How to Treat the Flu

What You Need to Know About How to Treat the Flu

Colds, fever, chills and muscle pains?

If you are experiencing any of these, then you might want to consider knowing how to treat the flu. or if it’s in your tummy, stomach flu treatment. Flu or influenza is an infection caused by the flu virus, this infection often leaves a person ill rendering him/her unable to do daily activities.

Treating the Flu

What exactly is Flu? Influenza is one of the most common viral infections experienced by humans. This is particularly caused by the virus family Orthomyxoviridae. There are several strains of the flu virus, ranging for the self-limiting type (meaning the infection can be controlled by the body) to the severe type such as bird flu and SARS. The most common ones infecting humans belongs to the self-limiting type.

Flu is also one of the common reasons people are confined to bed and are unable to go to school or work. Flu symptoms, such as generalized muscle pain, fever, chills, nasal stuffiness, sore throat, general weakness and discomfort often make the person too sick to continue work or daily tasks. Symptoms of flu usually appear 24-48 hours after the infection. Initial symptoms usually include chills, a slight grade fever of 100-104 deg F, cough and nasal congestion. Other symptoms such as fatigue, muscle pains, petechial rashes, headache, reddened eyes and skin usually follow or can also appear simultaneously.

In order to treat flu, it is important for us to know certain flu facts. Many ask how long does the flu last or how it is acquired or spread. Once you have an infection and symptoms begin to be felt, it may last for 5-7 days (approximately one week). One can be infected with the flu virus in three ways; first is by directly sneezing or coughing at you, next is by inhalation of droplets from the infected person through the air, and through hand to hand, hand to mouth, or hand to eye contact.

How to Treat the Flu Effectively

Knowing how to treat the flu is vital knowledge for every responsible person. Treatment of flu usually focuses on relieving the symptoms and not eradicating the causative agent itself. This is because generally, flu is a self-limiting disease. The immune system would eventually recover from the infection and would successfully eradicate the virus from the body. To help the body achieve this, flu symptoms are relieved and supportive measures to boost the immune system are employed.

Acetaminophen (Paracetamol) is usually given for fever and muscle aches, aspirin is usually avoided especially when children are affected (aspirin can causes Reyes syndrome). To boost the immune system and help the body overcome the infection, plenty of rest, fluids, balanced diet and Vitamin C are given. These measures do not address or relieve the symptoms, but these aid the immune system in battling the virus. Treating the flu also involves avoidance of smoking and drinking alcohol. If the symptoms of flu involve nausea and vomiting, then stomach flu is suspected. Stomach flu treatment would involve re-hydration therapy, modifying the diet by avoiding too much simple sugars and increasing intake of probiotics, antiemetics to prevent further vomiting and anti-motility drugs to address diarrhea.

Treating the flu virus infection is at its most effective when employed during the early stages of the disease, but the best way on how to treat the flu is to employ best measures to prevent it.