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Water, chicken soup, ginger ale. Vick's Vapo-Rub during the day to make your cough productive, Nyquil at night to suppress the cough so you can sleep. Hot/cold pack around your neck as needed. Ibuprophen as needed for the aches. The only thing you can do, really, is to treat the symptoms and wait it out, at this point. So treat it like "the worst cold you've ever had in your life and couldn't imagine ever existing until this moment."
I haven't been sick in years with a cold or the flu. I got this from a friend that went to see his ex-wife in a nursing home. The nursing home's doctor said the flu shot this year is worthless and will not help at all.
Thanks.
I am not 100% sure about this. It may have been less effective for some people but not completely useless. I had the vaccine this year and so did my children and this is what happened:
I somehow caught pneumonia. They tested me to see if it was triggered by the flue and it wasn't.
A few weeks later my daughter got a temperature. We went to the doc and she tested positive for the A flu.
I pretty much froze because I was terrified I will now catch it as I had just entered the recovery stage from pneumonia and was still very weak. Perfect medium for the flu to strike hard.
Considering I usually catch everything my children bring home, I was bracing myself for disaster.
Miraculously I didn't catch it and my daughter's case was very light too.
She had a fever for a day or two and then she started bouncing as if she'd never had a thing. She didn't even have runny nose, etc. We hardly used anything for her.
I do believe the vaccine had something to do with it.
I haven't been sick in years with a cold or the flu. I got this from a friend that went to see his ex-wife in a nursing home. The nursing home's doctor said the flu shot this year is worthless and will not help at all.
Yeah, I haven't had a cold in at least a decade, nor the flu in 20 years. I'm 67.
Meeting up with other people, esp if they have someone they know in a hospital, nursing home, group home, etc is a sure-fire way to catch something. I discovered some stuff long ago, called ASAP Silver Solution (it's colloidal silver) and a good swig of that stuff whenever I feel a scratchy throat, clears it right up. Not sure if it will help once you have a full-blown case, but may be worth it for next time around:
1: colloidal silver does nothing for the flu, and if you use it like some people do, it can turn your skin and the whites of your eyes *permanently* bluish-grey. Look up "argyria" for more info on that.
2. the OP said he's already in his third day of symptoms. The only thing he can do at this point is treat the symptoms and wait it out.
If you want to help yourself get better with food and beverages, make sure that the chicken soup you are eating is actually made with bone broth and contains things like garlic and onion (not powdered). Many Asian restaurants make their chicken soups with bone broth and many of them deliver. Ginger ale is mostly just sugar and/or corn syrup and rarely contains real ginger. Sugar is not good for your immune system at all. You can buy some ginger root and chop it up and drink it mixed with some hot water, real lemon and real (not the honey infused with corn syrup often found at the store) honey. You can also add some cayenne pepper if you can take the heat. All of these things will help your symptoms and many will actually help your immune system fight the flu.
I had flu-like symptoms before Christmas and went to the doctor but didn't test positive for the flu. It was just another nasty virus with a horrible cough.
Ibuprofen for fever and body aches and lots of fluids. I also got some great codeine cough syrup from the doctor. I only took it 2 nights but it really helped me sleep.
Also, if you do get the flu, your family can take Tamiflu as a prophilactic (SP?). I didn't know that til this last doctor visit.
The first thing is rest as your body needs energy to fight this off. Next is making yourself comfortable and keeping hydrated. Have a good plan in place if things look like they're getting unmanageable.
When it first hit me my temp rose to 101 on and off and if it went higher I made a plan to go to the urgent care. I had cough drops for the sore throat. The first three days I was too nauseated to eat, so I just ate ice cubes to stay hydrated and took sips of water.
When it moved to my head I took Robitussin Night to sleep and suppress the cough and mucous. I had a bland diet of crackers, 7-up and chicken soup. They say you don't want to over eat or eat rich food because it taxes your body while you try to fight this off; even if you're starving from not eating. I had some garlic cloves and green tea during that time. Raw garlic isn't for everyone, though, but warm liquids are very good during this time.
I took Fioricet or aspirin for the headaches. When it moved to my chest I took an expectorant to break up the tightness, vicks rubs under nose and on chest, and did steams at night. I had to a lot of cough drops for the constant tickle in my throat, but they did the trick.
It took about two weeks until I was back to 100%, good luck and hope you feel better real soon
I just got over a very nasty case of strep throat. I thought I just had a sore throat and the flu until my throat swelled up so bad I could barely breathe.
Rest. Stay warm and hydrated. Drink a good brothy soup and herbal tea. Avoid alcohol and caffeine if possible.
If you're not showing signs of improvement after a couple days, though, I would really suggest seeing a doctor. If you have an infection, for example, all the chicken soup in the world won't fix that.
I've got it bad and wondering what people do to treat this?
I've given cans of chicken soup and Alka-Seltzer Plus. I'm drinking lots of water.
Thanks.
Balance your electrolyte intake. So drink water but make sure you also get electrolytes. Heat works wonders for slowing virus replication but don't expose yourself to very much heat if you aleady have a fever.
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