IMG: Sxc.hu

Plenty of soup and vitamin C is definitely on the list of good things to add to your child’s daily schedule but what happens when that isn’t enough?

Every year parents have to deal with the common cold and flu symptoms and worry about the time off they’ll have to need to take care of their child. But with the swine flu outbreak earlier this year now taking a front burner parents are more worried than they’ve ever been before. The swine flu seems to be hitting all over the places and running rampant in the school systems. Every time it seems to go away parents breath a sigh of relief but with the new school year and the outbreak being back parents are starting to fret.

Just last week I found out my son’s school had over 6 kids (my son actually knows) that have been absent with “the flu” for over 3 weeks. At the bus stop a mother told me that she was actually scared because her son now had something and he was just getting worse. She explained how she wouldn’t normally take her child into the hospital but now she worried that if she didn’t he might have swine flu or something just as serious.

Just last week it was announced that schools were sending notices home to parents because students were in the hospital now with MRSA. Currently this is just in Avon, Ohio and the principal does seem to be on top of this as they are already disinfecting the school. Thankfully they had all weekend to scrub the school down. For those that aren’t aware MRSA is check out the info below:

CDC
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a type of bacteria that is resistant to certain antibiotics. These antibiotics include methicillin and other more common antibiotics such as oxacillin, penicillin and amoxicillin. Staph infections, including MRSA, occur most frequently among persons in hospitals and healthcare facilities (such as nursing homes and dialysis centers) who have weakened immune systems.

Symptoms of MRSA are:
Staph skin infections, including MRSA, generally start as small red bumps that resemble pimples, boils or spider bites. These can quickly turn into deep, painful abscesses that require surgical draining. Sometimes the bacteria remain confined to the skin. But they can also penetrate into the body, causing potentially life-threatening infections in bones, joints, surgical wounds, the bloodstream, heart valves and lungs.   

The best advice I can give parents is keep an eye on your kids and if they show symptoms take them in right away just to be sure. I’d rather be safe than sorry. Keep healthy and keep those kleenex nearby.

Post from: Blisstree

MRSA Hits Schools

But there were those many occasions when my sister and I fell ill with strep throat and my father (who personally swabbed our throats, much to our dismay) brought home a bottle of antibiotics. Even though we started to feel better, he insisted we finish our course. I didn’t realize then why doing so was so important.

Antibiotics are prescribed for bacterial infections, such as strep throat or ear infections. And those infections tend to respond quickly to antibiotic treatment. Finishing your full prescription is vitally important for several reasons.

First, the dose of medication prescribed to you is designed to be enough to kill all the disease-causing bacteria in your system. If you stop taking your antibiotics when you start to feel better, the bacteria may still be in your body and could come back in the same place or in another location. And who wants a relapse?

Secondly, if you under treat bacteria with a less-than-appropriate dosage of antibiotics, the bacteria can become resistant to antibiotics. Bacteria multiply quickly and can mutate and become pretty bad ass. Stopping your treatment early can give those little germs the ability to build back up and potentially get stronger and more dangerous. Knocking bacteria out with a full dose of antibiotics ensures a rapid and efficient recovery.

But remember to take (or give) any medication twice a day for 10 days can be easy to forget, especially when the sick party looks and feels completely healthy. Here are some tips to help you stay on course:

1. Write yourself a note. If you walk into my kitchen you’ll see a big note on the breakfast room table that reads, “Rx.” It reminds me to dole out our antibiotics every morning at breakfast and every evening at dinnertime. Without it I would completely forget.

2. Make a drug calendar that clearly shows when the medication should be discontinued. Mark off each dose each time you dole out the medicine. This is particularly helpful with liquids that may not necessarily empty completely when the protocol is complete. Luckily, my 20-tablet pill bottle (which I started the same day and time as my son started his liquid) helps me know when our cycle of drugs is complete. When my pill bottle is empty, my son’s course is finished, too.

3. Ask if the medicine has to be refrigerated. The label on my son’s first round of antibiotics clearly stated that the medicine had to be kept in the refrigerator. For whatever reason, after the fifth day, I stuck the bottle in the medicine cabinet. When I realized this in time for the next dose, I assumed it was bad and tossed it out. When I called the nurse to see if it was OK to just stop taking it all together, the nurse said to just continue with the un-refrigerated medicine. For no reason, she said, was I to stop the medicine in mid-treatment. So, I fished it out of the trash. Yeah, I know. Gross.

4. As your doctor to prescribe a medicine with more convenient doses. For example, ask if he can prescribe the antibiotic to be given two times or less a day. The fewer the doses a day, the fewer times you have to forget.

Sources: CDC, iVillage.com
Photo, Flickr, lu_lu

Post from: Blisstree

Tips to Help you Finish Your Antibiotics

For entertainment Saturday my son burned some of his energy by dancing in a heavy downpour of rain. I watched from my in-law’s garage and laughed as he tumbled in the wet grass and spun around in the driveway like a dancer. My mother-in-law peeked out the back door and was mortified. “Come in from out of that rain! You will catch a cold!” she cried. I didn’t enforce that order. My rationale – if standing in streaming water made you sick, we would never take showers. I told my MIL that it simply was not true. She said, yes it was.

The old wives tales of getting soaked in the rain or going outside in cold weather without a coat will make you sick have been circulating for more than 500 years. In fact, the common sickness back then was called a “cold” because it was believed that cold weather was what caused the ailment. We now know that colds and flu are caused by viruses that invade the body and take over our defenses. More than 200 different viruses can cause the common cold.

It’s true that colds and flu are most prevalent in the colder months. Some experts say that it is because we spend more time indoors in close contact with other people. The low humidity of winter also helps viruses flourish, especially in noses, which are more apt to be dry and cracked during the colder months.

Here’s another interesting fact about illnesses. The flu tends to be more rampant when temperatures drop below 41 degrees.

Here’s where my MIL may have one up on me on this old wives tale. A UK study showed that volunteers who submerged their feet in 50-degree water for 20 minutes were more likely to develop cold symptoms over the following week than those whose feet stayed warm and dry. Researchers explain this by saying the body can keep a cold virus in check but when exposed to cold, wet feet, the immune system can weaken causing a full-fledge illness.

Coincidentally, my son has cold today. He started showing symptoms late last week, days before he wallowed in the rain. But I still hold firm to my belief that the rain did not cause his symptoms. As long as there is rain in the forecast and my son is hungry for entertainment (and it is not thundering and lightning outside), then he has my blessing to frolic in the rain and find some joy is this never-ending miserable weather.

Sources: About.com, How-come.net, VideoJug.com
Photo, Flickr, markomni

Post from: Blisstree

Can Cold, Wet Weather Make You Sick?

The service is echoing the position of the CDC, and strongly encouraging everyone to get a traditional flu vaccine as soon as possible.  These shots are available in a number of places, and are generally very reasonably priced.  You’ll find them through your work, at your doctor’s office or clinic, at your neighborhood pharmacy, supermarket, and community center.  If you don’t know where to find a location, ask at a nearby pharmacy or medical clinic.  They’ should have the information about where shots are being offered and will be able to direct you to the right place.

H1N1 shots should be available soon, but it’s recommended that you get a tradition flu shot now, helping to build immunities and get your immune system ready to do battle with all sorts of nasty germs and viruses.

Besides the flu shots, there are lots of things that you can do to minimize your risk of getting the flu.  Most are common sense habits, like washing your hands frequently and coughing and/or sneezing into your sleeve.

If you are scheduled to travel, but feel sick, stay home – and remain at home until at least 24 hours after you are free from signs of a fever (without taking medication).  And that goes for the kids, too.  Don’t travel with sick kids.  Contact your airline, hotel, tour operator regarding any travel plans that you have and advise them that you are too sick to travel.  Most have money-back provisions, although it may require a medical verification form.

It’s horrible to miss a vacation because you’re sick, and even worse when you just want to get home.  But it is much worse, and far more irresponsible, to travel when you are ill.  You run the risk of making yourself even sicker, but also can infect a lot of other travelers as well.  In an era where we all talk about personal responsibility, this is a perfect chance to step up and choose to do the right thing for yourself and for your family.

It’s a simple rule of thumb:  Don’t travel when you are sick.

I have never traveled when I’ve been sick with flu-like symptoms.  I’ll muddle through with a headache or the occasional allergy problem, but that’s about it.  My health is too important for me to put at risk.

How about you?  Have you traveled when you’ve been sick?  How did you justify the risk?

Photo credit: SXC

Post from: Blisstree

US Customs & Border Protection Issue Flu Warnings

SquidSoap is the only liquid-soap dispenser with a specially designed pump that stamps a child’s hand with a vegetable dye. It takes about 20 seconds of good, thorough, sudsy hand washing for the ink mark to dissolve away. The result is a pair of guaranteed clean hands. The cool thing is that your child will find the process so entertaining you may have to take it away to get your child to stop! I know this for a fact – we are faithful users of SquidSoap.

A 4-pack of SquidSoap (8.4 ounces per bottle) sells for about $15.99 and can be found at various grocery and drug stores, or online at theConsumerLink.com.

I just so happen to have one never-been-opened box of the amazing SquidSoap that I would be happy to give away. If you’d like to try SquidSoap for free, just share a messy child story in the comments by Friday, September 4, 2009. I’ll select one person to win the coveted SquidSoap prize. (Only U.S. addresses, I’m afraid.)

Photo, www.theConsumerLink.com

Post from: Blisstree

Win This: SquidSoap Makes Hand Washing Fun!

In case you were wondering, this is not the same swine flu of three-plus decades ago, according to MSNBC. If you had that vaccine – or even your annual flu shot just months ago – you should not consider yourself immune. Check the MSNBC story for for more FAQs on the swine flu. 

Video & screenshot, Fandome Dude

Post from: Blisstree

Swine Flu PSA – 1970s Revisited?

For a while, that’s all anyone could talk about. We were watching the crows in our backyard closely because if you saw one dead it could mean the West Nile virus had killed it. People were buying surgical masks and staying away from standing water.

But now, just a few years later, talk of these diseases is almost nonexistent. The article questioned where this was due to an actual decline in these diseases, or less media attention. Given the state of the economy and healthcare status in the U.S., it seems that the attention has simply shifted. We can only worry about so many things at one time, and when you don’t have a job and can’t afford health insurance, the West Nile virus and SARS seem light years away.

Image from StockXchange.

Post from: Blisstree

Are Outbreaks Still a Concern?

It took me a ridiculous amount of time to compose an e-mail and send it…only to find out moments later, that I’d sent it to an incorrect address which caused the note (and its giant image) to bounce back to me — typos and all. I’m cranky, delusional, paranoid and freezing.

So for tonight, I think I’m going to log off and watch Desperate Housewives or Iron Chef America, it’s Rachael Ray vs. Giada Delaurentis…how dumb is that? I said HOW DUMB IS THAT?

Post from: Blisstree

Under The Weather.