Swine Flu Vaccination + general swine flu chat thread

locum-motion

suzieb wrote: »

Also quite worried about swine flu and if I might have contracted it but feel silly asking doctor incase he thinks I'm exaggerating.

For last 3 days I've had cold,sore throat,aching back and chest pains that woke me up yesterday.
My mam tells me I'm being dramatic so am just gonna take it easy over the weekend and stay indoors and see how I get on as have no high temperature.

I also work in dental surgery and am in close contact with people every day and workmate pregnant so would hate to think I am ignoring something that could cause probs.

Phone your doctor in the morning.

PhysiologyRocks

Wasn't sure which thread to put this in.

How does Tamiflu go about its business?

PhysiologyRocks

It's okay, I read up on it. Got my answer!

RonMexico

How much of a difference is there between the severity of Swine Flu and the Winter Vomiting Bug? I had that two years ago and it was the worst week of my life.

LeotheLion

RonMexico wrote: »

How much of a difference is there between the severity of Swine Flu and the Winter Vomiting Bug? I had that two years ago and it was the worst week of my life.

the same difference as(a) if you scratched your itchy head with your nails
(b)freddy crugar scratched your itchy head with his nails

DrIndy

Think i may be coming down with pig flu!

Felt crummy on saturday (put it down as a hangover)
Worse on sunday with a blocked nose.

Symptoms are progressing to a cough, blocked and runny nose and slight achiness.
I also found a new tail - it was curly and pink!

(well the last part isn't true) Oh No! I've got the swine! If the symptoms persist, I suppose I will have to be swabbed.....

tallaght01

DrIndy wrote: »

Think i may be coming down with pig flu!

Felt crummy on saturday (put it down as a hangover)
Worse on sunday with a blocked nose.

Symptoms are progressing to a cough, blocked and runny nose and slight achiness.
I also found a new tail - it was curly and pink!

(well the last part isn't true) Oh No! I've got the swine! If the symptoms persist, I suppose I will have to be swabbed.....

Make sure you've had symptoms for longer than 48 hours before you get tamiflu, so you'll get a week off work.

The miserable feckers are making medics use their own sick time, though, even if they caught it while volunteering to do the flu clinics!

DrIndy

I'll see if i improve (got a cold) or disimprove further (got the dreaded swine! Oh Noes!) tomorrow and take it from there.

I have tomorrow off so can easily slouch around and see what happens.

The_Conductor

DrIndy wrote: »

Think i may be coming down with pig flu!

Felt crummy on saturday (put it down as a hangover)
Worse on sunday with a blocked nose.

Symptoms are progressing to a cough, blocked and runny nose and slight achiness.
I also found a new tail - it was curly and pink!

(well the last part isn't true) Oh No! I've got the swine! If the symptoms persist, I suppose I will have to be swabbed.....

Sorry to hear it- I hope you feel better soon.

S.

harsea8

tallaght01 wrote: »

Make sure you've had symptoms for longer than 48 hours before you get tamiflu, so you'll get a week off work.

The miserable feckers are making medics use their own sick time, though, even if they caught it while volunteering to do the flu clinics!

From what I've read on web, tamiflu is most effective in first 48 hours after infection, even the product information says that treatment should be started within "2 days of exposure"...beyond that its effectiveness drops off (see links below).

http://www.nowpublic.com/health/swine-flu-treatments-tamiflu-oseltamivir-ralenza-zanamivir

http://www.rocheusa.com/products/tamiflu/pi.pdf (see pages 15 and 16)

_Whimsical_

Dr Indy : Sorry to hear you've been dosed!Hope you make a speedy recovery. Does this make you the offical boards.ie Swine Flu poster boy?:)

tallaght01 wrote: »

Make sure you've had symptoms for longer than 48 hours before you get tamiflu, so you'll get a week off work.

The miserable feckers are making medics use their own sick time, though, even if they caught it while volunteering to do the flu clinics!

Are medical personnel who deal with the public not immediately given time off if they have suspected Swine Flu in Ireland?

tallaght01

no idea bout ireland. but i'd say they have to use their own sick days if they do go ill. It's a shame, because you could use up to 7 days for a few sniffles, but they won't let you go back earlier.

littlebug

Given the rate of infection in the UK I'm surprised the figures aren't higher here yet (or am I just watching too much SKY news).

I'm assuming it really take hold here when the schools start back... can't wait :rolleyes:

The_Conductor

How many sick days are normal for frontline staff in the HSE? In the NHS in the UK they were proposing to increment people's allowable certified sickleave by a forthnight to account for Swineflu cases- which seems like a good idea to me.....? Surely the evolution of a particular medical issue- such as Swine Flu, is reasonable cause to revisit issues such as sick leave- as its unfair to unduly penalise people who are in fact doing everyone else a favour by staying at home and taking care of themselves- instead of infecting work colleagues and others?

PhysiologyRocks

Think I might have it now.

Hopefully not, though.

Slumlion

PhysiologyRocks wrote: »

Think I might have it now.

Hopefully not, though.

Slumlion

If someone has a flu,what is best to drink hot or cold drinks,does the virus need high temperature to live in the body??

I dont feel the best myself lately,since yesterday morning I had sniffles and my face felt real warm,today I dont feel great either,feel warm and tired,maybe its Just a cold,I did go on an early morning cycle yesterday when it was quite cool and felt chilly after it.

DrIndy

Slumlion wrote: »

If someone has a flu,what is best to drink hot or cold drinks,does the virus need high temperature to live in the body??

I dont feel the best myself lately,since yesterday morning I had sniffles and my face felt real warm,today I dont feel great either,feel warm and tired,maybe its Just a cold,I did go on an early morning cycle yesterday when it was quite cool and felt chilly after it.

Thats your immune system activating - phagocytes release cytokines which reset the body thermostat at a higher level than normal to make the body less hospitable for bacterial and viral proteins and help the body fight off the infection.

wheresthebeef

Perhaps this has been answered already. I was taking a look at the UK Pandemic Flu Service Website earlier at http://pandemicflu.gov.uk
From this website, a person can go online and answer yes/no questions, give their name and address and at the end of the process print out an authorisation number for a third party to collect Oseltamivir from a pick up point. Does no-one else see a glaringly obvious problem with this i.e no medical examination, no valid prescription, no proof that the person actually needs medication, no proof that the third party "flu buddy" is acting with the consent of the supposed patient etc....
I realise that obviously in the scale of a pandemic flu GP's simply could not cope with such a number of patients, and that visiting GP's is not advised due to risks of cross infection to others. But is this really the best solution. Would you expect that people would log in and simply answer yes to the questions for themselves and family members in order to obtain their own home stockpile? i.e one dosing pack for each family member, even if those persons weren't sick.
Also, due to the fact that no medical practitioner is directly involved with the patient, if there were side effects, does this online self assessment model mean that the patient is liable for any treatment related side effects or problems.
I think its a very novel idea, and to be honest, if it were my family i'd want the medication as easily as possible, but my professional mindset is not so sure of this approach. Any opinions.

tallaght01

I really don't want to get into conspiracy theory stuff and naturalnews.com stuff on the forum again.

I think we all have conspiracy theories fatigue at this stage.

Turtwig

Linky

Not much details revealed, other than the patient is critical.

Just hope this doesn't lead to some sort of media hysteria now.

tallaght01

There will be a lot more critically ill/dead patients over the coming winter in Ireland.
We've a LOT in ICU here in Oz.

_Whimsical_

In todays Independent there is an article detailing one womans experience with Swine Flu.(http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/independent-woman/health-fitness/my-swine-flu-misery-1843554.html). It sounds nasty but the side effects of Tami Flu sounded even nastier. She said that when her GP came to her initially she was reluctant to give her Tami Flu as the side effects had been worse than the flu itself for alot of her other patients. The author of the article also felt dramatically more ill while on Tami Flu and stopped taking it as a result. Do most people have an adverse reaction to it ?

honerbright

Does anyone know how long it takes if you've been swabbed for swine flu for the results to come in?
I was swabbed yesterday morning by a useless doctor (he didnt ask me any questions regarding how I felt, if I had any underlying conditions/if I had ashtma/was pregnant/on medication etc) and I rang today to ask if they had results and all I got was a "oh we don't know anything yet, it could be a while".
Anyone else had any bad experiences with doctors once you told them you were in contact with someone with swine flu/concerned you had it?

nesf

chilly wrote: »

In todays Independent there is an article detailing one womans experience with Swine Flu.(http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/independent-woman/health-fitness/my-swine-flu-misery-1843554.html). It sounds nasty but the side effects of Tami Flu sounded even nastier. She said that when her GP came to her initially she was reluctant to give her Tami Flu as the side effects had been worse than the flu itself for alot of her other patients. The author of the article also felt dramatically more ill while on Tami Flu and stopped taking it as a result. Do most people have an adverse reaction to it ?

Tamiflu is not paracetamol, it has serious side effects that will affect most people at normal doses, what it will do is get rid of the flu in vast majority of cases. The problem here is that most people have never had to take any medication that has common nasty side effects. The thing is, you're better off suffering the side effects and getting rid of the flu than taking the chance that the flu could get worse, a small chance but quite a dangerous chance to take for many people.

The_Conductor

honerbright wrote: »

Does anyone know how long it takes if you've been swabbed for swine flu for the results to come in?
I was swabbed yesterday morning by a useless doctor (he didnt ask me any questions regarding how I felt, if I had any underlying conditions/if I had ashtma/was pregnant/on medication etc) and I rang today to ask if they had results and all I got was a "oh we don't know anything yet, it could be a while".
Anyone else had any bad experiences with doctors once you told them you were in contact with someone with swine flu/concerned you had it?

It depends on when its sent to the lab and how good they are at getting the results out. The actual lab test is less than 3 hours in total.

Maisie

Apparently there is a back log at the labs. My daughter was swabbed in the early hours of Friday morning so I presume the lab got the swabs that morning. Her results came in today. Positive I might add!

The_Conductor

Maisie wrote: »

Apparently there is a back log at the labs. My daughter was swabbed in the early hours of Friday morning so I presume the lab got the swabs that morning. Her results came in today. Positive I might add!

Hope she is ok! Best wishes, Shane

Dr Galen

i fear we're now entering the swine flu proper period following that conference from the HSE. The lad in St James along with now another person in ITU somewhere else, may only be the beginning of it. How long before we start seeing medical staff coming down with it?

@ T01 and Indy.... has that been something that has been been causing an issue over in Oz?

lucernarian

2 questions:
What "underlying health conditions" are being implicated with the 2 ICU patients?

This is a possibly dodgy question about the flu, so if the mods do decide any answers would be medical advice, just say that, no more:).

I've got diabetes and apparently I've reason to be worried. But beyond having to control my serum glucose levels with greater difficulty and a higher chance of DKA, I have been told of nothing more. I asked my consultant straight out, what is it that makes DM patients more likely to die from the 'flu (almost 3 times more likely according to the CDC). Beyond the usual DKA type stuff, he could think of no other reason. While it was his most senior registrar instead of the consultant, it was still a bit disconcerting. The question is, "What aspects of diabetes mellitus could separately affect the immune system from dealing with H1N1?".


I don't want "go to your doctor" parroted at me, considering I have already done so, and pay €100 to ask a question that probably isn't even medical advice. I'm familiar with the implications of the mods deciding that it can be construed as medical advice, and I will as ever go to my GP for advice and treatment if I do feel ill. Thanks!