Flu Duration: When Will I Be Healthy Again?
Flu turned you off? Find out here which course you have to expect and everything about the flu duration.
Sudden fever, malaise and typical symptoms of a cold – only much worse! The flu has got you. What to do to get rid of the flu viruses quickly and when you are healthy again? Here you can find all the information about the dreaded flu.
What is a flu?
Flu, also known as influenza, is a suddenly occurring disease caused by viruses. Influenza season is mainly in winter, when the flu wave is around.
But not everything that is labelled flu is also flu. A stomach flu, for example, has nothing to do with real influenza. Summer flu is also not caused by flu viruses, it is just a cold, just like the flu infection.
Flu: The typical symptoms
In the normal course of a flu, the flu symptoms appear quite suddenly and violently after a short incubation period. The affected persons are literally eliminated. Anyone who has survived a flu once will easily cope with any flu-like infection and any summer flu. Among the most common symptoms of influenza are:
- High fever
- Cough
- Sore throat
- Sniffles
- Chills
- Severe headaches
- Muscle aches
- Limb pain
- Back Pain
- Hoarseness
- Nausea
- Loss of appetite
- Strong exhaustion
Duration and course
- The duration of the flu depends on its course and whether complications occur.
- Infection is via droplet infection.
- The incubation period, i.e. the period between infection and outbreak of the disease, is a few hours to three days.
- The fever usually lasts three to four days.
- If the fever rises again around the third day of illness, this is an indication of an additional infection, a so-called superinfection. The body is so weakened by the flu that bacteria have an easy time attacking it with an infection. This can often lead to tonsillitis, pneumonia or another infection, which further intensifies the flu symptoms.
- With a mild course and a healthy organism, the symptoms subside after about seven to ten days.
- However, it is not uncommon for those affected to feel worn out, weak and inefficient even weeks later. Even the agonizing irritable cough can persist for several weeks.
- Anyone who has a weakened immune system and/or suffers from chronic diseases such as heart or lung disease will have to struggle with flu longer than healthy people. A flu vaccination is recommended for these at-risk patients.
- A real flu is not as easy for the body to cope with as a cold or harmless summer flu. After the flu symptoms have subsided, you should continue to take it easy. The virus weakens the body very much, so you should not put too much strain on it again too quickly.
Drugs against influenza
If proven home remedies do not help or you belong to a certain risk group, antiviral drugs, so-called antivirals, may be the remedy of choice. If taken in good time, these drugs can shorten the duration of the flu and make the course milder.
- Oseltamivir, also known as Tamiflu, and Zanamivir inhibit neuraminidase, one of the surface molecules of the virus. Among other things, neuraminidase plays an important role in the release of the virus from an infected cell.
- However, oseltamivir and zanamivir should be taken within 48 hours of the onset of the disease, because antivirals can only cause the viruses to multiply and cannot kill those already in the body
Influenza vaccination for the prevention of influenza
Doctors recommend flu vaccination for people over 60 and certain risk groups (chronically ill, pregnant and immunocompromised patients). The vaccination must be repeated every year and offers good protection against the influenza viruses. The decision whether a flu vaccination is advisable is always made in consultation with your doctor.