Health Tips from Nurse Sue
“Good health isn’t cheap, but
compared to poor health, it’s a bargain.”
~Sue
~Sue
This informatio is stuff I learned in my
three years as an infection control nurse and might make your
winter a healthier one. The information can be verified
at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention web site,
www.cdc.gov.
"Flu" What is it?
The "flu"
that many people get every winter is a contagious respiratory
illness caused by influenza viruses. It is NOT vomiting
and diarrhea. That illness is caused by a several
different viruses or bacteria and is called gastroenteritis.
Even doctors and nurses can be heard calling the
gastroenteritis illness "the flu" or "stomach
flu" so it is no wonder people get confused.
Flu is a much more
serious illness than gastroenteritis because it can lead to
complications of pneumonia and can be deadly for the elderly
and small children. Each year approximately 36,000
people die of influenza or "the flu". Last
year some 20 children had died of the flu by Christmas here in
the United States; you may have read about it in the
newspapers.
What is the flu season?
The flu season usually
covers the months when the weather is damp, chilly, and
environmental temperatures are widely variable. It
starts in October and runs through April. Of course that
may vary some, depending on your location, but is true for most
of the Midwest.
What are the symptoms?
The flu starts suddenly
with headache, fever, dry harsh cough, extreme tiredness, and
generalized achiness. It may include a sore throat and
runny nose, but not always. Occasionally, it is
associated with stomach symptoms as well, especially in
children, but that is usually eclipsed by the headache, cough,
and achiness. Fevers can run as high as 102 for adults
and can be even higher for small children. It lasts 7 to
14 days. It can turn into pneumonia, easily, and that
should be suspected if it drags on for longer then two weeks.
Is there a pill I can take to get better
faster?
The answer to that is,
"maybe". In the last few years a couple of
medications have been marketed that may help if you start them
in the first day or two of the illness. Even then they
only shorten the illness by a few days. They are not the
miracle pill that antibiotics are for bacterial infections and
antibiotics won't help because the flu is a virus. If,
on the other hand, you have developed a bacterial pneumonia as
a complication of the flu, than antibiotics will be helpful.
Your doctor and a chest x-ray, should be helpful in
making that diagnosis. Mostly, you can only "ride
out" the illness by getting plenty of sleep, drinking
plenty of water (6-8 glasses a day), and eating nourishing
food.
Prevention?
If you have the flu, do
your family and friends a favor and stay home! Avoid
close contact with someone who has the flu and wash your hands
often, both if you have it and if you want to avoid it.
Good hand washing is the single most important factor in
preventing any infectious disease. By close contact, I
mean three feet or more so that any droplets expelled by
coughing or sneezing are less likely to make contact with you
and avoid objects that have been sneezed or coughed on such as
telephones, drinking glasses, etc. Wash your hands after
caring for someone who has the flu. Avoid hugs and
kisses; show your love some other way. Your best defense
against the flu is to maintain a healthy immune system by
eating nourishing food and getting sufficient sleep and, of
course, drinking plenty of fluids.
A flu vaccine will help
and is highly recommended for anyone over 65, anyone with
decreased immunity such as diabetics, anyone with chronic
respiratory disease such as asthma, and for small children.
Since the flu is caused by several viruses, the Center
for Disease Control tries to get the right combinations of
viruses in their vaccine by the flu types that are experienced
in other parts of the world that get the flu before we do here
in the United States. That is a less than perfect system
and sometimes a different strain of flu breaks out after the
vaccine has been developed, so some years there may still be a
significant outbreak. Some people, who have a
compromised immune system, may still get the flu after being
vaccinated, but it is usually a milder case and they are less
likely to develop the serious complications that can accompany
the flu.
The vaccine offers
immunity for only a few months, usually about one flu season.
That is why it is necessary to get a vaccine every year.
The vaccine is updated each year for the strain of flu
that is going around that year.
Can I get the flu from the vaccine?
The vaccine is a killed
virus which allows your own immune system to build up immunity
to it. You will not get the flu from the vaccine.
Some people do have adverse reactions to the vaccine because of
an allergy to some of the components of the vaccine, so if
you've ever become ill right after getting the flu vaccine, you
may want to talk to your doctor about the advisability of
getting the vaccine.
What about this "Bird Flu"?
The bird flu, or avian
flu, is not the same thing as seasonal flu. The
incidence of avian flu in humans is very low compared to
seasonal flu. There has been about 100 cases of avian
flu in humans in the last 8 years, whereas, there are 200,000
people hospitalized every year with seasonal flu and about
36,000 of those people will die. Much of what you hear
about 'bird flu' is really media hype. Seasonal flu is a
serious problem that is with us every year and is 'old news' as
far as the news media is concerned. The bird flu is a
serious problem for poultry farmers, mostly in other countries,
but is seldom passed on to humans and there are no known cases
where it has been passed from person to person.
That is the end of my report, but just for
a moment, I'd like to have a heart-to-heart with ya'll.
Christmas is coming and it is a time of great fun and a time
for families to get together. No one wants to miss it
because of illness. It is however, the time when many
infectious diseases are spread and especially the flu because,
"I just have a bad cold." What seem like a bad
cold to you who are young and generally healthy could be
devastating to the elderly and the very young and the
immunocompromised such as the diabetic or cancer patient.
It would be better to miss one family gathering than to
lose a loved one forever.
Thanks for “listening” and I
hope I didn't lose you in the middle of this somewhere.
God bless,
Sue
