Go home; go to bed (infections, surgery, doctor, symptoms)
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I'm used to having the unpopular opinion in the room, so not many may agree with me, but remember the days when you got the flu and you KNEW it was the flu because it feels like nothing else, certainly not a cold, so you didn't need to go to the doctor to have it officially pronounced the flu, you went home and went to bed? Remember when there was no test, and the doctor couldn't do anything for it anyway, so you went home and went to bed? Remember when there was no Tamiflu, so instead of going to the doctor and then to the pharmacy, spreading your germs all along the way, you just went home and went to bed because there was nothing else to be done and you felt too miserable to do anything else anyway? And remember how that action actually helped contain the spread of the infection? I happen to think all this running around town with a highly infectious and contagious airborne disease is absolute madness, not to mention that you could not only spread, but catch something else in all these places. Does society require enforced quarantines again?
But in the absence of common sense... I can't find ANYONE in real life who agrees that you SHOULDN'T run to the doctor and then to the pharmacy when you are most infectious and then back to work or shopping or games, etc. long before you're over it because you're "taking medicine." That's how brainwashed people are now, and that's pretty scary.
I hear you. I am just not in favor of things like forced quarantines even though I wish people would choose to stay home. Flu is no fun at all but not serious enough to allow the government to enforce quarantine.
Nearly 80 deaths in Indiana alone. How many more before we realize how truly stupid the current MO is and that it actually spreads the disease? Why is this course of action being encouraged (other than to make doctors and pharmacies richer)? Tamiflu isn't even proven effective. I'm not seriously proposing a quarantine, but it seems to me PSAs should encourage people to isolate themselves rather than advise the opposite.
But in the absence of common sense... I can't find ANYONE in real life who agrees that you SHOULDN'T run to the doctor and then to the pharmacy when you are most infectious and then back to work or shopping or games, etc. long before you're over it because you're "taking medicine." That's how brainwashed people are now, and that's pretty scary.
Well, some people want to blame anything other than themselves for a bad decision. If they rush to a doctor or get all sorts of meds for an annoying, temporary, and largely harmless (please, no reminding us of those "at risk" people...we all know who they are) illness, they have that potential scapegoat. They can wail that the nasty money-grubbing MD, the horrible anti-viral developed by an unscrupulous industry caused all their problems forever afterward.
I'm used to having the unpopular opinion in the room, so not many may agree with me, but remember the days when you got the flu and you KNEW it was the flu because it feels like nothing else, certainly not a cold, so you didn't need to go to the doctor to have it officially pronounced the flu, you went home and went to bed? Remember when there was no test, and the doctor couldn't do anything for it anyway, so you went home and went to bed? Remember when there was no Tamiflu, so instead of going to the doctor and then to the pharmacy, spreading your germs all along the way, you just went home and went to bed because there was nothing else to be done and you felt too miserable to do anything else anyway? And remember how that action actually helped contain the spread of the infection? I happen to think all this running around town with a highly infectious and contagious airborne disease is absolute madness, not to mention that you could not only spread, but catch something else in all these places. Does society require enforced quarantines again?
Because most of my jobs, if you're absent for 3+ days, they require a doctor's note STATING you cannot work due to illness.
Because unfortunately for some people, they feel like if they don't go to work, they will lose their jobs.
The last time I had the flu (years ago) my professor told me I had to bring a doctor's note or I'd take a zero for an exam.
Well; I totally agree that people should stay home & go to bed. That is part of the problem.
But there is another part & if it were not for the fact that I've had this year's flu; I wouldn't have known it. And if it were not for the fact that I had been to my doctor a few weeks beforehand (for a uti) & found out that I was extremely dehydrated; it would not have been as pronounced as it was.
I think what has caused a lot of the deaths this year is that out of backlash for overprescribing antibiotics; doctors have been underprescribing them. And people are dying from sepsis & pneumonia ... secondary to the flu ... which actually would respond to antibiotics, if caught early enough.
This year's flu is a very "wet" flu. It will pull fluid from anywhere in your body & it goes right to both the upper & lower respiratory system. It is so wet that it is breeding secondary infections very quickly.
So what do you do? If you don't go to the doctor you can't try to advocate for an antibiotic. But people are going to the doctor, spreading the virus, getting an antiviral ... after the fluid is starting to move into the chest. Then they go home to go to bed & sometimes; they are not waking up.
I would advocate that if you do go home sick to rest; don't go to bed. Spend a couple of nights sitting partially upright in a recliner so you can stay more oxygenated. Be aware that sometimes "shortness of breath" does not feel like you are actually short of breath.
Sometimes, "shortness of breath" feels like anxiety. I woke up like that one night while I was sick, at about 4 am. I couldn't figure out why I was having that "impending doom" feeling. I hadn't had any nightmares, no pressing deadlines, etc .. I pondered it for about 5 minutes & then remembered the possibility that it could be a symptom of dropping oxygen levels, got up & went to the recliner & it resolved.
The dehydration made my systemic symptoms (body aches, fatigue, "ran over by a truck", etc) much worse but I do wonder if it helped my lungs a little at first. Then the thirst hit, so I spent the 2nd night in the recliner as well.
I got over it without going to the doctor & without antibiotics but I forced myself to cough a lot, just like they advise you to do after a surgery, to keep my lungs clear. I would say that if anyone does experience shortness of breath that they do need to go to the doctor, right away. It's not something to be played around with, for sure.
By "go to bed," I don't necessarily mean literally; I just mean quarantine yourself.
Antibiotic abuse (inappropriate prescribing and over-use) for viruses, for which they are useless and dangerous, has been widespread for many years, and we now have the antibiotic-resistant superbugs to show for it. If doctors are finally actually pushing back against patients demanding them for every little sniffle, it's about time -- if not too late.
I understand that some employers require an excuse (which is madness), but I know of babies and old people being taken in to be tested for the flu. If they don't already have it, they'll catch it when they're there!
Last edited by otterhere; 01-22-2018 at 04:36 PM..
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