Are you "preparing" for the Bird Flu?

[luvwinnie]

Try going to a drug store and even finding flu medicine. It is locked up in a Pharmacy and you have to take a special ticket to buy even one supply. My dd had the stomache flu 2 nights ago, and I ran to Walmart to get some Tyleno flu, because she had body aches. The pharmacy was closed, so I couldn't even buy any. Luckily Walgreens is a 24 hr. pharmacy and I was able to get some there. I know they are limiting the amount because people are making meth labs with some of the ingredients found in flu based medicine, but come on, you can hit every drug store in a 5 mile radius and have your supply.

From what I've read, OTC flu meds won't do a thing for AVIAN flu.

 

[MosMom]

We were watching America's Funniest Home Videos the other night and there was a video of a toddler stumbling through a muddy bird pen with a bunch of ducks/chickens around. Eventually he fell face first into the bird poo muck. Yick! Bird flu in action and up for the $10,000 prize!

 

[MAKmom]

Try going to a drug store and even finding flu medicine. It is locked up in a Pharmacy and you have to take a special ticket to buy even one supply. My dd had the stomache flu 2 nights ago, and I ran to Walmart to get some Tyleno flu, because she had body aches. The pharmacy was closed, so I couldn't even buy any. Luckily Walgreens is a 24 hr. pharmacy and I was able to get some there. I know they are limiting the amount because people are making meth labs with some of the ingredients found in flu based medicine, but come on, you can hit every drug store in a 5 mile radius and have your supply.

I thought a stomach flu & the flu are 2 different things. Wouldn't what you bought make a stomach flu worse?

My parents have mentioned getting ready for this. I must be in denial & I prepare for everything. Now I guess I'll have to start this Post 911 planning over again.

 

[Crankyshank]

Not at all. This subject is ridiculously overhyped. I'm more concerned about the illnesses we once thought were eradicated in this country popping up more and more frequently that people are no longer adequately vaccinated against (many of them linked to the rise in illegal immigration).

 

[poohandwendy]

From what I've read, OTC flu meds won't do a thing for AVIAN flu.

For those who would have mild symptoms, there is no reason to believe that OTC flu meds would not help relieve their symptoms. Just like any other flu, severe symptoms require more intensive treatment, that may or may not help.

 

[Honeibee]

This is very interesting, all the different responses.

Personally...I always feel...the more food in the house, the better!

 

[IwasatWDWforamonth]

Im mostly worried about my cockatoo hope,
My plan is to get stuff to scare the outside birds away.

 

[ptrbryant]

Everytime I go to the grocery store, I buy a few non-perishables, things we would eat anyway. I've also been buying a few things like soap, shampoo, hydrogen peroxide, bandaids, benedryl, etc. to have on hand...along with bottled water. We, too, have limited space, so I'm not sure how long my eventual "stockpile" would last. My thinking is that if the avian flu begins spreading between humans, the fewer trips to the grocery store/drug store, the better. However, I should add that I try to limit time in the grocery store, etc. during the peak of flu season anyway.

Karla B.

 

[Nevergrow'nup]

I've been keeping my freezer stocked. I bought Sam's Club sized tylenol, iboprofen and imodium AD. My biggest concern is my DS16 who has asthma. I want to be able to keep him from any major flu. The biggest problem is prescription meds, like someone else posted, you can only get a 1 month supply at a time. Luckily, they are opening up a drive thru pharmacy in my town. If this comes around, I am NOT going into the pharmacy!!
Personally, I would rather be prepared for nothing than to not be prepared at all, (yep, I'm a Boy scout Mom!!!)
Water won't be a problem as we have our own well, got a generator but can't convince my husband to keep some gas around, even for hurricanes.
My second problem is a picky eater DS13. Won't eat anything but hamburgers, chicken or PB&J, he may have to "live" on PB&J
I've kind of stocked up on frozen chicken because if this hits chicken in US they will mass kill alot driving prices up. We eat chicken quite a bit so I keep more in freezer.

 

[BunsenH]

I plan to ignore the hysteria by reading "The Stand" again this summer.

 

[tekmom]

We were watching America's Funniest Home Videos the other night and there was a video of a toddler stumbling through a muddy bird pen with a bunch of ducks/chickens around. Eventually he fell face first into the bird poo muck. Yick! Bird flu in action and up for the $10,000 prize!

His parents are obviously birdbrained.

 

[Nancy]

No, not at all. I think they are blowing this totally out of proportion.

If and when it becomes an issue and they give me a 100% that we will start to see symptoms of bird flu in himans in the US in a short time frame (like in 1 month) then I will worry about stocking up on stuff. Why start now and have all that stuff sitting around for what could be years?

 

[RUDisney]

We have started to plan for it in my company. I'm on that committee. When we started discussing the ramifications of the bird flu, it mostly comes down to HR policy, as we see it. If we don't have people coming into work, we will not be open. If there is mass-hysteria, businesses will close. The whole issue about the power going out is that if everyone is staying home from work, there will be no one to repair the lines or circuits that go bad.

We're taking the issue seriously, yet at the same time, we hope it will be another Y2K project where we spend a lot of time and money for nothing. If you've ever seen a documentary on the 1918 pandemic, you'd be more concerned, I think. The fact that people put their dead loved ones on their porch for the death wagon to pick up to be buried in a mass grave is just aweful. The fact that so many children were lost is heart-wrenching. Imagine going outside after the fears have subsided, as a child, only to find out that all of your neighborhood friends had died.

To me, that part is scarier than having enough food in the house. My Dad tells me I keep too much food anyway, so I know we'd be ok if we had to stay indoors.

Oh, and remember, this flu would be airborne. It wouldn't matter how many times you washed your hands. The virus particles would be in the air just waiting for you to breathe them into your lungs.

 

[pansmermaidzlagoon]

Nancy:

I don't know, I guess I just figure that at that point EVERYBODY will be doing the same thing - then in more of a panic and possibly with things running low. I guess I am thinking the less I have to worry about picking up then - the better.

Everything I have read says this is good preparation for any disaster - even just a personal finacial one - so you could float awhile without major grocery bills, etc.

PLUS, I am forgetful!!! It is nice now to be replacing my backup at grocery time instead of replacing the one I just ran out of!!!!

 

[Tiggeroo]

my biggest concern is my asthma, and the fact that my sons have that tendency, one gets bronchitis when he gets sick the other gets pneumonia. They rarely get sick, but when they do the chest is where it goes. Since we are all healthy we tend to not stress this. I only get asthma when my allergies act up so I often don't have a script in the house. I'm thinking I'll just refill my meds ever month for a couple months and keep the stuff around in case.
I don't understand the panic over water. Even if alot of people are out sick I can't believe the water and power will go down. We may have restrictions on energy consumption, they may not read meters, they may say you should purify your water because they can''t monitor it as closely, but I don't believe it will just shut off.
I stupidly prepared some for the year 2000 thing.
I'll stock up on canned good. It can't hurt. I'll have bleach and lysol in case I need to de-germ and purify water, and I'm thinking of getting some meds in. But that's about it.
The other worry I do have is for my kids who live at college. If any bug goes around the dorms are going to be hotbeds for it. And those kids will ignore symptoms, go to class, and not see drs.

 

[azgal81]

No this is the first I heard of people actually stocking up with food and water because of this. I choose not to worry about things like that.

 

[Disney Ella]

I don't understand the panic over water. Even if alot of people are out sick I can't believe the water and power will go down. We may have restrictions on energy consumption, they may not read meters, they may say you should purify your water because they can''t monitor it as closely, but I don't believe it will just shut off.

I was wondering the same thing. Stockpiling food makes sense if you don't want to go out and be exposed to the bird flu, but why can't I just use the water from my faucet like always? Is the bird flu somehow going to get into the water supply? Doesn't make sense to me.

 

[tw1nsmom]

I'll be doing minimal preparations. I always have away to full pantry and freezer anyway. I'll just make sure to keep it that way.

The water dispenser on our refrigerator broke, so we've been keeping big 2 1/2 gallon jugs of water stocked for drinking anyway. I will probably pick up some 5 gallon collapsing water jugs to keep on hand. I'll also pick up some over the counter meds to keep on hand too. Although this is another area we tend to stock up on anyway.

We just bought a camper. It has a 35 gallon fresh water tank. We're also planning on buying a 45 gallon portable water container so that we can fill up the fresh water tank when we camp at state parks (no water hook-ups). If the bird flu were to hit this country, I would immediately fill up the collapsing jugs, the portable water container, and the fresh water tank. We'll also try to make a point of keeping the two propane tanks on the camper full as well as the tank on our grill.

Really, we do a lot of this anyway in preparation for big snow storms. The only thing that really concerns me, besides the flu itself, is if it happens in the winter. We have a generator, but if the power was out for months it would be a problem keeping the house warm.

DH is a bit of a McGuyver, so even if we run low on things, I'm sure we'll be fine.

 

[tw1nsmom]

I was wondering the same thing. Stockpiling food makes sense if you don't want to go out and be exposed to the bird flu, but why can't I just use the water from my faucet like always? Is the bird flu somehow going to get into the water supply? Doesn't make sense to me.

Some people have water pumps that run on electricity.

 

[poohandwendy]

Some people have water pumps that run on electricity.

And how is electricity going to be affected by the bird flu?