<p>It’s good to remember that the 1918 H1N1 flu pandemic killed 30-50 million people worldwide, including 675,000 Americans. 25 percent of the American population came down with the flu and in one year the average life expectancy in the US dropped by 12 percent. Young, healthy adults were among the group hardest hit.</p>
<p>The 1918-19 Flu Pandemic was during World War I, and more American soldiers died of the flu than in combat. And scientists think if that flu came back, it would be pretty much just as deadly.</p>
<p>Whoa!!! Scary!!</p>
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<p>I read a terrifying book about that pandemic. Those with the strongest, heartiest immune systems were the hardest hit, which is in complete contrast with how it usually goes. The virus mutated into a really virulent one. The healthy immune systems recognized this and a “cytokine storm” would ensue, really quickly. In a nutshell, the body would send all these cells to the lungs to combat the virus, but it would just end up overwhelming the lungs with fluid.</p>
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<p><a href=“http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/feb2007/niaid-28.htm[/url]”>http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/feb2007/niaid-28.htm</a></p>
<p>I just sent 2 adult patients with the flu to the ER. Both looked horrible and were having trouble breathing. People need to take this strain seriously. It is making people very sick.</p>
<p>thanks teriwtt! I think the main issue with my friend is that he lived alone and did not have anyone to help him get to the doctor. He was still alive when he was found, but it was too late. He died at the hospital. </p>
<p>Everyone should regularly check in on their friends who live alone. Even if they aren’t sick. Sometimes these things move quickly.</p>
<p>Our 18 year old son is on an TNF-blocker drug, which causes his immune system to be compromised. Doctors have always been adamant that he and our family get a flu shot each year. We were worried about the move into dorms but have been fortunate that at least his roommates both got the flu vaccine. </p>
<p>For those considering the shingle vaccine, I say do it even if you have to pay!! I am returning to work tomorrow after 3 weeks of Shingles. Mine started on my scalp and then down onto my forehead, cheek and into my cornea. I started in anti- viral drugs early and I think it helped a bit. The burning ache behind the rash- and especially in my eye-was very painful to the point that it woke me up all night. I was beyond tired for 2 weeks and still need a nap each day. I still have the scabs and they still burn/itch all the time. I am still alternating ibuprofen/Tylenol to control the pain. In other words, you don’t want this!!! My insurance doesn’t cover the shot until age 60, so I just figured I would wait til then. I am paying for the shot next month as Shingles can reoccur.</p>
<p>I’m paranoid that I’ll get the flu. </p>
<p>I’m sanitizing like crazy and am being more diligent in my hand washing. Last thing I need now is to get sick. The other day I felt a medium lump on the left side of neck. It was extremely tender. My eyes were bugging me as well. I feel as if I have caught something but that it will be awhile until I come down with something.</p>
<p>I hope the flu vaccine we had provides some protection. That’s pretty much the best we can, while avoiding the sick folks WHEN WE CAN.</p>
<p>Re: shingles</p>
<p>Be careful when you are contagious, as described at [CDC</a> - Shingles Transmission - Herpes Zoster](<a href=“http://www.cdc.gov/shingles/about/transmission.html]CDC”>Cause and Transmission | CDC) . Persons who have had neither chicken pox nor the vaccine against chicken pox may get chicken pox from someone who has shingles.</p>
<p>Shingles is not always extremely painful; in some cases it can just be a mildly itchy rash that someone may not realize is shingles.</p>
<p>Both D & H had separate incidences of shingles & ID’d the three spots on my body as likely shingles. We were fortunate to get the dermatologist to confirm it on a Sunday so I could start the anti-viral immediately and NEVER develop a full-on case. I got myself and H shingles vaccine–his was covered, since he is over 60. Mine was not covered but less than $200 from Costco. Perhaps we will pay for D to get a shingles vaccine too, even tho she is needle-phobic. Will ask her docs about this.</p>
<p>[Vaccines:</a> VPD-VAC/Shingles/Shingles (Herpes zoster) Vaccination: What You Need to Know](<a href=“http://www.cdc.gov/Vaccines/vpd-vac/shingles/vacc-need-know.htm]Vaccines:”>http://www.cdc.gov/Vaccines/vpd-vac/shingles/vacc-need-know.htm) says that the shingles vaccine is approved for use in people 50 and older, and recommended for those 60 and older.</p>
<p>My oldest is so needle phobic.
I can only think it resulted from her getting constant heel sticks as an infant to check her blood gas, because her umbilical catheter had collapsed an artery.
She faints when she gets a TB test.
:(</p>
<p>Yea, insurer refused to pay it tho I’m over 50 and under 60; appealed and still lost. Guess I won’t have to debate about D getting one. She thanks you! :)</p>
<p>Has your D had the cpox vaccine (I’m sorry, I haven’t kept up with the thread)? If so, she is protected against shingles. People who have had one (or better, two) doses of Varivax have a statistically significantly lessened risk of shingles. It is not clear yet if the oldest children who got the cpox vaccine (now about twenty) will need to get Zostavax when they are that age.</p>
<p>H, D, S, and I all had chickenpox, so none of us had the vaccine. All of us except S got separate incidences of shingles. H & D had to resort to narcotic pain relievers to get ANY relief from the pain and to be able to sleep. It was HORRIBLE and the pain lasted months for each of them. D was a young teen and ended up with scarring on her legs from it, but was SO miserable. H mostly had it on his head and scalp. He was in a LOT of pain.</p>
<p>HIMom- I didn’t even think about Costco for the a Shingles vac. I will have to check it out-thanks for the tip!</p>
<p>I started the anti-viral before the rash broke out and still got a pretty bad case but it would probably have been worse if I had not taken the meds. While Shingles in itself is not contagious, I was contagious for CP until my rash scabbed over. That’s Ok because I felt so sick that I didn’t leave the house except to go to the Dr. anyway.</p>
<p>One thing I need to wrap my mind around is that the flu vaccine doesn’t even prevent the flu. </p>
<p>[Some</a> states hit harder by flu this year - CNN.com](<a href=“http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/17/health/cdc-flu-activity/]Some”>http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/17/health/cdc-flu-activity/)</p>
<p>Yeah, in our state, Costco had the lowest price for shingles vaccine of any place I could find. It also had the vaccine in stock! </p>
<p>Flu vaccine only protects against the strains in the vaccine but is supposed to make you have a milder case of flu even if you get a different strain. H & I get the flu vaccine, our kids can’t because it GUARANTEES they will get very sick from the vaccine. They prefer to take their chances of avoiding it instead–their docs agree!</p>
<p>There is clearly a lot of disinfo regarding the flu and vaccines. We hear of non-vaccinated not getting sick, the vaccinated getting sick, etc. Even one apparent doctor in this thread made mention of the staff at his hospital getting sick despite vaccination. This is common and always has been.</p>
<p>I specifically want to mention the “Spanish Flu” of 100 years ago because the thought of another outbreak like that makes people fearful. There is a clarification made in a recent Oxford medical journal about what people were actually dying of during the Spanish Flu. Generally speaking, it was not the flu.</p>
<p>The flu at that time was an initial infection, and the people that died were typically dying from secondary infections of pneumonia. But it gets stranger than that. One of the characteristics of the Spanish Flu is that doctors reported people’s getting symptoms in the morning and dying by sunset. From the flu! Wait, from the flu? That can’t be. And it’s not.</p>
<p>In the article, the researcher lays out how salicylic acid (aspirin) was being very broadly consumed in large quantities, partly due to Bayer’s institutional promotion of it and advertising, and partly due to the unknown toxic limit. One of the side effects of taking salicylic acid is <strong>upper-respiratory bacterial growth</strong>, ergo, pneumonia. But the only thing people knew is that some aspirin made them feel better. What about some more?</p>
<p>There were, however, doctors who were aware of the danger, doctors who were especially and typically hesitant to throw drugs at the sick. The success of these doctors at leading patients back to good health was noted by other doctors and nurses and I think we ought to look into their methods even today.</p>
<p>The moral of the story is, if the Spanish Flu shows up again, don’t be so quick to throw drugs at it.</p>
<p>Regarding vaccines generally, the statistics I’ve found do not show any correlation between vaccines and the eradication of disease. The major deadly diseases were declining with the growing availability of clean water and proper sewage disposal. Take note that there is no vaccine to take credit for the decline in Scarlet Fever. It’s also worth noting that the anti-vaccine “movement” is as old as the first vaccine, invented in 1798, and the banners and pitchforks have been raised by doctors, nurses, and townsfolk alike ever since. Is there really no good argument against vaccines?</p>
<p>Not to mention the ingredients of some of these vaccines: cow pus, human fetal tissue from <strong>intentionally aborted</strong> babies, monkey fetal tissue, etc. It’s a witch’s brew.</p>
<p>I don’t want to say that the deaths in various places are insignificant, but when we hear these reports on the news, we need to dig for the whole story. Such-and-such infant dies of pertussis, but they don’t mention that his brother had a cough AND was probably vaccinated and that they pumped massive quantities of antibiotics into the baby (actual incident). Antibiotics are poisonous, but the story was used to demonize the unvaccinated. This agenda doesn’t seem strange to any of you?</p>
<p>All told, if you trust the vaccines, OK, but it’s unreasonable to expect everybody to have the same trust. Just the same, one doctor does, and another doesn’t. There obviously isn’t a simple 1-2-3 argument to convince even many professionals.</p>