What are the best ways to prevent and to treat the flu during the winter months? Prevention of this highly contagious illness is the best possible treatment option. However, if you do come down with this acute illness, you can get treatment to feel more comfortable and even shorten the course of your illness. Here is more on navigating this year’s flu season.
Know The Symptoms of The Flu
The flu can be mistaken for a cold. The symptoms of both illnesses are similar: fever, cough, body aches, headache, poor appetite, fatigue and more. However, the yearly flu virus usually makes people feel much sicker than the common cold does.
Also, symptoms of the flu come on very rapidly as compared to a cold. Recovery from flu can take longer, too, especially for those who are immunosuppressed, very young or elderly. For these individuals, complications such as pneumonia can develop fairly rapidly.
People with the following medical conditions also have a higher risk of serious complications if they contract the flu:
- Diabetes
- Heart disease
- Asthma and COPD
- Obesity
- Pregnancy
In fact, the flu can be so severe you can end up in the hospital.
How to Treat the Flu
If you fall prey to the flu, you may feel so sick that you just want to be done with it and feel like yourself again. Typically, though, the flu just has to run its course.
However, today, there are antiviral drugs available which may shorten the duration and intensity of influenza. These flu illness treatments are most effective when begun within one to two days of the onset of symptoms. Tamiflu and Relenza are examples of antiviral drugs which can relieve flu symptoms. Your healthcare provider can determine if one of these drugs would be appropriate for your symptoms and for your overall health.
In addition, you should take the following palliative measures as you recover from the flu:
- Rest
- Drink plenty of fluids
- Control your fever with acetaminophen or ibuprofen
Also, be sure to go home and stay home as soon as you feel flu symptoms starting. This will help prevent the spread of the virus to those at your school or workplace and even in the community at large.
How to Prevent the Flu
One of the best–if not the best–flu preventives is the annual flu vaccine. Formulated differently for each flu season, these readily available shots protect against the flu strains thought to be most prevalent for a given year.
Healthcare providers agree that most everyone is a candidate for this front line defense and that the more people who receive flu shots, the more of the general population is protected against illness. This concept is called herd immunity.
However, there are other important preventive strategies which, particularly when combined with the flu shot, can keep you and your family healthy.
These prevention strategies include:
- Meticulous and frequent handwashing with warm water and soap
- Using hand sanitizer when regular handwashing facilities are not available
- Sanitizing commonly touched surfaces, such as doorknobs, and light switches
- Staying home from school or work when sick in any way (whether you think have the flu or something else)
- Covering your mouth with your hand, a tissue or your sleeve when you cough or sneeze
- Avoiding touching your face, nose and eyes
- Staying well-hydrated
- Getting plenty of fresh air and exercise
- Wearing a mask in crowds
- Staying out of crowds (concerts, shopping, sports venues, bars and restaurants)
- Getting eight hours of sleep every night
- Eating a healthy diet (limiting junk food and increasing fresh fruits and vegetables)
- Avoiding excessive alcohol intake
- Stopping all tobacco consumption
Flu Illness Treatment Near Me at Cornerstone Urgent Care
In Rochester, NY, Cornerstone Urgent Care Center helps people of all ages prevent and recover from the flu. Our walk-in clinic at 2968 Chili Avenue is open and fully staffed Monday through Friday from 8 am to 8 pm and from 9 am to 7 pm on weekends.
Please come see us for expert and compassionate care from our friendly and professional staff. You can check-in online, or just walk in. You will be seen, assessed and treated within an hour!
Call us at (585) 207-0088 for more information about how we can be part of your healthcare team.
