Nov 3, 2009 10:18 pm US/Mountain
Learn The Best Ways To Beat Back The Flu
Good Question: What do you need in your H1N1 survival kit?
Written by Alan Gionet
DENVER (CBS4) ―
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Over-the-counter medication
CBS
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Good Question, a regular part of CBS4 News at 10 p.m., is an opportunity for Alan Gionet to drill past the basic facts of a story and give it some depth & perspective. See more Good Question reports.
You get it, you feel lousy -- really lousy. Just ask the University of Denver's powerhouse hockey team. At the beginning of the year, they were picked to be tops in the country, but came out slowly. You might point at the flu. About a dozen players and coach George Gwozdecky were all laid out by a cross-check hit from behind -- the swine.
It came up quickly, said captain Rhett Rakhshani, and he was in no shape to do much of anything worthwhile during practice.
"By that point I felt terrible during the workout and just had no energy," Rakhshani said.
Off he was sent to recover.
What we all want is the right stuff to help our bodies chew up the virus and spit it out. You might call it a survival kit. Coach Gwozdecky didn't have much but some over-the-counter meds and rest. He was on his back for 5 days straight experiencing something he said he's never been through before.
"The body aches and the cough and the congestion and just the energy levels were brutal," Gwozdecky said.
The energy drops as your body fights. That fever is what can really make the flu the flu. If you feel like every cell in your body hurts with the H1N1 -- or any flu, you're right. Viruses invade just about every cell, unlike bacterial infections, which typically take up residence in certain areas. Viruses are proteins that invade to live. Your hypothalamus gland responds by firing up the boilers to decrease the activity of the virus.
Dr. Rafer Leach at the Guardian Urgent Care on Broadway told us, "The No. 1 thing in the first-aid kit is Tylenol, because Tylenol is No. 1 for fever and probably No. 2 for pain. And then ibuprofen is No. 1 for pain and aches, muscle aches and probably second best for fever."
Leach suggests alternating them every three hours.
"Then you'll be taking each individual drug every 6 hours, but you'll have something to take every 3 hours," Leach said.
Then deal with the other issues. Cough, cough. Not much there in over-the-counter preparations, admitted Dr. Leach.
"If cough is your problem at night, it's tough to treat. Not a lot of over-the-counter preparations for cough work that well," Leach said.
He says Delsym is okay, but kind of expensive.
"Even if it helps a little bit, that might help your sleep that little bit more."
If the cough is really a problem, you'll have to check with your doctor for a prescription.
"The real big complication for the flu is usually a respiratory complication. So a bad cough that turns to shortness of breath, that turns to look like it's hard to breath; fast rapid shallow respirations; that's when you need to come on in and get evaluated," Leach said.
Children tend to get into a bad position with the flu with dehydration.
"When it goes bad it's usually dehydration and respiratory in little kids and more respiratory in adults."
Pedialyte is helpful, no matter the age. Keep them tanked up on fluids.
Then there's the congestion. Let's get gross for a moment. There's a pile o' phlegm made up mostly of antibodies glycoproteins and lipids. Lovely stuff. It comes from mucus membranes. There's that nasal nastiness too. Your nasal tissues and blood vessels are swollen.
"Afrin can really clear your nose up to sleep," Leach said. But, "You don't want to use that for extended periods, because you'll get a rebound stuffy nose that's even worse."
For children he likes Little Noses, but doesn't like the container.
"And I put it in one of these pump mist applicators that come with adult Afrin. And I know this sounds a little bit crazy but, you really want the mist to mist."
How about the stomach misery? That's a quick way to get dehydrated. Try ginger.
"Ginger ale's not bad. You can actually buy ginger and boil up ginger and put some honey in it and lemon and it's not bad," Leach said.
And keep some rest in that survival kit. Your body has a pretty good chance of healing itself. When you start winning the war your body metabolizes those viruses and you improve.
Good luck. Hope you don't mind watching some TV.
Additional Resources
CBS4's H1N1 Survival Guide contains hospital and clinic information for getting a vaccination -- many of them free. It also contains many useful links, sections and the latest articles and video clips about the swine flu.
Visit the H1N1 Survival Guide
(© MMIX CBS Television Stations, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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