.
  
  
• If the child has a fever, a sore throat, won't eat or drink, or has a decreased number of wet diapers (indicating less than adequate drinking) you should take the child to see a doctor.

When to go to the hospital

Some situations can be life threatening, and you must not delay seeing a doctor. Go to a hospital's emergency department or call 911 if you experience any of the following.

• Any trouble breathing
  
  
• Feeling as if your throat is closing
  
  
• Inability to swallow
  
  
• Drooling
  
  
• Need to sit upright to breathe
  

If a child is drooling, has a whistling noise in his or her throat when breathing, or has any trouble breathing at all, then the child needs to go to the hospital.