Hows everyone doing out there with the H1N1?`

[NorcoQueenoftheUniverse]

Just trying to get a GRIP on this whole H1N1 thang as it SEEMS to be REALLY GETTING out of HAND!
I hafta say that I AM running scared as I WORK in a hospital and we are seeing ALOT more Young people come in with it.... No history of OTHER THAN being HEALTHY... yikes.. WHAT'S that all about?!?!?

I REALLY hate FREAKING myself out but I'm trying to STAY clean and sober with a HEALTHY LIFESTYLE and was HOPING that my WORRY WART syndrome would be OVER since I quit using....85 days ago!
I guess that being a WORRY WART is just part of me and I'm GLAD I'm healthy BUT I STILL am havin'
a rough time not FOCUSING on IT!

I am TAKING my VITAMINS, EXERCISING, AND getting PLENTY of SLEEP .. (finally)

Of NOTE... I will not take the vaccine as I am allergic to eggs PLUS my husband had
Guillian Barre back in the 70's..

Yikes!
NorcoQueenoftheUniverse

[ginsa]

I recall reading that a flu virus can mutate between waves of infection and so while not technically the "same" it is still the same strain. Wish I could remember where I read that. I like to offer support for statements like that.

[Astray]

Lee,

I doubt you can catch the same flu strain twice unless your immune system is totally compromised by HIV, radiation treatment, anti-rejection drugs after a transplant or such stuff.

Getting different flu close together is possible but as its all related to some degree the second lot is going to affect you a lot less than it would have without the first one.

[leeisgettingclean]

so just a question because i WONDER.....CAN  you catch the same flu 2 times in one season? and if not can you atleast caTCH 2 diff kinds in one season?

[Brokenbutglued]

I'm not a big fan of flu shots and I'm sure not one to trust the media as being gospel but this H1N1 does seem to require a bit more caution imo. While some may say it's no more deadly than the regular flu I'd have to disagree. H1N1 has claimed more lives in younger people a that the entire reg flu season last year did and this flu season hasn't even really hit its peak.

I went ahead and got my children and myself vaccinated. IMHO, why chance it? Why take the risk of catching it...I couldn't imagine how I'd feel if I had the chance to vaccinate my child and didn't and then they caught H1N1.

On a similar note, we went to the county Health Department to get it. I saw a report on the nightly news that they were taking appointments after the weekend so Monday morning I called. I wore out the flash/redial button before anyone answered at around 10 am, they ran out of shots at 12 noon. In 3 hours they ran out of 400 vaccinations. Even though an appt was required I was shocked when I didn't see a line of people wrapped around the building trying to get vaccinated anyway.

[Ella789]

I have Systemic Lupus and I am afraid of the flu,  any flu,  so the h1n1 does worry me some.   I think that as a kid I had every childhood disease around.  Mumps, measels, ect and many flus.  Now for the past 10-15 years I take the flu shots,  Then I started getting pheumonia and so two years ago I had a shot for that.   Man!!  I just don't think I am the least bit paranoid, just cautious,  if you have ever had pheumonia, or peracardis, ect, then you do not ever want to experience it again.   That is why I chose to do all I can to stay well.  I feel bad for the young ones having it tho,  it is such a horrible thing to have happen to these little people !!!
Ella

[jollyman069]

well I have renal failure, and am one of those high risk patients....i truley believe that the media ahs this blown way out of portion..they have ppl running scared..any "flu" real flu is dangerous..ppl just have use common sense.....

[leeisgettingclean]

i had H1N1 and it was not much if any worse than norm flu (cant say for sure cause never had seasonal flu), however my charge Nurse at work got it, and gave it to his 2 kids, one is only 1 1/2 years old and they say she is VERY sick, so I think its worse on kids, I am praying for her and they DO say she is getting better. Including myself 3 people at my nursing home has gotten it, however not one of the elderly residents have been infected so i guess what they say about the elderly not being at great risk of infection with this is true. One other odd thing is each case has been atleast 1 week after the other gets better, so I dont know if that is saying that the virus can live outside source that long waiting for next victim, virus takes that long(week or more) to start preseting problems, or neither of those, and all 3 of our sickness were unrelated. We do have a cleaning crew coming in monday to clean our nursing home really good to make your we get any virus out that we can

[ginsa]

I'm just wondering....maybe all the media hype about H1N1 has people seeking treatment who would normally not go to the Dr. for flu symptoms. This could explain
( what may seem to be ) the high number of young people who are getting it.

So far, in my area ( Southwestern Michigan ), the flu related deaths have been in middle aged women. The major cause of death in the 1918 outbreak of H1N1 was cytokine storm, an exaggerated immune response in healthy individuals that resulted in respiratory failure. From what I've seen so far, this flu is mainly causing death in people with other  health problems. Probably due to secondary infections. Not much different than what happens with seasonal flu deaths.

Just my take on this...

[Astray]

My understanding is this:

If you have had proper flu before, i.e. one of the previous outbreaks, ie. '72 was a good year for that here in the UK, you will not be significantly affected. All my family have already had it and our experiences of it were very mild. Its weaker than the standard winter flu outbreaks, the difference is everyone is getting it.

The children had it a bit worse but even my niece who has no thyroid, aethsma, etc wasn't severely ill. If you do have a relevant medical condition then of course theres cause for concern as there would be with any type of flu.

My immune system seemed a bit compromised afterwards as I had a series of infections of various kinds but that could easily have been due to my addiction rather than the flu...