I have just had a very early morning call from a friend who now lives in Texas. The woman is in her seventies and has moved recently, so hasn't found an internist or general doctor. She said she had the flu and her head was splitting. A doctor at an urgent care had given her Tamuiflu that cost over $100, but he had not listened to her lungs or looked at her throat or ears. It is hard to diagnose someone by phone or by not examining the patient and when I was in private pediatric practice I always insisted on seeing a child because there could be problems a parent had not described or didn't know of their significance. My advice to this friend was to insist on an antibiotic since it sounded as if she had sinusits and to take either tylenol or aspirin every four hours. Also I urged her to get a flu shot next year which she did not get this year. If she was not getting better by this evening or tomorrow morning, I urged her to go to an ER where she could have a chest X-ray to look for pneumonia. Remember everything that is called flu may not be flu and ear infections and pneumonia are common complicatations of so-called flu.
Some people are having diarrhea or intestinal problems with the bug that is going around. My son and I have both had the "flu" except he had a very bad cough and some inflammation in his ear drums; mine has been much milder except for some fullness in my ears with mild inflammation of the ear drums. So with any flu epidemic, it is important that a doctor does a good examination. If you are getting worse or feel terrible, as does my friend, and a doctor does not examine you, insist he or she does or go elsewhere for medical care.
Just want to confirm how does flu passes form one human being to another human being.
Posted by: Nutritional management of diabetes | February 08, 2013 at 01:18 AM