don't panic, but "SWINE FLU COULD SPREAD GLOBALLY"

really getting paranoid abt this, esp as im not feeling 100% atm. last year got my ass kicked three different times by some vicious bug (not out of bed for 4 days at a time), so i can only imagine what this'll be like. im not sure i can get the vaccine and my job pretty much guarantees my getting it. i have four students home this week the symptoms. i should stop smoking.

rly dont wanna get this when its my last weeka t work

i should stop smoking.

If you get the H1N1, you won't be smoking for at least a few days. In which case, there's your ante on a complete withdrawal.

Note for the afflicted w/ the hanging-on cough: Delsym, though possessed of a very strange texture, seems to work really well for cough suppression.

i feel my sinuses swelling/closing. i hope im just getting a cold x 1000

i should stop smoking.

If you get the H1N1, you won't be smoking for at least a few days. In which case, there's your ante on a complete withdrawal.

― Aimless, Monday, October 26, 2009 5:22 PM (19 minutes ago)

yeah the only real bright light about this whole thing is i am now 2 weeks smoke free! i mean, why the fuck not (and yeah i normally smoke during flus/colds, but there was just no way that was happening when i was sick, like physically impossible).

J0n W1ll1am5 told me the other day that he has now quit smoking thanks to a bout of H1N1.

This will possibly create some openings for temp work, right?

Sure as shootin, it ought to.

The girl that sits next to my daughter in third grade -- and who has had obvious signs of sickness for a few weeks -- is now out with Swine Flu. Her father is a brain-surgeon, so we figured the girl would be pulled out of school by him at an early stage if her symptoms suggested H1N1. My daughter is now sniffling a little. I'm concerned. I am overly-paranoid, I guess.

Anyway, we're calling the pediatrician tomorrow to see what can/should be done.

siblings of one of my son's classmates "likely" have h1n1 (though apparently the girl herself doesn't; she's out of school regardless), and one other kind "likely" has it, though the fact that his parents said he seems fine two days later makes me doubt it. this isn't some two day thing, is it?

Did your kids get the vaccine?

my son got it on friday but they said it takes 10 days to take effect, and if you kid is under ten they still need another shot 28 days later for full immunity. so you know, fingers crossed.

good luck, parents of ilx

OMG PEOPLE ARE LOSING THEIR FUCKING MINDS OVER THIS. Sorry - I just . . . I've fielded at least 50 calls today from irate ppl looking for vaccines. ;_; I know people are frustrated and they end up taking it out on whomever they get on the phone but god damn. /vent

The girl that sits next to my daughter in third grade -- and who has had obvious signs of sickness for a few weeks -- is now out with Swine Flu. Her father is a brain-surgeon, so we figured the girl would be pulled out of school by him at an early stage if her symptoms suggested H1N1. My daughter is now sniffling a little. I'm concerned. I am overly-paranoid, I guess.

Maybe he sees it as pointless to keep his child at home, since there's an incubation (?) period anyway?

Xpost Yes, I'm freaking out a little over this.:-(

we had a lecture today on ethics in a pandemic, and all i could think about was how the lecture hall was filled with the riskiest population: young people planning to spend time in hospitals

there's an incubation (?) period anyway?

a few days, and people are contagious the day before they exhibit any symptoms.

Normally I'd agree with you, Nathalie. But here the girl has apparently been obviously sick for a while -- long enough to go beyond the incubation period into the actual sickness period.

In any event, we kept my daughter home today (she had cold, not flu, symptoms, so it was purely precautionary). She's much better now, and shockingly anxious to go back to school. I suppose being at school is better than me haranguing her about doing homework/preparing for tests.

Oh, I didnt want to imply he was "right". I wld def keep O at home.

finally one kid down with this at preschool. I'm completely anxiety ridden about the entire thing despite knowing I've done everything I can (we all have vaccines and I've brainwashed my kid into washing his hands all the time...as much as you can brainwash a 3 year old to do anything, which is not much). we've had colds back to back for over a month, on like our third one in a row, really don't want anything more serious.

My kids got their first shot literally an hour or so after it became available to us, but we'll be traveling out of the country before they can get their second shot. We'll be out of range of H1N1 season, and one shot is better than none, but still, I dread what they'll be exposed to on the flight.

At least in the States/NA we're still weeks/months away from the seasonal flu kicking in. Depending on how bad H1N1 gets, things could get even messier in the near future. Can one catch more than one flu at once, H1N1 as well as seasonal? That would suck.

living in one of the densely populated cities in the world...not freaking out too much about this, despite the fact that I live alone and if I really get laid out, I don't know who I can ask to help me out...

My boss now has H1N1. I'm scared to death that I'm going to get it and give it to my three month old daughter.

What would you choose: A flu? or injecting a toxic, mercury-based substance (2nd deadliest substance on EARTH) into your body?? Don't be scared into getting the swine flu vaccine by the government or media!

^^facebook update from a (shock!) chiropractic acquaintance. i have to go to work now, but suggested rejoinders are very welcome (i am curious what #1 deadliest is, and by what process these things are determined, and where it ranks when we allow other planets, etc etc, maybe it is as im sure this is all v v scientific...). she's also lately been facebook-advising mothers w young children to maybe not get the vaccine.

srsly though, i know that thimerosal was taken out of mmr's even though its amt was negligible, and that there's little enough mercury in these shots for an adult to process easily...is there really any debate about whether it would overwhelm small kids' systems? any links i could pass on would be appreciated.

mercury-based substance (2nd deadliest substance on EARTH)

loooooooooooooooooooooool

btw i got my vaccine appt made for next week, fuck yr idiot friend

facebook update from a (shock!) chiropractic acquaintance

Not so shocking.

I think I read that Plutonium is the most deadly substance.

(NB: some chiropractors are really good, but they stick to what they know.)

I think I have this? I've not been tested b/c I'm living abroad and haven't yet figured out how to use the health system here, and I'm not so sick as to need a doctor. But it sucks. And my three kids last week had what seems to have been the same thing. And they're mostly better now, with some residual coughing. It could be that we have some flu-like virus that's native to Europe but not to the USA and to which we have less/no resistance. But I have colleagues here with H1N1, including one whose child is presently hospitalized for it, so I've likely been exposed to it.

tell your friend that CLEARLY these anti-vaccine rumors have just been started by the Bilderberg foundation to further their goal of reducing the earth's population to 500 million, and that they don't want anyone to take the vaccine

then if they really open up, calmly point out that only Alex Jones directly targets the Bilderbergs and that the pro-capitalist Bilderberg inductee Glenn Beck is anti-vaccine

after that, you can start making shit up

New controversy is not whether the flu shot is dangerous (it's not) it's whether the flu shot is even effective. Latter argument seems more, erm, effective to me, as far as anti-vaccine conspiracy theorists go.

A couple of months ago, I went to get my seasonal flu shot at a local drug store.

Pharmacist: May I help you?
Me: Yes, I'd like a flu shot.
Random lady with her texting teen kid: Scoff, I hear those shots make you get sick!
Teen kid: (not looking up) Mmm-hmm!
Me: Why would they give you a shot to make you sick?
Random lady: Huh.

I blew her mind!!!

The only studies I've seen were about the seasonal flu vaccine reducing mortality in the elderly, which it probably doesn't do. Getting the vaccine is worth it if it either lessens your chance of getting the flu or reduces the duration/intensity of the symptoms if you do get it.

^^^otm. Old people of my acquaintance get the shot not because they think flu will kill them but because they had flu in the past and it was bloody horrible.

After being exposed to someone w/H1N1 at the office, I got a prescription of Tamiflu from our family doctor as a preventative measure. It seems like the jury is still out on how effective it is, but hey whatever helps, I suppose.

Mercury is pretty toxic stuff. I wouldn't drink off a thimbleful of it or anything. But humans evolved on a planet where mercury exists in trace amounts in the environment, so we have some tolerance for small amounts of it.

Many chemicals that never existed until we created them (e.g. dioxin) worry me more.

Ophelia had/has the flu but she wasn't really tested for the mexican flu and I didn't ask. From hearing people around me, not many are getting vaccinated. Stan, how is it where you live/work? Will I be vaccinated? No, probably not.

My pharmacist kinda shrugged it off as well. (The necessity to have it tested.)

Nobody at work yet (not in my team or the ones near mine)! Hearing about some people whose kids have it, but surprisingly few, at the moment. (Can change very quickly, I know)

Are you getting vaccinated? I have the impression people aren't really that eager (as say in the US). Friend and husband are in fact against the idea.

Lots of kids though and caretakers (I know cause my gran's caretaker is at home and apparently they cldnt get a replacement).

I'm not, no. Only one of the guys at work is, but he's in one of the risk categories (heart condition).

The headline in the local paper today "As H1N1 flu stresses MetroHealth, poll finds most people snub shots"

The hospital is basically running out of room for flu sufferers.

the fact that the vaccine itself is in such incredible short supply, takes 10 days to work, and if you're a kid under 10, you need a second one 29 days later, does make doing all of it seem a bit futile, considering, in california at least, the virus is all over the place. still got the vaccines though. it's not the sort of gamble I like to make.

<img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2603/4052849920_151eb84599_b.jpg";>

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2603/4052849920_151eb84599_b.jpg

A civil disobedience group has been condemned for targeting Birmingham hospitals as it tries to frighten people into not having the swine flu vaccine.

It comes as health bosses reveal two further deaths caused by the H1N1 virus in the West Midlands, taking the total to 15.

The People’s United Community (Tpuc) launched a co-ordinated attack against the vaccine at Edgbaston’s Queen Elizabeth and Selly Oak hospitals, City Hospital, in Winson Green, and Birmingham Children’s Hospital, this week. They roamed corridors in the evening, putting up posters and handing out leaflets to patients and relatives with the slogan: “Swine flu is not the biggest danger. It’s the vaccine.”

Britain’s health chief, Sir Liam Donaldson, said Tpuc had only targeted Birmingham so far while Helen Jackson, spokeswoman for NHS West Midlands, said: “The concern is that this group is giving out false information. This vaccine is to protect people and has been developed through robust trials that show it is safe and effective.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W95YZqb6DU8

It's like pig-ignorant, virulently anti-vaccine people dropping like flies during a pandemic they helped usher in. It's like raaaaaain on your wedding day.

So what's the best way to start treatment if I expect to come down with the regular flu within the next couple days? Been keeping an eye on the gf while she's bedridden and it's now confirmed she has it.

Regular/seasonal flu hasn't even started to hit yet, has it? Right now it's all swine flu, all the time. At least that's what I thought.