Our experience with H1N1 ~ anyone else have fun with this flu?

I'm going to write a bit about our experience as a family with H1N1. The flu seemed to effect us each in a unique manner.

We visited a local apple orchard a while back (taking every precaution to avoid illness in the crowd) yet the following evening my child complained of a sore throat and headache. The next day I took the complaints more seriously given additional symptoms of fever and vomiting.

The fever piqued at 102.7. My child vomited once that am (after taking Ibuprofen) and never did so again. We visited the pediatrician that very day and received a diagnosis of H1N1 (in spite of negative flu cultures). I was convinced it was strep, but strep Throat was ruled out. The Dr. said that the rapid test was highly inaccurate but the symptoms were indicative of H1N1. So H1N1, it is!

The following day, the chills came, but the fever continued to decline, lasting for about three days total. My child was greatly congested, with very little cough. VERY plugged up though and had disgusting "stuff" come out of the nose each am.

BTW, my state has a local flu hotline and they recommended the following:

* Humidity - humidify the environment or take steam baths (be sure to have a clean shower head though)
* Hydration, we have Gatorade and Mrs. Grass soup on hand this time of year
* NO cold medicine (I never give decongestants to my child anyway)
* Do not treat fever < 102. (Probably varies with age?) I treat nighttime fevers, personally.
* Use honey to treat cough
* Salt water gargle or Lysterine and nasal cleansing with salt water or saline spray
* Soup or tea to ease sore throat

* Runny nose can last two weeks/Cough three weeks
* Familiarize yourself with the warning signs that require immediate attention.

We're on day ten and my child appears to be nearly well. Thankfully!

My husband (who is a type 1 diabetic) got a headache and sore throat on Sunday evening. He's also had the classic cough, but no fever. He appears to be improving dramatically/quickly. His Dr. did not prescribe antivirals because he is fever free. This puzzled me but we're on our way out of the woods it seems, so I'm not going to press for Tamiflu.

As for me, I've had such mild symptoms that I wouldn't know for certain I had anything at all. I've had a mild burning sensation in the nose/throat but no full blown symptoms to speak of. I haven't bothered to try avoiding the flu given I'm the primary caretaker round these parts, and it's not possible for me to avoid anything. ;)

I do know people who are effected differently by this virus. For example, I have a friend who has five sick children right now. The family is much sicker than we are and at least one child is dealing with pneumonia, after being prescribed antivirals to prevent such an occurrence :(

I know we've had people here experience the worst the flu has to offer. And we've had those who've had mild symptoms (much like my family.) Anyone else care to share your personal story with H1N1?

H1N1 is typically mild fever, coughing, body aches and fatigue. Because it goes straight for the lungs, sinus symptoms are not indicative of H1N1.

My girlfriend and I had it a couple of weeks ago. My symptoms lasted about 4 days, but I'm 41 and have no underlying medical conditions. Hers lasted about 6 days (she's 23 and has asthma).

I've been over it for about a week and I'm still coughing stuff out of my lungs.

Symptoms depend upon the person from what I've read?

http://www.flu.gov/individualfamily/about/symptoms/index.html

Same as seasonal flu, but symptoms may be more severe.

* Fever
* Coughing and/or sore throat
* Runny or stuffy nose
* Headaches and/or body aches
* Chills
* Fatigue

In addition to the above symptoms, a number of H1N1 flu cases reported:

* Vomiting
* Diarrhea

Did your GF culture positive for H1N1?

I wanted to be tested since I work in a healthcare facility and figured it would be nice to know what I'm carrying around. He said that he really didn't want or need to see me. He also said I didn't know what I was asking for since a properly done swab would feel like the swab went straight through to my brain. He also said that per the CDC, there really is no seasonal flu making the rounds yet so if you have flu symptoms it's most likely H1N1. :shrug: Told me the best thing to do was to ride it out and call him if things got worse (especially after getting better).

Anyway, I started Thursday with a severe backache, then came little waves of nausea - but that only lasted a couple of hours. Then the low-grade fever and headache. That night the chills and body aches started. Friday I couldn't get warm no matter how many layers of clothing and quilts I piled onto my body. The body aches were horrible - like I was hit by a truck and nearly every joint was dry, bone on bone. That continued until Saturday evening. By Sunday the fever broke and I felt well enough to go outside in the sunshine and even did some light gardening for a couple of hours. (That was a bit too much as I was exhausted and came back down with a low-grade fever, headache and chest congestion.) Fever cleared by bedtime on Sunday and I'm feeling a little more "back to normal" everyday.

So far, hubby has been fine. He stayed as far away as possible the whole time....

(picture included) and they stuck the swab clear back to the !#$@ brain region. BLECH! NO thanks!

I forgot to mention that our dog has a cough. This may be unrelated but I've read about at least one dog being impacted? And type A influenza can cross over into animals so I'm keeping an eye out. ;) He's doing better today. :D

On edit, I hope you and yours recover soon.

Thankfully, my doctor just gave me a script for Tamiflu and sent me home.

because my symptoms weren't so bad, maybe because I work at the "rival" heathcare facility LOL.

Probably because I didn't push that hard for it. Just can't get over the Tamiflu tie to Rummy...if I can do without - no thanks.

given the same Rummy rationale. ;)

if freshly popped. no microwave shit in my house.

lost 12 lbs and still getting strength back. Took husband's parkinson's meds that are ironically anti-viral to be told later that doesn't work for H1N1...fever of 101 and my normal is 97.7

I've had what I hope is a cold for the last 2 weeks. I'm talking cold meds, so I'm not sure if it's getting better. :hi:

Jim. :hi:

Last Tuesday, before bed, he was fine, and then just after midnight he started vomiting and kept it up all night (every half hour!) and into Wednesday morning--about 12 hours all told. One thing to know about MG Jr., though, is he starts EVERY illness with a round of vomiting. (Tons o' fun for mama who wields the bucket!) Anyway, he had said his head hurt on Tuesday afternoon; after all the vomiting the worst part was he had a moderately high fever (101.5 was the highest I think) that hung on for five whole days. At the tail end of his illness he developed a phlegmy cough but his nose was never stuffed up. :shrug: Oh--and (**warning! TMI alert!**) he had really foul-smelling poo but not diarrhea.

I was convinced his illness was strep as well, because of the sudden onset of symptoms and tenacious fever--but the pediatrician did do a culture for that, and it was negative.

So. H1N1? Dunno. Doesn't matter, I guess--sick is sick, and I feel terrible when my little kid throws up, he hates it so much.

I was a bit achy and had a few rounds of nausea late last week but never got sick. Mr. MG was down for a day with a severe headache and sore throat (same day MG Jr. was the worst off, last Wednesday), but he was back to normal the following day.

Who knows...

:shrug:

Glad you're all on your way to feeling better.

Can't prove anything by me. Seems like this particular bugaboo is pretty hard to define, which won't help matters.

:shrug: I had a very nasty flu in the late 70's so perhaps I had the related Russian strain?

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090618200931.htm

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090629200641.htm

As odd as this sounds, my dog had a two day cough and the cat was sneezing as well. ;)

From the second link:

"Although originally traced to Mexico, the exact physical origins of the 2009 H1N1 pandemic virus are unknown. Because the current strain shares common ancestry with older flu strains, it is possible that portions of the population may have partial immunity to the new pandemic virus.

The authors also go on to explain that the danger posed by a virus isn't based solely on its lethality, but also on its transmissibility, which is the ability to jump from animals to humans and to survive by mutating to adapt to its new human host. H1N1 influenza viruses have demonstrated this ability throughout their history."

Thus far, we've had nothing that includes fever or chills, at least.

Cheers!

I hope they'll come out with a test for titers as I'd like to know if we need the vaccine.

So glad you've been spared, or so it seems...

:hi:

And it really, really sucked even though it wasn't as bad as what I experience with the regular flu.

I work for a government agency that has face to face contact with the public every day. Hundreds of people roam in and out of the office every day, so they let me take 4 days off without having to use sick time. Because of the public contact, we were also provided with a free H1N1 vaccination, and I received that even though I'd already had the swine flu.

My symptoms were severe chest congestion, a fever that hovered between 102 and 103, puking, diarrhea (although I think that came from dehydration from the puking), general achiness, and a terrible headache. I developed the chest congestion first, and it gradually got worse over about 3 or 4 days before the fever and vomiting began. All in all, I was sick for about 12 days, and it took me about 3 weeks to completely feel better.

My son got it from me, and his only lasted about 5 days. For him, the symptoms all came on at once and went away at the same time, and he didn't have any of the vomiting or diarrhea. It definitely affects different people differently, but that's really no different than the garden variety flu - many people experience slightly different symptoms when they have the flu.

Hope your family feels well soon. :hi:

Glad you're all doing better now.