Ughhh...the flu!!

[huskerlaw]

Not looking for medical advice, I've already been to the doc and I've taken the Tamiflu. But any words of wisdom would be appreciated.

My symptoms:

1. fever
2. hacking cough
3. sore throat
4. nausea
5. vomiting
6. body aches

I'm trying to drink Smart Water (contains electrolytes), but I'm puking every 30 minutes or so.

Aside from laying here wishing I was dead, what else can I be doing??

Update: uuuuggghhh...thanks for all the suggestions. I may get there at some point, but for now, I can't even keep water down. Wheeee. x(

[TZ]

1. Try to get something to help you sleep

Sleeping it off is the best thing for you I would think....

[SPKrazy]

2. drinking heavily`

mostly water, juice

but whatever, keep hydrated

:hug:

If you just got the symptoms, Tamiflu may be possible to get from your Doc too

[Lyric]

3. Three words: hydrocodone cough syrup

When I had my worst case of influenza, that stuff helped me *enormously*. It dulled the horrible body aches, eased the cough, and let me sleep through the worst 3 days. By the time I ran out of cough syrup, I was starting to feel a LOT better. Codeine cough syrup really isn't strong enough for influenza; talk to your doc about the stuff I mentioned. It really is amazingly useful for the flu.

Other than that, (and realize that I am not a doctor, just someone who's been there) I recommend:

-A daily dose of Prevacid/Nexium/Prilosec/etc. to keep your stomach acid content down. If you *must* vomit, at least it won't be as painful and miserable.

-600 mgs of ibuprofen every 6 hours, and make sure you take it with 8 ounces of Gatorade and some light food--two tablespoons of applesauce or a few crackers will do if you can't stomach anything else. This should keep the pain/fever minimized.

-Bed rest--lots of it. Forget about work and stay away from other people, because influenza can kill elderly people, small children, and people with compromised immune systems. You don't want to pass germs to someone who could die from it.

-Keep the lights dim to fight the headache.

-Get a bottle of Welch's Concord Grape Juice, put it in the fridge to get cold, then drink it in teeny sips. It's extremely soothing to a sore throat. I practically lived on the stuff when I had the flu.

-OTC cough syrups aren't much help for the flu, unless you have chest congestion. If you do, get yourself a bottle of guaifenesin syrup. It helps to loosen and thin chest congestion.

:hug: