I wrote this a couple weeks ago, right before spring break. Sent it to both local papers. They didn't publish it. Oh, well.
Influenza is here again. I did not recognize this year's form immediately. For two weeks I saw people with a headache right between their eyebrows, fever, muscle aches and cough. They had very little nasal drainage, sore throat or ear pain. They were all very tired. This was clearly viral and going around. Then I saw a single mother with three children. All four were sick, one really quite sick and one with laboratory confirmed influenza. Three out of the four had the headache. Ah-ha!
Influenza is not the stomach flu. This year's stomach flu is norovirus. It goes around every winter. Nausea, diarrhea, maybe vomiting. Try to keep up on fluids. Antibiotics don't work because they only kill bacteria, not viruses.
Influenza is an unusual virus. My information website says that in any one year, as many as 20 percent to the people in the world will get influenza. That is a LOT of people. Influenza is airborne and very contagious. We started asking for all people in the waiting room to wear masks as soon as we realized we have a big outbreak of influenza.
As a doctor I really did not understand influenza very well until my sixth year of practice. My daughter got it on November 30th. I saw 6 very sick people in a row in clinic. I had a person in the intensive care unit with influenza and bacterial pneumonia. I had had my influenza vaccine but that year the vaccine protected only 3 people out of 4. I was the 4th and got sick December first.
I put my daughter on antiviral medicine, but being an invincible doctor, I did not put myself on it. This was a mistake. I got very very sick. Influenza is different from asthma and pneumonia. In asthma, smooth muscle in the lungs narrow the airways. Inhalers relax the muscles. In pneumonia, there is fluid in the airways. Cough medicine helps and people need antibiotics if it is bacterial. Influenza makes the lung tissue swell, so the air spaces are partly swollen shut. Cough medicine doesn't help much. Antibiotics don't work. Inhalers don't work.
What works is rest. Rest, fluids, tylenol or ibuprofen for the muscle aches. All that stuff our mothers said.
When I got influenza my lungs were very swollen. There was less air space. I tried to go back to work after a week because my fever was down and doctors are invincible, right? By noon I was exhausted. I felt like I had run for miles. I put a pulse oximeter on my finger. My oxygen level was fine but my heartrate was 125. Normal is 60-100. My normal is 60-80. My heart was working extra hard to make up for the damage in my lungs. I had to go home. It took two months to heal enough to go back to work. During that two months my heartrate at rest was 100 and going up the stairs 125. I had to rest halfway up one flight of stairs. I realized that perhaps I am not invincible.
Influenza is contagious for 3-5 days in adults and up to 7 days for children. During that time you should stay home. Try not to expose people. When should you go back to school or work? Your heartrate is the key. Count the number of beats in a minute at rest. 60-100 is normal. Walk around. If your heartrate is over 100-110, I do not think you are ready to go back to work. If you become exhausted, you ae more likely to get bacterial pneumonia on top of the influenza.
And please think about getting a flu shot. It takes up to two weeks to fully protect you. This year mine seems to be working so far.
PS. Have some alcohol on hand. I think that flu freaks out the adrenalin system too, so a small amount of alcohol calms the heartrate down. Getting drunk, however, stresses the immune system more. I said small amount.