I have not gotten a flu shot yet either.... still thinking I should when I get over the head cold I have right now. I do know it is rampant up here in the schools, my younger son had it right before Christmas, ended up missing over a week of school poor guy.

I hope your friend recovers qoon, this is a nasty strain

Alexa

This time I read that the vaccine IS a good match for what's going around, so we got ours. It's reportedly a later season and will get worse this month and February. 18 children have died. So far no one I know here has come down with it.

I've got it. My daughter's family was sick at Christmas, and by the time we headed home a week later, I was coming down with it. By the time I got home I just had strength enough to go to bed. I'm much better now, but the cough part has gotten worse. So this is a week and a half.
No, I didn't get a flu shot. I never have. Always been okay, until now.

This post was edited by cloudy_christine on Sun, Jan 6, 13 at 18:02

I get a flu shot every year since turning 50, per my doctor's advice, and I have not had the flu this year AFAIK. I had an upset stomach that might have been a stomach flu starting on Christmas Day and lasting 3-4 days, but after a couple of days, I started feeling better and did not go to the doctor. I could have gone to my doctor's emergency clinic in Marina Del Rey, but I did not feel it was necessary, since I only had a bad fever for one evening (Christmas).

Lars

Here is a link that might be useful: Map of current flu activity

Well, PA is bright red, no surprise. CC, I am sorry, I didn't know you had the flu. Horrible. I'm glad you are on the mend, except for that cough. My friend, who also has a horrific cough, is now even too weak to talk on the phone. She is going to the doctor tomorrow and most likely into the hospital for an IV to get her fluids up. She resisted going into the hospital, and I wish she had not. On the news they said that if you can get to a doctor or hospital early on, they may be able to give you something to make it less severe.

I'm getting a flu shot tomorrow!

Flu is running amok (amuck?) in our area.

I opted not to get a flu shot this year. Have gotten one for the past several years, and last year I got a pneumonia shot, too. Within two months I spent 7 days in the hospital with pneumonia!!!

Can't see how the vaccine can possibly protect one from all the various strains of the flu. And I know several that have gotten the shot that contracted the flu nonetheless.

Linda

Pam, I'm glad your friend made it home and that she is seeing a doctor. This flu is nothing to mess around with. I'm not surprised to see that NC is red also - we've heard for weeks that our state has been hit badly. I always get a flu shot because of my chronic asthma.

Take care, dedtired and everyone!
Teresa

Teresa, I'm sorry to say she is still in Iowa, an awfully long way from home. I know she is distraught about the situation, although maybe she is too sick to care where she is. I There is going to be a story on Good Morning America tomorrow about the flu outbreak.

Keep washing your hands and get lots of sleep! We are supposed to have mild weather, which is nice but I do think germs thrive more in warmer temps than freezing ones.

Pam, I sure hope your friend gets better soon. Sounds like she's had a tough battle.

I don't have the flu but a couple weeks after Sandy DH got some kind of bug that morphed into bronchitis. Four days later, I was sick and have been battling bronchitis ever since. I've even been using a home nebulizer (sp?) the past couple weeks and have another doctor appt this Thursday. Just too sick/weak to do much of anything. Also chilled - so cold I can't get warm even under the down comforter. Seems like all the CT shoreline is sick with this stuff so my doctor has instructed me to stay home away from crowds and has asked DH is also limit his wanderings as much as possible for a few weeks. DH thinks Sandy was so huge that it churned up bugs that have spread like wildfire across the country.

Because of my health, we both always get flu shots as soon as the vaccine is available (this year, back in September). We get the dead virus vaccine so no chance of getting the flu from the vaccine. My doctor also said this year's vaccine was well suited to what's going around but, still, people are sick everywhere. We've also got contractors crawling all over the house every day trying to rebuild this place for us and they've all got young kids (petri dishes!) at home.

/tricia

News today is, the shots are about to run low (wide spread). If you haven't already gotten it, go now, if you want one!

Aw, Tricia, you have had more than your share of woes this year. The bronchitis sounds like the icing on the cake (but a lot less delicious). Is mold a problem? That can certainly exacerbate any respiratory problems. I must say you have really kept your chin up through it all.

I swear every little chill I get or sneeze makes me think I am coming down with something.

Eeeek, I better get one today. Thanks for the heads up.

Please remeber that it takes up to two weeks for you to develope the antibodies after you get the vaccine. Contrary to popular beliefs, you can still get the flu even though you have had the vaccine. It should help to lessen the severity of the flu if you do get the vaccine though.

I have had it for about 9 days now. No flu shot due to allergy. Never have I been this ill due to cold or flu. Good luck to those that don't have it yet.

Pam,

My doctor was asking me about black mold at my last appointment. They were flooded out of their offices as well and are worried about mold and their patients. The remediation crew that came in to pump out the flood waters, tear out the flooring, cut out drywall, and pack everything in the house and put it in a POD supposedly sprayed for mold. Did they spray in every little nook and crevice? Who knows. All you can do is hope their spray was effective. We've decided that once the house is back together and we're settled we'll probably have the house tested just to ease our minds. I got sick though while we were still in the hotel packed with other refugees. It would have been virtually impossible to avoid getting sick in that environment if a bug was going around.

/tricia

I had the flu shot, I never got them before, until the year I got H1N1. I was never so sick. My doctor also said that you cannot get the flu from the shot with killed virus, but it does take time for your body to build up the antibodies.

I got mine because of the grandkids. I know The Monkey Princess or her Bruvver will bring something home from school or Ashley will bring contaminants from the hospital where she works. I'll get that call that says "Mom, I'm sick and everyone in the house is throwing up, can you come and help?" And I'll go. I may get sick and I may not, but I've done what I can, so I'm ready to pack!

I do hope everyone feels better soon...

Annie

I never got the flu while working a hospital (non-clinical position), but I did get the worst cold of my life. It was dreadful. I could not take time off because a committee that I ran had an upcoming meeting and I just had to prepare and be there.

Annie, your girls are lucky to have you nearby and ready to help. People without family to step in are really in a pickle when the kids get sick and then it goes through the whole family. Ah, I remember those days. The kids were like little petri dishes with snotty noses, and of course they wanted to be hugged and snuggled when sick.

Oh, Momof4, you too? I am sorry to hear it and I swear I am not leaving the house until flu season is over.

Hope all of you who have been ill are feeling better today. I went and got my flu shot today. I got one of the last doses at my doctor's office. Here's hoping I can avoid the flu for the next two weeks until it kicks in.

A hospital about an hour away is now setting up tents in the parking lot to treat all the flu patients. My friend had to be taken to the ER last night and was admitted. She is now getting fluids through an IV, along with anti-nausea meds. Hopefully she is able to eat. She is staying there again tonight, poor baby.

If you are in an area with a bigger outbreak - go buy a couple of drugstore face masks and maybe some gloves - you know the thin white cotton kind, like chauffeur gloves (anyone?). Stay out of malls, theaters, schools and other such places if you can.

Good luck everyone!

I have started to keep my gloves on at the grocery store. Hate touching the cart handles, etc. Using hand sanitizer by the gallon.

I just read the news today, there is now a shortage of flu shots in my area and we've already had 463 cases this "season", up from only 94 last year, and there have already been several deaths.

I guess it's a good thing I already got mine. I got H1N1 because some sick kid threw up on Ashley while she was working at the hospital. I washed those scrubs and got it, although she'd gotten the flu shot. Those were available to hospital workers but not to the general public, remember. They became available, of course, AFTER I got the flu but truthfully, I was so lax about ever getting them that I probably wouldn't have gotten it anyway.

Annie

My doctor was out of the "under 65" flu vaccine and only a few "65 and over" doses left. It was the one time it helped to be old. I hear the drugstores are running low as well. Get that shot today!

If you are between the ages of 2 and 49, you don't have to get the shot, you can get the FluMist nasal spray.

My DD, who faints, yes, actually faints, from an injection, will be getting the FluMist in the coming years. She had the flu this year, and now finally believes us that it is worth getting the vaccine, rather than the flu. We spent the whole day before she got sick with her, and none of us got sick. The rest of us had the flu shot.

I hope your friend has been to the doctor, anyone that sick needs some medical attention.

I get, and have gotten, the flu shot every year, and it's no mandatory where I work. It doesn't cover all the viruses that cause influenza, but it keeps most of us healthy.

Here is a link that might be useful: Flumist

FluMist is a live-virus vaccine. The shots are not.

I am just getting over it. I did home remedies and I have to say they worked wonders! I was out for one full week but it cleared and is gone - no effects (like coughing, fatigue) hanging on. The best the remedy was putting a small drop of peroxide in my ears. The ache was gone instantly. I was terrified to try but so glad I did. Fortunately, it didn't run like wildfire through the family!

Cookie, I am glad you are better. The news say to get rest, drink lots of liquids and rest when you have the flu. Anyone I now who has had it can't even get up, so rest isn't a matter of choice.

My friend got out of the hospital today and is staying in a hotel until Friday because she doesn't get enough rest at her son's house. She has plane tickets to come home on Friday. I am going to get a pass to meet her at the gate and push her in a wheelchair to bag pickup. I'll have to leave her alone until i can get bag to the car and drive around for her.

And I got sick in Quebec City on holidays confined with the whole family in one room for five days. Surprisingly, no one else got sick - amazing!!!!

Oh dear, Cookie, how awful to get sick when you are away from home. All crammed into one room? Yikes. I would have had to get a space of my own. Poor baby.

I picked up my friend last night. It was one of those "if it can go wrong, it will go wrong" experiences. First, her plane got fogged in and left two hours late, so she missed her connection. Then, I had to drive to the airport at rush hour in a driving rain storm. Traffic crawled. At one point two police cars came screaming down the highway and everyone had to smoosh into one lane. Next, I parked in the wrong lot - not a tragedy. Then I could not get a gate pass to get her, but they had someone there to push her to baggage claim.

She looked awful. So pale and she lost ten pounds, which she could not spare.

Her bag did not arrive, so we had to go submit a claim at the lost bag desk. After that she walked back to the parking garage with me. I was afraid she would not make it. Then to make things worse, I couldn't remember which level I had parked on. We had to go to four different levels to find my car. I felt like an idiot and she looked like she was going to fall over. We drove home through the driving storm. She was so happy to see her house. Her sister had left groceries on the front porch, so I got her inside. What an adventure. Now I just hope I did not catch her flu!

Cookie, I'm glad you're feeling better, it's awful to be away from home and sick.

Dedtired, Ashley tells me that the flu is actually the most contagious before you ever get symptoms, so at this point in your friend's illness you're probably OK. Things do tend to go wrong at the worst times, don't they?

Annie

I got a mild, mild coldish/flu thing but have been sick with its lingering cough for over a month. All I did when I was home for Christmas is lay around in bed, and that's all I do when I get home from work every day. I eat supper and go to bed. I am worn out from coughing but nothing seems to work to get rid of it, and I have tried it all. Just dragging myself around. I got my first flu shot hoping not to get anything else. BF brought the crud home from work, he was sick with it for the first time in over 15 years. He managed to bounce back though. I always get these lingering coughs, my lungs must be damaged in some ways but nothing works as a treatment. It's not pneumonia or bronchitis, I was tested for those.

Aw, Lpink, that's a shame. I have had those lingering coughs in the past and they just wear you out. Sometimes I think this warmish weather is just a breeding ground for germs. We are supposed to get a cold snap so maybe that will knock out some of them.

Stay healthy, everyone -- or get healthy soon!

lpink you don't have whooping cough do you? They don't call it the 100 day cough for nothing. People with it can even sort of "function".

Please take care.

Uh oh. I'm at a conference in the Fontainbleau Hotel, Miami Beach. I flew here late yesterday, arrived after midnight. Leaving Thursday and get home near midnight. So it is a tiring trip even if the locale is very nice.

Well, this afternoon I start to feel those tell tale signs. Little aches in the legs, skin rather sensitive, it feels cold, I suddenly feel tired. This is not a good thing, I really don't have a choice but to do what I came here to do and try to get as much sleep as I can.

Oh no, John! No, no, no! Immediately increase your fluid intake, especially drinks with electrolytes, and rest if you can. Poor baby. Nothing like an airplane to spread the joy. At least you'll get to return the favor on the way home. I guess if you had to get sick, you may as well do it at the Fontainebleau. Do they still have that pool that has the glass side so you can watch people swimming under water? i think that was the place.

I think I licked it after one slightly fevered night, two Campari & orange juices, a big bowl of matzo ball soup and a Tylenol. I'm rather pleased with myself.

Good man! All that biking and good food has given you a ironclad immune system.

I think I have developed chronic bronchitis, which is the precursor to COPD. My dad has COPD. He smoked but quit over 30 years ago. I never smoked or was around smoke, I hate it. This is the fourth time in 3 years I have had a chronic cough problem that lasted over 2 months! VERY depressing. That's why I say I have tried everything, because over these three years I sure have had the opportunity. Last time I got tested for whooping cough too. The best thing to do is try and avoid getting sick, which is why I guess I'll be one of those folks getting a flu shot every year. Antibiotics and steroids and bronchial dilators haven't helped. Rest and fluids help but only slightly. There is only so much time I can rest and still work full time and do the 2.5 hour commute. BF is an angel, he takes care of me. In fact, if I hadn't been sick we might never have met, I had the crud the first time we met. I was doing online dating and had a couple of guys I was communicating with, but when I got sick I decided to just drop the whole thing, dating was the least of my worries at that point. There were just two guys left that I had made tentative plans to meet and the rest I just said, "Sorry I don't have the energy anymore." It was only because I am someone devoted to follow-through that I even set up a date with BF. I really had no energy for it but I wanted to make good on my commitment. So we went out on one date, and I had to go home and take a 2 hour nap afterwards, I was so beat! And it was just for coffee!! :) Halfway through the date I ran out of cough drops and almost panicked! One thing I know for sure, BF likes me for who I am, not for the vivacious picture of health that I was when he first met me! :) Then the cough got worse again and I told the other guy that I was just going to have to give up, I was too sick. But BF and I were still communicating and we went out on a second date a month later, and the rest is history! :) So now its deja vu all over again, but not in a good way! I can joke about it but it is really negatively affecting my life. That's why I have been scarce here and probably will continue to be scarce. Cooking? I don't think so!

That doesn't sound good at all lpink. This is out of nowhere, but have you tried boosting your immunity in general? Getting sun for natural vitamin D or take Vitamin D supplements. Have you ever had a B12 shot? I will tell you a story:

long, long time ago when people still smoked in offices, I was constantly sick with respiratory illnesses. My mom smoked and I once had a near death incident with carbon monoxide - so my respiratory system was weakened. I lived on antihistamines. Miserable.

Once I got a cough so persistent that two different doctors gave me two weeks worth of antibiotics each - yeah a big waste, duh, but doctors do that and I dutifully took them, to no effect. I was so freaking sick and weak. Someone referred me to yet another doctor so I went to try him. By this time I couldn't even drive myself to the doctor's office.

The doctor gave me some fancy French cough drops and gave me two shots in the behind - Vitamin B12 and another B mix. I tasted the B vitamin in my mouth. Went home and slept. The next day I was completely well.

I will never again suffer with something for so long, as I believe it can do irreparable damage to your body, and besides, we are not getting any younger. There are naturopathic doctors offices that give B12 shots, and my local Sprouts market has people come once a month to give B vitamin shots.

So if you think your immune system is not up to speed, you may want to try a B12 shot as one way to give it a boost. I also make big pots of chicken soup or beef bone broth when I feel something coming on.

LP, I have been through the same thing. It wears you out to your core. Finally, what did the trick was a course of allergy tabs, like claratin. And it needs to be the one from behind the counter at the pharmacy. I did not realize that a post nasal drip was the culprit as I never felt one. A week later, after coughing for 9 weeks, it was gone.

Well I'm on all the immune-boosting herbs--echinacea, goldenseal, astralagus, olive leaf and alfalfa. I take a multi with all the B vitamins and D. I work outside so get lots of sun. And I'm taking vit. C with a small amount of iron too. I do think I need some kind of drug to clear up all the dripping in back of my throat, but the anti-mucous stuff doesn't work for me on that. I take Robitussin DM at night so I can get to sleep. The best stuff that works is the cough medicine with codine but I don't like to take that very often and certainly not during the day.

I do eat some meat so shouldn't be B12 deficient, but maybe I need to get some brewers yeast tablets. Grandma took them every day.

I'm trying to get to see the doctor. I refuse to take any more of the treatments they prescribe if I have already tried them numerous times with no results. I guess that makes me an ornery patient so maybe that explains why the doctor doesn't call me back!! Jeeze Louise, every time I go in there the nurse does nothing but type away at the laptop, but then I have to tell them every time what I have and have not tried. Seems like they could look it up for goodness sake and SEE that I have taken course after course of anti-biotics. And I see the poster in the waiting room warning folks not to overuse antibiotics. Boy, it doesn't take much for me to start on an anti-doctor rant. What did they learn all those years in Med. school??

So thanks for the advice folks, I'm getting better info here than at my doctor's!!

You might not test for vitamin deficiencies, but the medical establishment determines what is deficient or not, and I am not generally on board with the medical establishments methods, LOL. Vitamins in pill form are notorious for not being utilized by the body for a variety of reasons. If you are in dire straits, I would highly recommend trying the shot.

Brewer's or nutritional yeast powders are high in glutamates that some folks are sensitive to, including me.

Chronic issues like yours are very difficult if not impossible for modern medicine to treat. I would try a naturopathic doctor next. Mind you, I am personally not on board with one of naturopathy's primary tools - homeopathy, which I think is hocus-pocus. But what I do like about Naturopaths is that they are more in tune with nutritional aspects of health, with an eye towards changing diet and adding supplementation when needed.

There are good doctors and bad doctors - maybe you need to look for a new one, or at least get a second opinion at a different office. Perhaps you should just go to an Ear/Nose/Throat specialist. I've had a lot of experience with bad doctors (not necessarily personally), and I used to live with a doctor/surgeon, which was very enlightening. We shared a condo with a psychiatrist and another doctor in the upper Haight/Cole Valley of San Francisco. I've been lucky to have my share of good doctors, and so I can tell the difference.

Lars

Oh yes, I think there are definitely good doctors out there, I just think they are hard to find. Mine was OK but now she is on maternity leave and I think the practice is waning.

And I'm going to come in from way out in left field here. Amanda had a cough, it got worse. The docs decided she had asthma. She used the broncho-dialators for months, no help. She took allergy drugs. Nothing. Antibiotics and that prescription cough syrup with codeine.

Then she had an appointment with her neurologist, the guy that sees her once a year for her seizures. She was coughing like crazy, he asked what she had for breakfast and told her to be checked for acid reflux or GERD. Sure enough, she has a hiatal hernia and it was the acid reflux that was causing her to hack endlessly.

I shook my head, relieved that she at least managed to get some sleep instead of spending al night hacking. Then Elery got a cough. He'd cough like crazy and I started paying attention. Always after he ate specific foods. Hmmmm. A check with his doc resulted in a prescription for Prevacid and the cough went away.

So, that might be another issue...

Annie

I don't think it is totally out of left field since both my father and a close friend of mine have acid reflux in addition to airway problems. But it did come about after a bout of the flu, and BF has been coughing a lot and clearing his throat too, but not as much as me, and he isn't getting the feeling of squeezing in his lungs and tiredness like me. But it comes and goes, so I probably have GERD in addition to bronchitis. But I am already on a low acid diet for interstitial cystitis so I wonder how much blander I can go when it comes to eating, lol! I've already given up almost all caffeine, coffee, tea, chocolate, soda pop, alcohol, citrus fruits, dried fruits, vinegery salad dressings, fruit juices . . .
And both BF and I sleep on our sides all propped up, him for shoulder problems, me for coughing. We have to synchronize our rolling over or we crash into each other! :)
Dang I was so busy at work today I forgot to bug the doctor's office again about getting an appointment. The nurse said she was going to "see" about getting me in with another doctor in the practice. That was the last I heard from her!

lp, it might not be "diet related" as Amanda's is not. She's 30 or under, she's not overweight at all, she doesn't smoke, she doesn't have any of a dozen "risk factors". It's due to that hiatal hernia...

So, yours might be some physical thing that cannot be controlled by diet, as hers is. Or maybe it's just adding to the fun. Definitely get that doctor's appointment. Bug them.

Annie

Lpink, this flu seems to have a cough that goes on forever. Many people have it. I'm over the can't-get-out-of-bed part of the flu but the cough goes on, although it's much better.
My doctor said I have asthmatic bronchitis, which is odd because I don't have asthma and I don't smoke. I used a nebulizer briefly in the dr's office but declined the asthma inhaler and prednisone she thinks I need in order to get over it. I did take antibiotics. Luckily the chest x-ray was okay and I don't have pneumonia.
So maybe what you have is still the aftermath of flu and not a chronic condition, but all the other suggestions are worth looking into as well.

Well CC you must have the same doctor as me! "Maybe you have asthma" they said. "But I've never had asthma in my life" I replied. "Well maybe the flu is bringing on a bout of asthma. " So let me get this straight, I don't have asthma except once or twice a year when I get the flu and then I have asthma?" "Well you never know" they say, "Try this nebulizer with a bronchial dialator and take this steriod inhaler sample that we had in the back closet home and see if that works." Nope, it does not work, and no, the antibiotics don't work, and no, the steroids don't work. I am very leery of all this because my friend was misdiagnosed with asthma and was treated for ten years with ever increasingly strong steroids and in the meantime she had a rare, undaignosed esophagal problem. In the end, her esophagus was the size of an 8 month baby and her ovaries had been destroyed by the steroids, along with her bones and eyes, which she now has cataracts on. All because someone summarily diagnosed her with "asthma." Which is why to me saying "asthma" means you just don't know and don't want to take the time to make an expensive diagnosis. And taking frequent courses of antibiotics can also wreak havoc with your health, as happened with my friend who ended up with chronic yeast infections from overuse of antibiotics for ear infections. And I have to take them for my chronic urinary tract infections as it stands. So I am at risk for developing "superbugs" in my system which my doctor should be well aware of if s/he looked at my medical history.

Anyway, chronic bronchitis means you have it for two months or more and get it more than once a year. This problem has been ongoing for me for four years. And I have had a two month cough at other times in my life, although it is starting to now happen more frequently. So there's probably some kind of genetic weakness there. I have irritable bowel syndrome, interstitial cystitis, and migranes, which are all inflammatory problems so why should my lungs get left out! So I may also have GERD in the mix but I don't think it is all attributable to that. Not sure how much modern medicine has to offer this condition.

It's hard because I am ordinarily an active person and I have a job that requires me to by physically active for long periods of time. My whole life is sort of grinding to a halt due to lack of energy. I had to drop out of school this semester and important things I need to do to get moved to a new place closer to work are languishing. I basically make it through a day of work and then exhaustedly drive home and go to bed, only to start it up again the next day. Whine, whine, whine. And I can't even enjoy a glass of REAL wine!

It is hard to feel unwell for so long, Lpink. I'm sorry you've been having so much trouble.
I think what the doctor was hearing that led her to say I have asthmatic bronchitis was a sound that told her the airways were very much narrowed. Whatever the cause of that might be. I share your opinion of steroids and would only think of that as a last resort.