TalkBass H1N1 rollcall

Kuoxasar · #1 11-25-2009, 10:29 AM

If you have or have had swine flu, or have/are taking care of someone with it, post your experiences here.

Myself, I don't think I've ever been so sick in my life. I had dizziness for a week, then the fever hit. And it wouldn't go away. It got up to 103.6 F, though the acetaminophen/ibuprofen diet really took the edge off it. The doctor at the ER thought I might've had a cytokine storm that caused inflammation around my lungs and also facilitated the formation of bacterial pneumonia in my right lung (and caused the massive fever). I could barely walk. Fortunately the fever broke right around the time the pneumonia hit. They put me on heavy duty antibiotics (moxifloxacin, which is basically oven cleaner in a pill) and some steroids for the inflammation. I'm just about over everything, which is great, since now I can do backed-up schoolwork over Thanksgiving

In total this took three weeks to resolve (four if you count the dizziness).

I'm curious to see what symptoms other people had. The dizziness for a week/fever thing seemed kind of weird to me. And for those of you that got pneumonia, what antibiotic did you get (if anything)? The moxifloxacin they put me on has serious side effects and is supposed to be a last line antibiotic, I'm a bit surprised they gave it to me.

I'm just glad to be healthy again... I got my SX Fretless P a few days after the fever started. I've never been so unexcited to see a new instrument in my life

Maybe worst of all, I was forced to miss a Pixies concert planned months in advance. They played Doolittle in its entirety...

MatticusMania · #2 11-25-2009, 10:36 AM

Glad you feel better. Enjoy your fretless SX, I love my SX fretless Jazz. Now that youre all better you have time to fall in love!

Also glad to see the Pixies are still playing! They came through LA not too long ago, but it was sold out by the time I heard...

Oric · #3 11-25-2009, 10:45 AM

I had it last weekend. Had a fever of 100.1, took some Tylenol and it went down. I went to the doctor, he said "maybe it's a sinus thing, but we'll check for the flu anyway", he came back with the test and said "yep, you have H1N1." He gave me a Tamiflu prescription, took two days off work, was good by Monday.

Not trying to diminish the seriousness of having any flu strain of course, I just had an exceptionally mild case.

Kuoxasar · #4 11-25-2009, 11:00 AM

That's the thing I can't figure out, half the people I know who got it were like me, the other half were like you. There's a girl I know who's been out for over a MONTH because of it. My dad got over it in 4 days.

Of course, in the big picture, what I had wasn't really a big deal... there was a local kid that basically dropped dead in 24 hours from it. It was just intensely uncomfortable for me.

Quote:

Also glad to see the Pixies are still playing! They came through LA not too long ago, but it was sold out by the time I heard...

Not only are they still playing but, according to everyone who went to the show last night, they are kicking ass.

heroincredible · #5 11-25-2009, 11:10 AM

I had it (about a month ago). It came on really quickly. Got a cough, cough got worse during the course of the day, then the fever hit. Next morning I woke up with a bad cough, couldn't keep food or water down, had constant nausea and my fever was 39.5 degrees celsius (103.1 fahrenheit). The worst part was the fever, and my whole body aching. Ended up getting antivirals to take care of it. After about 5 days I only had the cough left, which lasted for another 10 days or so.

PSPookie · #6 11-25-2009, 11:27 AM

I had it just before Halloween. Fever of about 104, body aches and headaches for about a week. My wife is in her 3rd trimester so they put me (and her) on Tamiflu right away. I was back to semi-functioning within about 4 days but the fever hung around for 3 more. All-in-all it wasn't that bad -- just a case of the flu as I recall (though I haven't had the flu since 4th grade).

The worst parts: 1) Apparently, my body does not like Tamiflu. The first dose caused me to vomit uncontrollably for about six hours. During this time I pulled a muscle in my back from the heaving. Because of the resident prego, the doctor wanted me to stay on the Tamiflu and gave me some medicine to cope with the nausea. 2) 4.5 weeks, a course each of Keflex, Avelox, and Levaquin (subsequent treatments) later (I'm now on Erythromycin) and I'm still hacking up lung-butter. The cough didn't even show up until the last day of the fever.

In a nutshell: H1N1 itself wasn't that bad but the secondary infection(s) that followed have been kicking my butt.

The good news: neither my wife nor my 2-year-old came down with it so I guess I took one for the team. I've got no problem with that.

DudeistMonk · #7 11-25-2009, 11:41 AM

Ehh... thats it, this thread needs to be removed from the general population before it gets any worse...

Seriously though, sorry guys must have sucked, at least all you TBers are better.

adammazza · #8 11-25-2009, 11:59 AM

My 5 yo son had it. Got about a 103.5 fever on a Sunday night, next day his throat hurt, took him to the doctor and he tested positive for Influenza A so they said it was H1N1. He went on tamiflu as did my wife and I. Pediatrician said not to put my other son (7) on it because he was going to catch it anyway.

Fever was gone within 2 days and he was feeling fine, the rest of us didn't catch it.

Adam

Happynoj · #9 11-25-2009, 12:07 PM

One of my flatmates had it. She went on the tamiflu, but I think she was already over the worst by the time she admitted that she actually was ill and went to the doctor about it. After she had the tamiflu she was really ill for another couple of days, and then she was up and about (although not completely symptomless).

J. Crawford · #10 11-25-2009, 01:08 PM

I had it.

Im over it.

Im trying to get in better shape because of it.

Kuoxasar · #11 11-25-2009, 01:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PSPookie

2) 4.5 weeks, a course each of Keflex, Avelox, and Levaquin (subsequent treatments) later (I'm now on Erythromycin) and I'm still hacking up lung-butter. The cough didn't even show up until the last day of the fever.

That sounds a bit like what I had. And Avelox is the brand name for moxifloxacin, it's interesting they're using the really powerful treatments. I mean it kinda makes sense but it's like a "nuke the site from orbit" strategy.

Quote:

Im trying to get in better shape because of it.

I'm definitely motivated to get my lungs in better shape after that crap.

J. Crawford · #12 11-25-2009, 02:07 PM

Kettlebells last night killed me.. After about a 3 month hiatus from working out due to H1N1 and having serious stomach ulcers, Im finally starting up again..

Phew! Its tough.

warwick.hoy · #13 11-25-2009, 03:07 PM

About two weeks ago I missed 3 days of work because of it. I started to get a little cough around lunch time on a Thursday. The folks that run the bakery I work at knew something was wrong. I just told them I was tired but by the time I got home from work I was the walking dead.

I had a fever around 103, no energy, aches in my chest, legs and head, alternating chills and sweats and I was very nauseous. Oddly enough the cough didn't get too bad, but I get to hacking up those crazy green monsters. I called into work that night and went to bed really early. I went straight to the doc the very next day. They did a throat culture a nose culture (which sucked btw) and took blood and as a precaution put me on tamiflu which they botched calling in the prescription. I had to call the on-call doc twice to get it filled and had been out to four times in order to get it filled. That kind of sucked because because my understanding is the tamiflu doesn't work unless you get on it around 48 hours after symptoms manifest.

I got a nice little courtesy (AKA please don't sue me) call from the doc the following Monday and she confirmed that it was H1N1.

Either way I was back to work,...not at 100% but still there the following Tuesday.

PSPookie · #14 11-25-2009, 08:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kuoxasar

That sounds a bit like what I had. And Avelox is the brand name for moxifloxacin, it's interesting they're using the really powerful treatments. I mean it kinda makes sense but it's like a "nuke the site from orbit" strategy.

UPDATE:

Too bad it didn't work. I got a call from the doctor this afternoon about the chest X-rays they took yesterday . . . pneumonia

Just in time for Thanksgiving which is at our house this year and with a wife that is 34 weeks pregnant today.

I have to admit that I'm a little pissed about this because I have been very proactive in seeking treatment and I don't drink or smoke or generally engage in any behaviors that would put me at greater risk.

OTOH, I guess I should be grateful because all of those things are probably what has kept me out of the hospital thus far. Plus, I feel a bit vindicated. People at home and at work were beginning to view my claims of not feeling well with a bit of skepticism. Well, they can suck it

Perhaps I'll save the offenders each a roll with extra (lung) butter

OK, that was kinda gross. Where's the vomit emoticon when you need it?

warwick.hoy · #15 11-25-2009, 08:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PSPookie

UPDATE:

Too bad it didn't work. I got a call from the doctor this afternoon about the chest X-rays they took yesterday . . . pneumonia

Just in time for Thanksgiving which is at our house this year and with a wife that is 34 weeks pregnant today.

I have to admit that I'm a little pissed about this because I have been very proactive in seeking treatment and I don't drink or smoke or generally engage in any behaviors that would put me at greater risk.

OTOH, I guess I should be grateful because all of those things are probably what has kept me out of the hospital thus far. Plus, I feel a bit vindicated. People at home and at work were beginning to view my claims of not feeling well with a bit of skepticism. Well, they can suck it

Perhaps I'll save the offenders each a roll with extra (lung) butter

OK, that was kinda gross. Where's the vomit emoticon when you need it?

That's what all the fuss about H1N1 is,...it's attacking (and apparently killing) perfectly healthy adults where as the normal strain is dangerous more so for the young and the elderly.

metallicafan18 · #16 11-25-2009, 08:32 PM

I had it. It lasted about 5 days. I felt bad, but not to the point where I was helpless. I could still walk and eat, I just had a god awful stomach ache and a splitting headache.

I got a lung infection because of the flu, which just made everything worse.

It was not as bad as people say it is though. That or I didn't get it that bad.

Bongolation · #17 11-25-2009, 09:55 PM

There are new, scarier, more communicable variants showing up in Ukraine and Norway.

This seems similar to the original plague, the 1918-1920 influenza that killed mainly the young and healthy because their immune system's stronger, abrupt response was what actually killed them. The very young and old usually survived, though many were permanently effed-up.

Woodrow Wilson caught it at the Versailles conference. It was concealed and his illness attributed to a stroke, but it wiped his mind out to a shocking degree, and permanently.

Not long after that, it killed my twenty-one-year old grandmother in California, leaving three little children behind. Some researchers believe that the 1918-20 strain killed 10% of the world's young adults.

Influenza's wicked stuff.

Winter before last I had a bad bout that had me in a semi-delirium for about ten days. Took a good eight months before my thought processes were close to normal again, and I'm not sure I ever fully recovered.

Jimmy Bones · #18 11-25-2009, 10:00 PM

My whole house got it at once, my two kids, my wife, and myself. It hit me the hardest, stayed with me for nearly a month and a half.

sonic assassin · #19 11-26-2009, 01:20 AM

i woke up one day with what i thought was going to be the thing that finally killed me. i dont have insurance and avoided the doctor as long as possible. fluids, sleep, ibuprofen. fevers spiking around 103, between freezing chills, i was sweating.

the worst part.. my throat had nearly swollen shut and it hurt a great deal to eat or drink ANYTHING. im hypoglycemic.. 4 hours without a sandwich and i get temperamental. 6 hours without said sandwich and i start to shut down. 3 days in, i can hardly stand. im trying to choke down jello, and it hurts like hell. fell asleep in front of the toilet 3 times. ive only puked once in the last 7 or 8 years, and it was due to extreme motion sickness. dry heaves. yay.

so i break down and go to the doctor. 60 dollars. they cant do any tests because im broke. he writes 2 RX's and sends me away. he says its either strep or swine flu. im allergic to amoxicillin, so i get z-pack. 35 dollars. i have a tamiflu scrip just in case.

my sister, the nurse in training eventually brings me OJ, popsicles and mac and cheese. perfect. just my sugar up, numb my throat, eat slippery carbs and fat.

in a couple days, im alright. with all the swine flu hysteria going around, i thought id finally ignored the wrong media frenzy and i was going to die. 3 days and i was fine. i havent had strep in years.. and thats what i thought was going to kill me.

with that said, my brother nonchalantly said he'd had the swine flu and got rid of it. not concerned, not worried. acted like it was a gray hair.. plucked it. no biggie.

XtreO · #20 11-26-2009, 03:02 AM

Getting the vaccine today. A lot of my friends have had it, particularly those who went to Aya Napa or Ios. Two of them were quarantined in a Trukish hospital (lolpwnt). Only one of the about 10 I know that has had it had a really rough time with fever fantasies and the rest.