Have your kids had the Flu?

[marnel]

I took Cely to the Dr. today b/c she's been sick since Sunday am with fever, aches which is a new one (her legs were hurting) congested, coughing. She officially has the flu and they want to give her the RX meds. My kids have never ever had the flu a fever, their asthma, stuff like that so I'm at a doozy.

What if anything have you given them besides the RX meds?

[kristijoy]

We always get flu shots. My kid had what I think was a mild version of the flu last week mitigated by the flu shot.

Hope your little one is feeling better soon.

What I do for my son (he's 7) is set up the vaporizer in his room, elevate one end of his bed (either by him sleeping on pillows, or a folded up blanket on one end). My son also loves baby-vicks which I rub on his chest at night. He likes scents.

I'm not sure what the Rx med is but I would consider doing a fever reducer that could also help with aches and pains and headaches from stuffy heads(like Tylenol or Ibuprofen). I would definitely ask you doctor to make sure it's compatible with what the other thing is or if that type of stuff is already included in the med.

And in general last week, I found that I still limited his screen time because staring at the TV or computer screen just made his head hurt. I downloaded several audio books from the library that we listened to several times. He would sit calmly on the floor or on the guest bedroom bed with a few legos, listening to the book while I was able to get some work done on the computer and sewing machine.

He also drank lots of electrolytes. I gave him a natural juice based version that is really light. I went through a lot of that stuff last week!

Don't forget to take care of yourself too. You don't want to get it! All last week I was diligent about making my green smoothies!

Good luck!

[YepBrook]

I'm pretty sure DD has the flu. Our whole family has been fighting it, but she has it pretty bad... her fever was up to 102.9 today. She has aches, no appetite, and wants to just rest. I do plan to take her in to the pediatrician tomorrow just to get her a strep test... just in case. But I'm 99% sure this is the flu. We have felt horrible for more than a week.

I never get the flu shot for us anymore. I am all about vaccines, but the flu shot has never helped us. We get it every year regardless.

[Sherri Tierney]

My family has been pretty sick. I am pretty sure the kids had the flu before it turned into bronchitis. I believe that I had a mild case of the flu (I got the flu shot). My immune system has been so low. I found out today I have pneumonia.

I hope she feels better soon!!

[kim21673]

Not this year...Jason is the only one of the boys that has ever had the flu. He also had FPAPA and would run 105 fevers every 5-6 weeks too. I think all the sickies he had over the past 7 years has really build up his immune system.

All 3 boys had the flu shots this year and the worst thing we have dealt with is croup and runny noses with the youngest and middle boy.

[Jenn Barrette]

We are just getting over it. Ours turned into bronchitis, and has lasted over a week now. We didn't give any extra meds, just rest and lots of fluids. Lilly needed a steroid inhaler to help with her breathing this week too. There seems to be some nasty bugs going around right now!

[marnel]

Kristi, Thanks I forgot about the vaporizer the Dr. told me too but I was running around all day after getting her meds and stuff. I got her lots of gatorade and water. I feel bad b/c she is so congested. She hasn't been up and about for more than 10 mins she's really tired and feels light headed
She has tomorrow off from school, thank gosh!
Aww Brook, poor thing but yeah sounds like my dd. She had to have that swab way up her nose to test for the flu, she was so mad and cried.
Thanks Sheri, Yeah, I'm scared hers would turn into pneumonia so to Dr's I ran! IDK why but my kiddos tend to go that way! Hope you get well soon.
Kim, I didn't get any of them flu shots this year either, now I'm like crap.
Jenn, yup I'm like if your kiddos are sick keep em home, I kept my ds home too b/c he was sick first but yesterday he was like I'm good my head doesn't hurt anymore. He had a fever, headache, and then it was like ok. So weird but yup nasty nasty stuff going around!

[mariewilcox]

I'm not much help as we hardly ever get sick - we get the flu shot and I get the Pneumovax now since I'm old The flu shot doesn't cover every strain but up this way it seems to be covering a lot of them because I work for the hospital and we have much fewer cases of flu coming in this year and also at Cheyanne's school there are way less absences this year. I also think our eating habits help with avoiding sickness.

[carrie1977]

Poor thing...I hope she is feeling better soon....and I hope the rest of you stay healthy. <3

[MamaBee]

Jake had this two weeks ago... didn't go to the doc to get it diagnosed - but he had the same symptoms... aches, fever, congestion, cough, etc...

Outside of Tylenol when J's fever got too high... we pretty much flight it naturally... vit C, vit D (we have kid's version), lots and lots of fluids - water, ginger ale, light colored juices... chicken soup... lots of rest... vaporizer, etc. DH got it too, but because of not being able to easily take off work, he had to fight it with OTC drugs, which I wasn't too excited about... we are anti-flu shot here...

[sprauncey1]

Yes my son had it last week. I just gave him motrin when the fever got high and he was not eating because of it, I kept him drinking and gave him decongestants since he gets ear infections from the congestion. Ran its course and he's back to normal. He doesn't have asthma though...so I didn't have that worry. I tried to let the fever run as much as possible to kill off the virus.

[maryinaz]

We have not had the full-blown flu this year. I started with essential oils last fall and we've kept sickness away. I started getting the flu in December and fought it off with the oils. Then this weekend my son was getting symptoms of it, so again, I used essential oils on him. He stayed home yesterday, went back to school today.

We did not get flu shots.

[Darcy Baldwin]

Our entire family has the flu (well, we're at the end-stages now), which has developed into pneumonia for 2 of us (the adults). We don't do much in the way of OTC therapy except for mucinex to help thin out mucous to help coughs be more productive. We treat symptoms with natural remedies the best we can. We use a vaporizer in the room with ecalyptus EO in it to help keep breathing passages open, and use an EO chest rub when needed. Fevers are allowed to go until they get to 101, then we do fight that with OTC fever reducers. Then we push a ton of liquids and rest.

However, because ours did get so bad, we are on a host of meds to kick the infection and stop the asthma issues that are created by the pneumonia. (the adults) The flu seemed to lesson with each person it effected, so hubby got whacked hard, and our youngest had just enough to make him miserable for a day or so and he's over it.

We still won't get a flu shot. Well, DH does every year, the kids and I don't. I'm very anti-vax/delayed vax, and the flu shot isn't one that we do. This is the first time we've ever had the flu. <shrug>

We did take ours a little more seriously because, while Marie's area may not have seen as many cases, our area has seen a burstof cases, with 62 deaths so far, many of them being middle aged, relatively healthy adults, not as much of the elderly and children as normal. (oh, crap...did I just call myself middle aged?! EEK). For me, it was an issue for my asthma which I couldn't get under control, and for DH, it was more advanced symptoms of pneumonia that we knew we needed to kick it up a notch. (and yes, I did cuddle with the narcotic cough medicine last night. It promised sleep - and having not slept more than 2 hrs a night for the past 5-6 days, I totally became a 'junky' last night LOL).

Hope you guys all get to feeling better!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[marnel]

Kim I did the same, I only gave her Motrin once a day other than that she was sleeping most of the day. I hate overloading them with meds.
Mary, I've never heard of that I have to look into that!
Oh Darcy that really bites. We've had a huge spread of the flu this year. I had no idea till I took her to the Dr. she's getting better but still not 100%. Today it's snowing bad so I can't take her for a f-up
I hear ya and don't blame you for taking your narc meds Cely is so miserable just looking at her makes me sad
Glad to hear you all getting well.

[DawnMarch]

We take the flu vaccine very seriously since getting the flu is no joke and a lot of people die from it each year. Plus DS had seizures when he was little so we are pretty religious about getting the vaccine. The kids always get the nasal mist vaccine which is supposed to be more effective (not to mention less scary). [stepping off soap box ]

Anyhow we of course still get bad colds and we are all about the vapors -- vaporizers, vapor patches, shower vapor stuff, menthol cough drops When my daughter gets a bad cough at night, the only thing that works for her is the old trick of putting Vicks on the bottoms of her feet. I have no idea why it works, but it does. Chicken soup really does seem to help too with congestion.

[Patti80]

We used to take the vaccine but it wasn't effective in some cases. I'm quite prejudiced against flu vaccination and won't recommend it to anyone.

[haydensmommy217]

I have had the flu but my son hasn't had the flu at all he will be 8 on the 17th, just colds and then got pneumonia when he was 3. Right now hes got a little runny nose due too the weather we have had this week its been about 10- -3 in the last week (wind chill) got three inches of snow yesterday and going to get 6 today. First snow day for us in 2 years.