Swine Flu....

[Pandora II]

Has anyone had it or know how you tell for definite?

DH started feeling unwell on Christmas Eve up at his father's and by lunch-time on Christmas Day had a temperature of over 102. Also a bad cough, achy joints and muscles, very shaky etc. Seemed a bit better on the 26th and then bad again on the 27th (poor guy drove 4 hours on the motorway with a raging fever - was relieved to get home). Last night his temperature was 102+ again and he's now being very sick.

He is immunosupressed and 'forgot' to go and get his flu shots this year...

I came down with it last night and have been in bed all day with very high temperature. Normally I never pick up viruses, I have a super-strong immune system and living with DH who gets everything I get plenty of exposure, so this must be something pretty strong.

So far Daisy is fine, although I have never wished for a child remote control with an 'stand-by' button as much as I have today!

How do you tell if it's flu, piggy flu or something else and other than huge amounts of water and paracetamol is there anything else one should take?

I'm hoping Daisy is getting a lot of antibodies from me and that may stop her getting it, otherwise is there anything I can do at this point to give her a head-start?

 

[Jennifer W]

From what I recall from my days on the local NHS emergency planning group, it's very hard to tell if it's H1N1 or a different strain of seasonal flu without a lab test. Take a look at the NHS 24 website for a diagnostic guide, but if you're at all concerned about fever, or paracetamol and fluids aren't helping after the first few days, it's worth getting to a GP. Vomiting can lead to dehydration, so keep an eye on fluid intake and 'output' as it were.

Tamiflu can help to reduce the severity and shorten the duration of the illness if taken early enough, and if you do have H1N1 it may be an idea to get a prophylactic course for Daisy. GP will advise.

I hear you on the standby button. We had food poisoning earlier this year and we just wanted to take Amelia's batteries out for an hour or so...

Hope you feel better soon.

Jen

 

[LtlFirecracker]

In the US the swine flu epidemic is over, but we are having a huge Flu A outbreak right now (my clinic is full of it). Really the only way to know for sure is to get a flu test. Both Flu A and Swine Flu come up as "flu A" on the rapid flu. Than it needs get sent out for typing. Despite all the hype with Swine Flu, it really ended up being very similar in symptoms to the regular flu.

In the US, certain groups of people (children under 2, immunocompromised patients) do qualify for tamaflu, but it only works if given in the first 48 hours of the illness.

Regardless, if your husband can see a doctor, he probably should go.

 

[Pandora II]

Thanks!

Doctors won't see you here if you have suspected H1N1 unless you are a baby or have extreme symptoms that mean you'd be going to hospital anyway. They don't test for strains of flu unless you are admitted to hospital.

If you want Tamiflu then you have to ring in for an Rx, send someone without flu to pick it up and take it to the chemist... eugh.

My dad is a retired GP so he's giving advice on the phone but isn't up-to-date on the current situation. His worry was that Tamiflu was not stockpiled for this year over here.

Daisy did have the H1N1 vaccine last year but it wasn't offered this year. Could murder DH for not getting his!

Even worse, I thought he just had his usual Christmasitis man-flu and so we dropped in to see my sister (whose 3rd baby is due in 10 days), her husband and their 6 & 4 year-old kids for lunch. I have rung to apologise and she says she's not worried (she's been vaccinated) but I feel bad none the less.

We were supposed to visit my parents and my other sister who is due on January 3rd today but I rang an cancelled last night, and we are supposed to spend NYE with DH's brother and his wife (who is 4 months pregnant) but I've cancelled that too as she has only just got the vaccine and isn't covered for another week.

Ugh.

 

[katebar]

Dear Pandora sorry to hear of your illness.

Its very hard to tell whether if is the 'normal' flu or Swine flu. My husband is a GP and when Australia had there mini epidemic they had to swab patients but the results didn't come back for more than a week and at that point you couldn't get Tamiflu without a positive swab BUT you needed to take it in the first 48 hourws so the process was complete nonsense. I think he said that only a very small percentage actually had Swine flu but our daughter was one of them! We started her on Tamiflu as soon as she the symptoms (Dh had put 4 away fro us thank god) and withing hours was feeling better.
I have just been reading up on hydrogen peroxide as a gargle/ nasal inhalation and as ear drops in an non infected ear as having miraculous curative Powers. But again it has to be used early. Husband thinks it complete bunkum I might add but for the last year I have been using a saline spray called First Defense at the first sign of a cold and it seems to work. It changed the ph of the nose which is where the vrus grows and husband approved of this but not the Hydrogen Peroxide. Good luck maybe google the HP and if you feel it is safe put a few drops in Daisy's ear?

 

[D&T]

Dear Pandora sorry to hear of your illness.

Its very hard to tell whether if is the 'normal' flu or Swine flu. My husband is a GP and when Australia had there mini epidemic they had to swab patients but the results didn't come back for more than a week and at that point you couldn't get Tamiflu without a positive swab BUT you needed to take it in the first 48 hourws so the process was complete nonsense. I think he said that only a very small percentage actually had Swine flu but our daughter was one of them! We started her on Tamiflu as soon as she the symptoms (Dh had put 4 away fro us thank god) and withing hours was feeling better.
I have just been reading up on hydrogen peroxide as a gargle/ nasal inhalation and as ear drops in an non infected ear as having miraculous curative Powers. But again it has to be used early. Husband thinks it complete bunkum I might add but for the last year I have been using a saline spray called First Defense at the first sign of a cold and it seems to work. It changed the ph of the nose which is where the vrus grows and husband approved of this but not the Hydrogen Peroxide. Good luck maybe google the HP and if you feel it is safe put a few drops in Daisy's ear?

Thanks for the recommendation on First Defense saline spray, interesting, I'll have to pick some up for our family.

Pandora- I"m so sorry this is happening, a couple of weeks ago, I had something very similar to what you are describing. I didn't go to the dr. as I"m usually a home remedy type person before I crowd the drs office. Anyways, I was very sick with high at 102 degrees, then 101 temps for four days, I would break them each day, but had shakes, chills, and body aches, terrible dizziness, as well as I thought I might have needed to go to the hospital at one point as I was having severe pain in possibly my kidneys area (most likely due to the lack of fluid in my body- but once that part was hurting badly, I just drank so much fluid- almost threw that up a few times). Anyhow, this was a much different strange flu that I was having. Usually when I have the flu, I would only get high temp once and shake/chills and then break it, but this time, it was a recurring thing for four days. I honestly slept and stayed in bed for three days straight, I didn't have much contact with my kids and DH. DH took care of the kids and me. After four days I got better, started eating more, but it took me a full two weeks before I was back to normal. I hope this isn't the case for your DH and he gets much better sooner. I heard that at the first sign of flu like symptons to go in and get antibiotics as its more effective, but I've already had it full blown for two days, and didn't think it would help, so I let it run its course. Had I realized it was this bad at the first sign, I would have gone in to see a dr. for some RX.

 

[Pandora II]

Definitely H1N1 and Daisy now got it too... hooray....

Doctor said no Tamiflu unless her temperature is over 102 for 24 hours straight as it can make you feel even more shit. Also said he'd seen 30 new cases this morning and it was running riot at the moment.

D&T - sounds very similar to what we have. Antibiotics are only useful against bacterial infections not viruses so there is no point taking them (in fact it's a very bad idea). DH is taking 1000mg of penicillin a day as he has no spleen and so need to protect against a possible secondary infection, but it has no effect on the flu itself. Paracetamol, fluids and staying in bed are best treatment apparently so you did totally the best thing.

GP said it starts to get better after first 5 days but around 2 weeks start to finish.

Kate - will look into the HP thing - am very wary about putting anything near ears though...

 

[D&T]

oh no! so sorry to hear. Hoping for a speedy recovery for all your family members.
acck.. I wrote antibiotics...lol thought that was strange to write it but you are right.