There are several reasons you might want to get the flu shot. You can reduce your risk of getting the flu if you are immune compromised, or have certain risk factors such as household members with the virus, or close relatives who have the flu.
The flu shot is a low-cost way to protect yourself against the virus. However, if you are at higher risk of infection, then taking the vaccine may be beneficial. Depending on your year-to-year fluctuation in vaccine effectiveness, you may be better off skipping one year and getting a new one the second year.
For those who do not feel comfortable receiving a travel-related vaccination, there are several strategies that may help prevent the flu from being severe enough to burden your health care system. These include limiting activity when sick, avoiding outside activity during illness, and staying in warm and comfortable surroundings unless absolutely necessary.
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How to treat the stomach flu
While most people experience the stomach flu as a mild, occasional feeling of nausea and/or vomiting, there are some who do not get the flu virus. These people may have it for longer than usual or more than one type.
The average length of time that the stomach flu lasts is one to two days, but it can last for up to seven! This is due to a variety of factors, from People Who Get The Flu Wherever Usually having it longer to maintaining their immune system function to fighting off new viruses, to People Who Don’t Have Any Immunity To It Which Prevents Its Effects From Settling.
How can you prevent the flu? First and foremost, avoid activities that require you to be awake and alert. If you must go out into weather conditions or circumstances that endanger your health, use protective clothing and shoes. If you need to be outside, do so in a covered shelter or with appropriate clothing and shoes.
Keep fluids up
If you are having trouble staying hydrated, you should consider drinking a little bit of your lunch or dinner every few minutes to kept your fluids up. This also helps reduce the possibility of dehydration during the rest of the day.
Also, if you are eating breakfast and then decide that you would like to skip lunch to eat dinner, you can still do so! Just make sure to re-drink enough water to keep your body hydrated again.
During this time of the day, sitting is the most harmful. People who sit for long periods of time tend to get stressful and less interested in activities like walking or exercise.
It is also important to avoid strenuous activity or exercise during this time because of possible dizziness and/or pain from lack of movement. Overdoing that can cause more harm than good with motion sickness or pain due to injury or surgery.
Take medicine for nausea
If you have stomach flu, you should take some medicine to reduce the severity of your nausea. This medicine is called anti-nausea medication.
Anti-nausea medication can be sold as Domitil, but any such drug can be changed to Domitil for production purposes. It can also be sold as Naprosyn, but any such drug can be changed to Naproxen for production purposes.
You should not use both at the same time, because they may not work well together. Your doctor may tell you which one you should use based on your health situation.
Naprosyn works better than Domitil in reducing the intensity of the nausea and has a longer duration of effect – so if you have severe stomach flu, you may want to try that instead of just taking painkillers to feel better.
Rest and relaxation
Once your flu has passed, you should try to make sure to get a good night’s rest. This is because your body needs time to recover from an illness like the flu.
It’s also important to try to relax yourself after your flu. A lot of people feel uneasy and stressed out while dealing with the illness, so taking a nice bath or just relaxing in your bed is a good idea.
None of these treatments will prevent the return of the virus, but they may help you feel better and sleep better than before. If you still feel ill after these things, you may want to give them a couple of days before taking anything else serious like an antiviral medication.
Things like icing or heating up any area affected by the illness is also recommended.
Avoid junk food
Consuming a lot of sugar and fat will make your symptoms worse. Your body will process both of these foods in a quick, overprotective mode.
This is why it is important to limit your intake of sugar and fat. You can do this by working in the kitchen or by choosing healthy options when shopping.
You can also avoid processed foods and stick to fresh fruits, vegetables, and nuts. Try to eat your dinner at least once a day to make sure you get some food into your body. A healthy breakfast and a mid-morning snack can help with this too!
If you find yourself having more symptoms than normal, taking a break from eating or sitting for awhile may help.
Eat salty foods
Salt helps fight stomach flu because it increases fluids in the body. However, too much can make you sick. If you think you may be sick with stomach flu, try to keep a large bag of chips or two cups of soup around to help make sure you are eating enough salt.
Another important part of staying hydrated and alert is drinking enough water. Most people should drink at least 2 glasses of water per hour while suffering from gastroenteritis, and preferably 4–6 if your illness is associated with dehydration.
If you do not eat for several days, don’t worry! You won’t lose weight or eat poorly. Just remember to drink more water the next day to keep yourself hydrated and aware.
Try homemade soup recipes
If you don’t feel like cooking, there are a few easy recipe options for making your own soup. Try making some chicken or vegetable soup, or if you are big on pasta, try a penne pasta dinner.
Or if you like to make meals that use pantry items, try making shrimp and vegetable soup or baked salmon with potatoes and carrots as the base.
All of these recipes show how much you have in the kitchen and how to do so in minimal fashion.
Use a humidifier
If you have a dryer air filter, you can try turning it on for up to a day to absorb some moisture into the air around you. Or you can use a humidifier.
Both of these solutions may be hard or impossible to do if the flu virus is present. Since the flu virus does not get dampened by cooling or heating, this is an important warning.
Wearing respiratory protection and using a humidifier are your only two options for avoiding inhaling viruses while you fight off the flu.
Neither one of these sounds fun, but it may help prevent complications such as pneumonia and death from the flu.