The Flu and Cpap - No Joke!

[Marietjie]

I feel like crying - had a cold for 2 weeks and it went very well (with cpap treatment) BUT
now it is FLU - Oh, how I HATE flu! Sore and swollen throat, feverish...etc. Managed to
sleep for 2½hrs. Have to wait another 6 hrs before I'll be able to see a doc.
It is a first for me - Flu and Cpap.

[torontoCPAPguy]

If you are having ANY trouble breathing; or if you are wheezing you need to get to hospital right away if this is influenza. I repeat, to be clear, if you are having ANY trouble breathing, shortness of breath, wheezing, chest discomfort... you need to get to the emerg as soon as possible.

I was wheezing at 7pm last summer and at 7 am I was Code Blue going down the front stairs of the house and spent 3 weeks+ on life support. This also applies should the flu symptoms disappear and you just start wheezing and have ANY difficulty breathing whatsoever. The next strain of H1N1 like influenza is expected any time now. If you have any conditions that compromise your health (diabetes, etc.) it can leave a present with you that turns into bacterial pneumonia in a blink. I am very lucky to be here today and I am still suffering the after-effects of my experience.

Please be careful/cautious. Better safe than sorry. Trust me, you don't want this T shirt.

[jweeks]

It is a first for me - Flu and Cpap.

Hi,

That sounds awful. The flu shots were available last fall, so I got both of them.

In the 2 years that I have been on CPAP, I have had two nasty colds. One last year was 5 days. The one this year started on July 6. It ramped up for 10 days, then stayed bad for a week, and then took 10 days to wind down. I still am not at 100%. The worst is having issues breathing, so using the CPAP was difficult. I got maybe 2 hours a sleep at a time, maybe twice a day. I still have a huge sleep debt to get caught up on.

It is funny how I have problems with things today that I didn't even know existed 5 years ago.

-john-

[Marietjie]

I am very lucky to be here today and I am still suffering the after-effects of my experience.

Wow, you had a really bad!
ThankYou for caring - my breathing is still okay - my throat is VERY sore, it feels hot and
is painful to swollow. At 2am I took a 'over the counter' cold/flu tablet but I think I need
antibiotics now. Everybody around here have got this flu. My daughter who now lives in NewZealand
informed us that swine flu is doing it's rounds there. I am going to be at the doctor's room by 8am!
I had pneumonia a few years back - I do not want that again! I will tell doctor about my previous
(pneumonia) illness. Another thing that's making people sick is our weather - it is supposed to
be the coldest month of the year (August) but instead we are having HOT, HOT days for a week
and then we have a cold front. (?)

I got maybe 2 hours a sleep at a time, maybe twice a day. I still have a huge sleep debt to get caught up on.

That's why I hate FLU! I don't like my sleeping routine to be disrupted. Now I already fear tonight. At least I will
have the whole day to take medicine so I hope to get more sleep tonight.

[torontoCPAPguy]

I don't know what else to tell you. See your MD asap with flu. And if you have ANY breathing issues, chest discomfort, wheezing... get to an emergency clinic immediately. Better safe than sorry, believe me. I have got the T shirt.

[LoQ]

I'm sorry you are so miserable. I hate to be sick, so you have my complete sympathy on this and can whine here about it all you need to, as far as I'm concerned.

At 2am I took a 'over the counter' cold/flu tablet but I think I need
antibiotics now.

Influenza is a virus. Antibiotics will have no effect on your illness, unless you have something bacteriological in addition to the flu.


Doctors have been over-prescribing antibiotics, and that practice is thought to be one of the reasons why we now have a number of "super bugs" that are resistant to most of our antibiotics. Doctors DO know that antibiotics will not help with a virus like a cold or the flu, but patients pressure them to prescribe some, and it is often quicker to just give in than to take the time to educate the patient.


Additionally, you don't want to take antibiotics for anything you don't really have to have them for, because when you take antibiotics, you are creating some resistence to antibiotics in the normal flora in your system, and you are risking developing an allergy to the antibiotics you take. Better, I think, to save as many of these antibiotics as you can for when you are older and weaker and unable to fight off infections with your own immune system. You'll have more weapons available if you haven't run through as many earlier in your life.


If you go to the doctor, don't ask for antibiotics. If you need them, the doctor will know that and will prescribe them without prompting from you.

[Marietjie]

Antibiotics will have no effect on your illness, unless you have something bacteriological in addition to the flu.

I hate to ask this.....what is that yellow/green stuff that comes out one's nose/mouth?
Bacteria? If it is, then I will need antibiotics - but I'll wait for doctor to ask questions first.
Another 2hrs then I am off to see him.

[usmccop]

I never thought about the CPAP and the flu. That would suck. When the time comes for me,I doubt I'll use the CPAP. When I get the real flu, my whole body aches- even my hair

[LoQ]

what is that yellow/green stuff that comes out one's nose/mouth?
Bacteria?

Not necessarily.

Bacteria? If it is, then I will need antibiotics

Not necessarily.


People need to get over the notion that antibiotics are routine. Even for bateriological illness, you may not need an antibiotic. Your own body may be able to take care of it without the assistance of antibiotics. Reserve antibiotics as the BIG GUN you're going to pull out when you really need it. You may or may not need antibiotics at this point, but it sounds to me like you are in the habit of jumping to that conclusion way too quickly.

I hope you feel better soon. I agree with usmccop, it does suck to have the flu, and it sucks more if you're on CPAP. I'm so sorry that you feel bad. I hate the flu.

[jweeks]

Antibiotics will have no effect on your illness, unless you have something bacteriological in addition to the flu.

I hate to ask this.....what is that yellow/green stuff that comes out one's nose/mouth?
Bacteria? If it is, then I will need antibiotics - but I'll wait for doctor to ask questions first.
Another 2hrs then I am off to see him.

Hi,

I looked this up when I had my walking death in July. Green or yellow is normal stuff from a cold, virus, or sinus infection. It is unlikely to be something that an antibiotic will take care of. You want to take in as much fluids as you can and keep the humidity high to keep this stuff as runny as possible. If it stays thick, it can get worse, or you can end up getting an ear infection as a side effect. So says the article I found in google...

-john-

[Captain_Midnight]

In Dec 05, the day I was going in to pick up my very first CPAP, I came down with the (you guessed it) type A influenza.

I was so determined to get used to the cpap, that I still managed to wear it every night, flu and all (but washed it daily, throbbing headache and all). I do believe that I got over the bug a bit earlier because of the cpap therapy and its positive influence on the immune system. And, as an aside, in 4.5 yrs of pappery, I have had only a couple minor colds and no influenza.

Good luck fighting that flu bug, it is a truly yucky experience.

.

[Janknitz]

Colds don't usually "turn into" the flu. This is something that you should see your doctor about.

[bearded_two]

I would be concerned about an abnormally sore throat, especially if your neck is stiff. This can be caused by strep throat; your doctor can do a fast strep test in the office if it appears to be strep. Strep throat is bacterial and doctors normally prescribe penicillin for strep throat unless the patient is allergic to penicillin. Strep throat can turn into scarlet fever or even rheumatic fever.

I used to get strep throat several times a year until I had a UPPP with tonsillectomy, and now I only get strep throat every few years. When I was a kid I had strep throat turn into scarlet fever a couple of times, and I had rheumatic fever once.

[LoQ]

People underestimate the risk they take with antibiotics. Strep throat is usually self-limiting without antibiotics. Rheumatic fever is exceedingly rare, and the risk you are taking with the antibiotic is much greater than your risk of getting rheumatic fever.

Today, preventing one case [of rheumatic fever] would likely require antibiotic treatment for hundreds of thousands of strep throats, making it a mathematical certainty that antibiotics will do more harm than good. For each case of rheumatic fever prevented in modern practice, a few dozen patients either die or suffer near-fatal anaphylaxis, toxic epidermal necrolysis, colitis, or other antibiotic reactions, and many thousands more suffer diarrhea, rashes, and yeast infections.

The CDC no longer even tracks rheumatic fever:

In fact, despite large, contemporary studies tracking tens of thousands of strep throats in the general community, many of whom received placebos or no treatment, there hasn’t been a case of rheumatic fever reported in a study for nearly fifty years. When the incidence dropped to less than one per million in the general population in 1994, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stopped tracking rheumatic fever entirely.

Marietjie, you may need antibiotics, but at the moment, science doesn't support it for strep/scarlet fever or even most sore throats. They will likely do you more harm than good, and tylenol or ibuprophen are better for pain relief. Go to the children's section in the pharmacy and find some liquid versions, but take an adult dosage (1000 mg tylenol, 200 to 800 mg ibuprophen). It may be easier to swallow.


How are you feeling today?

[chunkyfrog]

The yellow-green goo is your body's reaction to an infection, either bacterial or viral.
If it smells like chlorine, your antibodies (white blood cells) are working.
Antibiotics will not help anything but bacterial infections,and have the potential to make existing bacteria resistant to drugs.
They will not affect a virus, but sometimes a doctor can prescribe an anti-viral agent; but this is only under special circumstances.
Pay attention to how you feel--breathing, fever, nausea-or not. If something is awry, or changes quickly get thee to an ER---posthaste!
If the greenish muck is thick, you should take a time-release expectorant and get plenty to drink (not 'Jack', please)
Take care and be well, dear.