This information comes from what I’ve learned from my doctor’s office, the local medical community, Riverbend Urgent Care, the CDC website, and my own personal experience.
If you have a sore throat, body aches, chills, fatigue (overwhelming urge to sleep) and feel woozy -- and these symptoms came on suddenly -- you probably have the flu. There is only one flu going around right now, and that’s the H1N1 flu. According to their website, CDC says that 99% of all flu cases in the USA at this time are the novel H1N1, aka “swine” flu. According to Riverbend Urgent Care, all flu cases in our local area are H1N1.
With H1N1, you don’t necessarily have a fever, and/or your temperature may be sub normal. Yahoo reports that 37% of reported H1N1 cases do not present with fever. My temperature with this virus has been 95.5-96.2 F.
Don’t expect to be able to take a test from your doctor to find out if you have it. Locally, the only way you can be tested for H1N1 specifically is if you are admitted to the hospital. At Urgent Care they told me the test costs $700 and insurance doesn’t pay for it. I suspect that insurance will pay for it if you’re hospitalized, though. There is another test, called a “rapid flu” test. My doctor isn’t doing those anymore, but they are doing them at Urgent Care. They take a swab from the nasal passage or throat, like for a strep test. If it comes back positive, you have the flu, but it doesn’t specify what flu. So, if you have a positive rapid flu test now, they say it’s definitely H1N1, because that’s the only flu going around at this time.
Then they’ll tell you, it doesn’t matter, because they will treat you the same way whether you have H1N1 or seasonal flu. And what treatment is that?
1. Go to bed, get plenty rest and lots of liquids and good nutrition.
2. Stay home! Do not go to school, work, church or the grocery store!
Especially with H1N1, and also for seasonal flu, stay home for 24 hours past when your fever goes away without fever-reducing medication. If you don’t have fever, stay home until you have felt well for 24 hours.
If you are sick stay home. If your kids are sick, keep them at home. Stay home from work and care for them until they are completely over it.
A friend who lives in Germany told me that she’s not worried at all about getting this virus. In Germany, if you get the flu you just go to the doctor, and they will give you Tamuflu, which will reduce the symptoms and duration of the flu, and keep you from being contagious. At Urgent Care they told me that in the US you can only get Tamuflu if you’re hospitalized or have a life-threatening case of the flu.
Since our government won’t order us into quarantine, or even begin to encourage any behavior that might slow down the economy, it’s up to us to take on the responsibility of doing everything we can to keep each other healthy. That means if we are sick, we need to quarantine ourselves.
If you must go out, wear a mask. If your kids are sick, quarantine them.
If you are a teacher or an employer, be flexible in your expectations of your students and your employees. Health is more important than grades, more important than sales, more important than the economy! This flu season is temporary, and we can all get back to life as normal once it passes. For now, slow down and keep the proper perspective.
Be well and help others stay well!
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Corrections and clarifications:
I misspelled Tamiflu. It’s spelled “Tamiflu.” Also, I’m not sure if taking Tamiflu makes you less contagious. If taken within two days of onset of flu symptoms, it can reduce severity and length of the illness. The nurse at the doctor’s office told me today that the reason most doctors don’t prescribe it is because it is expensive and insurance companies don’t pay for it.(From personal experience, I really don’t know anything about Tamiflu except from what I’ve read, what I’ve heard from the nurses at the doctor’s offices and Urgent care, and what I heard from my German friend.)
About the sub-normal temperature: Last week one of my students was obviously very sick and complaining of headache. He looked pale, with dark circles around his eyes. It was obvious that he was ill -- and he is a good student with excellent attendance. He told me his mom wouldn’t let him stay home because she didn’t want him to get behind in his schoolwork. (This is a statement I often hear from my most conscientious students, and I suspect the worry about getting “behind” comes more from the student than from the parent.) I followed school policy and sent him to the office to have his temperature taken. It was 96 F. I reassured him that he didn’t have to worry about getting behind because teachers are being flexible in these times with so many students ill. We called his mom and she came to pick him up. However, he was back in school the next day, saying he felt better, just “tired.”
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