Hello all I am allowing this posting, considering its relevance. No more traffic on this please. Harish Kotian
Paracetamol, plenty of fluids & rest Sudeshna Sen13 August 2009, 03:00am IST Its like being gifted a designer bag by someone you hardly know, you dont quite know if its the genuine article. I still dont know if I actually had swine flu, though my doctor insists I did. How does he know? They didnt test me; he was diagnosing and refusing to give me medicines on the phone. Were not allowed to show up at the surgery and spread it about. I could have had measles for all I know. It felt like any other nasty viral fever, a week or 10 days of fever and stuff, and then youre left feeling like youve been flattened by a truck for another week or so. In hindsight, its no big deal, really, ho hum. Given the completely unnecessary palaver everyone is making about swine flu, one is more likely to die of sheer worry than of any flu. It doesnt, in the least bit help, that media, governments and health authorities in nation after nation are following almost identical patterns, about as predictable as the flu cycle. Its hit Indian shores about a month after weve been through the whole cycle of panic and alarmism, trying to first contain and isolate, then test and treat, then a shortage of medicines as everyone panics every time we sneeze, then a move towards trying to identify only the really risky cases and treating them, and finally by that time everyones already had it, and recovered. We were all given dire warnings for weeks, so when I sneezed I just hoped it would go away. By the time I summoned up the courage to call the National Health Service, theyd stopped quarantining people in their homes. No point, its too widespread already, the doctor said. Id been giving myself heart attacks worrying. Heres the real dope from a survivor. Dont panic. No, it is not fatal. Not by itself, only from additional complications and usually if you are pregnant, already have other serious illnesses like heart or kidney disease, or something major. Gas masks are useless. Its a nasty lil virus, its extremely fast and sociable, it transmits itself like the common cold. Anti-virals like Tamiflu are not preventives. Dont just pop em, even if you get hold of them. They have to be taken in exactly the first 48 hours after getting the infection, its useless else. The most effective treatment is paracetamol, plenty of fluids, rest, and chicken soup. Thats what I was given, despite nagging incessantly at my doctors for anti-virals. Im not eligible for them, apparently, because in the UK, antivirals are being stingily doled out only to high-risk categories. So I panicked, muttered darkly about being stuck in a backward country, and got someone in India to send me supplies of Oseltamivir. I called again. My rather tetchy GP told me not to whine, drink my soup and it would go away in a week or 10 days. Surprisingly, it did. By the time I was actually allowed into the surgery, and did a battery of tests in retrospect for any secondary or lingering infection, it was all over. Globally, WHO has officially abandoned any attempts to contain swine flu the medical strategy in pandemic hit countries is to identify outbreak clusters because this bug is neighbourly. Next, to identify the most at risk patients The rest dont need anything. Yeah, I didnt believe the NHS when they told me that either, but they were right. This time. The writer is the London-based foreign editor of the Economic Times http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-4887827,prtpage-1.cms [http://sigads.rediff.com/RealMedia/ads/adstream_nx.ads/www.rediffmail.com/signatureline....@middle]<http://sigads.rediff.com/RealMedia/ads/click_nx.ads/www.rediffmail.com/signatureline....@middle?> ________________________________ Notice: This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you are not the intended recipient, any dissemination, use, review, distribution, printing or copying of the information contained in this e-mail message and/or attachments to it are strictly prohibited. If you have received this email by error, please notify us by return e-mail or telephone and immediately and permanently delete the message and any attachments. The recipient should check this email and any attachments for the presence of viruses. The Bank accepts no liability for any damage caused by any virus transmitted by this email. To unsubscribe send a message to accessindia-requ...@accessindia.org.in with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
