What happens if you have the flu on your feet: consequences and ways to prevent them

Influenza is a serious and quite dangerous disease that poses a clear threat to health. It is highly recommended not to carry it on your feet. Neglecting bed rest increases the risk of severe complications, including brain damage and death. Therefore, strict adherence to medical instructions and rest is vital.

First flu symptoms

Characteristic signs help differentiate influenza from other viral diseases. They are expressed as follows:

1. Sudden onset. Symptoms of the pathology may develop several hours after infection.
2. Fever up to 39 C or more, prolonged. Accompanied by alternating sensations of heat and chills.
3. Malaise, weakness, aches in muscles and joints.
4. Intense headache.
5. Cough, often severe, with or without sputum.

Why do my legs hurt after an acute respiratory infection or acute respiratory viral infection?

One of the most common complications of acute respiratory infections in children is inflammation of the joints. Signs of inflammation:

• the child complains that his legs hurt,
• limps when walking, does not step on the full foot,
• the smallest ones tuck their legs in and cry when they try to stand them up,
• the skin in the joint area turns red and becomes hot,
• the temperature rises,
• the joint area swells.

Children cannot always explain exactly what they feel. If a child complains that his legs hurt after an acute respiratory infection, this does not necessarily indicate complications. First you need to rule out other causes.

• Check for bruises and swelling from the injury on your legs and thighs. Pain in the legs may be the result of a minor injury that the parents did not notice.
• Muscle tone may be the cause of pain. Massage your legs a little and evaluate how tense the muscles are.
• If a small child curls up his legs and cries, feel his stomach. The cause of such symptoms may be digestive disorders or severe abdominal pain.

Complications of influenza

Nowadays, most people have a very weak immune system. This is due to many factors: environment, fast pace of life, poor quality nutrition, regular stress and lack of proper rest. All this leads to frequent illnesses, including the flu.

As a result of the body's low resistance, pathogens quickly attack the body and actively multiply, contributing to the appearance of severe symptoms and a high likelihood of complications.

If, in this case, proper treatment is neglected, namely, bed rest, the pathology leads to dangerous consequences, which are characterized by the following conditions:

1. Bacterial infection - occurs due to the addition of other types of pathogens, leading to mixed forms of diseases. More often, pneumonia, bronchitis, and bronchiectasis appear against this background. Obvious signs are considered to be a severe cough with or without sputum, prolonged fever, and weakness of the body.
2. Infectious lesions of the ENT organs - all kinds of sinusitis, sinusitis, rhinitis. Characterized by purulent nasal discharge, fever, malaise, and breathing problems.
3. Otitis media is an inflammatory lesion of the middle ear due to infection. Obvious symptoms are expressed by acute intense pain, which can lead to complete deafness.
4. Myocarditis is a severe pathology of the heart, characterized by pain in the sternum, weakness, rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath even with little physical exertion.
5. Cystitis is a common complication after influenza and can develop into pyelonephritis.
6. Diseases of the nervous system - the greatest threat to life are complications associated with the brain. With influenza, meningitis, edema, and meningoencephalitis may develop. The conditions are rare, but the most severe, often ending in death.

Due to the dangerous consequences, viral infections should not be carried on the feet. You should stay at home throughout the entire period of illness, rest more and move less.

Strengthen your immune system

— Elena Nikolaevna, autumn is in full swing, so ARVI and influenza have already made themselves felt. But no one wants to get sick. What complex therapy do doctors recommend today?

— Complex therapy for respiratory viral infections is necessary, since viruses during the development of the disease can affect several organs simultaneously, which leads to severe complications.

The basis of complex therapy has always been and remains detoxification therapy, which includes warm, generous drinks with lemon and honey. In addition, at this time it is necessary to increase immunity. Among the antiviral immunomodulator drugs, Immunal, Viferon, Ergoferon have proven themselves well. But we must remember that antiviral therapy, for example, Ergoferon, for maximum effect, must be started on the first day of manifestation of the disease.

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Don't give a damn about viruses! How to protect yourself from ARVI Also, treatment of ARVI and influenza is aimed at relieving severe symptoms. The most common ones are fever, cough and runny nose. They cannot be ignored. Analgesics and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs mostly have antipyretic activity.

Prevention of complications

Simple rules and doctor's instructions can help prevent the consequences of the flu.

In the treatment of a viral infection, the environment is of no small importance. It is recommended to create optimal conditions in the apartment in order to increase the body’s susceptibility to diseases and eliminate severe cases.

To do this, you need to ventilate the room more often, maintaining the temperature no more than 20 C. The air should be moist. On the contrary, with dryness and warmth, the mucous membranes of the respiratory tract dry out, which is a favorable environment for pathogenic bacteria and viruses. To avoid hypothermia, you should dress warmly.

It is also recommended to drink more fluids when you have the flu. During fever, sweat and runny nose, the body loses a lot of moisture. Therefore, it is important to make up for its deficiency. An excellent solution is fortified warm drinks - compote, fruit juice, tea and plain water.

It is necessary to adhere to a balanced diet so that all useful substances enter the body. Preference should be given to easily digestible foods. These are broths, soups, fruits, vegetables. If you have no appetite, you shouldn’t force yourself to eat.

How to cope with pain?

If your child’s legs hurt after an acute respiratory infection, you should definitely consult an orthopedist, do an ultrasound of the joints, and take a rheumatic test. Do not delay in seeing a doctor. Without treatment, inflammation can become chronic. Before consulting with a specialist, you should not heat or cool the affected joint, make lotions, compresses or baths. Mom can alleviate the baby's condition using simple methods.

• Bed rest and rest are required. It is better to keep your legs slightly elevated: this will help reduce swelling.
• If the child’s age allows, you can give him warm lingonberry or cranberry juice. These berries effectively cleanse the body of toxins and have anti-inflammatory and antiviral effects.
• If a child cries and does not sleep because of pain in the legs after an acute respiratory infection, you can give him an anti-inflammatory or painkiller recommended by the doctor in an age-appropriate dosage.

Benefits of Bed Rest

There is no targeted means in nature to combat influenza. All drugs help relieve symptoms or increase immune status. The body itself can cure a viral infection. Therefore, to help him, he needs to adhere to bed rest, rest more and move less.

You need to resort to taking medications for special indications. It is believed that at a temperature of less than 38 C, antipyretics cannot be taken. The body must fight the pathogen itself. It is during this period that the synthesis of protective interferon cells occurs, capable of destroying viruses. To speed up the healing process, it is important to maintain bed rest and drink enough warm drinks. This leads to increased sweating, as a result of which the body gets rid of toxins.

If this is neglected, the natural healing process is disrupted. Against the background of weakness, general malaise and increased physical activity, the immune system is more unstable and subsequently the risks of complications increase.

Flu

The incubation period lasts from 12 to 48 hours. The following clinical forms of the disease are distinguished: typical influenza and atypical (afebrile, acatarrhal and fulminant); according to severity - mild, moderate, severe and very severe influenza; according to the presence of complications - complicated and uncomplicated influenza.

The typical flu begins acutely, in most cases with chills or chills. Body temperature already reaches its maximum level on the first day (38 -40°C). The clinical picture is manifested by a syndrome of general toxicosis and signs of damage to the respiratory tract. Simultaneously with the fever, general weakness, fatigue, adynamia, increased sweating, muscle pain, and severe headache with a characteristic localization in the frontal region and superciliary arches appear. Painful sensations appear in the eyeballs, intensifying when the eyes move or when pressing on them, photophobia, and lacrimation.

Damage to the respiratory tract is characterized by a sore throat, dry cough, raw pain behind the sternum (along the trachea), nasal congestion, and a hoarse voice.

An objective examination reveals hyperemia of the face and neck, injection of scleral vessels, moist shine in the eyes, and increased sweating. In the future, a herpetic rash may appear on the lips and near the nose. There is hyperemia and a peculiar granularity of the mucous membrane of the pharynx. From the respiratory system, signs of rhinitis, pharyngitis, and laryngitis are revealed. Particularly characteristic is the damage to the trachea, which is more pronounced compared to other parts of the respiratory tract. Bronchitis occurs much less frequently, and lung damage (so-called influenza pneumonia) is considered a complication. In addition to general toxic symptoms, at the height of the disease, mild meningeal symptoms (stiff neck, Kernig's, Brudzinski's symptoms) may appear, which disappear after 1-2 days. No pathological changes are found in the cerebrospinal fluid. The blood picture in uncomplicated influenza is characterized by leukopenia or normocytosis, neutropenia, eosinopenia, and relative lymphomonocytosis. ESR is not increased.

Depending on the level of intoxication and the severity of catarrhal syndrome, influenza can occur in mild, moderate, severe and very severe forms.

A mild form of influenza is characterized by an increase in body temperature of no more than 38°C, moderate headache and catarrhal symptoms. Pulse less than 90 beats/min. Systolic blood pressure 115-120 mm Hg. Art. Respiratory rate less than 24 per minute.

With a moderate form of influenza , the body temperature is within 38.1-40°C. Moderately severe general intoxication syndrome. Pulse 90-120 beats/min. Systolic blood pressure less than 110 mm Hg. Art. Respiratory rate more than 24 per minute. Dry painful cough with chest pain.

A severe form of influenza is characterized by an acute onset, high (over 40°C) and long-lasting fever with pronounced symptoms of intoxication (severe headache, body aches, insomnia, delirium, anorexia, nausea, vomiting, meningeal symptoms, sometimes encephalitic syndrome) . Pulse more than 120 beats/min, weak filling, often arrhythmic. Systolic blood pressure less than 90 mm Hg. Art. Heart sounds are muffled. Respiratory rate more than 28 per minute. Painful, excruciating cough, pain in the chest.

Very severe forms of influenza are rare, characterized by a lightning-fast course with rapidly developing symptoms of intoxication, without catarrhal symptoms, and end in death in most cases. A variant of the fulminant form may be the rapid development of hemorrhagic toxic pulmonary edema and a sad outcome from parenchymal respiratory and cardiovascular failure in the event of untimely provision of emergency and specialized medical care.

During epidemic outbreaks, influenza is more severe with a predominance of typical forms of the disease. During inter-epidemic times, mild and atypical forms of influenza are more often observed, when intoxication symptoms are mild and body temperature either remains normal (afebrile form of influenza) or rises no more than 38°C. In the clinical picture of the disease, the symptoms of rhinitis and pharyngitis come to the fore. If the inflammatory process is localized in the trachea in the visible absence of rhinitis and pharyngitis, then we are talking about the so-called acatarrhal form of influenza.

Flu in children

Influenza in children differs from the disease in adults in that it is more severe, the development of complications is more frequent, it reduces the reactivity of the child’s body and aggravates the course of other diseases. Violation of the general condition, febrile reaction and lesions of the upper respiratory tract are more pronounced and lasting, often reaching 5-8 days.

People of all ages are susceptible to influenza, from infants to very old people. People 60 years of age and older suffer from influenza more severely than younger people. Features of the course of influenza in elderly and senile people are that all periods of the course of the disease are more extended in time, a more severe course with frequent complications. In people of this age group, a more gradual development of the disease is observed and cardiovascular system disorders (shortness of breath, cyanosis of the nasolabial triangle and mucous membranes, acrocyanosis against the background of tachycardia and a sharp decrease in blood pressure) come to the fore. The phenomena of general intoxication are less pronounced in them and recede into the background in the clinical picture. The duration of the febrile period reaches 8-9 days, the temperature decreases slowly, remaining subfebrile for a long time.

The duration of illness with uncomplicated influenza in general in elderly people is 1.5 times longer than in young patients and is 1-1.5 weeks. Influenza in elderly and elderly people is complicated by pneumonia 2 times more often than in young and middle-aged people.

Complications

In no infectious disease does early detection of complications present as many diagnostic difficulties as in influenza. Complications of influenza infection are very common (10-15% of all patients with influenza). In their clinical diversity, the leading position (80-90%) is occupied by acute viral-bacterial pneumonia, which was detected in up to 10% of all patients and in approximately half of hospitalized patients with influenza, mainly in severe and moderate forms. The second most common place is occupied by complications from the ENT organs (sinusitis, otitis, frontal sinusitis, sinusitis); less often - pyelonephritis, pyelocystitis, cholangitis, etc.

Pneumonia, complicating the course of influenza, can develop in any period of the disease, however, in young people, early pneumonia prevails in 60% of cases, occurring on the 1-5th day from the onset of the disease, usually with severe catarrhal syndrome and general intoxication, which significantly complicates timely diagnosis of these complications.

In typical cases, the course of influenza complicated by pneumonia is characterized by prolonged fever (more than 5 days) or the occurrence of a second temperature wave after a short-term normalization of body temperature. During an illness with influenza, there is no positive dynamics in either the patient’s condition or well-being. Severe weakness, sweating, chills, and shortness of breath persist. A cough accompanied by mucopurulent or bloody sputum is present. On auscultation, fine bubbling moist rales and crepitus can be heard with the patient positioned on the affected side (Kuravitsky maneuver) or after short coughs. Most patients have leukocytosis and elevated ESR in their blood.

For the purpose of early diagnosis (prediction) of acute pneumonia in the very initial phase before the formation of distinct clinical and radiological manifestations, it is recommended in outpatient settings (during treatment at home) to use a set of clinical and laboratory indicators, including an increase in body temperature above 39°C, symptoms of tracheobronchitis , shortness of breath more than 24 breaths per 1 min, leukocytosis more than 8 × 109/l and ESR higher than mm/h. This complex was found in 65% of patients with influenza with subsequent development of pneumonia, confirmed by x-ray. The identification of such a complex in patients with influenza provides grounds for transferring these patients to an infectious diseases hospital and conducting a cycle of antibiotic therapy along with anti-influenza etiotropic and pathogenetic treatment. In case of suspected complications from the ENT organs, consultation with an otolaryngologist is indicated.