So A couple of days after returning from Paris by bus, I'm at home with some pretty clear flu symptoms. I have aches in my legs (which I get when I have the flu), a sore throat, headaches, a little coughing but not so much, fatigue, temperature, chills last night (a little), some depression and despondency early today that cleared up when I had some coffee (so maybe my caffeine addiction to blame there), and I had about 4 days of diarrhea, along with some stomach and bowel aches, and upper digestive irritation. My appetite seems fairly unaffected (although I have early satiety and discomfort/sweating after eating). I also have some bug bites on my arms and legs that are flaring up and aching quite a bit, (I assume that's a histamine reaction) though today they've settled down some- I have red welts around the bites and had very sharp pain at first, but now the pain is mostly gone. The aches in my legs are in specific locations, on the inner thigh near the groin, and they are the same as I experienced last year when I got a staph infection on my legs. I'm particularly thinking of swine flu because I was on a bus for 16 hours with a bunch of foreigners from different countries- swine flu hasn't broken out widely in CZR, but I could have gotten it in France, or in transit.
I'm keeping myself inside until things clear up, but I have to travel on visa business to Austria next week, and I'm a bit concerned about doing that. So far symptoms are remarkably mild, so I am thinking they will stay that way or improve from here. Should I see a doctor? My new medical coverage hasn't started yet, so I would probably be paying cash (as my travel insurance deductible is very high)- that and my new visa is not official yet and I'm concerned about authorities. I talked to my mom about it and she said it's probably flu, maybe swine flu, but the only way to know would be to get tested, and it's already far too late for antiviral treatment, so my inclination is to hunker down and wait it out. What do people think? It's been several days now (since wednesday) that I've had symptoms, and they don't appear to be worsening.
Posts: 9912 | Registered: Nov 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Treat the situation like you would any other case of the flu of a similar severity to what you describe. There's no preventing the spread of the swine flu any more (as per the statements of a major epidemiology researcher I collaborate with on occasion), and it isn't any worse than the normal flu, just something most people don't have immunity to yet. Expect a stronger than usual flu season, so if you do have it, that's probably better than having it then.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
Is it advantageous to have *any* flu at this point? Or is it just good to get one type of the flu out of the way. Cause if I have to have the flu now, I'd like it to be the one that's going to be bad in the winter.
Posts: 9912 | Registered: Nov 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
It is advantageous to have the flu that's most likely to be around a lot during the flu season, giving you a better chance of not getting that flu (and thus, hopefully, no flu), and not having to deal with the extra-stressed medical infrastructure.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
| IP: Logged |
Printer-friendly view of this topic
