Of all my kids, only one has ever had the flu before. And when she had it 5 years ago, she was kind enough to share it with me, which was my one and only experience with the flu as well.
Unfortunately, this morning my daughter woke up with a sore throat, dry cough, pain in her legs, and not feeling very well in general. My first thought, since the flu is going around our area a lot, was that these might be the first symptoms of the flu, and if so, I wanted to keep a close eye on her so I can determine whether I should take her to the doctor or not. So far she hasn't developed a fever, so I think the jury's still out on a diagnosis.
But since I have limited experience with the flu, I Googled its symptoms and came across this handy acronym for remembering the symptoms of the flu. As you might already know, I'm quite fond of using acronyms to help remember things, so I thought I'd share this one with you.
Symptoms of the Flu — FACTS
Fever
Aches
Chills
Tiredness
Sudden Symptoms
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And some people (me included) associate flu with the stomach which my RN MIL says is not always the case. Respiratory flu is just as likely.
We all enjoyed the flu as a family in June of 2006, when we arrived at our vacation rental in AZ…which I suspect is where the offending bug was waiting for us. Thankfully we were there for a month. Otherwise that would have been one miserable vacation: drive 3 days cross-country, throw up all week, and drive back home.
Hope your daughter is feeling better soon!
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Thanks for sharing this acronym! I had one of my kids last year come down with what I know had to be flu and after being exposed to someone with it. I took her to the doctor 4 hours after the symptoms (fever, crying, chills, seemed to be feeling really terrible) the doctor agreed it looked like flu and gave her Tamiflu. She was completely better in about 12 hours. I really think the Tamiflu made the difference but only because she got it early in the sickness.
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