If you have the flu you already how mis­er­able it can make you feel. You have the cough, the fever and headache, the weak­ness and nau­sea, not to men­tion the stuffy nose and other very uncom­fort­able symp­toms of the flu. Or you’re car­ing for some­one who is suf­fer­ing from these things. You want to treat the flu and feel bet­ter — as soon as you can!

Here is what to do: as lit­tle as pos­si­ble. Stay home from work or school, and rest. Not that you would feel like it, but in case you need to be told, don’t pid­dle around the house doing lit­tle chores. No clean­ing, no laun­dry, no water­ing the plants, just rest. In bed. Or at least on the sofa with plenty of pil­lows and blankets.

Call your doctor’s office to let them know. You will likely not have to see the doc­tor unless your fever or other symp­toms become severe, but he or she should know when­ever you have symp­toms of the flu. If you live alone, be sure to also tell a fam­ily mem­ber or friend that you’re stay­ing home with the flu. They can check up on you from time to time to see how you’re doing and if there’s any­thing you need. Make sure you and they have your doctor’s phone num­ber nearby.

While home and rest­ing, it’s very impor­tant to drink plenty of flu­ids — espe­cially so if you are dia­betic. Try to take in about a cup of fluid each hour. You can sip on hot broth or boul­lion, soup, or tea. Jell-O® is a tasty treat made mostly from water and/or fruit juice that can help keep you hydrated as well. If you have dif­fi­culty keep­ing food down, you can try suck­ing on ice cubes or sip­ping smaller sips more frequently.

Do not take antibi­otics. Flu is a viral infec­tion, not a bac­te­r­ial one. Antibi­otics will reduce your body’s defenses against viruses, not improve them.

Mon­i­tor and treat your symp­toms. That means to keep a ther­mome­ter nearby to check your tem­per­a­ture every six to eight hours, between snacks and drinks (so their heat or cold won’t affect the read­ing). A fever is part of your body’s heal­ing processes. So long as it is not severe your fever is help­ing you to get over the flu faster. How­ever, if your fever rises above 103 F (39.4 C), call your doctor.

If your headache and mus­cle aches are more than you can bear, you can use over-the-counter pain reliev­ers such as Aceta­minophen (Tylenol, Panadol); Ibupro­fen (Advil, Motrin); Naproxen (Aleve, Naprosyn); or plain aspirin. Your doc­tor can tell you which one or how much to take if you’re not sure.

You can treat the cough with prepa­ra­tions such as Robi­tussin CF. It has a cough sup­pres­sant (dex­tromethor­phan) and an expec­to­rant (pseu­doephedrine) and is sugar and alco­hol free. Your local drug store may have store brands with the same ingre­di­ents. If you have high blood pres­sure or heart dis­ease be sure to tell your phar­ma­cist. He or she can rec­om­mend which cough rem­edy to buy. Also be care­ful with some cough and cold syrups that you don’t over­dose on pain reliever. Many cold reme­dies con­tain aceta­minophen for pain relief.

If you have a sore throat, try gar­gling with warm salt water. You can also suck on throat lozenges that have local anas­thet­ics to relieve throat pain. You can take a nasal decon­ges­tant for the stuffy nose. If you use a nasal spray, don’t use it more than three days in a row or it may have the oppo­site effect. If you’re still stuffy after three days, switch to a plain saline spray.

If you are dia­betic, con­tinue to take all your med­i­cines. Even if you don’t feel like eat­ing you still must mon­i­tor your blood-sugar every three to four hours. Take your insulin injec­tions if you use insulin. Your body will likely need as much or even more insulin while fight­ing the flu as when you are well. Keep some glucose-raising tablets nearby.

You don’t want to get chilled. Keep the room warm (not hot) and use a humid­i­fier. Wear slip­pers or thick socks when you get out of bed. Be sure to turn on the bath­room heater when you bathe or shower, and dry off quickly afterward.

To get over the flu faster, take in plenty of flu­ids and rest as much as pos­si­ble. You can watch TV or read, but if you can sleep you should sleep.

The good news is that unlike a cold that can last a week or more, most cases of flu pass in about 24 hours. Swine flu can last a lit­tle longer, a week to ten days, but is some­times milder in symp­toms than reg­u­lar flu.

The Dia­betes Book That Could Save Your Life!