Flu or Cold

So here I sit and I have the flu. I did so many things wrong too.

First I postponed getting the flu shot and I never ended up getting it.

Then I thought I knew the difference between the flu and a cold. So when I started coming down with symptoms but they did not fit what I expected I assumed that I did not have the flu. It didn't help that some in ways it looked so much like the cold my daughter had.

Three days later I was pretty sure that I had the flu but by then it was too late to get any anti-virals from my doctor. (I wonder, if I had had some in stock would I have taken them and how would my doctor feel about me takikng them without asking him first.)

Ah, but I can hold out and live through a bout with the flu. This is just regular flu and not bird flu. Except that the congestion got pretty bad and I think I perforated an ear drum last night. I talked to my doctor and he will look at it tomorrow. It is not always a big deal to perforate an ear drum. I have had it before and it heals - unless one gets infected and loses hearing.

Anyway, it is day six and this should be over soon. I think the congestion is clearing and my throat is definitely not sore as much. I don't think I have had any fever for a whole day now. So, this looks like the worst of it is over. Now I just have to get my ear cleared up. I just started anti-biotics an hour ago as a preventative and time will tell.

There is a lesson in here somewhere. I think it is not to assume you know too much and to consult your doctor early if you can. For example, my father who is in his eighties fell down and hurt his little finger. We were all sure that it was not broken and even if it were all the doctor would do is put a splint on it. But after a few weeks the swelling had not gone down so he finally saw his doctor. The doctor confirmed that it was not broken - but it was dislocated. And as hard as he tried it was too late to put it back into the socket. Faced with surgery or living with a dislocated finger the rest of his life my Dad chose to just live with it since it doesn't bother him much.  Oops. Guess it would have been better to have seen the doctor right away.

So, now that I have bored you all to tears here is a handy little chart describing the difference between flu and cold. The symptom is listed on the left. The middle column are cold symptoms and the far right column are flu symptoms.

symptom....................Cold........................................Flu

Fever	Rare	Usually Present
Aches	Slight	Usual, often severe
Chills	Uncommon	Fairly common
Tiredness	Mild	Moderate to severe
Sudden Symptoms	Symptoms appear gradually	Symptoms can appear within 3-6 hours
Coughing	Hacking, productive cough	Dry, unproductive cough
Sneezing	Common	Uncommon
Stuffy nose	Common	Uncommon
Sore throat	Common	Uncommon
Chest Discomfort	Mild to moderate	Often severe
Headache	Uncommon	Common