How Doctors Treat Their Own Colds And Flus And How To Tell If Your Symptoms Are Flu, Covid, RSV or Strep

With the country facing a barrage of illnesses, we asked ear, nose and throat specialists and family doctors which remedies they swear by. How Doctors Treat Their Own Colds And Flus And How To Tell If Your Symptoms Are Flu, Covid, RSV or Strep

Squirt bottles filled with saline solution, elderberry tablets and cans of chicken soup: These are just a few of the weapons doctors deploy when they personally get struck down by a winter virus.

Americans are being hit with a barrage of seasonal illnesses right now including flu, RSV and Covid-19. So, we asked ear, nose and throat specialists, pediatricians and family doctors about the medicines they take and remedies they swear by when sick.

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All the doctors said that rest and fluids are key. And everyone said it’s important to be up-to-date on flu shots and Covid vaccinations, including boosters. They had more surprising advice too, such as which over-the-counter medications are worth taking, when to stock up on supplies, and how to avoid a potential risk of nasal irrigation.

Here’s What Else The Doctors Said:

Medications

Marc G. Dubin, an ear, nose and throat doctor (or otolaryngologist) in Towson, Md., usually catches a respiratory bug once or twice a year. “We’re sort of in everyone’s faces being sneezed on and coughed on all day,” he says.

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With cold medicines, he picks one that targets only the symptoms he has. He reasons that simpler is better to avoid unnecessary side effects.

When he has a cough and congestion, for example, he’ll take a drug with the active ingredients guaifenesin, an expectorant that loosens mucus, and dextromethorphan, a cough suppressant. He says he tends to avoid antihistamines containing diphenhydramine since it can make mucus thicker and harder to cough up.

Other doctors also say they limit the amount of time they take a drug to avoid side effects. For nasal congestion, Sterling Ransone, a family physician in Deltaville, Va., uses an oral decongestant with pseudoephedrine, like Sudafed, or a nasal spray decongestant like Afrin but only for a few days.

How Doctors Treat Their Own Colds And Flus And How To Tell If Your Symptoms Are Flu, Covid, RSV or Strep

Pseudoephedrine can make blood pressure rise if taken too long, he says. And nasal spray decongestants can actually enhance swelling if used longer-term, he says. Dr. Ransone throws these medications and other supplies into a plastic bin that he updates by the beginning of November each year so he doesn’t have to go out and potentially infect others when illness hits.

Pediatrician Gary Kirkilas generally avoids over-the-counter cold medicine and fever reducers, which, doctors note, just treat symptoms and don’t alter the course of the illness. But when he has a sore throat, Dr. Kirkilas does use Chloraseptic throat spray just before he eats and before going to bed. “It buys you about 15 minutes of pain relief,” says Dr. Kirkilas, who practices in Phoenix.

Other Remedies

Dr. Dubin, the ear, nose and throat specialist in Maryland, uses a squirt bottle filled with a saline solution sold at drugstores to irrigate the nasal passages. You need to use distilled or boiled water since tap water could contain bacteria and microbes, Dr. Dubin notes.

He uses salt solution packets sold for use with nasal irrigation bottles, which are designed to match the salt concentration of body tissue, he says.

“If you just pump regular water in your nose, it can lead to more swelling,” he says.

Some doctors reach for soothing foods. Mary Mitskavich, an ear, nose and throat doctor in Neptune, N.J., says she finds some relief with her husband’s white bean and noodle soup. “When you’re not feeling good, you look for your comfort food,” she says.

Dr. Ransone gets into the cans of chicken noodle soup he keeps in his emergency illness bin. Some research does suggest that chicken soup, which provides fluids, electrolytes, lean protein and carbohydrates, has anti-inflammatory properties.

How Doctors Treat Their Own Colds And Flus And How To Tell If Your Symptoms Are Flu, Covid, RSV or Strep

Ellen Rome, a pediatrician, takes elderberry tablets when she’s feeling ill. Some manufacturers claim that elderberry boosts the immune system, but Dr. Rome notes that there isn’t definitive evidence to support taking it. She also takes high doses of vitamin C during the first two days of symptoms. “I have found no literature to support this, but it seems to be the trick for our family,” says Dr. Rome, head of the Center for Adolescent Medicine at Cleveland Clinic Children’s hospital.
Testing?

The doctors we spoke with said they do a rapid Covid test when they feel even mild symptoms including a runny nose or a scratchy throat so they can isolate away from others if the test is positive.

Dr. Ransone, board chair of the American Academy of Family Physicians, keeps a couple of Covid tests in his emergency kit. He’ll get tested for flu, too, if his symptoms suggest it.

The Covid antiviral Paxlovid and flu medication Tamiflu both need to be started early in the course of illness to be effective, so confirming a diagnosis helps get a jump on treatment.

Rest Up Or Power Through?

If Dr. Dubin has mild symptoms, no fever, and has tested negative for Covid on a rapid test, he’ll still come to work and wear an N-95 mask, a step up from his usual surgical one. If his symptoms last longer than seven to 10 days, he’ll ask one of his partners to look up his nose to check for a sinus infection, which could need antibiotics to clear.

Dr. Mitskavich just got over a bug that she suspects was RSV. She had a fever, congestion, a runny nose and cough. She stayed home, took cold medicine and acetaminophen, went to bed earlier and slept in later.

She used the time at home to do administrative work on her computer, too. “I got some of the drudgery done,” she says. “Everybody is different with what their definition of rest is.”

Updated: 12-21-2022

How To Tell If Your Symptoms Are Flu, Covid, RSV or Strep

How Doctors Treat Their Own Colds And Flus And How To Tell If Your Symptoms Are Flu, Covid, RSV or Strep

It’s difficult to tell the difference but there are clues to look for, doctors say.

You’re sneezing, coughing and feeling a scratch in your throat. Do you have the flu? RSV? Covid-19? Strep throat?

The stew of illnesses swirling through the population right now has many of us sick, sometimes for weeks, but unsure what, exactly, we have.

If you’re having symptoms, how can you tell which virus or infection you have? Because flu, Covid, and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, have virtually indistinguishable symptoms, doctors say, it’s almost impossible to know without a test.

It may not matter which flavor of seasonal virus you’ve got. Unless you’re severely ill or are in a high-risk group for severe illness or hospitalization, doctors’ advice is largely the same: stay home and rest until you’re feeling better.

That said, drug treatments for flu and Covid should be started early on, so getting a jump on treatment is important if you think you’ll need it. And strep throat is a bacterial infection that requires antibiotics.

Doctors say there are symptoms that are more associated with some winter illnesses than others.

RSV

RSV typically presents as a minor cold in healthy adults and children, most of whom have had the virus multiple times. In the elderly and in babies, RSV can cause more severe illness, including difficulty breathing. A surge in RSV infections hit earlier this year and put pressure on children’s hospitals. National RSV hospitalizations appear to be declining now.

Patients with RSV often display a lot of congestion and mucus secretions, says Preeti Parikh, a pediatrician in New York. Body aches and gastrointestinal distress are less common with RSV. Wheezing, particularly in babies, can occur when the small airways in the lung become inflamed.

Flu vs. Covid-19

Fever, body aches and headaches are more typical of flu and Covid-19, says Dr. Parikh. Gastrointestinal symptoms can also occur with flu, Covid and strep.

Fatigue is more common with flu and Covid-19, says Kristin Englund, an infectious-disease physician at Cleveland Clinic.

Coughing can be a symptom of all three respiratory viruses. A loss of sense of smell and taste is more commonly associated with Covid-19, although doctors say it can occur with other respiratory infections.

How quickly and how severely you first feel symptoms can be one clue in distinguishing among flu, RSV and Covid, says Daniel Kuritzkes, chief of the division of infectious diseases at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

With flu, “symptom onset is quite sudden, where people feel like they’ve been hit by a truck or a ton of bricks,” says Dr. Kuritzkes. Covid and RSV can hit more gradually, he says.

“If somebody had sudden onset of symptoms and tested negative for Covid, then I would presume that they had influenza, especially now that RSV numbers are dropping off,” says Dr. Kuritzkes.

Getting the flu can increase the risk of getting a second infection, including strep throat.

Strep Throat

Sore throats are also common in all the viruses as well as strep throat. With strep, the sore throat is often more severe and you may feel difficulty swallowing. If you have a sore throat accompanied by fever, and you’re testing negative for Covid-19, go to a doctor to get tested for strep.

Coughing is less common with strep throat. Other strep symptoms include headache, abdominal pain, a high fever and a diffuse, red rash.

Telltale signs of strep include swollen glands in the neck and red, inflamed tonsils, “which is not what you see in the case of somebody who has a viral infection,” says Dr. Kuritzkes.

White patches are often visible in the back of the throat, says Graham Snyder, medical director of infection prevention and hospital epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

“For throat infections, seeing your doctor may be important especially if it’s not something that’s resolving after a couple of days,” says Dr. Snyder. Viral infections typically begin to get better after a few days, he notes.

Bacteria called group A streptococcus, or group A strep, are common and can cause a range of diseases including strep throat. Most infections are mild and can be treated with antibiotics.

However, health officials said recently they are exploring a possible increase in rarer, more serious strep A bacterial infections among children, which occur when bacteria enters the bloodstream.

Common Cold

The common cold, or rhinovirus, is circulating, too. If you have upper respiratory symptoms, like congestion and a runny nose, you could have a cold, says Dr. Parikh. Fevers are less common and typically low-grade.

Test And Treat

If you’re in a high-risk group for flu or Covid-19, getting tested early is important because antiviral medications must be started early, notes Dr. Kuritzkes. Most healthcare providers can do a rapid test for flu.

When you’re sick, be on the alert for signs of secondary bacterial infections like pneumonia or sinusitis, doctors say, which can sometimes develop in the wake of a virus.

Those signs can include a worsening cough that brings up a lot of phlegm, sinus pain, and thick yellow or green discharge from your nose, says Dr. Kuritzkes.

And always call your doctor or seek medical care if you’re having difficulty breathing, can’t eat or drink, or have worsening symptoms.