Calling on the doctor should be done at the earliest for any kind of medical problem you face. In the case of bird flu or the avian flu one should be able to recognize the symptoms and he should be able to relate it with what has happened to him. The symptoms of bird flu are the same as that of your annual flu. Then how do you differentiate it. It is quite simple. You’ve got to analyze the facts. First I will be discussing about the symptoms of the flu and then I will be taking you through, what should make you suspect that you are having the bird flu.
Appearance of Symptoms
The symptoms of the flu start off with a sore in the throat. This is quite common as you will be thinking that a cold has hit you. But then you will know as this is going to becomes something worse. It will be followed by fever with temperatures above a 100 degree Fahrenheit. This will be followed up by chills and muscular pain. All your muscles are going to ache and you will weakness and tiredness. There will be a loss of appetite accompanied with cough and chest pain. Your symptoms may last for about a week.
You should have gone to the doctor when the symptoms appear in the first case. This is the time the doctor would have taken your blood and mucus samples and sent them for testing. The next day the doctor will be in the know of the result. But I was talking about analysis; now coming to that part, try to remember if you have handled any birds, poultry or its droppings.
You should also try to remember if you had been swimming in an open lake or pond where wild birds or ducks have watered. In a case you have been doing any of the activities that I have mentioned then you should at once be prescribed Tamiflu. You should start taking Tamiflu immediately, as this is the only anti viral drug in the market that is now available as a capsule which can be taken orally.
Symptoms in children
The symptoms that I have mentioned above relates to adults. In the case of children the symptoms may differ slightly. They may suffer from some abdominal pain too. This abdominal pain may at times be related to appendicitis. Or the doctor can be falsely led to believe that the child is suffering from appendicitis; where as the child may originally have come down with the flu. In some children the fever will be followed by convulsions. When you notice any of these symptoms you should have called in to see the doctor.
Tamiflu
In case you are in no position to see a doctor now, then you can start off with Tamiflu. I will be giving you the dosages of the drug in case of both adults and children. In a case where the doctor will be available after a day or two then you should continue with the dosages and then tell the doctor as to what your symptoms were at first and what your symptoms are now after taking Tamiflu for two days or so.
The drug Tamiflu comes in a capsule form and a suspension form. The capsule form contains about seventy five grams of the medication. If you have shown up with the symptoms mentioned above then you should take one capsule in the morning and one capsule in the evenings. If it is case where you are not sure but have been exposed to the flu virus, then you should take one capsule a day. This is to be done either in the mornings or in the evenings.
For people with kidney problems and who are taking treatment for the same, they should take only one capsule a day in the case of symptoms showing up and for a preventive measure it should be one capsule every alternate day. In case of children give them the suspension as per their weight category. For children there is no prescription stating that what should be taken as a preventive measure. In all the cases see your doctor as fast as possible.