How to Tell If "Flu-Like" Symptoms Are Serious

Why you should think twice about 'flu-like' symptoms.

Why is it that so many serious diseases, from meningitis to malaria, start out with "flu-like" symptoms? How is a patient to know whether it's something that will resolve itself or something that could turn deadly?

"People call a lot of things 'the flu,' and nine times out of ten, they're wrong," says Brian Currie, an infectious disease specialist at Montefiore Medical Center in New York.

"Influenza has a very sudden and dramatic impact." Symptoms hit hard and fast, but they do not include vomiting or diarrhea. "Stomach flu," Dr. Currie explains, is a misnomer. And don't assume there is no need to worry if it's "just the flu": If you're not significantly better in three days, call your doctor. Because of the dangers of flu complications and other infectious diseases that produce flu-like symptoms, seek medical help if any of the following occur:

• severe symptoms that continue for more than four or five days



• difficulty breathing



• a persistent cough that produces phlegm or blood-tinged mucus



• an extremely high fever



• uncontrollable shaking or chills



• extreme muscle achiness that makes it hard or painful to move



• a severe headache or stiff neck



• swelling of joints or extremities



• cognitive changes, such as problems remembering things that just happened or confusion about familiar people or places



• a rash; bumps, blisters or sores may first appear in the area of an animal scratch or bite.

From Reader's Digest - January 2006

 

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