Took my husband to the doctor's office yesterday. He has fever (max 101.8), sore throat, muscle aches, nausea, chills, dry cough, and dizziness. Doc did a strep screen, came back positive (figured that, I had my usually January case the week before). But, I also asked him to do a flu screen, since all his symptoms fit so well. He refused, becuase my husbands muscle aches were deceased after I managed to get enough advil and tylenol in him to break his fever. He states the muscle aches would not have deceased any if they were due to fever. I've searched in my books and online, and I can't find anything to back that up. Now, I realize rest and increasing fluids in the best treatment for the flu, and the poor dear is getting all that. But, I still would have like to have known for sure. I have strep 3-4 times a year, and I don't have all those symptoms. I wouldn't have taken but a minute to have done the flu screen...I would have done it myself if he wanted me to.
Just an aside, me and the same doc got into a little arguement the previous day about a patient I had. Maybe he was punishing me, I don't know.
Strep is a bacterial infection that is often secondary to a case of influenza. If you have all the sx you have been describing, you had both going on at the same time. There are still docs out there who do not treat strep with abx, since it usually resolves on its own. But why prolong a patient's discomfort when you can treat it? And there is always a chance that it could result in something worse, like cardiac complications. THe other sx you describe are a result of the virus, and probably won't respond to abx. When I worked Public Health, I spend a week at the CDC taking a CommDisease course. It was the best class I ever took - we spent an entire day talking about flu/cold. There are many misconceptions about the two, even within the medical community. For example, the flu vaccine is meant to protect you against what I call "superflu", the one that sends people to the hospital and kills thousands every year. It was not meant to protect against the respiratory garden-variety flu that most people get. Sometimes the vaccine will build your immunity enough to make this strain less potent. WHat happens with a lot of people is that the flu vaccine lowers your immunity for a couple of weeks so that you are more susceptible to what may be going around at that time. Hence the "I got the shot and it gave me a case of the flu".
I had all those symptoms last week, woke up a week ago after dreaming I was at work, begging to go home with my sore throat, I woke up in tears....I called my doc. Got in at 1630! He asked if I had had a flu shot. Of course I did. Oh well good cuz we are seeing the flu now. Well my throat felt like strep (I had my tonsils out at 26 cuz I had it so much--oh just curious, you can still get strep without your tonsils right?_) anyway, no white spots, but he diagnosed me with sinus inf/ear infection (both can result from flu). Anyway the girl I was orienting had alllll the same S/S. Then as we got better others were coming down with it, hoorificeness, sore throat, fever, dizziness, coughing so hard you had to hold your head in your hands, ear ache, nasal stuffiness, coughing up green stuff in the am, yellow stuff in the nose with blood---etc etc....well the doc gave me amox. and I do feel better but still tired, hoorifice....ANYWAY, last friday my coworker calls me with all the same S/S I had, Today, Monday, she goes to the Doctor gets swabbed==she HAS INF TYPE A and she:cry: had the flu shot ==as we all had, we had to send 3 pp home tonight with those S/S after we had heard that.....ugh....who knew....????? (((also I know strepthroat is bacterial ( i didnt really think I had strep it just felt like it) and flu viral---but the sinus/ear inf can result from stagnation of mucus that started with the virus.....etc, etc. Also there is more to this whole thing but I abbreviated it-Also I heard today that 30% of the vax given aren't effective this year because of the mutations......so yes you can get the flu even after being vaxd--and a facility can drop like flies.....stay healthy pp!)
Specializes in LTC,Hospice/palliative care,acute care.
T ype A is widespread in this area-we have several residents in hospital and lots of sick staff.I missed a week ...And we all got vaccinated.Seems the CDC is now saying that this years vaccine is only %40 effective-They are dropping like flies again at the old LTC-our local hospitals are NOT on divert,of course-but patients are waiting in the ED up to 24 hours for a bed...
Took my husband to the doctor's office yesterday. He has fever (max 101.8), sore throat, muscle aches, nausea, chills, dry cough, and dizziness. Doc did a strep screen, came back positive (figured that, I had my usually January case the week before). But, I also asked him to do a flu screen, since all his symptoms fit so well. He refused, becuase my husbands muscle aches were deceased after I managed to get enough advil and tylenol in him to break his fever. He states the muscle aches would not have deceased any if they were due to fever. I've searched in my books and online, and I can't find anything to back that up. Now, I realize rest and increasing fluids in the best treatment for the flu, and the poor dear is getting all that. But, I still would have like to have known for sure. I have strep 3-4 times a year, and I don't have all those symptoms. I wouldn't have taken but a minute to have done the flu screen...I would have done it myself if he wanted me to.
Just an aside, me and the same doc got into a little arguement the previous day about a patient I had. Maybe he was punishing me, I don't know.
Hope your husband is fully recovered by now. I just wanted to mention that I have had the full blown, hope never to have again flu and I don't think any amt. of Tylenol or Advil would have stoped my aches. In one day it started with my youngest daughter (that I took to the MD and had a postitive flu swab) started on Tami-flu, by lunch it hit me, we were both in the bed with high fever and the aches and pains. Within a few hours or so, my husband who was there to take care of us, was bittten too. My oldest daughter came in from school at 3pm, feeling fine, saw us and went to stay at a friends. Around midnight, friends mom called and they were bringing her back to us with the same symptoms. This lasted for about a week, aches all the way to the tip of your hair. So I definetly agree that the term "flu" is way overused. If someone truly has the flu, they don't have the energy to get out of bed.
Katie82, RN
642 Posts
Strep is a bacterial infection that is often secondary to a case of influenza. If you have all the sx you have been describing, you had both going on at the same time. There are still docs out there who do not treat strep with abx, since it usually resolves on its own. But why prolong a patient's discomfort when you can treat it? And there is always a chance that it could result in something worse, like cardiac complications. THe other sx you describe are a result of the virus, and probably won't respond to abx. When I worked Public Health, I spend a week at the CDC taking a CommDisease course. It was the best class I ever took - we spent an entire day talking about flu/cold. There are many misconceptions about the two, even within the medical community. For example, the flu vaccine is meant to protect you against what I call "superflu", the one that sends people to the hospital and kills thousands every year. It was not meant to protect against the respiratory garden-variety flu that most people get. Sometimes the vaccine will build your immunity enough to make this strain less potent. WHat happens with a lot of people is that the flu vaccine lowers your immunity for a couple of weeks so that you are more susceptible to what may be going around at that time. Hence the "I got the shot and it gave me a case of the flu".