Pandemic?

[DisMN]

So lets say you feel sick and do as you've been told........you haul your sick butt to the doctor so they can "verify" whether you have this particular type of flu. Now let's say you test positive and this leads to my next question....

in going to the doctor (which you may have had to first get gas for your car and then go to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription....) didn't you just expose everyone you came in contact with to the flu?

 

[ckay87]

Thanks. I borrowed it from the flu site. I am also now the proud owner of a well-stocked pantry.

My pantry is always ridiculously overstocked (I'm a card-carrying Sam's Club member for 10 years ) And the funny thing is, THIS is the week that I said, "that's it, I am NOT going to the grocery store this week, we are using this stuff up." Now I'm reading this thread and guess what? I think I'm going to the grocery store.

 

[DawnCt1]

So lets say you feel sick and do as you've been told........you haul your sick butt to the doctor so they can "verify" whether you have this particular type of flu. Now let's say you test positive and this leads to my next question....

in going to the doctor (which you may have had to first get gas for your car and then go to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription....) didn't you just expose everyone you came in contact with to the flu?

That's indeed possible, but you could send someone to the pharmacy to pick up your prescription and minimize contact that way. I think that it is better to get treatment. Shortening the course of the disease will also minimize transmission.

 

[DawnCt1]

My pantry is always ridiculously overstocked (I'm a card-carrying Sam's Club member for 10 years ) And the funny thing is, THIS is the week that I said, "that's it, I am NOT going to the grocery store this week, we are using this stuff up." Now I'm reading this thread and guess what? I think I'm going to the grocery store.

I would go to the store but I have been sick all weekend. I haven't even had a cold this winter, not a sniffle. Since Thursday, I have had a cough, nausea, and malaise. I told DH that I am dying of the flu, but he doesn't believe me!

 

[AlexWyattMommy]

My husband wants to send me to a compound. I asked him if he thought we should take out some extra cash, after I sent him a long list of things to get at Sam's today. [he did get everything at Sam's ]

 

[DawnCt1]

My husband wants to send me to a compound. I asked him if he thought we should take out some extra cash, after I sent him a long list of things to get at Sam's today. [he did get everything at Sam's ]

My brother called last night. He wanted to know if he should worry. DH told him not to worry at all, but he could find us up in the wilderness of Maine!

 

["Got Disney"]

I am not in panic mode but am watching closely as my son has asthma and has been in the hospital 8 times and he is only 15. When he gets the flu or croup or strep ~ oh man its a huge pain

No cases in our area as of yet but I do live in a tourist town and we just had our Jazz Fest this past weekend.
Our Gov. was on the TV last night and said he full expects to see cases in our state in the days to come. SOOO yup I am being careful ~ drilled the kids on keeping hands clean and away from their face.

My son also has bad asthma and has tourettes and one of his tics is nail biting. So I have a call out to his Dr. about getting a RX for him to keep on the shelf.

My kids aren't allowed to have their own hand sanitizer at school. Not sure exactly why but it is a school rule

check with the school they may be making an exception in this case. I sent my boys with them today.

There are samples from 1918 that scientists have studied. One reason many healthy people died from that flu strain was because of cytokine storms, a healthy immune system works against you. It's very interesting although scary.

We also must remember that this is also not 1918 and we have come a long way sice than.

I am a nurse of 28 years and never panic. I take things as they come. For my Ds who has bad Asthma and gets sick from everything I will have some on the shelf. I have Epilepsy and am prone to pneumonia and last flu I ended up in the ER by ambulance due to my medication level dropping so low and seizures...I also pick up everything. I already have some on my shelf from this past flu season. Dh has Hep C but he will not stockpile for him. Roommate is 86 y.o with almost in kidney failure. He will surely do poorly if he gets ill.

My 15 y.o never gets ill but we will have at least 2 courses in my home if needed. My only concern is that if you get sick over the weekend to be able to get an RX or they will be out of it. You need to take the Tamiflu within first 24 hrs or it is non productive.

I have went over things with my boys. Sent them with Antibacterial gel. and told them to share with there friends before they eat, and throughout the day. We can only do what we can do. We have been hopefully well advised at this point. However what concerns,but does not panic me, is not what their saying but what they may not be saying.

 

[mommy*RN]

Ok...I still don't get it.

Hundreds of thousands of people die every year from the flu. The swine flu has been around for a long time and people have previously been infected by it (some died, some survived). There is an outbreak in Mexico that has killed over 100 people of the over 1600 infected (so less than 10%...sad, very sad). There is, of course, going to be cases cropping up in other areas thanks to the ease of travel and Mexico being a popular relaxation destination.

I think this is another great incidence of the media sensationalizing a news story. I just saw a reporter on MSNBC who basically said...it was a slow news week so here we go! I kind of have to agree with him.

I don't blame others for being nervous, but I think it is way too early to accurately know what is going on. It doesn't seem like those "in the know" know very much yet. In my house we will continue to use precautions (freq handwashing, covering our sneezes and coughs) but before I freak out completely I want to hear what The World Health Organization has to say. Basically what I'm hearing from the CDC people in Atlanta -- is, "We don't know yet."

That's just my opinion.

ETA: The one thing I haven't heard and I am curious about is the ages of those who have died from this strain.

 

[praline3001]

Here is my question ~

Say one of my family members ends up with this swine flu (couldn't they have come up with a nicer name shheeesh)
and they have a very mild case.
Can we just treat the symptoms at home just like we would any other flu? Motrin/nyquil and the likes?

I understand the whole run to the Doc to get the RX but my concern is all of those germs in the DR. office
I am also concerned over the crowds and long waits at hospitals and Dr offices. Granted if one of us is REALLY REALLY bad off I would run to the ER ASAP ~ but it seems the vast majority of people who have caught it had extremely mild cases

how many days does this particular flu take to get over when just treating the symptoms?

 

[LuvOrlando]

-

 

[honugirl]

Going back and forth whether or not to ask for a prescription for tamiflu.

Here's my situation:

I had pituitary surgery to remove a tumor 4.5 weeks ago (OMG! I can't believe it's been that long). I have/had (not sure which yet) Cushing's Disease, which was caused by the tumor. Cushing's Disease is where the body makes an excess of cortisol. Excess cortisol lowers your immune system. With me so far? Good.

After the surgery, my adrenal glands have "gone to sleep" and they are not making enough cortisol to meet my needs, so I'm on replacement steriods (hydrocortisone, fludrocortisone) on fairly high doses to mimic what my body used to produce so I can wean down and have my body adjust to a "normal" level of hormone.

In the event of illness, injury or other bodily trauma, I have to take excess hydrocortisone to compensate. If I don't dose appropriately, I end up in the emergency room. Still with me?

If I got this flu, I may/may not end up in the ER. But I'm leaning more towards the fact that I would end up in the ER because if there's vomiting/diarrhea, my meds don't work so well and a whole host of bad things happen, and they can happen rapidly. All I have to do is vomit twice and I'm jamming myself in the leg with emergency meds and rushing to the hospital. If I go to the ER, they probably have Tamiflu there.

I don't want to tie up a dose for someone else, but if I get it, I may really need it. WTH do I do????????

 

[mommy*RN]

Here is my question ~

Say one of my family members ends up with this swine flu (couldn't they have come up with a nicer name shheeesh)
and they have a very mild case.
Can we just treat the symptoms at home just like we would any other flu? Motrin/nyquil and the likes?

I understand the whole run to the Doc to get the RX but my concern is all of those germs in the DR. office
I am also concerned over the crowds and long waits at hospitals and Dr offices. Granted if one of us is REALLY REALLY bad off I would run to the ER ASAP ~ but it seems the vast majority of people who have caught it had extremely mild cases

how many days does this particular flu take to get over when just treating the symptoms?

If symptoms are mild you can definitely treat your symptoms like the normal flu. I guess for reporting reasons I would probably contact my doctor to see if I could get swabbed so if it is swine flu (aka Piglet flu) it can be reported as such. I think the other important thing for people to remember is that Tamiflu and other antivirals will only help if it is taken within 24-48 hrs of onset of symptoms. Stockpiling Tamiflu and other antivirals and administering them without being diagnosed with the flu can lead to resistant strains. This goes for most antibiotics...not just flu meds.

I haven't heard how many days this particular flu lasts...

 

[Tinijocaro]

From what I've been hearing and reading, this particular flu is actually picking up as the weather gets warmer. The other flu strains are slowing down as the weather gets warmer.

 

[mommy*RN]

I don't know about anyone else but I have 2 big questions I'd like answered.

#1, how long can this virus last on objects like doorknobs before losing it's teeth?

#2, will this new thing be slowed down by the increases in temperature outside or encouraged by it?

If anyone anywhere hears anything about these 2 issues please, please, please post for me

1. Normal flu viruses (and other bacteria and such) can last about 2hrs on objects like doorknobs, desks, etc. I don't think anything has been said about this particular virus.

2. The new cases will be easier to diagnose since we are exiting our normal flu season...and there may be fewer cases in the summer due to temperature changes and such...but this won't completely shut it down and it will crop up again in the fall (they just had a guy on MSNBC talking about this exact question!). The good thing is this will give scientists more time to study this strain and maybe when it crops up in full force again there will be more answers than there are now.

I hope this helps!

 

[mommy*RN]

honugirl - To be honest...I would not ask for a script at this time. So far there isn't any concern that there will be a shortage of these antivirals so you should be able to receive them if you come down with symptoms. Now if this changes and you are concerned you could contact your doctor. I'm not a big advocate for people to have antibiotics and antivirals on hand "just in case", but I understand your health concerns and talking to your doctor may just help you feel more comfortable with what could/would happen if you were to get ill.

 

[themarquis]

Ok...I still don't get it.

Hundreds of thousands of people die every year from the flu. The swine flu has been around for a long time and people have previously been infected by it (some died, some survived). There is an outbreak in Mexico that has killed over 100 people of the over 1600 infected (so less than 10%...sad, very sad). There is, of course, going to be cases cropping up in other areas thanks to the ease of travel and Mexico being a popular relaxation destination.

I think this is another great incidence of the media sensationalizing a news story. I just saw a reporter on MSNBC who basically said...it was a slow news week so here we go! I kind of have to agree with him.

I don't blame others for being nervous, but I think it is way too early to accurately know what is going on. It doesn't seem like those "in the know" know very much yet. In my house we will continue to use precautions (freq handwashing, covering our sneezes and coughs) but before I freak out completely I want to hear what The World Health Organization has to say. Basically what I'm hearing from the CDC people in Atlanta -- is, "We don't know yet."

That's just my opinion.

ETA: The one thing I haven't heard and I am curious about is the ages of those who have died from this strain.

but ... but ... don't you read the dis? The "regular" flu is "just the flu" and like a "bad cold" and you shouldn't bother getting a vaccination for it or anything because it's not dangerous at all ...

Yes, I agree. It's interesting to me as well that the "regular" flu is actually a very dangerous disease (7th leading cause of death) that everyone pooh-poohs but now a hundred people have died from the swine flu and everybody's flipping out.

If it does reach pandemic proportions, yes, that would be bad, because evidence from Mexico and past swine flu outbreaks indicate it's more deadly than regular flu and it can kill the young and healthy along with the old and sick. But ... all this premature flipping out (in the context of a group of folks who generally have no concern for the flu) is making me

 

[DawnCt1]

Going back and forth whether or not to ask for a prescription for tamiflu.

Here's my situation:

I had pituitary surgery to remove a tumor 4.5 weeks ago (OMG! I can't believe it's been that long). I have/had (not sure which yet) Cushing's Disease, which was caused by the tumor. Cushing's Disease is where the body makes an excess of cortisol. Excess cortisol lowers your immune system. With me so far? Good.

After the surgery, my adrenal glands have "gone to sleep" and they are not making enough cortisol to meet my needs, so I'm on replacement steriods (hydrocortisone, fludrocortisone) on fairly high doses to mimic what my body used to produce so I can wean down and have my body adjust to a "normal" level of hormone.

In the event of illness, injury or other bodily trauma, I have to take excess hydrocortisone to compensate. If I don't dose appropriately, I end up in the emergency room. Still with me?

If I got this flu, I may/may not end up in the ER. But I'm leaning more towards the fact that I would end up in the ER because if there's vomiting/diarrhea, my meds don't work so well and a whole host of bad things happen, and they can happen rapidly. All I have to do is vomit twice and I'm jamming myself in the leg with emergency meds and rushing to the hospital. If I go to the ER, they probably have Tamiflu there.

I don't want to tie up a dose for someone else, but if I get it, I may really need it. WTH do I do????????

I would discuss it with your endocrinologist! I am glad that your Cushings Disease was recognized and treated. You must be beginning to feel like a "new person". When I was an occ health nurse, I had an employee with Cushing's like symptoms. The symptoms were really insidious. They snuck up on her over a few years and then boom! I suggested that she talk to her doctor about a 24 hour urine and she had Cushings syndrome. She had a benign adrenal tumor that was removed. I saw her about a year later. She went from a size 16 to a size 4. Her hair which was dry and dull, became shiny. It was an incredible transformation AND she felt good for the first time in her life. Her symptoms probably emerged at around 17 and she was about 28 when she was diagnosed.

 

["Got Disney"]

Ok...I still don't get it.

Hundreds of thousands of people die every year from the flu. The swine flu has been around for a long time and people have previously been infected by it (some died, some survived). There is an outbreak in Mexico that has killed over 100 people of the over 1600 infected (so less than 10%...sad, very sad). There is, of course, going to be cases cropping up in other areas thanks to the ease of travel and Mexico being a popular relaxation destination.

I think this is another great incidence of the media sensationalizing a news story. I just saw a reporter on MSNBC who basically said...it was a slow news week so here we go! I kind of have to agree with him.

I don't blame others for being nervous, but I think it is way too early to accurately know what is going on. It doesn't seem like those "in the know" know very much yet. In my house we will continue to use precautions (freq handwashing, covering our sneezes and coughs) but before I freak out completely I want to hear what The World Health Organization has to say. Basically what I'm hearing from the CDC people in Atlanta -- is, "We don't know yet."

That's just my opinion.

ETA: The one thing I haven't heard and I am curious about is the ages of those who have died from this strain.

In 1976 Pres. Ford had the CDC vaccinate everyone against swine flu and over 1,000 people were paralyzed from the vaccine....Swine flu has been around for a long time but it is usually only transferred from pig to pig owners...not as much from person to person, in addition mixed with Bird flu and human flu and one change /mutation could mean a terrible time when fall comes around......ITA...when ya think about how many have it to how many their are in the US and the media having it on 24/7 because that's what people want ot here, can tend to make people read to much in to it. The best thing to do is just stay allert and pay attention and do what we always should do during flu season.

Here is my question ~

Say one of my family members ends up with this swine flu (couldn't they have come up with a nicer name shheeesh)
and they have a very mild case.
Can we just treat the symptoms at home just like we would any other flu? Motrin/nyquil and the likes?

I understand the whole run to the Doc to get the RX but my concern is all of those germs in the DR. office
I am also concerned over the crowds and long waits at hospitals and Dr offices. Granted if one of us is REALLY REALLY bad off I would run to the ER ASAP ~ but it seems the vast majority of people who have caught it had extremely mild cases

how many days does this particular flu take to get over when just treating the symptoms?

yes treat like reg flu symptoms at least at this time. The problem with the flu(all flu's) is URI/pneumonia.

I don't know about anyone else but I have 2 big questions I'd like answered.

#1, how long can this virus last on objects like doorknobs before losing it's teeth?

#2, will this new thing be slowed down by the increases in temperature outside or encouraged by it?

If anyone anywhere hears anything about these 2 issues please, please, please post for me

Can lay on the surface for up to 2 weeks... use Lysol spray....wash hands a lot and remember we touch our face at least 18 times in an hr and that is one of the main ways it is caught.... as for the temperatures....yes we are heading towards the summer so that is a good thing. If this was a Fall flu than it could be a lot worse. New Zealand(I believe it is NZ) is heading into flu season so they will be watching how this flu reacts during a typical flu season and any mutations that may occur during a typical fall weather which the flu loves the best.

 

[mommy*RN]

but ... but ... don't you read the dis? The "regular" flu is "just the flu" and like a "bad cold" and you shouldn't bother getting a vaccination for it or anything because it's not dangerous at all ...

Yes, I agree. It's interesting to me as well that the "regular" flu is actually a very dangerous disease (7th leading cause of death) that everyone pooh-poohs but now a hundred people have died from the swine flu and everybody's flipping out.

If it does reach pandemic proportions, yes, that would be bad, because evidence from Mexico and past swine flu outbreaks indicate it's more deadly than regular flu and it can kill the young and healthy along with the old and sick. But ... all this premature flipping out (in the context of a group of folks who generally have no concern for the flu) is making me

I have to admit I usually don't read the DIS community boards. I used to, but not in awhile. I just popped in and was reading this thread and was frankly surprised. Thanks to the media there is a panic going around that really doesn't need to be there yet. I'm all for awareness...just don't get the general panic yet since we are being fed very little information.

I'm all for stock-piling the Lysol, soap and hand santiziers though. Those are always in style!

 

[honugirl]

I would discuss it with your endocrinologist! I am glad that your Cushings Disease was recognized and treated. You must be beginning to feel like a "new person". When I was an occ health nurse, I had an employee with Cushing's like symptoms. The symptoms were really insidious. They snuck up on her over a few years and then boom! I suggested that she talk to her doctor about a 24 hour urine and she had Cushings syndrome. She had a benign adrenal tumor that was removed. I saw her about a year later. She went from a size 16 to a size 4. Her hair which was dry and dull, became shiny. It was an incredible transformation AND she felt good for the first time in her life. Her symptoms probably emerged at around 17 and she was about 28 when she was diagnosed.

Thanks Dawn! I will discuss it with my endo. Fortunately I have an appointment with him tonight.

I'm starting to feel better. It's been a long road. I'm waiting for the day that I wake up and feel great. I'm going to be dancing down the road.

That's awesome that she had such a good outcome! It gives me hope. I would say I've had symptoms almost all my life, but was just diagnosed this year at age 30. Amazing!