What to do if you have the flu

Flu Symptoms

The flu tends to come on suddenly and usually causes a fever and aches; a cold usually doesn’t. 

Other symptoms of the flu include headache, fatigue, cough, sore throat, nasal congestion, body aches, chills and, usually in children, vomiting or diarrhea.

How do I know if it’s the novel H1N1 strain? 

It’s not necessary for you to know whether your flu is H1N1 or a seasonal strain.  They are treated similarly and have similar effects, though this H1N1 strain seems to be transmitted especially easily among children and young adults.

A flu test is also sometimes given to people at risk of becoming very sick, such as hospitalized patients, infants and those with underlying health conditions.  Health care workers may also receive a flu test. 

How should I take care of myself?

• Stay home and rest.
• Drink plenty of liquids to avoid dehydration.
• Don’t drink alcohol.
• Don’t smoke.
• Do take over-the-counter pain relievers (but don’t give aspirin to children or teens) for head and muscle aches.

When should I go to the doctor?

In most cases, a trip to the doctors isn’t necessary because healthy people will recover on their own in about five days.

In a recent update for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, doctors were advised to prescribe antiviral drugs only in certain cases – to treat or prevent illness in people who are severely ill or hospitalized or at higher risk of having serious complications from flu.  Therefore, if you have just become ill, you may want to call the doctor to obtain a prescription for an antiviral medication such as Tamiflu or Relenza. 

Consider seeing your doctor if you are at high risk for complications.  This includes people ages 65 and older, those with chronic medical conditions, pregnant women and young children.

Should an ill person go to the hospital?

Normally, no.  But the virus can lead to other illnesses, such as bronchitis, pneumonia, sepsis and asthma flare-ups. 

Emergency Signs

• Difficult breathing or shortness of breath
• Pain or pressure in the chest or abdomen
• Sudden dizziness
• Confusion
• Severe or persistent vomiting

How long should I stay home?

Your primary goal should be to avoid infecting others.  Always stay home if you have a fever.  Adults can spread the flu to others for up to five days after getting sick, so stay home for 24 hours after the fever is gone (without use of fever lowering medications).  You may have lingering symptoms, such as nasal congestion, cough or fatigue.  That is normal.  But if your symptoms haven’t abated much from its peak, you could still be infectious.

Exerts from Chicago Tribune article, What to do if you have the flu, published Sunday, September 27, 2009

Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), Your Pap Smear, and You

HPV is like chickenpox - practically everybody gets it! Because most people don't develop warts, they don't realize they've been exposed and may expose others in the future. Even faithful condom usage is not entirely protective, as some skin-to-skin contact still occurs. Therefore, a "new" diagnosis of HPV on a pap smear, or you or your partner getting warts doesn't mean either has been unfaithful. With chickenpox (varicella), after the skin eruption passes the virus continues to live on in your body, in nerve cells in the spine. Later on in life, the varicella may re-erupt as shingles. This doesn't always happen, because the immune system normally sequesters (forces into a limited area) and suppresses (keeps them from multiplying), but if the immune system itself becomes depressed from illness or its treatment, like cancer/chemo, HIV, or even severe stress, then shingles may occur. With HPV, it's a little more complicated. To begin with, there are many different strains. The many "low-risk" types cause genital warts. The few "high-risk" types can cause dysplasia (mild, moderate or severe) and skin cancers of the cervix, vagina, vulva, rectum and penis/scrotum. Neither warts nor dysplasia/cancer happen in most people due to the same actions of the immune system as in varicella. In the case of HPV, the virus is sequestered in the skin cells of the genital tract for your lifetime, just like varicella in the nerve cells, and just as most people don't get shingles, most people don't have any problems with HPV. However, we do know that when the immune system is suppressed, as in AIDS, the women affected who do harbor the high-risk strains will very quickly develop dysplasia. Therefore, traditional pap smears that only looked for changes in the appearance of cells are being replaced by liquid-based paps that can also test for high-risk HPV DNA.

New guidelines for who gets what kind of pap how often are being developed, but will go something like this: 1) No paps until sexual activity has commenced, because until HPV exposure has occurred, risk of cervical cancer is practically nil; 2) No HPV paps (just regular paps)for women younger than 30 years old, as practically everyone will become positive and maybe even have mildly abnormal paps, until the immune system does its work; 3) After three consecutive negative HPV paps, screening only every three years (though breast and pelvic exams continue yearly). For those who do test positive for high-risk HPV, screening will continue at yearly intervals.

Since the immune system is so important, let's examine what you can do to keep it healthy and functioning well. You will need to eat right and take your multivitamin (it takes up to 90 days of consecutive use to realize benefits), exercise and sleep enough, manage stress and don't smoke (it depresses the immune system and is also an independent risk factor for cervical cancer.)