Any advice on speeding up recovery!

[susank]

In less than an hour my brother and his wife and sons arrive from England for a week long visit. His birthday is Sunday and I was going to surprise him by getting two of my sisters and their families to surprise him for a little party. As of Wednesday I have a suspected case of H1N1 flu so I have had to call and warn everyone. One of my sisters immediately cancelled and the other is waiting until tomorrow to see how I feel. We have not been able to get together like this in years and I hate to miss the opportunity.

Needless to say I don't feel great and have been in bed the last two days with my poor husband running around trying to get everything together for my brother's visit.

Has anyone had this and do you have any tips on getting over it more quickly?

[susank]

So .... I guess most are not familiar with this but I think people should be aware. I am on day 8- I still have a fever slightly over 100 degrees and I still have a headache and really bad cough. My brother is still here and I rallied for a couple of celebrations with my family but I have also had some days - or more than a few - when I could not get out of bed. I am very tired and have lost weight but I think today it is finally turning around. The fever is down and the headache is not quite as bad. My husband and one daughter are sick but they have more cold like symptoms. As soon as I feel well enough I will go get the shot because there is no certainty that that is what I have had.

My message to anyone thinking about it is that this is not good. If there is anything you can do to protect yourselves - do it. Just one persons thoughts but I feel its worth it.

And if you take care of yourself ---- then you are back to the embroidery more quickly!!

[katiedoodles]

Susan,

Did you go to the Doctor to get diagnosed...or at least to get tamiflu? (sp??)
A friend had the H1N1 flu and he was down for about 5 days (that was after the Dr. visit).

Hope that you got a chance to spend some quality time with your brother and his family.

[StitchinGrandma]

Oh ick Susan. That's really horrible timing. I sure hope you get feeling better soon.

What's frustrating with this flu is that by the time you actually know you DO have the flu the time has already passed to get that Tamiflu medicine. If it's not taken in something like the first 48 hrs it won't work on this strain of the flu. I'd be willing to bet that most women will go beyond that 48 hrs if they are anything like me. I'll tough it out much longer than that before I'll go see the doctor.


ETA: Susan ~ and anyone else...I just saw this on a coupon website I frequent. H1N1 self assessment with tips (https://h1n1.cloudapp.net/default.aspx)

[susank]

You know ladies - I am a type one - juvenile diabetes patient so I contacted my doctor right away thinking I needed an anti-viral like Tamiflu. They told me that despite that I needed nothing because as I did not have the all over body aches - I had a mild case and the protocol was to give me nothing. I don't know about you but I have had childhood diabetes for 26 years and I have complications of diabetes including a heart condition ---- to me that was serious but they said you have a mild case -- i.e no treatment - a little scary really!! My friends are more worried about me than my health care providers! I know I am getting better but I wonder about others not so fortunate. Anyway right now I am worried about my 15 and 17 year old daughters who are in the most affected group -- I am hoping to take them for shots as soon as we are well.

This is nothing to be ignored. I am in Canada but if you are somewhere where someone listens to you - do what you can.

[susank]

Oh --- and Vicki -- I am finally starting to feel a little better thank you. Soooooo tired though.

Hopefully soon I will be back to Christmas sewing!!

[StitchinGrandma]

I'm glad you are starting to feel better Susan. I'm very VERY surprised your doctor wasn't more concerned. From all I've read about this flu YOU are in that group of people who should be getting the vaccine first (http://flu.gov/individualfamily/vaccination/vprioritygroups.html), before anyone because of your health risks. I realize you are in Canada and they may have differing guidelines but you can read tips here (http://flu.gov/individualfamily/healthconditions/index.html)for those with chronic health conditions. There is a very informational page regarding the flu and those with diabetes here as well (http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/).

I was very surprised to read that those with inflmmatory arthritis (http://flu.gov/individualfamily/healthconditions/arthritis/index.html) but didn't explain why they said this Persons with inflammatory arthritis should not use the inhaled "FluMist®" vaccine.
Given that I have osteoarthritis in both my knees I wanted to read that page about arthritis and saw that. On another page though they said those with my condition are not in the higher risk category.

[susank]

Thank you for the links Vicki. We are getting the same information here and our flu shot clinics for people with chronic health conditions started this week. However, I have to wait until I feel better to get the shot which is not so bad as the lineups are apparently 5-6 hours long. Hopefully they will die down a little in the next few days.

There is another concern about the vaccines that some people may not know about -- one of them has a fish oil base. I have an allergy to seafood so I will have to have the other vaccine which I understand takes two shots to be effective. It's never easy is it!

[Sew So Happy]

Susan, you need to be careful! I am sitting here right now with H1N1. I went in to the dr. on Tuesday with my son. We had bronchitis type symptoms, I had started with head cold, going to my chest. She swabbed both of us and I have the H1N1. I have only had a low grade fever of around 99, but lots of coughing as my chest clears out. The doctor said that if my germs touch something like an ink pen, those germs are contagious for 72 hours if someone else touches it. Lysol and Lysol wipes are our best friends right now! My husband is keeping the kids away from me and keeping up the house, which is is very capable of doing. Thank God!
Of course, I am down here in bed and not in front of my machine getting orders done. That bugs me a lot! We are going to New Hampshire for a week at Thanksgiving and I have all kinds of work to get done before and after that trip. On the flip side to that, I have caught up on DVRed shows I never get a chance to watch and I watched Marley and Me last night. That was a great movie!

[StitchinGrandma]

Thank you for the links Vicki. We are getting the same information here and our flu shot clinics for people with chronic health conditions started this week. However, I have to wait until I feel better to get the shot which is not so bad as the lineups are apparently 5-6 hours long. Hopefully they will die down a little in the next few days.

There is another concern about the vaccines that some people may not know about -- one of them has a fish oil base. I have an allergy to seafood so I will have to have the other vaccine which I understand takes two shots to be effective. It's never easy is it!

Well, at least you're feeling a little better.

We just had our entire school district closed for tomorrow. I feel so bad for the little kids in the lower grades because they also cancelled ALL Halloween activities that are school related too. :( Poor little kids look forward to that stuff all year and LOVE they get to go have their own little parade which they walk two blocks around the school and back then have their parties. All the people living in the neighborhood near the school come out to clap at the little goblins as they are walking in their little parade and their Moms and Dad and Grandparents come to wave too. So I guess it's here now by us too. Thankfully we pretty much stick around our house and I already told hubby that if we go out to eat I refuse to go to any buffets until this mess is over. I can't imagine the germs on serving spoons etc on a buffet. :eek: And not to mention many people if they don't feel good do go out to eat since their family has to eat and if they don't feel well enough to cook then a buffet is about the chapest option for a family.

[susank]

Sew so Happy - I'm sorry to hear you are also sick. You are really right on about the Lysol wipes though - that is what I have been using as well. My bid thing is the phone and computer mouse - I never seem to stop cleaning them.

I'm hoping that I'm no longer contagious though - the nurse at my doctor's office said 7 days - today is day 10. They say the cough can last for weeks though.

Vicki - its too bad about the kids and halloween but I guess its better safe than sorry. Our newspaper had a story this morning about a little girl in grade 5 who died - reading this should make anyone think that Halloween can wait until next year!

[katiedoodles]

Oh, I feel sorry for the little ones. For the reason that Vicki gives (the germs on the serving spoons, etc) is exactly the reason I never go to a self-serve buffet to eat. Once, a number of years ago, I watched as a five or six year old put his hands into each dish he could reach on the buffet. When I mentioned something to the manager about it, he shrugged his shoulders and offered me a refund. YUCK! Needless to say, I never returned.

[susank]

Oh ---- that is disgusting! I don't go to buffets because I have a food allergy and I never know about cross contamination. My children are less than pleased because they love buffets but I just can't take the chance -- anaphylactic shock is not good!

I am taking it a step further and asking my girls to forgo sleepovers and big parties right now - it may seem extreme but they tell me that more than half of the kids at school are sick. I am starting to like the Mexico idea of shutting everything down for a while. Our emergency rooms and what not are out of control. It's really scary.

[StitchinGrandma]

Sorry for not posting back to anyone the past day or so here. Yes, watching kids at buffets is something I bet most of us do. I have also been known to speak to the general managers of places we're at if I see the same things with little kids. I especially make my point to those managers who don't seem to feel like handling it if there is a sign which most around here have that clearly states any child under the age of XX (ages vary from under 10, 5, and some go as high as under 12 yrs of age) MUST be accompanied to the buffet by an adult. I make sure if they try to brush it off to ask their name if they don't want to speak to the parents and then tell them I WILL be contacting the corporate offices to report them. :D That usually gets them to do their jobs.

We have tried to steer clear of buffets for the past couple years though more for the reason that we don't NEED to eat that much food and generally that's a perfect place to not realize just how much you are overeating.

[Stitchn-Jeans]

I think it is a good idea to stay away from crowds. In our church we stopped shaking hands at the time of peace. I stopped long before they annouced it. I guess people thought i was rude but i really didn't care. My grandson is sick but i think he has an ear infection. I was watching him yesterday and he told me his throat was hurting. Mine was hurting last night and i gargled with cider vinegar and warm water, when i got up this morning Thank God it was gone. Hope everyone is starting to feel better

Stitchn-Jeans

[susank]

You know its day 12 and after two very long nights sleep after my brother went back to England Friday night I feel much better. I hear the cough can last for weeks but its not as bad as the rest of it.

I hope everyone else suffering with this is doing well.

[StitchinGrandma]

I sure hope your brother didn't take any present from you back to England. LOL Glad to hear you are feeling much better.

I'm a bit concerned about my husband right now. This is day two for him coughing like crazy. I had gotten some samples of Emergen-C in the mail which came in three different formulas and yesterday morning because we HAD to leave to help one son on an emergency basismove out entirely from the house he was living in I gave the one pack of this stuff to hubby that was the 'regular' Emergen-C without any added stuff in that like the other two. I had hoped the boost of Vitamin C might help and I did notice his coughing was lessoned afterward. I may have to get more of that stuff and try to have him drink lots more. It says you can drink 4 a day of these. If you haven't heard of it yet, here's the website (http://www.emergenc.com/) and in the upper right corner you will see a spot to request samples.

[susank]

I've never heard of it - interesting.

Does your husband have a fever. My H1N1 started with a cough and fever.

[Granny313]

I'm glad you are starting to feel better Susan. I'm very VERY surprised your doctor wasn't more concerned. From all I've read about this flu YOU are in that group of people who should be getting the vaccine first (http://flu.gov/individualfamily/vaccination/vprioritygroups.html), before anyone because of your health risks. I realize you are in Canada and they may have differing guidelines but you can read tips here (http://flu.gov/individualfamily/healthconditions/index.html)for those with chronic health conditions. There is a very informational page regarding the flu and those with diabetes here as well (http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/).

I was very surprised to read that those with inflmmatory arthritis (http://flu.gov/individualfamily/healthconditions/arthritis/index.html) but didn't explain why they said this Given that I have osteoarthritis in both my knees I wanted to read that page about arthritis and saw that. On another page though they said those with my condition are not in the higher risk category.

Vicki - As you know, I have Rheumatoid Arthritis and my Rheumatologist told me that the mist vaccine is a "live virus" and the shot is not. I am NEVER to get a "live virus" in any kind of shot, etc. I am just wondering has anyone had the vaccine and what are their Dr.'s telling you about it? My RA Dr. is not suggesting that I get the shot at all. She stated that it is all so new and hasn't been tested for any length of time.......Soooooo I don't know whether I would be better off having or not having the vaccine!!!!! My primary care physician said the same thing. ANY ADVICE ANYONE?:dontknow:

[StitchinGrandma]

Yes, I did know the mist is a live virus and there are some people with certain illnesses that CANNOT have that.

Not to push the issue of age, but hubby's Mom and Stepdad are both in the groups that would be considered to be high risk. She's still trying to recover from breast cancer after having multiple surgeries over a two year period with chemo and radiation between those two and he is a severe uncontrolled diabetic with other health problems because of that. Now the reason I mentioned age is because anyone EVEN those in the high risk category for the shot to get it early that is over the age of 65 CANNOT IN ANY WAY GET the shot. Nope. Not even if you want to have it. They won't allow anyone over 65 to have one no matter what their health conditions are. I find that horribly wrong. They had gone to have theirs after making their appointments and standing in a long line only to finally get up there and THEN someone tell them sorry, you can't have one.

Sooooo my question is this ~ are you over 65 yrs old? If yes, stop stressing since you can't have either of them. :D Read down a little bit on this page (http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/65andolder.htm)for those over 65 yrs of age.

I do not trust the shot or mist myself personally because it was manufactured not in our own country for one and two, because it was just SO quickly created. IF they can make this so fast then what was the reason we all had to wait for months and months a few years ago when we were all being told there was this big shortage of flu shots? I just do not understand that stuff ya know.

[Granny313]

Vicki - I am not 65 yet!!!! Only 54; however I don't understand what difference it makes if you ARE over 65. To me, this would be a high risk category in itself. Makes no sense to me either. I am sooo confused as to what to do. :confused: They should have told your in-laws this information when they made the appointment. I have heard from some people that there was a dangerous level of mercury in the shot. Also someone told me that they had to sign a waiver before given the shot in case they died. This is not very comforting information. I am wondering now, which would be worse - H1N1 Flu and high risk and death OR having the shot and high risk and death. Both sound pretty darn even to me!!!!!!:stupido2: :afraid:

[StitchinGrandma]

Vicki - I am not 65 yet!!!! Only 54; however I don't understand what difference it makes if you ARE over 65. To me, this would be a high risk category in itself. Makes no sense to me either. I am sooo confused as to what to do. :confused: They should have told your in-laws this information when they made the appointment. I have heard from some people that there was a dangerous level of mercury in the shot. Also someone told me that they had to sign a waiver before given the shot in case they died. This is not very comforting information. I am wondering now, which would be worse - H1N1 Flu and high risk and death OR having the shot and high risk and death. Both sound pretty darn even to me!!!!!!:stupido2: :afraid:

Well I plead innocent, I honestly thought you were closer to my age but still, I wanted to be sure you had that info just in case. :D

I am not going to get the shot even though I could be somewhat considered their higher risk because of my health problems. I do not expect to be near anyone that could pass that on to me although, I suppose my husband and/or my son who lives here where he could be exposed by those he is around because they are in that higher risk age of the 20+ yrs old age. Thankfully he's NOT anywhere near a college campus now since that is a perfect place to become infected. I also don't really understand their rationality of the over 65yrs of age and in the very last part of that page I posted the link to it does say something about that age group and IF they do come down with this flu THEN they'll give them something. I don't know that I believe that since they won't treat you if you are already sick.

With my MIL I agree they should have not even given them an appointment BUT, she may not have been asked their age or given that to them since that part has not been widely spoken about in the news media.

[Granny313]

It is ALL soooo confusing - I guess that I will just take my chances! Either way - I will probably get sick! With all the grandchildren coming in and out of my house, you know they are carrying those little germs all over them and whatever they touch! (LOL) Maybe I should just hibernate and wait until spring to stick my nose outside!!!!!

[StitchinGrandma]

That's what I plan on doing. :D

[susank]

Ladies - I have read your posts with interest. In Canada the reason being given for not immunizing those over 65 is that they were exposed to a similar flu virus in the 50's and they likely have some immunity.

I think we have a different vaccine that what you are being given in the U.S.(in fact the newspapers are saying this). I got the vaccine last week when I felt better because my doctor's nurse said there is more than one strain and those with compromised immune systems should have the vaccine to protect against all strains. Our vaccine is produced in Canada and we do not have the mist form (i.e. no live virus). Right now the vaccine is being given to those with chronic conditions, health care workers and children under 5. A new vaccine is also being given to pregnant women. My husband and I and our 2 daughters were eligible for the vaccine because I have a compromised immune system/chronic issues and they are viewed as caregivers for such people. None of us had a reaction to the shot although we all had extremely sore arms --worse that a regular flu shot.

I know that its really a hard question and I was not sure what to do. However, after having the flu and seeing how sick I was - I was more than a little worried about my teenage daughters who are in the high risk group. Anyway - as their pediatrician said- the risks of the shot are nothing compared to the risks of the flu at their age. We did it. Everyone needs to decide for themselves. It's not easy.

Good luck with your decisions.

[SharonK]

I have just read this thread with interest as I ignorantly did not realise what is classed here as 'Swine Flu' was still rampant! My Mum had this back in the summer and Dad had to travel miles to get her prescription of Tamiflu. It knocked her out for a whole week with the aches, upset tummy and sickness. I know here the only people getting the jab are the ones most at risk. My ex has a heart condition and he had to have the jab last week. They are definately not giving it here to anyone who asks for it..just at risk. I haven't heard anything about the over 65's not having it though.

[StitchinGrandma]

Your mother is very lucky if she got that and was over it within a week. Most are dealig with this flu for weeks and months.

[susank]

Sharon - my brother also lives in England and tells me that the second wave does not seem to have hit yet there as it has here. Maybe you will be lucky and avoid it but it is quite bad where I am in Ottawa, Canada. We are being labelled as a flu hot spot and a large proportion of the population is sick. They say they expect it to peak by the end of this month though so hopefully it will be over and gone soon.

Here is an example of how bad it is that many in the U.S. will understand. I was out last Friday evening about 5:00 and the nearest place to get what I wanted was a WalMart. Normally I would not think of going in at that time because it is usually so crowded. However, I was shocked to find the store almost empty on a Friday at this time --- I think people here are really avoiding crowded places.

[SharonK]

Wow I never realised it was so bad:eek: I remember reading in the paper back in the summer about they were expecting a second wave of it aroun October time, but it seems to have died out of the news. I have not heard anything about Swine Flu for ages now.

When I say Mum had it for a week, what I should have said was the worse of the symptoms lasted a week and she recovered fully after around two weeks. Sounds like she got off light then if it can drag on for months:eek:

I never even think of the risk of catching it to be honest, I still use the crowded buses, go to Tesco and go about my business in this crowded little country:rolleyes: :D