First three days were bad, real bad. Typical flu symtoms, hot/cold flashes, fatigue, joint pain ... with a bad cough. Since I am an asthmatic, this lead to pneumonia. On the third day I had coughing so bad that the do said to go to the ER. The pneumonia verified with xray and was treated with anti-biotics. Tamiflu was added to reduce the flu symptoms. Vicodin was used to treat the pain from the cough (three days of hard cough will pull muscles in the rib cage).
Once on meds, took about 5 to 7 days to get rid of the stuff.
Teslon pearls (RX only) can be given to control coughing...works great, look like vit E gel tabs. Don’t know why more docs don’t use them. I get bronchitis easy and that is what my doc gives me for the severe coughing. My mom broke 2 ribs with that type of heavy coughing.