I don’t understand the recommendation to go to the doctor just to get your flu diagnosed. Why go to a place with vulnerable sick people, so you can spread your flu, just to find out what you already knew?
If you have complications that need medical attention, sure, but if you have high fever, cough, aches… you’ve probably got the flu. Stay home, drink fluids, alternate Advil and Tylenol, and take care of yourself.
If you get to the doc early enough you could benefit from Tamiflu.
Good article on flu and what to do if you get it.
Just in case you were referring to my post, where I recommended that my D go to the doctor to find out what was going on with her (and I won’t have to spend any time clapping back on you in my head), while you may think that you have the flu, sometimes you don’t have the flu.
In my D’s case, she did not have the flu. Should she have continued to self diagnose (incorrectly) out because she was going to a place where there were other vulnerable sick people (who may also have the flu)?
I am just asking? This is strain of flu where young healthy people are dying, so if you are feeling a bit uncomfortable because someone else is coming in sick, when you feel that they should have stayed home, feel free to tell you kids to stay home, but me, sorry, I am not sorry.
If you comments were not directed toward me and my post, then please accept my apology and carry on.
If you think you have the flu, either you do have the flu, or you have another disease that probably spreads the same way and for which you should do the same thing. So, yes, I do think that if you have flu symptoms you should stay home and treat yourself, unless you have complications that would warrant a doctor visit.
People are dying of the flu, but what do you imagine the doctor will do to prevent a person with uncomplicated flu from dying, that the person wouldn’t already be doing?
In my dad’s case, it turned from uncomplicated to complicated very quickly. There’s also the risk of dehydration. I think it’s better to go to a medical professional than to self-treat in many cases. But if you know everything about it, I guess there’s no danger for you.
Well, I can read. I know what the health department of my county-- which is currently swamped with flu-- recommends. "Today, along with the Emergency Medical Services Agency and Santa Clara Valley Medical Center (SCVMC), the Public Health Department recommended that residents who are not seriously ill stay home, drink fluids, and take medicine for fever. " But if you think you know more about the flu than people whose job it is to tell us how to handle public health problems like the flu, by all means, tell people to go to their doctor.
https://www.sccgov.org/sites/opa/newsroom/Pages/influenzaactivityincreasing.aspx
The Santa Clara County Public Health Department also says that people who are at higher risk-- the very old, the very young, people with certain chronic conditions, and pregnant women-- should contact their doctor for instructions if they think they have the flu. I don’t know how old your father is, @Tiredofsnow, but if he is very old, then he falls in that category.
Yes, he is old.
I think everyone has to make their own decision on when/if to seek treatment, though. I don’t think I know more about the flu than your experts.
I hope you stay well.
In D’s case, the MD called in Rx for Tamiflu for D but still wanted her in his office for visit the next day. I’m not sure way, as it didn’t make sense to me—maybe to be sure she didn’t need hospitalization? He never tested her for the flu at all.
Anyway, at the visit, he agreed with her that both H and I needed to take Tamiflu too and called in the Rx which we immediately picked up and began.
Well, @“Cardinal Fang” in Sybbie’s defense, it turned out her dd had pneumonia. So I suppose she made the right call to send her to the doctor. I think it can be hard for people to determine at what point they should or should not go to the doctor b/c not everyone has a medical degree and can determine based on symptoms, what might be wrong with them. Normally, much to dh’s chagrin, I do not typically rush to the doctor. With a few exceptions, my kids have rarely been to the doctor for anything other than well visits and an occasional strep diagnosis. There was the time when I did take my 3 y/o to the doctor when he wouldn’t stop screaming for no apparent reason when I was trying to put his shoe on. Our pedicatrician then misdiagnosed my 3 y/o with an ankle sprain when it turned out to be a serious staph infection in his growth plate that required emergency surgery, 8 weeks of PICC line antibx and weekly visits to an infectious disease specialist. But stomach bug? Cough/cold? Nope, we stay home. That did come back to bite me in the butt one time when my son’s cough ended up being walking pneumonia. I finally realized when he simply would not get up off the couch b/c he was so fatigued.
Until last year, I honestly couldn’t tell you the last time I had the flu but certainly not ever as an adult (and honestly, not sure I ever had it as a kid-my mother was a nurse and would bring flu shots home for us). Last year, I had what appeared to be flu symptoms and dh was urging me to go to the doctor b/c at least then, I could get Tamiflu if it was. However, I felt SO horrible, that I could not even get myself out of bed to find out one way or another. I have no idea whether I did have the flu or not, and suffered in the confines of my bedroom for 5 days so as not to infect my five family members. In hindsight, had I gone to the doctor, perhaps I would have recovered more quickly if it was the flu, and I had the opportunity to take Tamiflu. I have never been that sick in my adult life. I then had a lingering cough for at least three weeks.
If you get flu like symptoms, you could make initial contact with your physician by phone or email in order to get advice on whether and when to go to the physician’s office.
Then you are less likely to make an unnecessary visit there but also less likely to fail to make a necessary visit there.
The strongest strain of flu this season is the H3N2. It is particularly virulent, causing complications in all age groups. The most common is pneumonia. It is always advisable to call your MD for advice on whether or not you need to be evaluated, especially if you should have someone listen to your lungs. Clinics and MD offices should be handing out masks to patients who are symptomatic and have hand sanitizer, tissues and paper garbage bags available.
I understand that it’s hard to know when to go to the doctor. We’re not doctors. We don’t know, necessarily, whether our symptoms are alarming, or just normal. (This is why I hate insurance companies or Medicaid penalizing someone for going to the emergency room when it turns out the incident was not an emergency-- how are we supposed to know it wasn’t an emergency?)
That’s why I value public health departments attempting to clarify what we should do when we suspect we have the flu.
We should know what are normal symptoms of the flu that don’t warrant medical attention for people not at high risk: high fever, extreme fatigue, your entire body feeling like you were just run over by a train, coughing, more coughing. I’m repeating what public health departments are saying: if you are not at high risk, and you have those symptoms, you don’t need to go to the doctor.
We should know who should go to the doctor: people who think they have the flu and who are at high risk, people who think they have the flu and whose symptoms are getting worse rather than just staying awful, people whose symptoms relapse after a couple of days, people who seem to be dehydrated and are unable to rehydrate themselves, people with severe chest pain, people who are having trouble breathing.
I’m saying these things because I remember going to the doctor for the flu when I shouldn’t have. I had a high fever, I hurt all over, I was weak, and I thought this warranted a doctor’s attention. Now I know better. There was nothing the doctor could do, except tell me what I already knew: drink fluids, take drugs that lower a fever, stay in bed. I don’t want to waste my doctor’s time, plus now I have a high-deductible health plan so I have to pay for my doctor visits.
^ I had the flu a couple years ago and was given tamiflu- isn’t that worthwhile ?
There is a lot of disagreement about Tamiflu. It doesn’t seem to do a lot, though it probably shortens the duration of the flu (by less than one day), it’s expensive, and it has common side effects, some nasty and unpleasant and others rare but alarming (hallucinations and psychosis, eek). The doctors around here don’t seem to give it routinely, as far as I can tell, but doctors in some other areas do give it routinely.
When DH took Tamiflu, it made him very nauseous and he threw up a LOT. But he is pretty “delicate” with regard to meds and GI distress.
My Dad’s wife is hospitalized with flu in Denver. Everyone (doctors, nurses, visitors) has to wear a face mask. The demand has been so great that that wing ran out of masks. So they got a bunch from the pediatric wing. My Dad is sporting Bugs Bunny and had Minnie Mouse and a few others. Brought smiles to otherwise serious situation…
Well guess what? This is not one size fits all advice.
My D had these symptoms that she said started Wednesday. Did the drill of drinking fluids and taking OTC meds to alleviate her symptoms. She is not high risk, rarely gets a cold. Friday, said she is not feeling better. I told her, go to the doctor. If she had not gone, she would not have known that she has pneumonia.
I am a firm believer that while you may not always have good health, it is a blessing to have good health care (and good health insurance). I have always had good health care/health insurance , and when my D got her own insurance, has very good health insurance along with good health care.
If I have to feel that I am inconveniencing my health care provider (especially in advocating for my own health care), s/he that is not the right heath care provider for me.
This is coming from a person who went to work, asymptomatic, felt a little off in my body, went to doctor and was told everything was normal and pressed for more test because I knew something was off. Less than 24 hours found out I had a bilateral PE. If I had not pushed, I would not be here.
While I also read, very well, I trust, then verify. Appreciate input, from others, but final decision regarding the health of me and mine will come from someone with an MD.
What doctors should be telling folks is to postpone routine checkup visits until after the peak of the flu season.
Sybil, what is a PE?