Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Is It a Cold or the Flu?

Is It a Cold or the Flu?: From GovGab:a mid adult man sneezing into tissue

Last night I hardly slept because my little one is sick. She was snuffling and snorting, tossing and turning, moaning and groaning and it certainly didn’t help that her darn unicorn was poking its horn into my side.
Ah, the joys of parenthood. My kids are just starting their third week of school and you know what that means – it’s time to catch a cold. It never fails. Send them to the germ factory, I mean elementary school, for a week or so and they’re bound to come home sniffling and coughing.
This year everyone’s on edge about the swine flu, so it’s more important than ever to know what we’re dealing with, and what to do when we get sick. So how do you know if it’s a cold or the flu?
The truth is, it can be hard to tell because the symptoms are so similar. Both commonly cause a runny nose, sore throat, sneezing and coughing, but the flu is generally worse and usually causes exhaustion, high fever and body aches. It can also lead to complications and can be so serious that it leads to thousands and thousands of hospitalizations and deaths each year.
The best we can do is try to prevent colds and flu, take care of ourselves when we do get sick, and seek medical advice when we need it.
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