How Do You Know If You have the Flu?
The flu has an incubation period of 36 to 48 hours, which means that it takes that long after you are exposed to an infected person for enough germs to grow in your own body to produce symptoms. During that time, you do have the flu but you don't feel sick yet. People who have the flu are contagious during the incubation period, and for up to 7 days after symptoms do appear. This means that you can catch the flu from someone who does not yet look or feel sick.
Symptoms of the flu include the following:
* High fever
* Extreme fatigue
* Headache
* Body aches (often severe)
* sore throat
* cough
* stuffy nose and congestion
* gastrointestinal symptoms like vomiting and diarrhea (more typical in children that in adults)
A bit of personal experience here: If you aren't sure if you have the flu, you probably don't have it or you probably have a milder strain. Type A influenza is a fairly miserable experience. About 15 years ago I came down with a case of it and was pretty much immobile for seven days. I have a fever of 103-104 for five days, severe body aches, and even after my fever broke, it took several weeks to regain my normal energy level. That's fairly typical.
The flu has an incubation period of 36 to 48 hours, which means that it takes that long after you are exposed to an infected person for enough germs to grow in your own body to produce symptoms. During that time, you do have the flu but you don't feel sick yet. People who have the flu are contagious during the incubation period, and for up to 7 days after symptoms do appear. This means that you can catch the flu from someone who does not yet look or feel sick.
Symptoms of the flu include the following:
* High fever
* Extreme fatigue
* Headache
* Body aches (often severe)
* sore throat
* cough
* stuffy nose and congestion
* gastrointestinal symptoms like vomiting and diarrhea (more typical in children that in adults)
A bit of personal experience here: If you aren't sure if you have the flu, you probably don't have it or you probably have a milder strain. Type A influenza is a fairly miserable experience. About 15 years ago I came down with a case of it and was pretty much immobile for seven days. I have a fever of 103-104 for five days, severe body aches, and even after my fever broke, it took several weeks to regain my normal energy level. That's fairly typical.
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