Test Flu Symptoms Quickly During a Pandemic! It could save your life!

I’m sure if you had a choice, you would love to avoid that kind of mental anguish. But more importantly knowing as quickly as possible if you actually have, the swine flu could save your life. There are certain universal truths that are the same in a number of different areas of life. One of them is the importance of precise fast and razor sharp timing. Think about it, let’s say your cooking something and you let it cook for too long or not enough what happens? A professional baseball player swinging a bat at a ball requires split second timing to be successful. Take fighters for example, if a slower fighter times his attack when a faster fighter least expects it, he can obtain an advantage. For example, a fighter tries to over extend to reach another fighter who stays out of range. But during an attack if the slower fighter suddenly moves forward with his attack instead of backward, it can create a very effective advantage.

If you think about it, I’m sure you can think of many situations where exact timing can make all the difference between winning and losing.

It is important to test your flu symptoms as soon as possible after you start experiencing flu symptoms. You might be asking, "what difference does it makes if I know exactly when I caught the flu." The answer is, the sooner you start getting treatment, with a drug like Tamiflu or any emerging antiviral effective medication, then the greater the chances for your survival.  The key is testing your symptoms as soon as possible and not waiting. The hospitals and laboratories will be over loaded with people wanting to get flu test. Also, rapid flu test in private labs are unreliable testing for swing flu. They have only about a 40% success rate. That means people in the high-risk groups need to test their own symptoms and determine if they have a life-threatening problem. Pay special attention to the following information. This can help you decide whether you want to put the sick person in a normal unprotected situation at home, a quarantine isolation, go to a health clinic, or hospital or none of the above. Unfortunately, you cannot tell the difference before it develops to its later stages between symptoms of the normal flu and a pandemic flu. If the symptoms occur during a severe pandemic in the first or last wave of a four-wave period, you may not be able to notice a difference. However when the virus gets more dangerous and nears its peak in efficiency, you may be able to tell the difference between the common cold, and the flu by the severity of the symptoms. These could vary but start with severe exhaustion, fever, chill, headache, eye infection, pain in the limbs and back and flushing of the face and a continuing cough. Again, focus on the extreme nature of the symptoms. The more extreme the symptoms, the more likely it is a situation you need to inquire about fast. Many people will catch the swine flu with no problems; however, you are looking for the development of severe symptoms that would be dangerous to you or family. Generally bacterial infections can cause a person to feel sick. A good thing to do is check their body looking for swollen areas that look infected. Many times they will swell or the skin will look discolored in the infected area. A good example, includes the obvious like a swollen cut hand, finger or infected ingrown toenail. However, there are occasions when the person with the infection is not apparent with normal examination. This can cause problems but our main focus today are symptoms that may be confused with pandemic bird flu symptoms. There are however some general signs that can help you decide between a swine flu and the normal cold. Remember this general information is for occasions when a trained doctor or health professional cannot be consulted. The table below shows the CDC’s study of actual symptoms from patients who were under treatment in hospitals for swine flu. This information is from the start of the pandemic. Use this information to help you decide what you have. Symptoms of hospitalized H1N1 patients Symptom Number (%) Fever 249 (93%) Cough 223 (83%) Shortness of breath 145 (54%) Fatigue/Weakness 108 (40%) Chills 99 (37%) Myalgias (Muscle pain) 96 (36%) Rhino rhea (A running nose) 96 (36%) Sore Throat 84 (31%) Headache 83 (31%) Vomiting 78 (29%) Wheezing 64 (24%) Diarrhea 64 (24%) Read the table below and decide whether the sick person has the swine flu or the common cold. Make sure that you take all the symptoms into account. How to Determine the Swine Flu VS the Common Cold. The Cold The Symptoms The Flu People with a cold will sneeze more often but not enough to be a reliable sign.   Sneezing   Many people catch the flu from people who are sneezing. Please cover your mouth with your  upper sleeve before sneezing. You might get a headache for another reason, however, headaches are not usually caused by a cold. Headaches If you have a headache, there is a high probability that it is caused by the flu. During a cold a sore throat is a common result. Sore Throat A sore throat is a common swine flu reaction. You probably will not have the fever and the cold at the same time. Fever If you have a fever with no infection, the chances are that you have the flu. The chills is not a normal symptom of a person with a cold. Chills There is a good chance that you will have the chills with the flu. If you have minor aches and pains, then it could be a cold. Aches and Pains If you have sudden severe aches and pains not accounted for, you probably have the flu. A cold could develop over a few days. As soon as symptoms begin to start, write down the time and date. If it takes it’s time to get serious, it’s probably not the real bird flu. Speed of Development From the time you first feel a symptom coming on make sure to record the date and time. If you are seriously ill in a few hours, there is a good chance you have the flu. If you feel mildly tired, that is a sign of a cold. Tired Feeling If you feel like you are severely tired, then that is a sign of the bird flu. If your hacking with a lot of mucus as a byproduct, think about the cold. Coughing Coughing with very little mucus or a dry cough, think about the flu. A cold many times will have a clogged nose associated with it. Unless you have an allergy situation. Clogged Nose Clogged noises are not usually associated with the flu. A cold may have mild chest discomfort as a symptom. Chest Discomfort The flu has more severe chest discomfort as a symptom.