Flu from hell ...

[SAdler]

... has anyone else been suffering? Figures the ONE year I get a flu shot it's the year where it's only 40% effective against the wrong strain that's going around.

 

Kinda wanna wrap myself up in a ball and suffocate at this point.

[+ honcho]

I had a flu back in december that made me not want to get out of bed for half a week and it was 5 weeks before I got rid of the cough.

 

Hope you don't have *that* one.

 

Commiseries in any case.

[Guest zipperzone]

Hearing stories like this, one can't help but wonder what would/will happen if we are ever hit with the bird flu that my doctor tells me is a case of when, not if.

[whipped guy]

Yes... another testimonial to the ineffectiveness of this year’s flu shot! Fortunately my version seems to have lasted just about a week… though I still have not regained my normal energy level by any stretch of the imagination. Even though its effects seem to be relatively short (I’ve had the 5 week version in the past) what makes it the “flu from hell” concerns the fact that I contracted it in Florida… thus resulting in the “vacation from hell”. There is something about coughing and wanting to curl up in a ball that is somehow incongruous with sunshine, 80 degree weather, and palm trees…

[Guest ryan2552]

I live in south Florida and the flu is pretty bad down here. I became ill three weeks ago and just now beginning to feel better. I was so wiped out I spent nearly the first week in bed

[+ ArVaGuy]

Scott, would you like us to overnight you some chicken soup? Cures everything you know. :-)

 

 

I got the shot this year and have avoided the strain from hell. Which considering it ran through most of my coworkers and several of my friends, I'm counting myself lucky right now.

[Guest carter07]

The flu has been hell here in Illinois ... 10 percent or more decline in school attendance; in a medium-size city our ER with two large waiting rooms has had people sitting on the floor; two-hour-plus waits at a walk-in clinic. I had it twice since the middle of January — despite getting a flu shot in late November.

[Guest Merlin]

Worth a reminder: If you work out at the gym, be sure to wash your hands after. Hundreds of people have recently used that equipment.

[Guest Tristan]

South Florida was actually one of the last places in the US to have widespread flu. The flu and other viruses develop faster in cold climates where people tend to congregate more indoors. Vacationers from the north bring it down here, and then it spreads. So, unfortunately, as in your case, you got it here and brought it back up north. Isn't the global world wonderful!

[Bilbo]

Houston - I got the flu in January. Just in time for our Mardi Gras Krewe's Ball. Sitting backstage, if someone walked by in front of me (about 20 feet away) too fast, I got dizzy from seeing it. However, for the first time ever, I got bravos for my costume.

Attendance was down at the Ball. About 10 - 20% of the Krewe's guests called in sick in the last few days. We werw able to replace many of them, but still just plain elimnated at least 40 chairs.

Then my flu last just long enough to blend into the first part of my tree allergy. They are really pumping out the pollens this year!

[JT Brooklyn]

Mr Whip..Me thinks there's a "Chance" that you picked up said Virus while enroute to Florida on the Plane OR in the Airport!

 

Unfortunately there are No Guarantee's..even when Flying First Class as you do..it will not find you! ;-)

 

Feel Better..The Sun is the Best for Recuperation! Just think of us in NYC with nothing but SLUSH....by Sat a.m. and I don't mean some of the crowd outside of Splash after a Fri Nite...either! ;-)

[SAdler]

>Scott, would you like us to overnight you some chicken soup?

>Cures everything you know. :-)

 

As long as it's not from Jerry's ... blah.

 

Perhaps some sleeping pills that work and an explanation why some antibiotics are covered by my insurance and some are grossly not. Thank god for Dr.'s Office samples.

 

Meanwhile, any suggestions on how to sleep continuously would be greatly appreciated. Around eleven I took a full ambien and only slept till 4a and took another one but only slept till 8:30a.

 

I think I also have every vapor rub, Theraflu, ibuprofen, potion etc. Yeesh, no wonder the cure for the common cold/flu is being help back -- it would bankrupt too many industries.

[Lookin]

Feds Prescribe New Recipe for Flu Shot

Feb 21, 7:43 PM (ET)

By LAURAN NEERGAARD

 

WASHINGTON (AP) - Next year's flu vaccine is getting a complete overhaul to provide protection against three new and different influenza strains - hopefully better protection than this year's version.

 

Advisers to the Food and Drug Administration unanimously backed the new recipe on Thursday, echoing an earlier decision by the World Health Organization. It's a highly unusual move: Seldom are more than one or two strains swapped out from one year to the next.

 

Now the question is whether vaccine manufacturers can make such a big change in time to produce more than 100 million doses by the fall.

 

"It's going to be a really busy spring and summer, and of course we're always looking for fallback positions just in case things don't work out well," said Dr. Nancy Cox, flu director at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "There's a lot of work that will be going on ... to try and make sure that everything comes together in such a way that there will be plenty of vaccine."

 

One concern: A strain called Brisbane/10 that's responsible for much of this winter's misery doesn't grow very quickly in the laboratory, potentially complicating already laborious vaccine production.

 

The flu vaccine must be reformulated every year to keep up with the fast-evolving influenza virus, and this year the government made a rare wrong bet on which strains would cause the most disease. The flu season got off to a slow start, but it rocketed in mid-January as some new strains arrived - and the CDC found the vaccine is a good match for only about 40 percent of the virus now spreading in the U.S.

 

That Brisbane/10 strain is the big culprit, one first spotted in Australia late last winter, too late for scientists to include in this year's vaccine recipe even if they had predicted it would gain steam.

 

Flu viruses come in different strains that constantly mutate, until one that few people have immunity against emerges and is able to spread widely. Each year's vaccine contains protection against two varieties of the harsher Type A flu - subtypes known as H1N1 and H3N2 - and one from the more benign Type B family.

 

CDC and international authorities expect Brisbane/10, a version of the H3N2 flu, to still be around next year. They predict a second new Type A strain, known as H1N1/Brisbane/59, also will hit, along with a newer Type B/Florida strain, prompting Thursday's decision to put all three in next year's vaccine.

 

It's a gamble based on tracking illness around the globe, and the CDC does have a pretty good record: 16 of the last 19 flu seasons had well-matched vaccines.

 

Still, "as we always say, influenza is quite unpredictable," Cox cautioned Thursday.

 

The recipe must be set about eight months before manufacturers start shipping doses because flu vaccine production is so complex. Health authorities come up with seed stocks of the virus strains that manufacturers then must grow in chicken eggs.

 

Makers of vaccine for the Southern Hemisphere already have added the troublesome Brisbane/10 strain to their own shots, and found it doesn't grow easily. Scientists now are working on a solution to that technical problem, such as using a very similar virus - it's even called "Brisbane/10-like" - found in Uruguay that would provide the same protection, Cox said.

 

"It's certainly a challenge for all the manufacturers," said Nancy Kavanaugh of Medimmune Inc., which makes a nasal spray flu vaccine, the only non-shot version. "We're working with three new strains. ... There's some unknowns related to those and how they're going to grow."

 

As for the rest of this winter, the CDC says the current vaccine should provide some protection, perhaps resulting in a milder case of flu than if someone hadn't been inoculated. It's too early to tell if this winter's flu will be more deadly than usual. Every year, the flu infects up to 20 percent of the population, hospitalizes 200,000 people and kills 36,000.

[+ glutes]

I feel like a dog, finally had to go to doctor for the cough portion since my chest hurt so much.

How long will this bug last?

[+ Hoover42]

Almost everyone in my office has gotten infected with the Flu this season. So far, I've been lucky, but I've also been very diligent about washing my hands as soon as I get home from touching ANYTHING outside the house.

 

My hands are dry as shit!

 

...Hoover

[+ Gar1eth]

>>Scott, would you like us to overnight you some chicken

>soup?

>>Cures everything you know. :-)

>

>As long as it's not from Jerry's ... blah.

>

>Perhaps some sleeping pills that work and an explanation why

>some antibiotics are covered by my insurance and some are

>grossly not. Thank god for Dr.'s Office samples.

>

>Meanwhile, any suggestions on how to sleep continuously would

>be greatly appreciated. Around eleven I took a full ambien

>and only slept till 4a and took another one but only slept

>till 8:30a.

>

>I think I also have every vapor rub, Theraflu, ibuprofen,

>potion etc. Yeesh, no wonder the cure for the common cold/flu

>is being help back -- it would bankrupt too many industries.

 

 

Scott--you realize of course that influenza is a virus and that antibiotics don't work on viruses. And the old "I'll give you an antibiotic to prevent a secondary infection" in general doesn't work--just means that if you then do get a bacterial superinfection you may have made the bacteria more resistant by killing off any that were sensitive to the antibiotic. As for Tamiflu and Relenza--they are technically antivirals. And Amantadine and Rimantadine act as antivirals too--but the CDC has advised against their use as a large number of the Influenza viruses are resistant to them.

 

 

I hope everyone is beginning to feel better.

 

Gman

[+ ArVaGuy]

>>Scott, would you like us to overnight you some chicken

>soup?

>>Cures everything you know. :-)

>

>As long as it's not from Jerry's ... blah.

>

>

 

Rather than Jerry's, how about this brand?

 

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c262/cpapa8162/Fun%20Pics/cock.jpg

[Guest jstlooknthx]

Even though I read numernous articles on the misuse of antibiotics now causing serious health problmes, it is still the first thing my idiot Doogie Hauser HMO doctor recommends. The over use and misprescribed use of antibiotics for viral conditions are breeding 'superbugs' that are now resistant to all known antibiotics. We are all part of the problem. We are conditioned to ask for antiboitics yet we stop taking them as soon as we feel better. Which not only kills off all the good bacteria we need to keep our own immnune system healthy, but leaves the strongest of the mutated bad bacteria alive and ready to build their frikkin master race. Then you spread it to me. Greeeeaaaaat.

[Guest zipperzone]

>it is still

>the first thing my idiot Doogie Hauser HMO doctor recommends.

 

Well if the idiot looks anything like Doogie does today, I'd suggest you try and date him ;-)

[whipped guy]

RE: The over use and misprescribed use of antibiotics …are breeding 'superbugs' that are now resistant… (and)… not only kills off all the good bacteria we need to keep our own immnune system healthy, but leaves the strongest of the mutated bad bacteria alive and ready to build their frikkin master race.

 

Hey jstlooknthx… I could not agree more about this subject. In the elderly and those in poor health the theory regarding prescribing antibiotics for a viral infection is based on the fact that a bacterial infection might become superimposed on the viral condition thus placing an already compromised individual at greater risk… Well, it sounds good in theory and probably is something that healthcare professionals should consider on an individual basis. However, antibiotics have been over prescribed for decades and the superbugs are a direct consequence of this fact.

 

As an example, for years the medical and dental professions had prescribed prophylactic antibiotics for patients with certain heart conditions such as mitral valve heart murmurs, and mitral valve prolapse (MVP)… and incredibly even for the possibility that such a condition might exist… on the basis that the dentist will cause bleeding that might result in bacterial endocarditis and ultimately death… What a waste of resources! Especially given the fact that more people were dying from anaphylactic reactions to the antibiotics than were dying from endocarditis… In addition, think of all the times such individuals with MVP bit into a potato chip which resulted in bleeding… and never suffered any ill effects. Plus another little secret concerns the fact that physicians can’t even agree on what constitutes a normal mitral valve and what a normal mitral valve should sound like on an echo-cardiogram… yes there may be a “murmur”… or “MVP”… but does that indicate a disease process or rather just a variant of a normal condition? At least as far as MVP is concerned most researchers now consider it a variant of the normal…

 

Suddenly all of this need for antibiotics is now deemed unnecessary in many cases (so consult with your health care professional)… Well too late… but I guess better late than never…

[SAdler]

>Scott--you realize of course that influenza is a virus and

>that antibiotics don't work on viruses. And the old

>"I'll give you an antibiotic to prevent a secondary

>infection" in general doesn't work--just means that if

>you then do get a bacterial superinfection you may have made

>the bacteria more resistant by killing off any that were

>sensitive to the antibiotic. As for Tamiflu and Relenza--they

>are technically antivirals. And Amantadine and Rimantadine

>act as antivirals too--but the CDC has advised against their

>use as a large number of the Influenza viruses are resistant

>to them.

 

Hey yeah, sorry. Should have clarified. Combo flu and chest congestion from a sinus infection or something.

[Guest Ruben]

How are you doing now, Scott? Are you over the worst of it? Are you feeling any better?

[SAdler]

Mostly -- still have the chest cough ...

[+ deej]

The cough is a bitch to get rid of.

 

Did you get the wine stain out of your shirt?

[+ ArVaGuy]

>

>Did you get the wine stain out of your shirt?

 

LOL. I was going to ask the same question.