What to do when you get the Flu & Local MN Resources to Help

It usually starts with one person. A kid comes home from school with glassy eyes and no interest in dinner, or someone mentions a scratchy throat. By the next morning you are taking temperatures and quietly doing the math on who is next, who can miss work, and whether there is any children’s ibuprofen left in the cabinet.

Cold and flu season is part of living in Minnesota. Nothing guarantees your house stays healthy, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. But there is a real difference between a household that gets caught flat footed and one that has thought about it ahead of time.

We asked Sarah Slater, DNP, a certified pediatric nurse practitioner and the owner of Balanced Kids MN, what she tells families heading into sick season. Then we put her answers next to what our nurses see every winter.

We have the same overlap of priorities: sleep, hydration, real food, a few specific nutrients, washing your hands, and knowing when it is time to call someone.

IV hydration and nutrient therapy fits into that picture too. Some people work an infusion into their routine during the winter. Others call us in the middle of a rough week when they cannot keep up with fluids, or afterward when they are just trying to get back to normal.

None of it works alone, and that is the whole point. Here is what you should know:

Start before anyone gets sick

Most of us do not think about cold and flu season until the first cough shows up in the house. Some of the most useful things you can do happen well before that.

Sleep, which nobody wants to hear

Sarah puts sleep near the top of her list, and so do we. Your body does its recovery work while you are down, and sleep is usually the first thing to go when school, sports, work, and holiday schedules pile up.

Chronic short sleep raises your risk of catching what you are exposed to. A steady routine now is worth more than trying to catch up in February when you are already run down.

Stay ahead of hydration

Hydration is much easier to keep up than to catch up on. Keep water where you can see it, and think about electrolytes around exercise, travel, heavy sweating, or any stretch where you are losing more fluid than usual.

Something we notice at IV Minnesota is how many people book a hydration visit when they are not sick at all. Busy parents, athletes, people coming off a long travel week, people who look up and realize they have been running on coffee since Tuesday. Getting behind on fluids does not require a virus.

Food first, then the nutrients

Food comes first. A varied, nutrient dense diet covers most of what your body needs, and a poor diet raises your risk of getting sick, which reframes eating well as something closer to a risk factor than a virtue.

Sarah also talks with families about three nutrients in particular.

Vitamin C, taken consistently. Her point is that the mechanism is consistency over time, not a giant dose the day someone starts sneezing.

Vitamin D, which is a real reality in Minnesota. Our winters limit sun exposure, and low levels raise your risk of getting sick after an exposure. Your provider can test you and tell you what you need. We are not going to guess at it.

Zinc, which she brings up often. Because taking too much causes real problems, including making dehydration worse, we are not giving blanket dosing here. Ask your provider or pharmacist what is right for the person taking it.

Why an IV is different from just drinking water

This is the question we get most often. If I already take vitamins and drink water, why would I get them through an IV? The answer is that it comes down to the route.

When you swallow a vitamin, it has to make it through your digestive system before any of it reaches your bloodstream. Your gut decides how much gets through, and for some nutrients it sets a hard ceiling.

Vitamin C is the clearest example. At moderate amounts your body absorbs most of what you take. Above about one gram a day, the National Institutes of Health notes that absorption drops below half. Taking more by mouth stops translating into more in your blood. An IV skips the gut entirely, which is why blood levels from an infusion look nothing like blood levels from a pill.

Here is where we want to be careful with you. Higher blood levels are not the same thing as protection. Nobody has shown that an infusion will keep you from catching a cold or the flu, and we are not going to imply otherwise.

What it does mean is that oral and IV are different tools rather than competing ones. Eat well. Sleep. Drink water. Take what your provider recommends. And if you want additional support during a demanding stretch, an infusion is a great way to get you there. 

Our Mega Immunity IV and Myers Cocktail are the two people ask about most during cold and flu season.

And then somebody gets sick anyway

You can do everything on that list and still end up with a fever in the house. When that happens, the priorities change.

Rest matters more. Hydration matters more. And you need to pay attention to symptoms that call for medical care rather than a blanket and a popsicle.

If you think it is influenza, Sarah recommends calling your provider early, especially for kids and anyone at higher risk for complications. Prescription antiviral medications work best when they are started within about two days of the first symptom, so that call happens early rather than after a long weekend of waiting it out. Your provider decides whether they are right for you.

She says the same about zinc. If it is appropriate for you, it needs to start early in the illness to do much of anything. That is a conversation with your provider or pharmacist, not something to guess at.

Beyond that, the basics carry more weight than people expect. Rest. Sip fluids. Use electrolytes when they help. Eat whatever you can tolerate. Give your body room to do the work.

Why the flu dehydrates you so fast

This is the place where Sarah’s experience and what our nurses see line up almost exactly.

Being well hydrated does not fight the flu. Fluids are not an antiviral. What is true is that the flu makes it remarkably easy to fall behind on fluids, and being behind makes every symptom worse.

It comes at you from four directions at once:

•         Fever pulls water out through sweat
•         Vomiting empties whatever you just managed to get down
•         Diarrhea does the same thing from the other end
•         And you do not feel like drinking anything

That last one is the real problem. Most illnesses that dehydrate you at least leave you thirsty. The flu takes away your interest in fluids at exactly the moment you need them most.

Then it loops. Being behind on fluids makes you more nauseated, dizzier, and more likely to have a headache. All of which makes drinking harder. Which puts you further behind. People who say the flu hit them harder this time are often describing that loop rather than a worse strain.

Start with what you can drink. Water, electrolyte drinks, broth, popsicles, ice chips, small sips more often. If you want to know what to watch for, we walked through the signs of dehydration in an earlier post, and during the flu they tend to show up faster than people expect.

Sometimes drinking is not enough. That is one of the situations where adults consider IV hydration.

What is actually in an IV Minnesota visit

When people hear IV therapy, most picture a bag of saline and nothing else. Hydration is a big part of what we do, but a visit can include more than fluids.

What is included depends on you, on which infusion you choose, and on what our medical director’s orders allow for your situation. Our nurses talk through all of it before anything starts.

Fluids and electrolytes

Our Pure Hydration IV is one liter of Lactated Ringers, a balanced fluid made of sodium chloride, sodium lactate, potassium chloride, and chloride in water.

In plainer terms, it is built to closely match the fluid already in your body. That matters more during illness than most people realize. When you lose fluid to fever, vomiting, or diarrhea, you are not only losing water. You are losing sodium, potassium, and chloride along with it. Plain water replaces the water and dilutes what is left of everything else. A balanced fluid puts both back at the same time, and it goes in over about an hour rather than asking a nauseated person to drink a liter.

Vitamins and nutrients

Depending on which infusion you choose, a visit can include nutrients as well. Our Myers Cocktail is built on vitamin C, magnesium, antioxidants, and a full B complex, which means B1 thiamine, B2 riboflavin, B3 niacin, B5 pantothenic acid, B6 pyridoxine, and B12 cobalamin.

Mega Immunity builds on that same base and carries over three times the vitamin C and glutathione. It is the one people tend to ask about heading into winter.

B12

A B12 injection can be added to a visit when it is appropriate for you. B12 is one of the nutrients where the delivery route genuinely changes the math, since absorbing it by mouth depends on a specific process in your stomach and small intestine that does not work equally well for everyone.

Help with nausea and headaches

Sometimes it is not the illness that ruins the day. It is the nausea, or the headache that will not let you sleep.

Depending on your symptoms, your health history, and what is appropriate under our medical director’s orders, medications intended to help with symptoms like nausea or headache may be available during a visit. Our nurses will tell you honestly whether that applies to you.

We want to be clear about the distinction. An IV is not killing a virus. What a visit does is look at how you are actually feeling and offer supportive care within our scope, whether that is fluids, nutrients, or eligible options for symptom relief.

And because we are mobile, it happens at your house. When you already feel awful, not having to get dressed, drive somewhere, sit in a waiting room, and drive home again is worth more than it sounds like on paper.

Do not forget the person taking care of everyone

There is one person who gets overlooked every time illness moves through a house.

You are checking temperatures, finding the medicine, stripping sheets, answering work emails, making toast nobody eats, refilling water bottles, and figuring out who is staying home tomorrow. Meanwhile your own water bottle has been sitting untouched since breakfast.

Sarah sees this from the pediatric side. We see it from ours. Parents get so locked in on everyone else that they do not notice how depleted they have gotten until they are the next one down.

Eat something. Drink water. Sleep when there is a window. Ask someone for help. And pay attention when your own body starts telling you it needs a break, because taking care of your household includes taking care of the person holding it together.

How to keep it from moving through the whole house

Once one person is sick, there are practical things that lower everyone else’s exposure. Sarah keeps it simple:

•         Wash hands often, especially after caring for whoever is sick
•         Stop sharing cups, towels, and utensils
•         Wipe down doorknobs, faucet handles, remotes, and phones
•         Give the sick person their own space when you can
•         Get some airflow moving, even for a few minutes in January
•         Take extra care around anyone in the house at higher risk
•         Follow your provider’s guidance on returning to school, work, and activities

Handwashing is not exciting. Sarah knows people are tired of hearing about it, and she recommends it anyway, because the least glamorous advice on the list is still one of the most useful things on it.

Build your sick season kit before you need it

The worst time to realize you are out of electrolyte drinks or children’s fever reducer is at nine at night when everyone feels terrible. Sarah suggests having these around before the season is in full swing:

•         A working thermometer and spare batteries
•         Fever reducers for every age in the house, checked for expiration
•         Electrolyte drinks or powders
•         Broth and popsicles
•         Tissues, more than you think
•         Easy foods nobody has to think about
•         Zinc, if it is appropriate for your household
•         Vitamin C
•         Any regular supplements your provider recommends
•         A xylitol nasal spray, which may make it harder for viruses and bacteria to latch on in the first place

The one we would add is regular IV infusions to keep you up to date on those important vitamins and fluids. 

Minnesota services worth saving before someone gets sick

There are more ways than ever to get care and everyday necessities delivered to your door. These are worth putting in your phone now, because once half the house is down, even a fifteen minute drive feels like a project.

In home pediatric care

Balanced Kids MN is run by Sarah Slater, the pediatric nurse practitioner whose advice runs through this post. She sees patients under 21 in their own homes, offers same or next day sick visits, and carries rapid testing and first dose medications with her. She also does virtual visits anywhere in Minnesota. She is based in Prior Lake and charges travel fees based on drive time, so ask about that when you book. Adults in the house will need a different option.

Groceries delivered

Sometimes what your family needs most is a porch full of broth, electrolyte drinks, popsicles, crackers, and tissues. Lunds & Byerlys has stores in Wayzata and Minnetonka with delivery, and Walmart, Amazon, and the other grocery services do the same thing. Set the account up before you need it.

Prescriptions delivered

Most west metro pharmacies deliver now. Ask when the prescription is called in rather than after, because delivery windows fill up fast during flu season.

At home lab draws

Getlabs sends a phlebotomist to your house and serves both Minnetonka and Wayzata. The flu itself is usually diagnosed a different way, so this matters more for follow up testing your provider orders when you still do not feel up to leaving home.

Mobile IV hydration and nutrient therapy

That one is us. Our nurses come to you across Minneapolis and the west metro, see our full service area. Depending on what is appropriate for you, a visit can include hydration, electrolytes, selected nutrients, B12, and eligible options for symptom support.

When it is time to call your provider

There is a line between supporting yourself at home and needing to be seen. IV therapy is not a substitute for urgent or emergency care, and we will tell you that directly if you call us and it is the wrong fit.

Sarah recommends calling your provider or seeking urgent or emergency care for:

•         Trouble breathing or shortness of breath
•         Chest pain or pressure
•         Confusion, or trouble waking up
•         Signs of serious dehydration, including very little or no urination
•         Symptoms that improve and then come back noticeably worse
•         Any concerning symptom in an infant or anyone at higher risk

For kids in particular, Sarah reminds parents that behavior tells you more than the thermometer does. A child at 103 who is still drinking and still interacting is usually less worrying than a child at 100 who will not wake up or take fluids

Getting your house through sick season

No single product, supplement, or treatment carries a Minnesota household through the winter. It is a set of habits with a few tools alongside them.

Sleep. Real food. Water before you are behind. The nutrients your provider actually recommends. Washing your hands. Knowing the symptoms that mean it is time to call someone.

IV therapy is one tool in that set. Sometimes it is an infusion worked into a routine before you feel run down. Sometimes it is a call in the middle of a bad week when you cannot keep fluids down. Sometimes it is the parent who finally realizes they have spent four days taking care of everyone but themselves.

Take care of the basics, pay attention to your body, and get medical care when you need it. When your household could use some extra support, book a mobile visit and we will come to you.