Is the flu especially dangerous for pregnant women? Does flu during pregnancy can harm baby?
Your body immune system is weaker when you’re pregnant, so you’re more vulnerable to illness in basic. And the flu can buckle down really rapidly during pregnancy and be complicated by infections such as pneumonia.
Pregnant women with the flu also have a higher opportunity of serious problems establishing for their unborn baby, including premature labor and delivery.
Obviously, lots of moms-to-be who get the flu have no complications. However statistically, you’re more likely to establish a severe case when you’re pregnant.
Flu Symptoms During Pregnancy
Flu normally starts with a fever, achiness, and tiredness, followed by cold symptoms, such as a runny or stuffy nose, sneezing, sore throat, cough, chills. You might have diarrhea or vomiting too.
Get emergency medical help right away if you notice any of these symptoms:
- Trouble breathing, shortness of breath
- Bloody mucus
- Pain or pressure in your chest or abdominal area
- Unexpected dizziness, confusion
- Severe or consistent vomiting
- Not feeling as much motion from your baby
- A high fever that does not react to acetaminophen
What Should I Do if I Feel Like I’m Getting the Flu during First, Second or Third Trimesters?
If you get ill with flu-like symptoms, stay at home, limitation contact with others, and call your doctor. Your doctor will figure out whether you need to go in for screening or treatment. Tests might include a nasal swab (best performed in the first 4 days after you get sick). If you’re home alone, have someone examine you frequently.
If you come into close contact with somebody who has the flu, call your doctor to discuss whether treatment might reduce your chances of getting the flu. Bear in mind that individuals with the flu are contagious from the day before they have symptoms and stay contagious approximately a week after they end up being ill.
How Should I Treat the Flu When I’m Pregnant?
- Treat any fever right now. Acetaminophen is the suggested treatment for fever when you’re pregnant.
- Drink a lot of fluids.
- Your doctor will decide whether you need antiviral drugs. Antiviral drugs are prescription tablets, liquids, or inhalers that fight flu by keeping the germs from growing in your body. These medicines can make you feel much better faster and make your symptoms milder. Antivirals work best when started within two days after symptoms begin, however they might be offered to individuals at high risk (such as moms-to-be) even after 48 hours.
- There is little information about the effect of antiviral drugs in pregnant women or their infants, but no serious side effects have been reported.
How can I avoid capturing the flu?
- Get a flu shot as quickly as possible when it appears in the fall. It takes a couple weeks for resistance to develop after you get the vaccine. Perk: You’ll likewise help safeguard your infant from flu for as much as 6 months after birth.
- Wash your hands often, including instantly before eating, after sneezing, and after going to the restroom. Use correct hand-washing strategies, rubbing both sides of your soapy hands for at least 20 seconds and washing with a lot of water.
- Don’t cough or sneeze into your bare hands. That gets the infection is all over your hands, where it can easily spread to others. Rather, cover your mouth with your arm and cough or sneeze into your sleeve. Or cover your nose and mouth with a disposable tissue, and toss it away right after using it. (Many professionals recommend the sleeve method instead of a tissue because managing a tissue can still contaminate your hands and spread health problem.) And if you do wind up using your bare hands, clean them immediately.
- Don’t touch your eyes, nose, or mouth. You may believe your hands are tidy, but if you touch a doorknob, a cup, a fridge handle, or other item that somebody else has actually touched with a virus-covered hand, your hands carry the infection and can infect you.
- Infections and bacteria can live two to eight hours on hard surface areas. Routinely clean down surfaces at home such as toys, night table, doorknobs, telephones, and bathroom and kitchen area counters with a disinfectant. Follow the directions on the item’s label.
- Keep away from individuals who are sick, including anybody in your family.
