Read this & tell me what you think

So sorry I've not been keeping up with swineflu.org. I've been victimized by some microscopic creature, be it H1N1 or something else not sure... read on & tell me what you think.

So Saturday December 28th got a scratchy throat. My 9 yr old had been sick with bad cough about 6 days at this point, so I was expecting it. Sunday the cough starts. I can tell immediately it's one of those chest kind not just in the throat. Monday is also the day I take the 9 yr old to the Dr. She's dx w/ bronchitis & ear infection. She does not really have any other problems, still plays some & eats fairly well. So Tuesday rolls around & my cough is getting more exciting. Wake up with chills, cannot get warm to save my life, body aches, feel very tired, started to hear a wheeze. Wednesday: magically wake up & all that weak, achy chills nonsense is gone! Wow that was easy! Wheezing is not. Thursday, didn't sleep a wink the night before because of wheezing & coughing & by this time got a good thing going with the snotty nose & my ears are nice & clogged up. Go to the Dr myself. Dr says lungs clear, listened only no xray, gives me a double zpack & albuterol inhaler. Says she's seeing it's taking at least two rounds of antibiotics to clear up the current crud. Ok, now I can go home & take my meds & I'll be all fixed!

Friday, now here's the real exciting part... wake up 7:30 am, as soon as I open my eyes I know something is not right. Chilling big time, shaking like a leaf. All the blankets in the world wouldn't warm me. Put my feet to the floor. Intending to go to the bathroom & pee & take temp, as soon as I stand up I know I'll be going to the ER that day. Overwhelming lethargy, dizzy, feeling like throwing up & passing out all at the same time. Knees want to buckle. Barely make it to the toilet. Barely get business done. Turn around & sit in the floor in front of the toilet thinking I might throw up, feeling when nothing comes up that I've got to make it back to the bed to wake DH & tell him easy Friday's are for suckers, ours is gonna be an interesting one. So I do, barely, make it back to the bed, holding to every piece of furniture I can to get there. Off we go to that place they make all things better, ha yeah right.... I'm doing good just to sit in that triage chair & follow instructions... lift your arm, put this on your finger, why are you hear... blah, blah, blah! Fever is only 101.something, can't remember the something. She asks why I hadn't taken anything for it, I say I didn't know I had one, which I know was the dumbest answer. So she gets up grabs one of those little squares of Tylenol extra strength & says take this, I obey. Another nurse is so precious to swab my nose for that nasty flu villain. & off I go to my own room & promptly lay down on the most uncomfortable "bed", no pillow or blanket, I'm too tired to ask for them, but I'm still chillin' so I probably could really have used one of those heated kind they have there.

Anyway, very long story short, flu test was negative, chest xray was normal, the PA casually told me I've got a virus & go home & deal. In the nicest way possible of course. Discharge papers lists the flu test as Influenza A&B, Rapid. Instructions say Fever Control. Basically they tell me my problem was that adults don't do as well with fevers as kids & that explains why I felt like I was about to die in my bathroom that morning. Oh ok, a fever of 101.something is all it takes to feel like that? Really? I tried to reason with the PA in charge of me, told her I was still concerned with H1N1 & that I am super special cuz see I've got a heart defect, so I'm one of those you're supposed to give a second thought too, right.... right? She was not phased by my concern, stoic as can be she said to trust her she'd seen plenty of "this" come through the doors & it's all just basically a bad cold, she says even she wheezes a little when she gets sick sometimes. I thought "a little"? Lady, you didn't even need the stethoscope to hear me wheeze you could stand on the other side of the room & hear it. I wanted to show off & tell her that I knew even the CDC had a page full of why the Rapid Flu tests were not highly accurate. They've got charts & everything! But I was too tired to argue with her & just wanted to go home.

Know what I was thinking when I was sitting in front of that toilet... I was thinking of the hundred of articles I've posted of people with H1N1 & remembering reading so many people describing just that moment, when they were too weak to walk, passed out their loved one had to call an ambulance or take them to the ER. That's what I was thinking. I was wondering if that was what was happening to me right then. I'm a very analytical thinker, so in those few seconds or minutes, time cannot be comprehended when you are delirious really... I was going over all the reasons it could be & all the ones it probably wasn't, I knew about H1N1. And telling myself I'd had the vaccine back in October, so what if they are saying it's only like 62% effective this year (something like that, can't remember the exact quote)... those are still good odds right? But what if it really has mutated, could that matter to me right then & there?

Well, Saturday & Today I've been a good girl & taken my fever meds alternative them every 3 to 4 hours just like ER PA said to. Even though my stomach is saying what the Heck, hold up on the pills will ya! & I've continued taking my Zpack, which is supposed to be antibiotic gold isn't it? Well you know about that bacteria vs virus thing... And no one told my left ear this morning that it defies logic by plugging completely up & having shooting pains in it that it's not supposed to get infected when I'm already taking an antibiotic. I guess my ear didn't get the memo, cuz it's doing it's own thing zpack be darned. Still coughing, still wheezing, still snotting, just enjoy waking up each morning with new & awesome symptoms. Dare I try to take a break from those fever meds & here come the chills & kick your butt fatigue. So today like I said trying to be a good girl & take them religiously.

So I guess that's it, my story, I'm exhausted from sitting here typing it, but you guys are the ones I trust most. You know all the scary stuff. I do too, I posted too many articles not to know how quick & deadly H1N1 can be, too many times we posted about people who said they felt better then all of a sudden they were... well you know, not here anymore. I think I'm giving it till Tuesday or Wednesday then I'm going back to the Dr. Surely someone can see I shouldn't be this sick right? from some no name virus & a little baby fever? & what's with the wheezing, I don't have asthma, have never wheezed in my life? Ok, I'm losing train of thought. Would love to hear what yall think.

This is the new Flu Jen and Elver. I have spoken to hundreds of people and it has some really weird symptoms. As I am experiencing it and as my friends and others I have talked to - let me share some observations which are common to many people.

This is what it feels like -

1) frequent running trips to the bathroom both 1 & 2.  And it is like - now. 
2) waking up in the night and it's not that cold and you are shaking all over with some kind of chill that despite blankets, an arctic sleeping bag, and cranking up the heater, won't stop for an hour.
3) bad sore throat, eyes that are nearly swollen shut, ears that are infected.
4) bad headaches that stab- not just throb.

Sleep? Forget it.  Your patterns get totally messed up. You begin to lose track of days and sleep when you can no matter when it is.  You feel just tired. Some nights you may get 3 hours. Some nights you may get none.

Bones ache, muscles ache and your disposition gets nasty and you snap at people and people snap at you. People start acting crazy and going off for no particular reason.

Often there is no fever.  The worst part...

You think you are getting better. You get a bout of runny eyes, ears, nose, misery and it goes away and you think... it's over.  Guess what?

It isn't. It comes back, and the next time it is even worse.

So - originally I wrote of a flu that was stomach, lung, and neural. We saw this in Nepal. We saw it in  the Ukraine.

Some of us are partially immune. Some have no immunity at all.  Does the Flu shot stop it.  Go over the numbers again and wonder - for the new Flu- is it working? If it is -why is it widespread over half the United States?

Many of my friends are wiped out and can hardly talk their voice is so shot. 

What is no comfort is some medical person saying - oh it's just the Flu.

When you get this and you feel worse than you have for decades - you won't be saying...

it's just the Flu.

Med

This is exactly what my whole family had in Oct here in NZ (and not just us but most of our school and friends - even some who had been flu jabbed). I really felt like I was dying at times, and for all of us it dragged on and on. We all started to feel better and then had a relapse for a day or so, then felt better for a few days then another relapse, each relapse less bad than the last. 

Loved reading your posts! I can relate to so much of what you guys have said. I do have those times where I think, Ok... maybe I'm feeling better this evening... only to wake up the next morning & it all starts all over again.

Day 10 today. Last night I felt half way decent, yay me! Then this morning all that crud... coughing, hacking stuff up, blowing stuff out it was all back with a vengeance. I get most people are more congested in the mornings but this went on for about 3 hours. Took a Sudafed & my inhaler & just tried to wait it out. Finally things settled down a bit.

Now about the ears. Today both ears are completely clogged & today it's the right ones turn to hurt like a you know what. My DH is an electrician so he was on a service call today, we've got about 1 inch of snow & single digit temps so he was helping get the juice running for a family of 3. So I had to wait till evening to go to the clinic. Saw a NP I'd never seen before. She says left ear is cloudy & right ear had a terrible ear infection. So we had already discussed my history, that I'd just been there last Thursday & that Dr had put me on the double zpack, so this NP wants me to finish the zpack and she prescribes Ciprofloxacn drops for this ear infection. I told her I was confused was it an external ear infection or a ruptured ear drum, she says no, it's internal Otis media and the ear drum is intact. I neglected to ask what my mind is now thinking... how are drops going to treat an internal infection, will they absorb through the ear drum??? The leaflet info that came with says USED TO TREAT EYE INFECTIONS. And at first I was like WHAT! Then I read the attached label on the box & it says "These are eye drops but are safe for use in the ear. I'm really questioning her now, so I take to the internet looking for some link to this med & "internal" not external ear infections and I can't find anything... anything remotely close is for the external variety, like swimmers ear & the like...

My primary care doc is in this practice but is so hard to get an apt, up to two weeks that most of the time I just use the walk in part of the practice, but you never know it's like rolling the dice sometimes you get a good one & sometimes you get one that leaves you wasting time & money & needing a repeat visit. I'm not sure which way this will go. I don't look forward to having to put these drops in four times a day! and feel the left ear is still vulnerable. I also neglected to ask her why not stop the zpack and switch to a different ORAL antibiotic. But I plan on calling the office tomorrow asking for MY dr's nurse explaining things & asking for her to check with him that this is indeed the right course of action. This ear is really painful. So I'm not going to wait out the 5 to 7 days as the box says & then wonder why it didn't work.

Heck maybe I'm wrong maybe these drops will do the trick but I'm skeptical.

Day 10....... like Med said, little to now sleep at this point. Like jacksdad said, coughing sometimes till I feel like I might keel over. Like several of you have pointed out, definitely THE STRANGEST sickness I've ever had. Does NOT play by the rules. You know how colds go.. usually sore throat, then a day or two later snot then maybe a cough... it peaks then slowly each day you feel better. That is NOT this!

Forgot to mention: Day 4 of fever, had one at the clinic & this morning. My stomach is really tired of all these pills.

Jen147,

One time my head was completely congested for 2 solid weeks. It was miserable. Sometimes we get really, really sick at times and there isn't much we can do about it except get lots of rest and wait it out.

I've been given ear drops a couple of times for an inner ear infection, so go ahead and use your drops.

My doctor once told me to use saline spray in my nose every single waking hour in order to prevent a sinus infection. So, you might want to use that too. Saline spray doesn't hurt anything.

Lastly, if you can't see your regular doctor within 1 or 2 days when you are really sick, then fire him/her and get a new doctor. Doctors aren't God even though some of them are arrogant enough to think they are. There are good and bad doctors just like there are good and bad auto mechanics. If they can't fix the problem, manage their time properly, or make time fitting you in when you are sick, then move on to someone who can!

My husband once fired the emergency room doctor when I went in with appendicitis on Christmas Day. This doctor was on call and didn't show up for 8.5 hours after repeated calls from the ER staff. When he finally showed up he gave me a gynecological exam and told me that there was nothing wrong with me. At 2:00 AM my husband told him that he was fired! This arrogant bastard told my husband; "you can't fire me!" My husband replied; "I just did." "You touch my wife again and you'll know what fired means!" Afterwards the ER staff gave my husband a standing ovation. Then I was placed with the chief of surgery and my appendix was removed early the next morning. This is a true story that happened at "Doctor's Hospital" on the east side of Washington D.C. on 12/25/87. Remember those marginal students in high school? Well, doctors are no different.

KiwiMuM, Apple Cider Vinegar 5 or 6 drops in the affected ear g 6 hrs prn is better than anything that I have seen on Otitis Externa.----- I am just not allowed to tell any one. Johnray1

Ok so i treat kids and adults homeopathically with ear infections and flu type illnesses. What yiu have describesd for the initial stage sounds like Gelsemium would help. Does anyone have access to a homeopath anywhere around you? Also, to clear out the ears a tissue salt mix of kali muriaticum and Ferrum phos works wonders to clear the goop from the ear canal. It has to be put into a drink bottle and sipped on every day for at least 2 weeks and it will help clear lung mucous and inflammation as well. The Gelsemium should be taken in a 200c potency 3 times a day as soon as possible and it can help prevent the other symptoms progressing. All the best, my mother was sick with this flu in Oz a few months ago and it was awful.
Wishing you well

Thanks Albert, I'm hanging in there. Noticed the changes earlier today. The only problems I'm having is the option to post pics using the "Insert Image" is not working for me, got some buttons missing. And from my view some the characters in the posts are replaced with diamonds with a question mark in it. Characters like commas etc.

Going to try to work over there some today feel like there's a lot of deaths that need to be reported.

Thanks for everything you do as well!