<p>So far I'm not completely freaking out yet, but DD called from Berkeley (2000 miles away) with bad headache, cough, nasal congestion, a sore chest ("hurts really bad from coughing"), wheezing, aches all over, back hurts and fever of 100.1 (not sure if that's medicated). She says the first dose of Sudafed seemed to help--that was Sunday--but did nothing for her last night (Monday)--she couldn't sleep. She did not have a fever until this morning. She knows a girl who was sent home with H1N1, but hasn't seen her for two weeks. She's calling Berkeley's "Advice Nurse" and will call me back.</p>
<p>As worried as you would be if she had, say, food intoxication: acute, but not worth a medical flyback.</p>
<p>FWIW: Sudafed always keeps me up at night. It’s great for the day, but interferes with my sleep.</p>
<p>I imagine that the phone nurses at Berkely have been trained to handle the flu-related calls they are receiving. I recently received a letter from son’s university that outlined the strategies that are in place to handle flu this season. One of the recommendations was for students who are ill to call the health center and review their symptoms with a professional there who would then recommend next steps.</p>
<p>Of course you are concerned. Urge her to follow through on the recommendations from the nurse and to call again if her symptoms change or get worse.</p>
<p>My D (26–post college) had those symptoms with the exception of the fever. PCP informed D that she had all of the symptoms of H1N1 (especially the cough) and that she should stay home for the next 5 days and drink lots of clear fluids. Told her not to come to the office (nothing they could do) and not to go to work. The PCP’s office also sent a notice to D’s employer saying it was likely that D had H1N1. D followed the PCP’s advice and within a week, she was fine. Her DH didn’t have any symptoms. D thinks she might have contracted the flu while traveling a few weeks earlier. She called the PCP several times while home and found out that once you have H1N1 symptoms, it’s too late for anything like Tamiflu. If your D does have the flu, I hope it’s just a mild case.</p>
<p>Don’t be too worried. H1N1 is just like a strong flu. Your D is bound to get sick at some point during her college years. I hope she doesn’t have it, or if she does, has a mild case – but don’t let it freak you out.</p>
<p>When my son was sick last semester, we found that the worst part of being sick on campus was trying to stay hydrated and fed. Before she gets any sicker, suggest that she go somewhere to stock up on water bottles and gatorade. Also, stock up on some simple snacks that can hold her over in case she is too sick to go to the dining hall—rice cakes, peanut butter, cereal, jello, yogurt. Hopefully, she has a well stocked first aid kit–stocked with cold medicine, motrin, tylenol, vitamins. If she’s too ill to leave her room (or if she is being quarantined), tell her not to be shy about asking her roommate or a friend to run to the store for her and get some supplies for her (make a list). If she can’t find anyone to get supplies for her, have her call the health center and explain to them that she needs drinks to remain hydrated and some food to keep her strength up. They may be able to have someone from the dining hall leave supplies outside her dorm room door.</p>
<p>Chances are that your daughter will come through this just fine, but this doesn’t make being a long distance parent any easier. Good luck and I hope she feels better soon.</p>
<p>So sorry to hear this! I think as the weeks go by, this will happen to too many of us: our kids will call from school to say they have H1N1. </p>
<p>Keep an eye on the cough. If the cough isn’t better after four days or so - a cough that “makes you cough so much that your chest hurts”? - that is how we knew the one time that my son got pneumonia.</p>
<p>She will be just fine, but a little care package from mom might be a nice distraction.</p>
<p>And please remind her NOT to take Tylenol at the same time as any of those other cold/cough medicines that contain acetaminephine (sp?)</p>
<p>My daughter is 7000 miles away. She called yesterday in the morning to tell me she’s been sick for 2 days with congestion, basic icky feeling in her throat, slight fever. Of course I thought it could be swine flu and I was upset she didn’t tell me earlier. This morning(her evening) she emailed me to let know her appetite is back and her nose feels better. I don’t think she has the swine flu, but I just panic. I also read the symptom includes upset stomach, vomiting.</p>
<p>^very good point about the acetaminophen. Be careful of this because many times cold medicines have this in their dosage. Adding additional acetaminophen via pills is not a good idea. If the fever is high, you can take a dose of ibuprofen (motrin) on top of a dose of a acetaminophen. The biggest problem son had was staying hydrated because his dorm did not have soda/water/drink coin machines and he was too weak to leave his room. He had to rely on a friend to go out and get him some fluids.</p>
<p>NYSmile, I’d sure feel better if she lived in a dorm and not four blocks from campus. But, in general, I’d say what everyone has said if it was someone else’s kid, so I know it makes sense not to freak out…it’s “just” the flu, even if it is H1N1 (and we don’t know if it is).</p>
<p>When she talked to the nurse DD was able to tell her when the fever started and because she had no fever last night they are going to give her Tamiflu, thinking it may be early enough. They are also going to test her, so we’ll know if it’s H1N1. They got her right in–has an appt. right now. They’ll send her away with a face mask and I told her to stop at Walgreen’s and get clear sodas and soup–Top Ramen, even!–on her way home. The nurse did say it’ll last two weeks and the chest pain and coughing is usually in the second week (and she’s got both already), so maybe it’s just a miserable cold??? Please???</p>
<p>Thanks so much for the reality check…I’m not freaking, but I so wish I could help her. She only has one roommate and she’s not around much; one friend has already offered to bring anything she needs and I’m sure her boyfriend will too…only how long until he’s as bad as she is–he’s coughing already.</p>
<p>She should go get checked out. Unless H1N1 is rampant don’t assume that it is flu. My daughter had a bad sinus infection - sick 3 days and the health center was closed as they were at a conference. She had most of the symptoms of the flu. On the 4th day I told her to go to the walkin clinic - the strep and flu swabs were negative but 24 hrs on the Amoxil had her feeling like a new woman.
There is a nasal swab test for flu. Either way - there it’s good to get checked out.</p>
<p>I just sent my ds purel, I doubt he will use it, but they arent dispensing it on campus. I dont think his university has been doing enough to educate students about this flu. I would try to get Tamiflu is flu-like symptoms progressed more than 24 hours. The college has offered tuition insurance. I laughed at it last year, but this year immediately signed up, just as a precaution…</p>
<p>Yeah, she grew up on alternating doses of ibuprofen and acetaminophen 'cuz she OD’ed on Tylenol once as a toddler (and we had to take her to the hospital and make her drink charcoal–left a bottle of chewables on the changing table and found it empty after her nap!) so we’ve long been aware of the danger. She knows to only treat the symptoms (not necessarily clusters of symptoms) and account for the acetaminophen–but I’ll remind her anyway. :D</p>
<p>Schmoo - my son had H1N1 (probably - some of the other kids were tested, though he wasn’t). I know these things can affect people very differently, but this flu was very mild for him. The adults who got it had a harder time, but for the teenagers it seemed to last about 3 days. He had fever up to about 102 but controllable by Tylenol; headache; sore throat; and cough. The cough is still with him three weeks later, but he was lounging by the pool three days after the flu started. (We don’t have a pool - he was away from home when he got it.) His dad was with him but didn’t get sick, though everyone else who drove in their car did.</p>
<p>It would be nice if your daughter had someone who can fetch her things when she needs them - including videos, books, food, and drinks - so she will be able to stay at home and rest.</p>
<p>Well, she called me after her appointment at the health center and they decided she was too advanced to give her the Tamiflu and said she definitely has the flu. They did not test for H1N1 because the treatment would be the same either way. (She talked to someone different on the phone…so, one would have tested, the other wouldn’t?) They did test her for strep because she had strep twice last semester–no word on that-- and they gave her a prescription for Albuterol to help with the chest congestion and to help her breathe. That’s a new one for her. They said she probably “missed” the earlier fever (she understood them to mean her temp went up and down and was down when she checked last night?), since she did have chills, and said she can return to class after the fever’s been gone (unmedicated) for 24 hours.</p>
<p>Calreader, I’m hoping you’re in the Bay area and that DD gets your DS’s variety!</p>
<p>Schmoo, we live in the Bay Area, but my son got the flu at a sports tournament from someone who brought it from another country. I wonder how many strains of this thing there are by now. Like you, I was hoping my son could get tested and also get Tamiflu, but the local medical people said there wasn’t much point even though he had been sick for less than 24 hours. So his quick recovery was just based on Tylenol, lots of fluids, and the allure of a pool and tropical beach downstairs.</p>
<p>Getting food and drinks while ill may be easier for those who live off-campus than those who live on-campus.</p>
<p>Because flu is common on my daughter’s campus right now, I e-mailed her to suggest that she get more cash from the ATM than usual, just in case she and her two apartment-mates catch it simultaneously and need to pay for take-out food that’s delivered because they’re too sick to walk to anywhere where they could get something to eat.</p>
<p>I got an e-mail back informing me that all the local food places that deliver take debit and credit cards for everything, even the tip. My daughter was courteous enough not to put a “Duh” in the e-mail, but I think one was in her mind when she wrote it.</p>
<p>I’m as sure as I can be without having been tested that most of my family had H1N1 last week. As it turns out S had been exposed to someone who had a confirmed case , just before he came down with symptoms. It went through the family with the sole exception of one of my kids who, as coincidence would have it, lived on a hall where there were several confirmed cases last spring. Now I wonder if she had a mild case back then (she was sick with similar symptoms ) and has antibodies. Anyway, I was completely wiped out - had migraine like headaches, cough, pressure and constriction in the chest (like an elephant standing there) , sore throat, some nausea, fever and chills, swollen glands, body aches and pains everywhere and extreme fatigue - could hardly move for three days. I also lost 7 pounds in one week - not a diet I recommend. After three days I was able to function, but some symptoms, namely the fatigue and the cough and congestion, lingered. Have also had some annoying vertigo. I’m still not 100% but finally getting there. You do have to watch the cough carefully. It was also unlike any illness I’d ever had in the way it took hold. It started more or less all of a sudden (with maybe a bit of fatigue and sore throat on and off beforehand) and after three days of the worst of it I turned a big corner ,almost from one moment to the next. I’m glad your D has been seen - hopefully she will be feeling much better soon. My doctor handled it the same way - palliative treatment, even though I called within 24 hours of onset.</p>
<p>Roshke, your symptoms sound exactly like DD’s including the nausea and swollen glands (which is another reason they swabbed for strep). Oh wait…no vertigo…I think you edited that.</p>
<p>Marian, good point about the deliveries being easier off campus. I think I’ll look into grocery delivery even.</p>