OPINION
DOCTORS Lounge
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and “the flu swab is negative,” make them tell
you why you do not have the flu and explain
how your eyes look. Look in the mirror: are
your eyes smallish, slitted and reddened?
You have it. Don’t believe anybody who says
it is not flu, if you cannot stand to be vertical
and your eyes match the picture. Make them
take care of you right, or go somewhere else.
This year’s flu has three distinct pre-
sentations. The worst is what we call the
Bomb Flu, the lethal flu A. You are fine in
the morning and, by afternoon, you have a
fever of 104 and you can barely walk. Several
of my patients already have had an audible
pneumonia, eight hours in. I give those pa-
tients antibiotics that kill staph and strep
instantly; the ones with pneumonia go right
in the hospital.
Dr. Shannon Lynn described the other
flu A the best: it’s a sneaky progressive flu.
You start with a scratchy throat or sinus
problems for a couple days, then you think
“Okay, that’s that.” Then 12-24 hours later,
Boom! to bed you go, coughing, headache-y,
miserable and sick. Those people get a chest
cough too, and when it hits their chests,
we treat them too with antibiotics. Having
people die of pneumonia from flu is NOT
a good idea. This flu A is the only variety
of flu I have ever seen that does not always
involve fever. change some, but the Flu Eyes do not. Once
you recognize them, I see no point in doing
swabs that cost the patient money and d