Most of the flu cases will never be known

[SoCalDem]

Think of all the people who are laid off, have no insurance, have maybe $60 in their checking account (if they even still have an account), have had their credit cards shut down, and they are also achy, sniffly and feeling like crap.

Do they trot down to the ER and wait with other sick people for several hours, only to get a prescription for meds they cannot afford?... the ER visit might actually expose them to more serious illnesses..

Most will hunker down, sleep a lot, drink fluids and just tough it out.. did they HAVE the swine flu?..maybe..maybe not.. Until there's a home-kit that can be mailed in somewhere fro FREE testing, the CDC will never know how many people got the flu..

The secondary infections might mean a trip to the ER at a later stage, if someone gets a bad case of it, but without a lot of expensive testing.. or an autopsy..who knows if it was the flu..

A doctor friend once told me that people would be devastated if they knew that those cases of the 24-hr "bugs" that people always talk about are actually probably salmonella or some other food poisoning..

This flu thing is probably similar.. most people will feel like shit, but will recover , never knowing what they had..or how many people they infected ..

[Mari333]

1. Makes me wonder if a lot of people have HAD the swine flu already

I know last month I caught something from my grandson, and it was upper respiratory, nausea, vomitting, diarrhea, the whole bit. I was sick for days on end. havent been that sick since I was a kid and I never catch the flu. I dont even remember the last time I had the flu. My middle son also caught it from me and it was a nightmare of used kleenex, clorox bleaching of the commode, and popsicles that wouldnt stay down. Horrible. Never ever had anything like it.
but yes, you are correct. I didnt see a doc, dont have insurance to cover it.

[Skidmore]

4. Yes, I agree. And I have posted this at least twice before.

My husband and I both got sick in early March and we had upper respiratory problems, sinus infections, high fevers, he had pneumonia, I had bronchitis, stomach problems, almost uncontrollable coughing fits, weakness, no appetite for days on end, and fatigue. He literally took to his bed for 3 days, something he never does and was much sicker than was I and it scared me. We both underwent multiple courses of antibiotics. I had not been that sick with a flue in many years. I am convinced that this flu has been around and not recognized as such. My husband, in fact, kept commenting on how many people he knew were ill with this nasty stuff and there was nothing in the news about it locally or otherwise. Certainly it wasn't just our little neck of the woods affected.

[FedUpWithIt All]

2. I am pretty much going through this right now.

I have had a bug for a few days. I am a stay at home. At first, right when this flu story was breaking, it felt like a simple cold just starting. Next day i had a 100-101 fever and body aches, headache...Last night i started to feel a chest thing coming on. Achy and niggling cough feeling but no cough yet. Commented to my SO how it was odd that the cough was drier.

This leaves me with now. I am coughing a lot, woke me up in fact. Chest hurts. I have no medical. I do not want to go to the Dr.. I do not want to spend the money. I do not want to find a sitter. I do not want to possibly get sicker. x(

Grrr....

I may end up going in today if my chest begins to feel worse.

[aquart]

3. Well, you have a flu. The pain and fever give it away.

I hope you have it really mild and it gives you tons of piggy antibodies.

Please let us know how it goes. Especially how it goes. It'll help the rest of us to know what to expect.

[FedUpWithIt All]

5. I would bet a lot that it could not possibly be that flu.

It is just irritating to be in this position. That going on and feeling like this. x(

:hi:

[SoCalDem]

6. Could tourists have taken the flu TO Mexico..like in Feb

and March..and since their health care is even worse than ours, it's running rampant there, and boomeranging back on the subsequent waves of tourists??

[Oak2004]

7. re: "24-hr 'bugs'"

I tell people the truth about those gut bugs all the time: that they're divided between the Norwalk/caliciform/"Norwalk-like" viruses, which may or may not have been foodborne illnesses, and the various food poisoning bugs like salmonella and listeria, which were definitely the result of bad food handling. I point out they could nearly eliminate stomach bugs just by following strict food handling procedures, and by washing hands often enough to keep the Norwalks at bay.

Usually I get stared at as if I'm from Mars. Food poisoning in their minds is a rare and dangerous disease, transmitted only through restaurants, and never a common disease often caused by misguided behaviors like leaving home-cooked food out to cool before putting it in the refrigerator (btw, if the reader is one of the many who think this is the right way to handle hot foods in order to avoid wrecking their refrigerator, http://www.fsis.usda.gov/factsheets/refrigeration_&_food_safety/index.asp#5">no, it's not. It was probably a bad idea to throw hot food into an icebox, but modern refrigerators are designed to cool piping hot food).

Oh well. I guess I'll go on with my "bizarre ideas", and continue to enjoy that my last stomach bug was so long ago I can't even remember it.

[SoCalDem]

9. Letting food cool first, invites bacteria

I quit "cooking for leftovers" a lot time ago.. If we don;t eat it at the meal, I freeze what's left or thow it out.. I got tired of throwing yukky looking stuff in containers, that had been left in the frigde too long :rofl:

No leftover in the world is worth a belly-ache or worse:)

[bluebellbaby]

8. And With This "Unknown" Anything Can be "Suspected"

This part bothers me....we just won't know the truth...and I hate to say it..."they" than can inflate the numbers to keep us scared...

Your points are right on...last year I had a tooth infected and went to the dentist and I couldn't afford the damn antibiotics...I survived...boy the pain...the pain!