There has been a widespread outbreak of the flu virus this year.
Dr. Adam Wass, MD presents the ways to prevent the flu and describe how you can tell the difference between a common cold and the flu.
Selected Podcast
Flu Prevention and Cold vs. Flu
Featured Speaker:
Adam Wass, MD
Dr. Wass' strong desire to keep the whole family healthy was a big part of why he chose a career in family medicine. His philosophy in medicine is to treat the whole person, physically and emotionally, not just the ailments and symptoms. He is board certified in family medicine and looks forward to working as a team physician for the University High School football team in Irvine next season.
Organization: MemorialCare Medical Group
Dr. Adam Wass’ Bio
Transcription:
Deborah Howell (Host): Hello and welcome to the show. You’re listening to your weekly dose of wellness, brought to you by MemorialCare Health System. I’m Deborah Howell, and today’s guest is Dr. Adam Wass, who has a strong desire to keep the whole family healthy, and to do that he likes to treat the whole person, physically and emotionally, not just the ailments and the symptoms. He is board certified in family medicine and is looking forward to being the team physician for the university high school football team in Irvine next season. All right, that sounds like a fun job Dr. Wass?
Dr. Adam Wass (Guest): It is. We have a great time. We’ve been doing that for the last four or five years.
Deborah: How does the team look this year?
Dr. Wass: They did ok. Every year we keep going and move along. We have a great coaching staff and a great academic school and they do great with football.
Deborah: Wonderful. What’s the nickname?
Dr. Wass: The Trojans. Deborah: Go Trojans! Of course we have to keep our Trojans well, so let’s talk about the flu, because we are deep into flu season, and I’m wondering if you can tell me some of the best ways to prevent the flu?
Dr. Wass: I can. Actually, the best way to prevent the flu, as hopefully most people know, is be vaccinated. We can get vaccinated through your local physicians, as well as many pharmacies. The best way to prevent the flu is the vaccine ahead of time. It takes two weeks for the vaccine to take effect.
Deborah: Oh, I didn’t know that.
Dr. Wass: It does, and now is the time. It looks like this year is going to be an early year for the flu. It’s coming, we’ve already seen some cases through the south and southwest.
Deborah: I didn’t realize the two-week period, what happens within those two weeks?
Dr. Wass: Well, the way the vaccine works and the way most vaccines work, is we inject a piece of protein that looks like the virus to the body and your body’s immune system then develop both antibodies and special cells, called memory cells, that then the next time your body is exposed to the virus, it responds very quickly and you are able to fight off the virus prior to infection. Where if you were not immune, your body has been doing the same thing, but it takes awhile for that to happen, and usually you get sick in the meantime.
Deborah: Sure. That’s pretty cool when you really think about it, what your body can do to exactly remember.
Dr. Wass: It is, it’s pretty amazing.
Deborah: So what exactly are the symptoms of the flu? We all think we know, but lets make sure we have the clinical version of what the symptoms are.
Deborah: So what exactly are the symptoms of the flu? We all think we know, but lets make sure we have the clinical version of what the symptoms are.
Dr. Wass: Ok. What I usually tell my patients, a lot of people think when they get their cold symptoms or yearly illness this time of year, a lot of people get kids going back to school and the winter season, you get sniffles and running nose, that that’s the flu, but it’s actually not. The flu symptoms most commonly come with a high fever, fever of over 101, severe headache, may or may not have a cough, but it’s usually a minimal cough and dry and then severe muscle and body ache. I think, the way I like to describe it is, you feel like you got run over by a truck, and you will feel sick for about a good week, before getting better. But most of the time, if you have actually had the flu, you never forget it. It’s pretty bad, much worse than the typical colds and coughs.
Deborah: What about the chills?
Dr. Wass: Chills as well. Chills and fevers typically will go together so you may get, we call them riders, when you get shakes, because the chills you’ve had are so had, but typically that can come as well.
Deborah: What about clammy skin?
Dr. Wass: You may or may not get that as well. That tends to be an immune reaction to fever as well.
Deborah: Lets talk about some medications. Do antiviral medications really work, and if so, when should they be taken?
Dr. Wass: The antivirals do work; however their effect is minimal. So still, the best treatment for the flu is prevention with the flu shot. But there are two antiviral medicines that are on the market, and for them to be effective; you need to get them into your system within 24 to 48 hours of flu symptoms happening. Frequently when I see patients in the office it is later than that. So, even at that time you may not get a whole lot of effect from the antiviral medicine. And, even if you do get the antivirals, typically the evidence shows, it decreases symptoms only by a day or two as well, in length. So it is not a cure all, it is not a magic pill, still much better to get the vaccine.
Deborah: There’s always the thing where, I feel so bad I can’t get in a car and drive myself to the doctor, so then you lose that period of effectiveness for the antivirals, so maybe it is just best to stay home and gut it out for that extra day or two?
Dr. Wass: It is true. The antivirals, there not a panacea, and most people, if they are healthy, they don’t have any other medical illnesses or compromise to the immune system, just hanging through it and doing ok at home is probably almost as good.
Deborah: Lots of chicken soup and fluids.
Dr. Wass: Exactly.
Deborah: All right now, the flu can sometimes turn into an emergency situation, so what are the things to really watch for before it becomes an emergency?
Deborah: All right now, the flu can sometimes turn into an emergency situation, so what are the things to really watch for before it becomes an emergency?
Dr. Wass: That’s a great question. The biggest thing we worry about with the flu is developing a secondary bacterial pneumonia. Where a pneumonia that will come related to the fact your immune system’s been knocked down so far by the flu. And that can become extremely dangerous. So that would be a change in breathing where a patient, after having the flu for three or four days, then becomes very short of breath. The cough changes from being a dry barking cough to a productive cough, where you are bringing up a lot of phlegm and worsening symptoms in general. Where you may feel like from the flu you are getting a little better each day, and then all of a sudden things get worse, especially related to your lungs. If that were to happen that would need to be evaluated, a patient would need to come in right away to make sure that there are no signs of pneumonia.
Deborah: No matter how you feel you got to get in that car or get someone to drive you to the doctor, because at that point it becomes really dangerous.
Dr. Wass: It does, and people die from the flu every year. We don’t think about it that often because we don’t think of the flu as being a life threatening illness, but it is.
Deborah: I remember reading in history, I don’t know what grade, maybe 3rd, 4th, that George Washington died from the Flu.
Dr. Wass: That could be, I don’t know for sure if that was the case or not, but he did get sick, I remember him riding around on his horse, it could have be the flu.
Deborah: Through that river, not good. So that’s another thing, people always say it’s not a cold snap and you go outside and get chilled that causes a cold or flu, but you know what, I got to think that, if you’re out there and it’s cold and your exposed for a long time and you’re not used to it, that can’t help you?
Dr. Wass: Right, probably not, but there is good evidence to show that it is not the weather, it is viruses. We know that it is not some exposure to an element, but exposure to these specific viruses or bacteria that lead to the illness.
Deborah: Is medicine the only treatment for flu?
Dr. Wass: In regards, what other things would you be thinking of?
Deborah: Well I don’t know, there are so many new treatments out there.
Dr. Wass: You mean some kind of alternative treatment?
Deborah: Absolutely.
Dr. Wass: Nothing that we know of that is effective. As I like to tell my patients, there may be other things that are new that are still being developed. Some of the alternative treatments may work, but if we don’t have evidence for it, I don’t like to suggest or recommend things that I don’t know has the tried and true scientific evidence behind it.
Deborah: What is the deal with chicken soup? Everyone does seem to do better, couldn’t there be something in that broth?
Dr. Wass: You know what, if you can find out what it is, and we can separate it out, you will probably be famous, nothing that I know of.
Deborah: Mothers for hundreds and hundreds of years have sworn by it, and so have grandmothers. We’re believers in our family, because it really does seem to work. But of course the best thing to do certainly is get into your doctor. Now as a doctor, you’re exposed continually to these flu viruses, how do you keep yourself from getting it?
Dr. Wass: The flu shot, just as anyone else would. We here at MemorialCare recommend for all of our employees, all of the doctors to get them. In our office, all of our doctors and employees are vaccinated. Every year, there are new strains of the vaccines that come out, and actually the Center for Disease Control and the manufacturers make a determination on which flu’s they think are going to be most likely active that year, and those are the ones that we put into the vaccine. So the best way that I stay free from it is to get the vaccine as well. So I do get sick from colds and coughs, but I have never gotten the flu, even though I have been exposed because of the vaccine.
Deborah: Which leads me to another question, is the flu airborne? Can you get it from someone coughing on you? Dr. Wass: You can. In small droplets from sneezing, from coughing, or coughing and wiping your hands, and then touching somebody else, who then touches their mouth, or however it would be. But washing your hands is the most important way as well if you have been around anybody. Deborah Howell: And Purell on an airplane and can’t get to the washroom.
Dr. Wass: Sounds great.
Deborah: Very good. Well thank you so much, we learned a lot. Get your flu shot. I did it this year at CVS Pharmacy, it took about two minutes, it was painless it was like a mosquito bite, so there is really no fear. We have been speaking with Dr. Adam Wass about flu prevention and treatment, and I hope you have learned something that you can share with your friends and family members who may have a concern or may have the flu already. Join us again next time as we explore the weekly dose of wellness, brought to you by MemorialCare Health System, and thank you very much for being here Dr. Wass.
Deborah: No matter how you feel you got to get in that car or get someone to drive you to the doctor, because at that point it becomes really dangerous.
Dr. Wass: It does, and people die from the flu every year. We don’t think about it that often because we don’t think of the flu as being a life threatening illness, but it is.
Deborah: I remember reading in history, I don’t know what grade, maybe 3rd, 4th, that George Washington died from the Flu.
Dr. Wass: That could be, I don’t know for sure if that was the case or not, but he did get sick, I remember him riding around on his horse, it could have be the flu.
Deborah: Through that river, not good. So that’s another thing, people always say it’s not a cold snap and you go outside and get chilled that causes a cold or flu, but you know what, I got to think that, if you’re out there and it’s cold and your exposed for a long time and you’re not used to it, that can’t help you?
Dr. Wass: Right, probably not, but there is good evidence to show that it is not the weather, it is viruses. We know that it is not some exposure to an element, but exposure to these specific viruses or bacteria that lead to the illness.
Deborah: Is medicine the only treatment for flu?
Dr. Wass: In regards, what other things would you be thinking of?
Deborah: Well I don’t know, there are so many new treatments out there.
Dr. Wass: You mean some kind of alternative treatment?
Deborah: Absolutely.
Dr. Wass: Nothing that we know of that is effective. As I like to tell my patients, there may be other things that are new that are still being developed. Some of the alternative treatments may work, but if we don’t have evidence for it, I don’t like to suggest or recommend things that I don’t know has the tried and true scientific evidence behind it.
Deborah: What is the deal with chicken soup? Everyone does seem to do better, couldn’t there be something in that broth?
Dr. Wass: You know what, if you can find out what it is, and we can separate it out, you will probably be famous, nothing that I know of.
Deborah: Mothers for hundreds and hundreds of years have sworn by it, and so have grandmothers. We’re believers in our family, because it really does seem to work. But of course the best thing to do certainly is get into your doctor. Now as a doctor, you’re exposed continually to these flu viruses, how do you keep yourself from getting it?
Dr. Wass: The flu shot, just as anyone else would. We here at MemorialCare recommend for all of our employees, all of the doctors to get them. In our office, all of our doctors and employees are vaccinated. Every year, there are new strains of the vaccines that come out, and actually the Center for Disease Control and the manufacturers make a determination on which flu’s they think are going to be most likely active that year, and those are the ones that we put into the vaccine. So the best way that I stay free from it is to get the vaccine as well. So I do get sick from colds and coughs, but I have never gotten the flu, even though I have been exposed because of the vaccine.
Deborah: Which leads me to another question, is the flu airborne? Can you get it from someone coughing on you? Dr. Wass: You can. In small droplets from sneezing, from coughing, or coughing and wiping your hands, and then touching somebody else, who then touches their mouth, or however it would be. But washing your hands is the most important way as well if you have been around anybody. Deborah Howell: And Purell on an airplane and can’t get to the washroom.
Dr. Wass: Sounds great.
Deborah: Very good. Well thank you so much, we learned a lot. Get your flu shot. I did it this year at CVS Pharmacy, it took about two minutes, it was painless it was like a mosquito bite, so there is really no fear. We have been speaking with Dr. Adam Wass about flu prevention and treatment, and I hope you have learned something that you can share with your friends and family members who may have a concern or may have the flu already. Join us again next time as we explore the weekly dose of wellness, brought to you by MemorialCare Health System, and thank you very much for being here Dr. Wass.