I had swine flu about a week ago. There was a big breakout on the University of Colorado campus. I was fine, it feels like the normal flu, maybe less harsh, but lasts a little longer. The only cases I have seen where people have had to be hospitalized is when they also have another condition like pneumonia
I'm not sure if I have a cold or the flu? I am sick right now, my eyes are watery, nasal congestion and a horrible pounding headache...
only state officials here can officially test for it here, so they only tested the most sick people. So it was never technically confirmed, but they told about 60 of us that they were 90% certain we had it. They just did a normal flu test and told me the same day.
AND YOU WERE POSTING HERE??!?!?!?! YOU b*stard!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU'VE KILLED US ALL!!!!!!!!!!!1!11!!!!!!!!!
I think everyone should realize that swine flu is a strain of the normal flu. There's not much difference in symptoms. Remember, millions of people die of the regular flu every year. Everyone needs to relax, if you're sick, stay at home, take some tylenol.
They ran the test (swabbed the inside of their nose) and it came back positive in less than 30 minutes at my kids' pediatrician.
I have got an unbelievable immune system. I can count on one hand how many times I've been sick (cold, flu, etc) in the last 20+ years. In fact, I haven't been sick (common cold) in over 9 years. But on Tuesday night I came down with a sore throat and by yesterday it was awful. Hot all the time, sore throat, stuffed nose, runny nose, minor cough, body aches - the whole shabang. i'm taking theraflu and tylenol - but this is torture. I'm wondering if it is swine flu since my body has had a great record of not falling ill for so long. It must be something my body has never seen before.
I was the same until my first son came along. I hadn't been sick other than a minor cold here and there for 12 years. When it finally hit, it was worse than a ton of bricks (spent Christmas Day 2005 at my in-laws puking my guts out for 12 hours)...I'm guessing because my body didn't know how to deal with it any more. I still don't get sick often (maybe 1x a year), but it's not as bad as that first time in 12 years was.
Kids are petri dishes. You'll catch a lot of stuff from them until the age of 8 or so. It's not like you can quarantine them and not hug on them when they're sick.
Well I scheduled my first doctor's appointment in 20 some years for 11:30am this morning to figure out whether I have the swine flu or not. I am scared to death of doctors. I hope this goes well. I just picked a random doctor near my house out of my insurance network.
Sorta, but not fully accurate. H1N1 (can't call it swine flu - the pig farmers are up in arms) - is a strain of the influenza virus that will likely cause similar symptoms in most people. in kids the symptoms might even be a little milder than other flu strains it seems to attack the elderly a little less also however it does seem to do a little more damage to pregnant women and compared to the regular flu it is more likely to cause problems in young adults (but remember overall this is a strong demographic). also because the test confirming it is H1N1 is somewhat expensive (and can only be run by the CDC and state health dept's) - they limit testing to hospitalized patients, those with severe baseline illnesses (HIV, chemotherapy, severe heart disease, etc) and areas of outbreaks... at least here in Nevada they do. interestingly also - last week the CDC recommended NOT treating most patients with the flu and reserving treatment for severe cases and high risk groups (kids under 5, pregnant, elderly, etc). not sure if they are worried about supply of medicines (which the Tamiflu drug rep says won't be a problem) or worried about resistance. the problem is that most physicians have a hard time telling people - "yes you have the flu, but I'm not going to treat you" - I try and tell people that it may only shorten the disease a little bit, but the side effects of the medicines (at least in pediatrics) may not be worth it. (btw I'm a pediatrician if you couldn't tell)
I'm near 100% again, except I now have some type of back pain that won't go away. It's hard to sleep though.
That is really interesting. My fiance went to the doc Monday because he has been sick. The doc told him that he had a minor case of flu and the flu shot he got a couple weeks ago helped to minimize it. The doc didn't prescribe Tamiflu. The doc said to let it run the course. I found it really odd. What you said makes sense.
Bronxfan, Do you know how soon infants can receive a flu shot? Or does everyone else in the family need to get one instead? We've got two young daughters who are bound to pick up H1N1 or other flu at school and are expecting twins in the next week.
