- Joined
- Jun 27, 2003
...I think the swine flu panic has reached a new low...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v163/LadyHosta/image002.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v163/LadyHosta/image002.jpg
When too much hype becomes a bad thing...
- Thread starter Tonichelle
- Start date
- Joined
- Jul 28, 2003
Now that is funny. Yes, I agree. Also all the hand washing and hand washing stations have become all most too much. How much hand washing can one do in a day without becoming OCD?
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2003
- Country
-
Well, I just met a woman (a nurse at Yale New Haven hospital) whose brother in law nearly died from swine flu.
He was a 42 year old plumber with a 10K deductible hospitalization insurance plan. Consequently when he spiked an 104 F fever, he did not go to the hospital for several days-when he did he was in the ICU for over 2 weeks. He is finally off the ventilator, but he is making no sense when he speaks and they haven't seen him move either his arms or legs yet.
This is nothing to be foolish about, kids.
Plus it is you guys, not the old and the young, that seem to be getting the worst cases.
So please be careful?
He was a 42 year old plumber with a 10K deductible hospitalization insurance plan. Consequently when he spiked an 104 F fever, he did not go to the hospital for several days-when he did he was in the ICU for over 2 weeks. He is finally off the ventilator, but he is making no sense when he speaks and they haven't seen him move either his arms or legs yet.
This is nothing to be foolish about, kids.
Plus it is you guys, not the old and the young, that seem to be getting the worst cases.
So please be careful?
- Joined
- Mar 25, 2008
A friend sent me that pic a few weeks ago. It's funny.
Doris, I agree that symptoms should be taken seriously, and I'm fortunate to live in a country with a good health system - I would never wait to see my doctor in such circumstances as you described. I'm pretty sure that for most people, H1N1 is no more serious than other types of flu (real flu, not a winter cold). It's a very unpleasant exprience, but not a life-threatening one for most. Obviously, in some cases it's much more dangerous than that, though.
But I must say I think the media are overplaying it and creating panic and hysteria. It seems like every H1N1 death I've read about starts off with a dramatic headline, only to note (somewhere around paragraph 4 or 5) that the person who sadly passed away actually had all sorts of underlying medical conditions, but since H1N1 can't be ruled out, it was classified a swine flu death.
To me, even more than the dangers of swine flu, your story illustrates the dangers of the US health system. But that's a topic for a different thread.
- Joined
- May 26, 2009
What's interesting about the swine flu coverage is that the swine flu is being made out to be so much more dangerous than regular flu. Regular flu kills many people during a flu season and that fact is being totally overlooked. All flus are dangerous, not just swine.
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2003
it's been noted up here than ANYONE who has the flu automatically gets diagnosed with the SWINE flu, because the symptoms are similar.
Being a kid - yes, I know I'm not immune to getting it. I'm not hiding under my bed either.
Being a kid - yes, I know I'm not immune to getting it. I'm not hiding under my bed either.
- Joined
- Jul 28, 2003
- Country
-
This pic was going around our office....saying if you look like this ----stay home!!!!.
http://members.cox.net/dee4707/Swine%20Flu%20pic.jpg
I agree Doris, I think it should be taken seriously. My brother had lymphoma cancer and is at great risk. I am very concerned about his health.
http://members.cox.net/dee4707/Swine%20Flu%20pic.jpg
I agree Doris, I think it should be taken seriously. My brother had lymphoma cancer and is at great risk. I am very concerned about his health.
- Joined
- Jan 6, 2007
That's a really good point. I worked on ICU for quite some time, and there were often cases of patients, not only old people, who got terribly sick because of the flu, or some rather harmless pneumonia bug. It can happen to everyone, every time and not just because of the Swine Flu.
The most important thing about the Swine Flu is that the officials meticulously monitor the pattern, so that a possible, more lethal, mutation of the virus will be recognised quickly in order to take appropriate and drastic measures immediately.
The picture is fun by the way.
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2003
OK folks, if you get sick and have symptoms, take care of it. Remember that flu that was so bad about 3 years ago? Well, my son got it and now is not able to work. Partly his fault. He was having heart attacks and his wife took him to the emergency room and he was having an attack then and he wouldn't let them admit him. He has had a pacemaker and some other thing put in and can now do light work for about an hour. Now, I do admit he had (has) some other devastating problems. Fibromyalgia, arthritis and asthma (really bad) and is in terrible pain all the time. Anyway, don't put it off. Take care of yourself. Another friend, (as far as I know, he was fairly heathy) about the same age died from it. My son is now 57. My husband was the same way and when he had symptoms of colon cancer wouldn't go to the Dr. and when he did, it was too late and he really suffered. So, if any of you have any signs at all (rectal bleeding), get it checked out. If you have diabetes it's even more serious. We all have diabetes. The whole family. Please take care of yourselves.
- Joined
- Mar 25, 2008
Grgranny, I don't know when this happened, but I am very sorry for your loss and for the pain you went through.
I have to jump in on this one. Colorectal cancer can be prevented in some cases, and is often treatable if diagnosed in time. If anyone here has a family history of this type of cancer, or is over the age of 50, do NOT wait for obvious symptoms. Talk to your doctor and make sure you get the tests you need.
- Joined
- Jul 28, 2003
I big problems with any flu epidemic in America is that our system so actively discourages people from staying home to heal. When something starts going around the office, you're pretty much guaranteed to get it sooner or later. Things are especially dire for parents because they know that if they take sick days now, they may not have them for when their kids get sick; when a child is in day care or school, this means that the only option is to send a sick child to a "sick child care", the very existence of which is truly twisted.
Anyway, I do agree that the media originally hyped it out of control. Now, it's that same media that raises questions about the safety of the swine flu vaccine. Can we please have just enough hype to make sure everyone gets vaccinated, please?
Anyway, I do agree that the media originally hyped it out of control. Now, it's that same media that raises questions about the safety of the swine flu vaccine. Can we please have just enough hype to make sure everyone gets vaccinated, please?
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2003
not in my office, one supervisor is so paranoid about the swine flu that someone with an INFECTION that was NOT a cold/flu was not allowed in the office for a MONTH, even with a doctor's note saying she could not possibly infect anyone with what she'd be diagnosed with.
I'm pretty sure this same idiotic super (she tried to have me fired when we started having to do layoffs because her friend was on the layoff list, woman's a total whack job) thinks you can get cancer by touching someone with it. She's caused a lot of problems lately in the office. I'd take someone with the flu over her any day
(she freaked out the other day when we had an office party and some of the decorations were stars. In one part of the office a star had been put up upside down. This part of the office just happened to have a person who practices the Wiccan religion in it and the supervisor started screaming for all to hear that it was against the religion policy, that Christians couldn't put up scriptures so Wiccans should not be allowed to put up pagan symbols. Never mind in order for it to be a pagan symbol it has to have a circle around it AND be upsidedown. She also freaks out if you sit in her chair. She's a control freak and for whatever reason we keep her around - and I have a feeling it's because they're afraid she'd be one of those that pulls the race card in a lawsuit.)
I'm pretty sure this same idiotic super (she tried to have me fired when we started having to do layoffs because her friend was on the layoff list, woman's a total whack job) thinks you can get cancer by touching someone with it. She's caused a lot of problems lately in the office. I'd take someone with the flu over her any day
(she freaked out the other day when we had an office party and some of the decorations were stars. In one part of the office a star had been put up upside down. This part of the office just happened to have a person who practices the Wiccan religion in it and the supervisor started screaming for all to hear that it was against the religion policy, that Christians couldn't put up scriptures so Wiccans should not be allowed to put up pagan symbols. Never mind in order for it to be a pagan symbol it has to have a circle around it AND be upsidedown. She also freaks out if you sit in her chair. She's a control freak and for whatever reason we keep her around - and I have a feeling it's because they're afraid she'd be one of those that pulls the race card in a lawsuit.)
- Joined
- Jan 6, 2007
You (GGranny, Ptichka) are of course right, every time you got the feeling that something is really off and wrong with your health, go to the doctor. What is most important I think is that people know their bodies pretty well. If you know yourself, your body - it's often easier to differentiate between a more dangerous illness and a common problem. E.g. if you are not someone who often has stomach / gut problems - it's quite sensible to go to the doctor then. But if you have had a nervous and sensitive stomach for nearly all your life, you can deal with it on your own.
I think that's a problem with lots of young and middle-aged men, in the hospital I always had the feeling that they often power through ever weakness and minor illness they have - and therefore don't really know their own bodies and only go to the doctor when it's too late.
I think that's a problem with lots of young and middle-aged men, in the hospital I always had the feeling that they often power through ever weakness and minor illness they have - and therefore don't really know their own bodies and only go to the doctor when it's too late.
- Joined
- May 26, 2009
Or you can do what one of the attorneys at my job does, bring the kid to work and expect your co-workers to watch him while you go to court.
- Joined
- Jul 28, 2003
Ouch! I don't think I'd keep my job for long if I did that! Oh, and I'm very old-fashioned is that I believe that sick kids should stay at home as much as possible until they get better.
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2003
I agree. To heck with my job, or a stupid school policy.
- Joined
- Jul 28, 2003
Unfortunately, I can't say "heck with my job". Most moms cannot. That's what I'm saying - we end up going to work when we're sick just so we can save up those sick days to stay with our kids when they need it more...
Similar threads
