Swine flu (not about me)

I read this morning that it goes deeper into the lungs than normal flu.

Which is why I am so worried about it, I am asthmatic. I had flu once, years ago, I was off work for 2 weeks and when I went back I was still barking like an alsation for another couple at least. When I was off, I had so little breath that I could hardly inhale the inhaler!

So I guess that has something to do with it, it possibly stops the inflicted person from breathing properly. Could be other reasons though.

I wondered if it had affected their hearts in anyway? Also with both of the recent cases I don't think autopsys have been done yet so we don't know if they had any underlying health conditions they weren't aware of themselves

With the 1918 spanish flu it was thought to be cytokine storms - basically the immune system goes into overdrive and almost attacks itself. But we don't yet know if that is the case here, or if these people actually died from swine flu or something else.

I read about that little girl yesterday and then my son brought home a letter to say his school have had their first confirmed case, to say my nutter tendencies have come to the fore is an understatement. I Feel on the verge of tears every time I hear or read about it, am not worried for me or Mr Hole, but am worried for my children, especially the littlest one <wibble>

Same here. We have confirmed cases in all 3 of our surrounding infant/primary schools and a notice was put up outside MissSun's playgroup last week. I enquired about it and was almost made to feel like 'oh it's another over-protective parent asking about swine flu'. I just wanted to know the facts, the note was very sketchy. They basically said it was a sibling of someone in the pre-school group and another sibling of a non pre-schooler but the children weren't attending playgroup and anyone with any symptoms were being asked to stay home.

I took MissSun in the end, after much deliberation. If the siblings had been going into playgroup as normal then I think i'd have kept her home. Chances are though, if surrounding schools have it then we have been in the supermarket with people who have it IYSWIM.

There's an article here about how swine flu attacks the airways http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8148709.stm

I must admit, I'm starting to get worried too, I have quite bad asthma, 2 young children and my mum has cancer. Trying to keep my rational head on though.

I really empathise. I'm really struggling to remain rational about it all at the moment and have managed to worry myself literally sick. My 2.5 year old has had pneumonia twice - bacterial at nearly 1 year and viral, caused by flu, at nearly 2. My terror knows no bounds.

I did have to laugh after reading this article in The Times yesterday though about a swine flu vaccination being rushed through testing: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/health/article6694046.ece

Some of the comments underneath beggar belief. For some reason I expected a bit more thought from Times readers. I like this one best:

Sorry but after seeing all the chemtrails in the skies above me every day spreading all those diseases, I think I should hop out of this vaccination thank-you. These diseases are purposely sprayed in the atmosphere and anyone with an ounce of sense should realise this. LOOK UP AT THE SKIES!!

jessie , leeds , UK

I think I have probably caused quite a few situations to what you've been through. We think my OH had it - GP spoke to him on the phone and said it sounds exactly like it, and he said for all purposes that he would say it is, but because we're living in a hot spot area they're not doing the tests any more. So Tuesday morning I phoned Matt's nursery and told them that I'd be keeping Matt off and why. The panic in the manager's voice was almost laughable. She phoned me back later to thank me for keeping him off and asked if I'd mind keeping him off until 5 days after OH was better, which I was going to do anyway. She's sent out a newsletter and put up posters saying that a parent of a child has the flu so I imagine there's been the normal mix of hysteria, curiosity and just ignoring it.

Considering all three of us were confined to the house for a week it's a miracle that neither me or Matt caught it (although I did feel very rough but nowhere near as bad as OH).

I have to say that this is how I am at the moment! Trying very hard not to panic, but worried for several reasons: I have my seasonal asthma and my dh has just had an op on his nose. I mainly worry about my daughter L who is only 3. She goes to a child minder 4 days a week. Obviously the cm has other children and does pick ups from school and two nurseries. There is a suspected case at one of the nurseries. We have a local school closed at the moment due to several confirmed cases, and I'm hearing about new cases daily. I also worry about my brand new grandaughter who is 10days old, and my mother who is in her late 60's and not particularly healthy.

My friend's 7yr old son has a confirmed case of swine flu and was given Tamiflu on Saturday. She said she's never seen him so ill. He is slightly improved today, but she's worried about her husband who is a diabetic.

It is a worrying time, regardless of how many times we're told not to panic!

I'm asthmatic and a teacher in a school with a confirmed case and four suspected cases, yet I'm still finding it hard to build up anything remotely related to panic. I'm genuinely not that concerned. For the vast majority of people, swine flu is no more serious than regular flu. I don't see the point in getting worked up about it.

Well, children under 5 (one of which I have) and immuno-compromised people (both my parents) are particularly at risk from complications which is where the danger lies, so maybe we can be excused being 'worked up' about it.

Like I said, I have asthma, which puts me at greater risk. I still don't think it's worth panicking over. We've had a few pandemic scares in recent years and nothing has come of them. Why should this be any different?

Mel - to be fair, we've had scares but none of the others (avian flu, SARS) have been rated as a pandemic by WHO.

I understand where you're coming from, but you're being a bit insensitive to those who, as HH mentioned, fall in the "at risk" groups and have very good reason to be worried.

I don't know enough about how this differs from normal flu, but I'm seriously considering getting the flu jab this year, just in case (and I normally refuse them as they make me so ill).

WSS. I also have vulnerable people in the family and it's extremely hard NOT to get a little worked up about it. It's bad enough as it is but if this had happened this time last year when I had a pregnant, asthmatic sister and a mum going through chemo (which landed her in hospital with suspected infections twice as it was) I'd have been halfway to building some sort of underground shelter by now. As things stand at the moment I'm going to hold off on the shelter but, yes, I'm a little worried.

Well bully for you, there's no need to be quite so dismissive over other people's fears is there, if only we could make them all go away just like that.

This isn't a scare it's happening, and whilst I'm not stupid enough to think it's going to wipe out most of the planet and we're all going to die, I am worried for my children. So sue me.

I wasn't dismissive. I simply posted my point of view, which you promptly jumped on. You're entitled to your opinion, I'm entitled to mine. I'm not going to panic over something that might not happen. If you want to, you go for it.

Blimey, how condescending are you? People on this thread are clearly worried and you were dismissive of that. Maybe use a bit of sensitivity next time you decide to talk to people as if they're a bit stupid.

I read it as dismissive too. Actually I don't know how else it could be read?

Okay, clearly people who have a point of view that differs aren't welcome in this thread. I'll leave you all to it.

It was never about your opinion but the way you phrased it. Anyway, crack on.

No-one said you can't have a different point of view, if you'd just said "I'm not worried" I doubt anyone would have batted an eyelid. It was the fact that you insinuated people were being silly for worrying.

Anyway, nevermind, I'm off to buy supplies for my shelter. Want to join HH? I'll build it big enough for an extra family if you like

Thanks! I'll bring the industrial amounts of anti bac hand gel ?

I may be misunderstanding, but I don't think there's any proof yet that previously healthy people are dying of swine flu. The GP has had his autopsy, and apprently his death was attributed to other causes (although he had contracted swine flu). The autopsy on the 6-year-old girl has yet to be done.

The thing is, people die of flu every year. Most of them have underlying health problems, but occasionally a healthy person will die of it too. The media has a lot to answer for. With the coverage it's been getting, I'm not surprised people are worried.

If only i had thought about just not worrying about things, i could have saved a packet on counselling for my nutterism.

I work in health, i am (usually) quite sensible about things, but i too am worried about those close to me that are vulnerable since seemingly healthy people have died.

My daughter has asthma. I'd be a liar if I didn't say that I was worried. I am giving her brown puffer twice a day at the moment in readiness.

Well I'm worried. Primary care is really struggling to manage this. I am diagnosing about ten people a day with probable swine flu. There is no slack in the system. We haven't the infrastructure to deal with this despite what HMG might be insinuating. I foresee people dying - many of them will be swine flu - but many more will be people misdiagnosed because septicaemia, pneumonia, meningitis, toxic shock syndrome etc etc can all mimic swine flu - and there's no way to tell by doing phone triage. I've been in tears of frustration twice already this week. The workload is absolutely horrendous in GP surgeries; we're really struggling. I will almost certainly get it as I'm seeing people daily who are (unbelievably) oblivious that their symptoms are flu, and they all cough on me as I'm examining them. We are working hard but when GPs start becoming sick and staffing levels drop, then it's really going to hit the fan.

Blimey Rache. There's the other side of it. I don't know what to say other a seemingly bland, but well meant 'take care'.

Http://thejobbingdoctor.blogspot.com/2009/07/32-phone-calls.html

http://nhsblogdoc.blogspot.com/2009/07/swine-flu-news-update-4-fobbing-off.html

http://timesonline.typepad.com/alphamummy/2009/07/for-one-mother-the-nhss-swine-flu-response-is-scarily-unresponsive.html

Blimey Rache, that really is an insiders view, and I really feel for you.

Why is the system struggling to cope though, in your opinion? Is is that there are more cases? Or more media hype? Or more panic amongst the general population? Or something else? Or maybe a mixture of any of these? I mean, what is different about this type of flu than the seasonal type that does the rounds every year?

I was talking to my neighbour across the way, he asked about my Sister who had Swine flu last week. My neighbour is an ITU Consultant at Basildon & when we heard about the man there dying last week , we asked him the same about a healthy person. As he explained it, he feels it's a similar process to sepsis in how the body reacts.

Something I survived & watched my Dad die of - So for me I guess I am more aware of how urgent treatment needs to be & the small window in which the effects can be reversed.

As for my Sister (N&S Medway PCT) it took them 4 days to print a prescription for BIL to collect & that was after AXA PPP got involved, as the GP told them (BIL) that a person from the HPA (health protection agency) will call with further advice. So that was a bit scary, but thank god , Sister was not bad (but bad enough to have been stuck in bed in a dark room for 3 days.

I don't think anyone on this thread is 'panicking' - people are saying they're concerned, with legitimate reason. I'm concerned - I'm pregnant and my 18 month old son has a chronic cough (six months and counting) and has already been in hospital with pneumonia once. I'm not panicking (despite having flu symptoms now - hurrah), I'm not going to change what I do or worry overly, but I am a bit concerned.

I was at my doctor's surgery this morning for a blood test and the nurse said they'd had 23 calls that morning concerned about swine flu. That was at 9:30am, so I imagine by the end of the day they'd had many more.

I am concerned. My mother went into complete renal failure after contracting the Hong Kong flu in 1983. I have a 2 year old and there have been 3 confirmed cases in her nursery along with 4 parents. I am 9 weeks pregnant and the reports all say "may cause serious complications in pregnant women". What scares the hell out of me is that they don't say what those complications might be. We have 2 staff members confirmed with swine flu at my work and several other suspected cases.

Damn right I'm concerned.