Fighting off the spring bug
The winter season is almost coming to an end, but flu season is still going around. Lots of coughing and sneezing is what you may see in the workplace. And it sometimes can be inevitable to avoid. But local health experts can’t stress enough to keep your home and work environment clean. And another thing you won’t hear enough of: wash your hands.
As the weather changes, from cold to warm or a fluctuation back and forth, it may not make you sick, but it doesn’t exactly help you feel better when you are.
A lot of people at work are busy and they seem to forget a clean work environment can mean all the difference. It’s all around school and the work, flu season hasn’t seen its last.
“So we’ve been dealing with this spring bug, we’ve been dealing with a lot of particularly coughs, and that’s what you’ve probably been seeing at work with other co-workers,” said Dr. Richard Maynard, PCS Priority Care of Pocatello.
The winter season is not quite over yet, which means, flu season is not over yet.
“This hacky cough – as Long as you’re not running a fever, you’re not short of breath, don’t have asthma or other chronic lung diseases, you probably don’t need to see the doctor for that,” said Maynard.
The doctor says if you have been sick for a while, just keep taking that over the counter medication and let it pass.
“There are some over the counter medications like Mucinex, that thins the mucus, so it makes it so you don’t have to cough so hard.”
But the exception is if you have influenza, which can be symptoms of muscle aches, high fever and being tired and sluggish,Dr. Maynard says get into the doctor’s immediately. An anti-viral can be given to you which can lessen your sick time and prevent the spread to others.
“So you need to be really careful if you’re a parent. We recommend anyone who has a runny nose, cough, maybe seem mild, but if you have little children, they can be particularly affected by those. And they should really avoid those people all together.”
Also recommended, getting enough sleep and finding ways to lessen your stress levels can also help to keep you well.
Dr. Maynard says with Spring Break coming, be aware of where you go and what you do and remember to keep yourself well.
