18 Things Doctors Know Will Happen Every Summer

What Doctors Secretly Expect When Summer Hits: A Heatwave of Dehydration, Diarrhea, and Drama

Ah, summer. That blissful time when the sun kisses the skin, vacations kick off, and every hospital waiting room magically turns into a sauna with bonus viral gastroenteritis. While the general public gears up for beach trips and barbecue parties, doctors prepare for the real seasonal shift—a parade of patients who forgot sunscreen, hydration, and basic logic.

Here’s a brutally honest, hilariously familiar roundup of what summer really brings to our clinics and hospitals—from the doctor’s side of the desk. Spoiler alert: It’s mostly sweat, sunburn, and stomach bugs.

1. The Annual Dehydration Festival: Now With Extra Electrolyte Imbalance
Somehow, every summer, people forget that the human body is not solar-powered. They go hiking in 40°C heat armed with only optimism and a single bottle of soda. Cue the ER entrance:

• “Doctor, I feel dizzy.”
  
  
• “How much water did you drink today?”
  
  
• “Umm… a Frappuccino?”
  

IV fluids become the unofficial summer cocktail. And let’s not forget the elderly who crank the AC to ‘off’ because it’s “too expensive,” only to end up in our care, pickled in their own sweat.

Pro tip: Every doctor becomes a hydration campaigner in summer, even if we secretly survive on caffeine and sarcasm ourselves.

2. Food Poisoning Season, a.k.a. BBQ Roulette
Ah, undercooked chicken at Uncle Samir’s beachside party. Who knew a grilled drumstick could turn into a gastrointestinal warzone?

• Patients walk in bent like shrimp.
  
  
• They’ve been to three weddings and five buffet breakfasts in one week.
  
  
• Diagnosis: “You ate something you shouldn't have, again.”
  

And they’re surprised. Every. Single. Time.

Gastroenteritis spikes so high in July that we start calling it Gastrolympics. Norovirus, E. coli, and Salmonella throw a full-on summer rave in people’s intestines. We doctors? We just keep handing out ORS and antibiotics while silently judging every outdoor buffet we pass.

3. Heat Stroke vs. Heat Exhaustion: The Annual Battle of Who Googled What
“Doctor, I think I had a mini-stroke.”
No, Kevin. You wore black jeans, a hoodie, and a beanie in the desert. That wasn’t a stroke; that was fashion over function’s revenge.

Every summer, there’s a rise in people fainting in malls, on buses, and at the gym because they decided sweating profusely was a personality trait.

We perform the ritual: check vitals, push fluids, give the ‘you are not invincible’ speech, and wait for them to do it again in three days.

4. Sunburn: When Humans Try to Challenge the Sun
No one believes the sun is dangerous until they show up looking like a boiled lobster, arms flaking like croissants, and shocked that “SPF 15 wasn’t enough.”

You gently explain that their skin is not Teflon-coated.

They nod... and you know they’ll be back next week after trying to “even out the tan.”

Bonus: They usually combine this with a minor eye infection from wearing $5 fake Ray-Bans from a gas station kiosk.

5. The “I Went to the Beach and Something Bit Me” Phenomenon
This section includes but is not limited to:

• Sea urchins.
  
  
• Jellyfish.
  
  
• Mysterious creatures from the “shallow but suspicious” lagoon.
  

Every emergency physician knows the drill: Remove foreign body, pretend not to laugh, reassure patient they’re not turning into a merman, prescribe antibiotics, move on.

Also, who swims barefoot near rocks? Everyone, apparently.

6. Mosquito Bites That Are “Definitely Dengue”
The psychology of mosquito bites in summer is fascinating.
In winter: “It’s just a bite.”
In summer: “IT’S DENGUE. I Googled it.”

Google MD strikes again. And we, the real MDs, spend half our consultation time trying to explain that it’s not dengue just because it’s itchy. Meanwhile, we do test for dengue, chikungunya, and malaria—because sometimes, just sometimes, Google MD wins.

And then the same patient faints at the sight of a blood draw.

7. Kids + Summer = Emergency Room Field Trips
Schools are out, and now everything is a trampoline, a jungle gym, or a weapon. Pediatricians brace for:

• Broken bones from trampoline Olympics.
  
  
• Dog bites from “friendly” neighborhood pets.
  
  
• Nosebleeds from excessive nose-picking out of boredom.
  

Parents say, “He was just playing.”
We nod while splinting a wrist bent at a 90-degree angle.

And no, spraying antiseptic on a dislocated elbow does not count as first aid.

8. Allergic Reactions to… Everything
Summer brings:

• Mango season = Lip swelling season.
  
  
• Bee stings = Drama worthy of a medical telenovela.
  
  
• Random sunscreen = "Doctor, my face feels like it’s on fire.”
  

It’s the season where every second patient walks in red-faced—sometimes literally. Dermatologists suddenly become crisis managers and allergists double as therapists for patients who swear “they’ve used that lotion forever.”

9. The “I Started Working Out and Now Everything Hurts” Crowd
Inspired by beach body goals, people hit the gym with the enthusiasm of a caffeinated squirrel. Then, rhabdomyolysis, sprains, back spasms, and torn ligaments say hello.

And every ortho doctor hears some version of:
“I don’t know what happened. I just did 200 burpees after 10 years of no exercise.”

Every. Single. Year.

10. UTIs and Yeast Infections: Summer’s Hidden Souvenirs
The holy trinity of sweat, wet swimsuits, and forgetting to pee after swimming has returned.

Gynecologists and GPs prepare for another season of:

• “It burns when I pee.”
  
  
• “Something smells...weird.”
  
  
• “I used some soap down there... is that bad?”
  

Yes. Yes, it is. Again.

And here comes the summer prescription: Cranberry extract, antifungals, hydration, and a gentle reminder that wet Lycra is not your friend.

11. Foreign Bodies in Ears and Noses (Especially in Kids)
Summer boredom leads to innovation. Unfortunately, not the good kind.

Kids show up with:

• Corn kernels in ears.
  
  
• Beads in nostrils.
  
  
• Insects in ear canals.
  

The ENT doc becomes an unofficial magician. Parents gasp. Nurses pretend not to laugh. The child is mostly annoyed you interrupted their fun.

12. Fainting Brides and Fasting in the Heat
It’s wedding season and/or religious fasting season. This combo leads to:

• Brides passing out under 12 kg of makeup and 5 layers of tulle.
  
  
• Grooms fainting from fasting + stress + 4 cups of Arabic coffee.
  
  
• Family members fainting because… sympathy?
  

Summer hospitals double as wedding recovery centers.

13. Doctors on Call = Melting Candles in White Coats
Let’s be real: we’re not immune.

• The AC in half our clinics doesn’t work.
  
  
• We’re sweating through our scrubs.
  
  
• Our stethoscopes are practically branding irons by noon.
  
  
• And we still have to listen to patients say, “It’s just the heat, right?”
  

Yes, but also, can I have one (1) ice cube and a nap?

14. Overseas Travel Diseases
People fly to exotic places. Then they return with exotic infections. And they never declare it until:

• Their fever spikes.
  
  
• They get a rash.
  
  
• Or their stool turns technicolor.
  

We ask, “Did you travel recently?”
They say, “Oh yes! I forgot to mention—I was in a jungle in Southeast Asia last week.”

Great. Another tropical mystery diagnosis at 11 p.m.

15. “Doctor, Can I Swim With Stitches?”
This question returns like a boomerang. You say no. They swim anyway. They come back.

Now the wound is infected and smells like betrayal.

16. Tanning Oil + Open Wounds = Genius
We don’t know who started this myth that coconut oil heals everything, but every summer someone marinates a second-degree burn in it and then wonders why their skin looks like lasagna.

Surgeons sigh. Wound care nurses scream internally.

17. It’s Not a Summer Until Someone’s Pet Causes an Emergency
Summer = more time at home = pet shenanigans.

• Dog bites.
  
  
• Cat scratches to the eyeball.
  
  
• Parrot attacks.
  

One man showed up once because “his turtle bit his toe.” The ER doc retired two weeks later.

18. Doctors Dream of Vacation, But End Up Treating Half the Resort
We plan holidays. We pack sunscreen. But inevitably:

• Someone faints at the hotel buffet.
  
  
• A cousin gets sunstroke.
  
  
• A stranger screams “IS THERE A DOCTOR HERE?!”
  

Now you’re checking pulses while holding a cocktail.

The only tan you get is from standing under the resort’s fluorescent emergency lights.