When your body is infected by the flu virus, there are sequential steps that happen due to virus invasion of different body organs. First the virus is intruded to your body via inhalation and enters your blood circulation at the blood vessels of lungs.

When the virus is circulating in your blood it is called viremia and this is responsive for the initial rising of the temperature, overall aches, muscle aches and feeling of sickness before the onset of the usual cold symptoms (sneezing and coughing).

This period usually takes day and half or two days during which we get the sensation that we are going to catch a cold.

The best ways to deal with it are:

• Half a plenty of rest especially sleeping to boost your immune system.
• Drink a lot of fluids to prevent dehydration from the rising fever.
• Take over-the-counter analgesic.

This period is important and you want to prepare your body and immunity to fight the flu.

Then the virus goes to its direct organs. In this case they are the respiratory system organs. The virus is implanted in nose, throat mucosa first. And there the virus replicates and the immune system trying to prevent it by inducing an inflammatory response, causing the running nose and the scratching throat. Then the virus invades the lungs and the bronchial tree, causing productive cough and slight breathing difficulties. The sputum produced with viral infection usually colorless and of small amount. If your cough changed in nature, or the sputum become profuse and yellow or green, you would like to visit your doctor as it is probably a secondary bacterial infection.

To improve your symptoms during this period:

• Blow your nose regularly and gently. You are now very infectious to others blowing your nose regularly decrease number of virus bodies in your nose mucosa. Blowing your nose hardly could harm your ear so do it regularly and gently.
• Use nasal saline irrigation: cleans your nose from virus bodies and improve your nasal symptoms.
• You may use nasal decongested but don’t use it for more than 3 days and don’t use it if you are allergic without consulting your doctor.
• Breathe into steam water: you could add some herpes like ginger or some over-the-counter medication like tincture iodide. This mechanism acts like hospital nebulizer. It opens your air ways and hydrates its mucosal lining reducing the dry painful cough.
• Take a hot shower: its act like a sauna and the steams act like the point we discussed before.
• Drink hot fluid: that improves the scratchy throat and reduces the cough.

The flu, like a lot of viral diseases, doesn’t have a plenty of medical solutions and luckily it pass away within days or a week maximally. The symptoms of fever and congestion are the body way to fight it. Rest, healthy food and plenty of fluid help your body very much during this experience.

It is important to know when you should see your doctor; if the fever is elevated for more than 3 days, if you are experiencing difficulty of breathing and if the symptoms aren’t improving with time. If have a chronic disease like hypertension or any heart or lung disease you should consult your doctor at the first sign of flu.

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