- Make comments on blog posts--especially this one. This is the first place I shall look for your questions.
- E-mail your questions. You may send questions to flu_mekr@yahoo.com . (That is an underscore "_" between "flu" and "mekr.")
I look forward to receiving your questions.
Hi Mark:
ReplyDeleteGreat idea, I also think we need to get some information around about surviving once you get the flu. It is likely that even with quarantine, flu will get around. Also, some of us don't have the financial resources to take a two week quarantine vacation, as we can't postpone law careers, or stop negotiations to rent small business property etc... so I figure, one should find out about where to get Tamaflu and the other helpful med, and how to get it the moment symptoms hit, what the survival strategies are, and how best to be in the best health to survive the flu. About 95 or 96 there was a really bad flu, which hit me after a serious period of dieting, and knocked me down to 145 lbs... not the best way to ride out a bad flu... so, I, who am on a serious diet again (of course great timing) will do some thoughtful eating if there is a local outbreak... worst comes to worst, I wont die hungry...
All the best
Lorcan, thank you for your comment. You bring up a very serious issue. However, I'm sorry to say that the potential answers for surviving once one gets the flu are not especially pleasant ones. Tamiflu could be extremely helpful--but it is most effective if taken within the first 48 hours of symptoms. Tamiflu is currently available only by prescription, so one has to be able to get to a physician, preferably within that 48-hour period.
ReplyDeleteSo, first lesson: Don't wait. If you have the symptoms of the flu, get thee to a physician, quickly, preferably the first day.
Second lesson: You need to make preparations now for the possibility that you may become sick. (When one is ill with this flu, one may feel far to ill to attend to preparations.) This means put in stocks of fluids and easily prepared food ahead of time.
Third lesson: By far, the best thing to do is to prevent infection in the first place! Yes, it may be maximally inconvenient to take a 'quarantine vacation.' However, if the infection pattern is like Spanish flu, up to 25% or more of people exposed to the virus--just exposed--will become infected, and the infected will find themselves signed up for a very uncomfortable 'sickness vacation,' which could be fatal.
Again: if you are not exposed to the virus, you cannot be infected. Voluntary preemptive quarantine is the way to go. (See post, "The Basics, Part 3: What You Can Do.")