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flu!
By | October 14, 2009
how are you? are you feeling ok? because a lot of folks are getting the flu.
it turns out that h1n1 is not the same as, or milder than, “regular” flu! it is spreading a lot faster than usual, and making healthy, strong people much sicker than usual.
here are some oregon stats:
– last year in oregon, during the 2008 flu season, there were 105 hospitalizations for flu, total, all year. (“regular” flu.)
– this summer alone, from April to September, 116 hospitalizations and 12 deaths (all h1n1, as far as we can tell).
– since Sept 1 – a little more than a month ago – 84 hospitalizations and 3 deaths.
– since Sept 1 in Lane county alone, 11 hospitalizations and 1 death.
(this summer, in total, from April to Sept, there were 18 hospitalizations and 1 death in Lane county.)
– median age of patients hospitalized for flu in oregon, 28 years old.
people in Oregon, going to a doctor’s office (one of 21 offices statewide that report their numbers), with fever + cough/sore throat:
507 three weeks ago > 653 two weeks ago > 1075 last week.
(that’s an average of 51 per office, in a single week!)
testimony from the blogosphere:
When it first started, I had that sick, achy feeling – you know, when you have those momentary chills, your joints hurt, you feel kind of heavy, and you just know something is coming around the corner for you… I had a sore throat, so sore I couldn’t swallow. I tried to sleep, but I had the worst chills. Just couldn’t get warm. And then I’d wake up in a full-body sweat, just sweltering hot. My body ached so bad… I lost eight pounds.
My nephew came to my house with flu-like symptoms and was here for at most 10 minutes… He did not sneeze or cough while I was in the room either. He was in search of medicine and I gave him some…. It was that easy to catch this flu.
This was the worst flu I ever had. My fever did not get below 102 even with double-doses of extra-strength tylenol, and lasted over 5 days straight… After that, the fever came and went depending on how many meds I could keep pumped into my system without going toxic. My cough was so bad, it morphed into a mild case of pneumonia after about 3 weeks. Al in all, it took me over a month to really feel even 85%. It was definitely the worst flu or sickness I ever had.
[note: PLEASE never take "double-doses of extra strength tylenol." that would be 2000 mg/dose, enough to poison yourself, if you did it over and over.]
You feel extreme exhaustion. Your fever has you burning up. You ache and hurt all over like you ran headlong into a bulldozer. Your head throbs and feels like it is going to explode. It isn’t at all uncommon for you to experience discomfort in your chest…Then to top things off, you develop what starts out to be a small, non-productive cough that may become very harsh and severe enough to keep you awake at night, depriving you of your desperately needed rest.
…Today, Emily woke up feeling miserable. She is now running a fever, has a cough and a sore throat… Emily also has asthma, which puts her at higher risk for complications from this flu… She needs to call her health care provider to ask if she needs to start taking Tamiflu. Unfortunately, Emily does not have health insurance or a primary care physician. She decides to wait.
…In her second day with H1N1 swine flu, Emily was up most of the night coughing and her fast-acting inhaler didn’t help much with her asthma symptoms… She goes to a walk-in urgent care clinic… The healthcare provider who sees her does not prescribe her any antiviral medication and sends her home with cough medication instead.
…On her third day with H1N1 swine flu symptoms, Emily is still feeling exhausted, her throat is hurting and she still has a fever. Her cough is not really improving… She decides to go to a different walk-in clinic where she is finally prescribed an antiviral medication, Relenza… It is an inhaled medication and is not recommended for people with asthma.
…On Emily’s fourth day with H1N1 swine flu, her cough still isn’t getting any better… She calls the clinic where she was seen yesterday and finally speaks with someone who agrees that she should be taking Tamiflu instead of Relenza because of her asthma. Unfortunately, the pharmacy does not have any Tamiflu in stock.
…On day 5 of her H1N1 swine flu infection, the pharmacy calls to let Emily know that her Tamiflu is finally ready. Unfortunately, it is likely too late in the illness for it to make a difference… and because it is quite expensive and she does not have health insurance, Emily decides not to get the medication.
…On her sixth day with H1N1 swine flu, Emily is still feeling tired but she is breathing easier and her fever is gone. She decides that she wants to get back into her routine and goes out for a jog. Her body isn’t fully recovered from the virus though, so she doesn’t make it far before she has to come back home.
…When Emily wakes up on day 7 of her H1N1 swine flu infection she is feeling well. She goes to visit her family… Later in the evening, she starts to feel run down and then develops another high fever and starts vomiting. She is also experiencing chest pain and her cough returns.
…On Emily’s eighth day with H1N1 swine flu, she is experiencing a painful cough and a fever… After another few days with the cough, fever and vomiting, Emily makes a trip to the emergency room because she just can’t take it anymore. She is diagnosed with lobar pneumonia after x-rays are taken. She is given a prescription for antibiotics and sent home. She finally starts to feel better after another two to three days.
summary:
2 weeks illness (approx $950 pre-tax income lost, at Lane county median female income)
2 visits to urgent care and 1 to emergency room (approx $1000 if un- or under-insured)
1 chest x-ray, 1 antiviral medicine and 1 antibiotic (approx $150)
total: $2100!
It came on very suddenly. I had gone to bed feeling oddly thirsty… Just after lunch came the first bout of diarrhea… By teatime, as I sat watching Dumbo with the children, I realized that I couldn’t really lift my head. Shooting pains were assailing my arms and chest… And I was hot, really hot. Except actually I was cold, really cold. Brrr, shivery cold. Or was I hot? I had absolutely no idea.
…I took my first Tamiflu at around 6pm. After about an hour, I became dimly aware of a strange foreboding in my stomach… I barely made it to the bathroom before my body unceremoniously ejected the Tamiflu… The night passed relatively uneventfully between dizzying trips to the bathroom and sweat-soaked sheets.
On day three… my tonsils were so swollen that I couldn’t open my mouth more than half an inch. Yesterday it was announced that a six-year-old girl who died after becoming infected with swine flu suffered septic shock as a result of tonsillitis… The doctor called back. “Mm’ve gnot tnonsllitis,” I said, sounding like I was trying to swallow a large dumpling. “Plnease gnan I hnave…” “Don’t say another word,” she said, “…And the Tamiflu?” “Tnen tnimes wnorse,” I mumbled. “Ah,” she said, “So sorry. Everyone thinks that it’s this big Holy Grail and it’s not. Sadly, though, it’s all we’ve got.”
…so that’s how it feels to get the flu. click here for a handout with instructions on taking care of yourself if you’ve got it.
you will note that i, a vegetarian, recommend hot chicken soup – or a reasonable facsimile thereof (hot-sour soup and kimchee ramen are good vegetable alternatives) – see here for scientific evidence base. see here for medicinal chicken-soup recipe, with garlic, red chilies, ginger root, and plenty of vegetables.
old wives, like old scientists, say that sickness is likely to be worse if you
– can’t get enough sleep
– are under too much stress
– get chilled
– or are deficient in vitamin d.
(all right, old wives aren’t that specific about vitamin d. but it is becoming clear now that many of us here in the northern hemisphere, who spend a lot of time indoors, are deficient in this important immune-modulating vitamin.)
as you recall, antiviral medicine (tamiflu, relenza) is not that great to begin with (only shortens the course by a little bit) and isn’t very effective at all if started more than 48 hours after symptom onset. antiviral medicine is reserved for those who get the flu and…
– develop bronchitis or pneumonia
– suddenly get much worse
– have higher risk of complications: younger than 2, older than 64, pregnant women
– have a chronic lung disease (asthma, COPD, etc)
– have other chronic conditions (diabetes, heart failure, kidney failure, hepatitis, etc)
– have severe obesity (body mass index 40+)
– have a neuromuscular condition that could interfere with clearing secretions (seizure disorder, MS, parkinson’s, etc)
– have a weakened immune system (taking steroids, taking immune suppresant medicine, living with HIV, etc)
– are 18 or younger, on long-term aspirin therapy (Reye syndrome risk from viruses)
please call me if you or your loved one have these signs of the flu:
temperature 100+ by mouth (if you measured inside the ear or rectally, subtract 0.5 degree; if you measured under the arm, add 0.5 degree) and/or shaking chills,
and cough or sore throat.
other symptoms: headache, chest pain or pressure, difficulty breathing, shortness of breath, diarrhea, vomiting, severe body aches, extreme tiredness, dizziness, confusion, or flu symptoms that go away and then come right back.
danger signs in children:
if you are worried, call me. if you are very worried, go to the emergency room!
details about the h1n1 flu shot:
– the injected shot contains killed virus.
– single-dose syringes contain no mercury. multi-dose bottles do contain mercury preservative.
– the nose-spray shot contains weakened live virus.
– no h1n1 flu shots in the united states contain any squalene or any other adjuvant.
– the shot has not been fully tested – any more than any other flu shot is tested… which is to say, laboratories plan ahead for what strains will be needed, and make the vaccines at least 6 months in advance. clinical trials of shots given to 4500 people nationwide (including elderly, kids, pregnant, immune-suppressed, and people with lung conditions) started in august, and no safety “red flags” have been found yet.
– the shot is made by the same “recipe”, in the same labs, and by the same manufacturers, as every year’s flu shot. it’s neither a new kind of vaccine, nor similar to the vaccine made 33 years ago.
– the shot can make your arm sore, and the immune reaction can make you feel crummy for a day or so, but this is not the same as having the flu (it’s not a viral infection).
– if you already had h1n1 flu earlier this year, you may be immune without a shot – unless the virus mutates. it hasn’t done so yet!
– right now at least 90% of all flu in the u.s. is h1n1. the “regular” flu season hasn’t really started yet.
a concerned reader wrote to me, reporting that her own primary care doctor, and the specialists she sees, do not intend to get the h1n1 shot. i found this surprising, since almost all the primary-care docs whom i know plan to get it – mainly because they are exposed to a lot of flu, and would be unavailable to their sick patients for many days, if they got sick. (and, of course, they’d make their patients sick, too.) my reader wondered if i am associated with vaccine manufacturers in any way.
please allow me to reassure her, and you, that not only do i neither buy nor sell vaccines at this time (they’re very expensive!), i also do not accept visits, invitations, phone calls, presents, free lunches, drug samples, or surveys, from drug companies or their representatives. none of my family members or personal friends work for drug companies, either. my interest in vaccines stems purely from a personal interest in – believe it or not – natural healing, and the body’s own resilience and tendency toward good health. does this mean i’ll “make you” get a shot? it does not. i’m going to get one, though.
so… how are you feeling?
please call me if you get sick!
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