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

the guy who sits next to me at work has two kids with The Swine Flu. supposedly he doesn't have it. yeeeeeeeeeeesh

Nobody tell Michael Jackson or he'll be over here like a shot.

― I'm Rick Wakeman, bitch! (Trayce), Friday, June 12, 2009 6:18 AM (2 weeks ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

we could see over 100,000 cases per day by the end of August

basically u know it's real in the field when the govt decides to stop giving out daily stats.

yeah but otoh: a bout of swine flu was currently causing less serious illness than traditional seasonal flu

it's spreading itself thin

My dad has a pretty bad case of "oh don't worry, it's totally normal"-flu at the moment. Yeah, right dad.

yeah but otoh: a bout of swine flu was currently causing less serious illness than traditional seasonal flu

even still, millions of people having an illness of any kind is gonna be mental. also, the effects are highly likely to get worse.

As Wodehouse said, it is never difficult to distinguish between FREE DOM AND ETHAN (special guest stars mark bronson) and a ray of sunshine

i dunno, couldn't find figures for uk, but apparently it's normal for anywhere from 10 per cent to a third of people to get flu in a season in the usa. so i'm not sure this is going to be much more prevalent. how do you know the effects are highly likely to get worse?

i don't want to say because people on the internet who claim to have the inside track on stuff are disgusting savages... but i do have a very good source!

God!

haha ok. when i am dying of swine flu, i will use my last ounce of strength to type: "FREE DOM AND ETHAN (special guest stars mark bronson) you were right after all"

"so long and thanks for all the zings"

Nobody told Michael Jackson ;_;

In seriousness though, the meeja here are making big deals of the people dying of swine fl - even though every case has had underlying serious problems. Cancer, diabetes, frail and elderly, very young baby, that kind of thing. People die of flu in such circs every year anyway.

what about dog flu?

i had it a few weeks ago. it wasn't that bad, I was mostly just tired and sore. definitely had worse flu before. loads of people have it here in melbourne, they're not even testing anymore

what trayce said. all cases seem to already be sick or fragile. the gov probably dont give stats because 1 it doesnt seem that the swine flu will kill gazillions of ppl and 2 no need to freak ppl out more.

ILX SWINE FLU ROLL CALL PUT YR HANDS UP IF YOU HAVE THE PIGGY FLU

http://theeulobby.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/handsup.jpg

it is actually pretty bad as far as flus go, I can't seem to stay awake more than 20 minutes at a time. But then again, I am a big crybaby when it comes to being ill.

I just googled tamiflu and the first side effects that come up are mental instability and suicidal tendencies. Erm, is it really safe for a person with bipolar disorder to be taking something like that? wonder if i should just try to sweat it out.

epsecially as I cannot seem to find anyone to actually go out and collect the bloody stuff for me :-(

Aww, Kate! Am working at home at the moment with a suspected dose of this myself. Only have it very mildly if indeed it is the piggy pox - just seems like a bad cold. Work don't want me in and sharing it around though, so I'm cool with that. Had a dose of proper flu over Christmas, maybe that has boosted my immunity?? My kids on the other hand have had it worse - high temps, lots of snot, sore throats, bad tummies, headaches, dozy as hell. Bouncing back now though. Get well soon!

Oh no, I can't imagine how awful a whole family down with it must be. My commiserations.

I suppose I should count myself quite lucky that it's all head and hasn't gone to my lungs at all. Bit of a horrible racking cough - but it's the headache and the sore joints and the tiiiiredness that are killing me.

It has utterly destroyed my appetite. I didn't think anything could - I've got a pound of grapes, a bar of Green and Blacks chocolate and a pint of Ben and Jerrys in the fridge and none of them have even been touched. I'm subsisting on dry cereal coz it;s the only thing that doesn't make me feel nauseous. Trying to contemplate a bagel right now.

Get well soon, I am just waiting for my dose as I seem to get every flu that is going around.

Might be worth getting some sugary sports drinks to keep the energy up (also good for the electrolyte balance if you are sweating).

But that would involve leaving the house and I'm officially quarantined. I basically have to survive on what's in the fridge until... Monday? Drinking cranberry juice because it has the highest vitamin C content of any juice. Apparently.

shit, kate, that sucks - hope it goes away w/a swiftness :(

eating scabs causes swine flu

Actually, it was drinking from the waterbottle of a plague infected person, but that's another story.

Hope that you've got supplies of ibuprofen there, would probably help with your headache and joint pains if you're not already taking them. And if you don't, mail me and *seriously*: I will post you some somehow.

If it's any consolation I think it might be good that we're in this early wave of sickness, cos who knows how it'll develop.

Not meant to sound melodramatic btw, just be good to get it over and done with.

I did actually recently buy a massive box of paramol which is getting me through this.

And it's funny - that's what I said to my mum. Better to have it now than in the second wave during wintertime, when it would be *really* miserable to be ill.

Good, glad you've got something! Hope the food holds out.

Get well soon Kate!

I keep feeling tired and sore and thinking I've got it, but actually I *always* feel tired and sore. Despite being constantly under the weather, however, I rarely get serious illnesses.

I posted on FB that I was up all night with a nasty raspy cough and my mum immediately emails me OMG DO YOU HAVE A THERMOMETER MAKE SURE IT IS NOT FLU.

I'm not even sick! I just smoked too much this week :/

Trust me, if you have it, you'd know. I honestly woke up on Tuesday morning in the middle of the night thinking I'd been shot in the head, it hurt so bad. And it's not "ooh, I feel a little bit tired and weak" it's "holy fucking shit, I can't actually move as far as the loo without stopping for a rest on the sofa."

I think (hope) I'm on the turn today. I actually managed to sleep through the night for the first time in about 3 days.

I keep thinking "oh, my fever's broken..." but then I start hallucinating again.

I think I'm going to punch the next person who I hear saying "don't worry, the only people who have died had serious underlying health issues". As if people don't have immediate family members with serious underlying health issues or anything.

i hope you get well soon, kate, it sounds miserable.

Getting the achey joints thing here, horrible isn't it? Feels like all my cartilage has turned to rust. Our three year old is totally zonked out again, but we've got some Tamiflu in for the little guy now.

cartilage of rust was so not fun, that seems to be settling down for the most part - headache is clearly up, too, but it has just moved down to my throat area instead. tonsils like tennis balls of pains is the symptom for today.

I managed to actually watch a film for an hour, which would have been impossible yesterday. now i need to lie down and recover from the excitement.

k8 do you want me to mail you some tamiflu & klonpin (to uh curb you from suicide)? I totally will!

friend had this two weeks ago. he said the aching / hallucinating was fairly severe, but not overwhelming -- the most surprising thing was the weakness. his bedroom was upstairs from the kitchen / bathroom and he said the trip down the stairs became a real issue. other severe thing was that while it broke after two days, it lingered for three weeks before he started feeling strong again

I actually have tamiflu waiting for me at a chemist half a mile up the road. And I'm too weak to walk from one side of the flat to the other. Klonopin no nononoo, cannot touch that stuff after having a little "problem" with it in the late 90s. Thanks for the offer, though, that's really sweet.

I think it's time to switch from ibuprofen back to paramol (mmm, codeine) and have another nap.

I swear to god, it's like I woke up suddenly 80.

Oh god, if I've got weeks of this stupid weakness I will kill myself, tamiflu side effects or no. Bah.

You can take ibuprofen AND paramol at the same time with no mad side effects (have been on both as prescribed by my doctor for a non-flu-related pain for three weeks now).

Is there any difference in symptoms between common or garden influenza and this swine flu thing, or is it really just the way it's knocking over people of all ages and spreading that's freaking everyone out? I've been floored with the flu a few times, so the thought of another bout of it, if it comes my way, isn't causing me sleepless nights. Should it?

I was recommended this by the doc as well, spaced at 2 hour intervals (first ibuprofen, two hours later paramol, 2 hours late ibuprofen etc.)

Hooray?:

An ugly scramble is brewing over the swine flu vaccine - and when it becomes available, Britain, the United States and other nations could find that the contracts they signed with pharmaceutical companies are easily broken.

Experts warn that during a global epidemic, which the world is in now, governments may be under tremendous pressure to protect their own citizens first before allowing companies to ship doses of vaccine out of the country.

That does not bode well for many nations, including the United States, which makes only 20 percent of the regular flu vaccines it uses, or Britain, where all of its flu vaccines are produced abroad.

"This isn't rocket science," said Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Diseases Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. "If there is severe disease, countries will want to hang onto the vaccine for their own citizens."

lol that'll learn you, U.S. profit-centric pharm companies

I don't think it's actually that much difference from normal influenza (actual influenza as opposed to the usual headcold/lurgy type thing) in terms of severity.

What is different is that most people have some kind of built up immunity to most colds and flu so that you only really get them if your defenses are otherwise down. Swine flu is new, no one has immunity to it yet, so it can strike otherwise totally healthy people with alarming speed and contagion.

I think today, or yesterday, was the start of genuine panic about this, at least in the press.

Having now had it, I have started to panic way less. It is not the end times. It's a week in bed. Worse than a head cold, but better than wrist surgery.