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<p>Thanks Marian for a solid LOL in the middle of a flu discussion! Laughter is the best medicine after all! </p>
<p>Good advice to prepare in advance by having water. I’m sending up a care package with “flu kit” things like a thermometer.</p>
<p>A very close friend who is a nurse practitioner at a college told me that the test for H1N1 has a 60% false negative rate. Since there are no other active strains of flu at the moment, if a student presents with flu symptoms, testing is really that helpful and it is safe to assume that it is swine flu. </p>
<p>I am putting together a preemptive package as well- vitamins, hand sanitizer, powdered gatorade, etc. just in case it hits my DD or her roommate. Didn’t think of thermometer. THNX Lauren. I am so happy that D and her suitemate have their own bedroom and share a common room. At least if one is sick they are not both in the same small cramped room on bunk beds.</p>
<p>I think nysmile has great advice.</p>
<p>My S came home last year with flu-like symptoms, and I got him to my MDs office immediately. They were not prepared with flu test, so did the strep test & started antibiotics. Impossible for S to drink with throat so imflamed. MD came by on NY’s eve to check on him, and S started to vomit blood. Straight to ER, several IV fluids, too late for Tamiflu to be effective. Now, every doc I know is prepared for quick diagnosis, and the kids don’t wait so long to speak up about symptoms.</p>
<p>By now, roommates would certainly try to help out. Having Gatorade on hand would be of help, as well as Sorbets. I wish everyone could stock up on Tamiflu.</p>
<p>Sending everyone best wishes to navigate thru this season</p>
<p>Most places aren’t testing for H1N1 anymore, because it has to be sent off to be tested. Where I work, we are using nasopharyngeal swabs to test people for influenza strain A or B (a test that can be run in our on-site lab), and if it comes back A positive, it can be assumed to be H1N1, because it’s too early in the season to see other A strains.</p>
<p>Hope everyone’s kids stay healthy :)</p>
<p>I am delighted to inform all that Safeway delivers for a reasonable fee and within a 2 or 4 hour fee. I set up an account for her and shopped, she went in to the account and edited, and real food and her favorite clear liquids are on the way! Not “being there” but much better than “nothing I can do”!</p>
<p>bookworm: our son hemorrhaged from his tonsils last semester. It was terrible. His throat was so raw and inflammed that his tonsils hemorrhaged. He was visiting the health center on a daily basis but he had to rush himself there in the evening when he found himself spitting up glasses full of blood. The doctor in the health center brought him across the street to the hospital (it’s a level 2 trauma center and directly across the street from the campus). She filled out all of the forms in the ER, talked with the triage nurse and insisted that he be seen by an ENT in addition to the standard ER doctor. We had everyone here at home on standby to watch our dog and cover for husband in case we had to hop in the car and head up to him. ENT said that it looked worse than it was because of the bleeding and continued him on a very high dose of antibiotics. It was a very rough semester for him and it took him all summer to gain back his strength. Everything was out of wack–digestive system was messed up, color was off, and he was very weak. I pray that he gets through this semester relatively healthy. Staying hydrated was very difficult for him at the time. Anything/everything hurt his throat and he had to rely on others to bring him fluids. He didn’t have direct access to liquids—no soda/juice/water machines in the dorm and too sick to make the walk to buy liquids.</p>
<pre><code> He called to tell us that a friend had to leave campus because she came down with H1N1. He’s still kind of traumatized by how sick he got last semester and now he’s worried about exposure to H1N1.
Schmoomcgoo: excellent idea about having liquids delivered to her!! You’re a good Mom 
</code></pre>
<p>I have advised son to “bathe in Purel!” and to regularly use sanitizing wipes on door knobs and faucet handles…but as I write this, it dawns on me that the sanitizing wipes only kill bacteria-not viruses-unless they have bleach. Is that correct?</p>
<p>“As worried as you would be if she had, say, food intoxication:”</p>
<p>What the heck is “food intoxication”?</p>
<p>Feel better, everyone!</p>
<p>Schmoo, sympathies here–I have two college boys very far away. They both have bad colds (not flu) and even that, given the heightened awareness, bugs me. You are taking a very sensible approach; your daughter sounds smart, and I hope she feels better soon!</p>
<p>My daughter attends UC Berkeley and has been sick for three days, high fever, chills and aches. This has been going around the dorm. Much better today after taking tamiflu.</p>
<p>Best wishes for everyone’s children to recover quickly and stay healthy. Watch for the congestion and make sure your child is being monitored by medical staff. My brother has been in the hospital for over a week with H1N1 which lead to pneumonia. He’s improving but is still extremely weak with no appetite. After he was hospitalized, I heard on the news that many of those suffering are being hit with a 1-2 punch of H1N1 and a secondary bacterial infection.</p>
<p>My D contracted H1N1 when she was home between summer and fall semesters. It started with a bad cough and congestion, then the next day she got a fever – 102. I took her right in to the doctor, they did the nasal swab, and when it came back positive for influenza A, doc said 95% chance it was H1N1, especially since D had received the seasonal flu vaccine.</p>
<p>They took a chest X-ray because of the horrible cough, and found no sign of pneumonia, but started her on heavy antibiotics anyway, along with Tamiflu. She was still sick for about 5 days. I was just very glad that she got sick at home, because if she had been at school I know she wouldn’t have gone to the doctor as quickly.</p>
<p>NYSmile - Your poor son! I’d be terrified too in his position–and bathing in Mafool’s Purel! I don’t know if it works on viruses but Dr. uncle who works in ICU says it’s one of the precautions his hospital is taking–also, he has to shave his beard and a pregnant co-worker will not be allowed to work near suspected H1N1 cases. Maybe the Purel only helps with secondary infections? Whatever…worthwhile.</p>
<p>Nodebtmom, that coincides with DD’s timeframe if she had it before she knew it, as Tang suggested. Any chance your daughter went through sorority rush last week?</p>
<p>Yeah, what IS “food intoxication”?</p>
<p>Thanks for the sympathy. I wish she’d call…it’s 10am there.</p>
<p>Oh, the one thing I meant to mention is that S and H were sick with the exact same symptoms as me but had little or very low grade at the most fever. You can have a serious case without fever - in Mexico, about 1/3 of the most serious cases screened involved no fever at all to start with - they ran into complications with secondary infections.</p>
<p>She called and she’s still as miserable as she was yesterday, but not worse. I guess they must have given her the albuterol to help clear her lungs in order to, hopefully, avoid the secondary infection that seems so common.</p>
<p>I think that the Purel and other alcohol based sanitizers do kill viruses.</p>
<p>I was wondering about the “anti-bacterial wipes.” I seem to recall that they kill bacteria but not viruses.</p>
<p>Lysol spray kills viruses, including Influenza A and B. Purell’s website doesn’t specifically mention killing viruses. From its website:</p>
<p>Is PURELL® Instant Hand Sanitizer active against Swine Flu?
While no hand sanitizer is indicated to prevent Swine Flu, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one of the ways you can help protect yourself from Swine Flu is by practicing good hand hygiene. Specific CDC recommendations include keeping your hands clean by washing with soap and water, or using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer when soap and water may not be available, such as when you’re on the go.</p>
<p>If you don’t get a high fever how do you know you are seriously sick? I still have this stupid sore throat thing going on, it’s been about a week now, but still no other symptoms and no fever-- I am not even taking advil anymore and STILL no fever and the sore throat is mild and not becoming worse. The sore throat is annoying but I feel fine otherwise, it’s not hindering me in any way. Even if it got worse or if I got a cough too it wouldn’t be more than a bother. How do you know when you are really sick without a fever?</p>
<p>Twisted – I wonder if you might be allergic to something there, in your room maybe? My D had something similar happen when she went to Scotland for a semester. Recurring sore throats, especially when she first got up in the morning. She kept trying to hydrate a lot, but she kept getting them, even though she didn’t really seem sick.</p>