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GMC Forum _ CHILL OUT _ Opinions On Mexican/swine Flu.

Posted by: Jesse Nov 1 2009, 08:31 PM

smile.gif
Just want to know what your opinions are on the swine/mexican flu.
Has or is anyone experienced/experiencing it?

At the moment I'm quite ill. Not saying it's mexician flu, but it sure ain't pretty.

Posted by: Frederik Nov 1 2009, 08:48 PM

Its nothing to be afraid of, just like a normal flu, only a tad worse.
dangerous only to people with weakend immune system. i have had it, didnt get ill though..

-Frederik

Posted by: Jesse Nov 1 2009, 08:54 PM

QUOTE (Frederik @ Nov 1 2009, 08:48 PM) *
Its nothing to be afraid of, just like a normal flu, only a tad worse.
dangerous only to people with weakend immune system. i have had it, didnt get ill though..

-Frederik


Ya... that's kinda the problem.
Got astma tongue.gif

Posted by: Frederik Nov 1 2009, 09:00 PM

biggrin.gif im not sure that counts. but consult ur doctor if u are nervous. rest and drink a lot of water - or cola if u have trouble eating.

Posted by: Jesse Nov 1 2009, 09:17 PM

counts:D

Posted by: NoSkill Nov 1 2009, 09:30 PM

Significantly more problematic if you have a chronic respiratory condition. Otherwise, it's just a subtype of Influenza A. It responds very well to antivirals such as Tamiflu, if you are placed on it within about 24 hours. Not as good within 48 and useless after that. In Canada, we aren't testing for it anymore because nasal swabs are coming up as H1N1 almost every time. Too expensive to keep testing for it now. Most people that are becoming sick with it, aren't getting TOO sick...relatively. The mortality rate, in Canada, is on par with every other years seasonal flu. The problem is the demographic has shifted to quite a bit younger. But this is only Canadian statistics. I'm not current with Europe. We're up to our elbows in our own problem.

On a personal note, I tested positive for H1N1 last week. I was sick for about 3 days, but was on Tamiflu within 10 hours. I'm a healthcare worker, so I had access to testing and treatment faster as it would pose a greater risk to the general public if I was exposing people.

Again, most that are getting sick, are not getting THAT sick, but my concern is your asthma. This becomes a significant risk factor and would warrant consultation with your family doctor.

Cheers!

Posted by: superize Nov 1 2009, 09:30 PM

I dont think it is that dangerous that a lot of people think.....

Now i want to know haw many of the guys here plan to get vaccinated(Hope you know what i mean).... I had a chanse to take it last week but decided not to


Posted by: Jesse Nov 1 2009, 09:34 PM

superize, sorry but thats just stupid.
Why ignore a pre-med?

Im getting vaccinated (more change-group due to asthma) the 12th I believe.

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Nov 1 2009, 09:46 PM

It's suposed that we had a pandemic in Argentina in June/July of this year and this city was on panic. I didn't have the flu and I haven't anyu close relative or friend that had it.
However the danger of this illness is the same than a normal flu. A normal flu as well as the swine flue can be dangerous if the person is too old, if he is diabetic or if he has repiratoty problems...
If you sudenly have much fever and if it doesn't decrease you have to go to the doctor. You don't have to worry but you have to consult him because you must take any kind of special medicine.

So don't worry, and go to the doctor. wink.gif



Posted by: kaznie_NL Nov 1 2009, 09:49 PM

QUOTE (Jesse @ Nov 1 2009, 09:34 PM) *
superize, sorry but thats just stupid.

You are some amazingly refined laugh.gif

I'm not sure whether I'd take it either... Don't know why, I kinda feel like my body should be able to overwin it itself... or something like that xD

\m/

Posted by: Jesse Nov 1 2009, 09:53 PM

QUOTE (kaznie_NL @ Nov 1 2009, 09:49 PM) *
You are some amazingly refined laugh.gif

I'm not sure whether I'd take it either... Don't know why, I kinda feel like my body should be able to overwin it itself... or something like that xD

\m/


What the heck?
That is one of the most STUPIDest things ever,
If you get cancer, you don't say, o no, dont treat it, I feel like my body should be able to overwin itself. FACE IT, YOU'RE BODY CANT OVERWIN EVERYTHING, IT NEEDS HELP EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE!


On a rant here, I think it's just ridiculous

Posted by: sted Nov 1 2009, 09:57 PM

dont take the chance with asthma mate, my sister suffers with it and it looks scary when she has an asthma attack! Go see/phone your doctor, even if they tell you to go away they are at least aware of your predicament.

Posted by: Matt23 Nov 1 2009, 09:59 PM

Sure I think it's potential serious. But not at the moment. The media have exaggerated it into much more than it actually is, because atm, or at least a couple of months ago in the UK, regular flu was killing more people than swine flu, yet swine flu was all over the news. And as people have said it's nearly just people with other health problems that are dying with swine flu. Also, a lot of people who think they may have had it might not have. In England there is a number you can phone and if you list three or more symptoms of swine flu, they'll send you some tami-flu. Swabs were sent out to a random selection of people who phoned the number. Of the people that sent them back only 8% had swine flu.

I think the main worry is that there's a chance that it could come in contact with a bird-flu virus and mutate to something that's as serious as bird-flu, and fast spreading as swine-flu.

Overall though I don't really think it's anything to worry about especially atm.

Posted by: rokchik Nov 1 2009, 10:05 PM

I am just getting over pneumonia so even though I am not "normally" in a high risk group, because I am recovering from an illness I'm at a higher risk of catching the flu... normal or pork flavoured wink.gif

Personally I think the media has taken things a bit far with the "Hysteria". I think if people research the illness, ask questions and consult their doctors they can make an informed decision on how to proceed and what is best for them. Is getting vaccinated a good idea, sure... but many have different views about vaccination and their benefits/ or lack there of. I know when I got the flu shot last year I got so sick I ended up in the hospital for a week.

Gonna us my mod voice here..

Please refrain from calling others opinions stupid... everyone is entitled to their opinion. Whether you agree to it or not

As for the swine flu vaccine, I will get the shot. Not because I'm afraid of getting swine flu but mostly because I work in a job where I see many people a day and therefore a) kinda have a bigger chance of being exposed b ) run the risk also of passing an illness on to others.

Best advice anyone can give is if you have concerns consult your doctor.

Posted by: Jesse Nov 1 2009, 10:07 PM

Ok:)

Nice that you are all fast responding!
I'm gonna go back to bed now, I'll keep ya updated tomorrow morning since I wont go to school.

QUOTE (rokchik @ Nov 1 2009, 10:05 PM) *
I am just getting over pneumonia so even though I am not "normally" in a high risk group, because I am recovering from an illness I'm at a higher risk of catching the flu... normal or pork flavoured wink.gif

Personally I think the media has taken things a bit far with the "Hysteria". I think if people research the illness, ask questions and consult their doctors they can make an informed decision on how to proceed and what is best for them. Is getting vaccinated a good idea, sure... but many have different views about vaccination and their benefits/ or lack there of. I know when I got the flu shot last year I got so sick I ended up in the hospital for a week.

Gonna us my mod voice here..

Please refrain from calling others opinions stupid... everyone is entitled to their opinion. Whether you agree to it or not

As for the swine flu vaccine, I will get the shot. Not because I'm afraid of getting swine flu but mostly because I work in a job where I see many people a day and therefore a) kinda have a bigger chance of being exposed cool.gif run the risk also of passing an illness on to others.

Best advice anyone can give is if you have concerns consult your doctor.


Saw that one coming:P

It just didn't make sense to me.

Posted by: Caelumamittendum Nov 1 2009, 10:15 PM

QUOTE (Jesse @ Nov 1 2009, 10:07 PM) *
Ok:)

Nice that you are all fast responding!
I'm gonna go back to bed now, I'll keep ya updated tomorrow morning since I wont go to school.



Saw that one coming:P

It just didn't make sense to me.


I for one has no plan of getting a vaccine either. Media hype, in my opinion. More people die from regular influenza than from H1N1, I've heard experts say.

Posted by: rokchik Nov 1 2009, 10:17 PM

QUOTE (Jesse @ Nov 1 2009, 06:07 PM) *
Saw that one coming:P

It just didn't make sense to me.


I can understand that, but maybe you could have phrased it a little different smile.gif

I hope you do feel better Jesse. I was on my butt for about 2 weeks and am still not 100% so I know how you feel. Get plenty of rest and drink lots of fluids.

Posted by: MickeM Nov 1 2009, 11:09 PM

I'm in a risc group, had my shot 2 weeks ago and I'm thankful for it and I feel safe on my own account.

Vaccination isn't just to protect yourself, for the majority of the population it's to protect the ones classed as risc groups who can get really ill and die from this flu. If you as a healthy citizen is vaccinated you won't contribute to spreading the flu and maybe in the long run save someone elses life.


Jesse, yes astma puts you in the risc group.

Posted by: Pedja Simovic Nov 1 2009, 11:21 PM

It is starting to spread quickly in Serbia now, I just hope they will resolve it soon somehow...

Posted by: NoSkill Nov 1 2009, 11:28 PM

People. Please inform yourselves beyond the information provided on a guitar forum. I beg you. Personal opinions aside, they are only opinions and not that of learned individuals in the fields of public health and immunology. If you don't want to get immunized, it's your own personal choice.

As a physician, I support each individual’s right to freedom of choice in health care and full disclosure of information related to such a choice. When discussing health promotion and wellness, I encourage patients and my friends at GMC, to responsibly evaluate and consider all information including benefits and potential risks related to any proposed intervention including vaccination.

This should be done from reliable sources which exclude our friends on websites and the news media. You need to ask these questions of the department of public health in YOUR country. Each countries risk and their plan is individual to that country. Please inform yourself. Having opinions based on desire rhetoric from websites or idle conversation with other untrained individuals may put you in harms way.

A public service message from another guitar player.

Cheers!

Posted by: rokchik Nov 1 2009, 11:38 PM

QUOTE (NoSkill @ Nov 1 2009, 07:28 PM) *
People. Please inform yourselves beyond the information provided on a guitar forum. I beg you. Personal opinions aside, they are only opinions and not that of learned individuals in the fields of public health and immunology. If you don't want to get immunized, it's your own personal choice.

As a physician, I support each individual’s right to freedom of choice in health care and full disclosure of information related to such a choice. When discussing health promotion and wellness, I encourage patients and my friends at GMC, to responsibly evaluate and consider all information including benefits and potential risks related to any proposed intervention including vaccination.

This should be done from reliable sources which exclude our friends on websites and the news media. You need to ask these questions of the department of public health in YOUR country. Each countries risk and their plan is individual to that country. Please inform yourself. Having opinions based on desire rhetoric from websites or idle conversation with other untrained individuals may put you in harms way.

A public service message from another guitar player.

Cheers!


Well said smile.gif And excellent advice.

Posted by: MickeM Nov 1 2009, 11:43 PM

QUOTE (NoSkill @ Nov 1 2009, 11:28 PM) *
This should be done from reliable sources which exclude our friends on websites and the news media. You need to ask these questions of the department of public health in YOUR country.

Well said! I decided to not be my own doctor, since I'm not qualified, and listen to the right authorities for guidance. Sometimes we have to accept others know better and we listen to them wink.gif

Posted by: THE BUZZARD Nov 1 2009, 11:57 PM

I just got my regular flu & H1N1 shot on wednesday, i don,t know if this is normal or not but it feels like i was hit in the arm with a hammer! because i can,t believe how much my arm still hurts days later, is the pain of the shot suppose to last this long???? it,s difinitely affecting my practicing....oh by the way the needle is about 2 inches long, wasn,t expecting that...lol

Posted by: NoSkill Nov 2 2009, 12:00 AM

Buzz, some public health nurses wield the syringe like Zoro and his sword. No worries. Most people will get a little sore...some more than others.

Posted by: THE BUZZARD Nov 2 2009, 12:07 AM

TRUE THAT!!! no skill.....maybe because all my tats, she might of thought my skin was like leather..LOL wink.gif

Posted by: kahall Nov 2 2009, 01:26 AM

I can get my flu shots for free through wife's employer. I have never bothered getting them though and I am a freak about getting sick...germs are freaky.
I just don't get the flu that often and work at home so my exposure to the virus is limited. A cold will put me down for a week or more but the flu I recover from nicely.

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Nov 2 2009, 02:38 AM

Dunno, it's happening here with delay (same as everything else cool.gif ). There are "only" 150 people contaminated, and although there is a hype going on, I will keep myself extra careful in the next 6 months or so. Vaccination crossed my mind, but I'm not planning to go for one, unless it is needed. I keep myself safe whenever I can, and hope the virus will go around me and all the people I know.

Posted by: Canis Nov 2 2009, 09:36 AM

I'm keeping myself alert, and taking procotions like washing my hands often etc.. But I'm not taking the vaccine either. Part because I'm not in any riskgroups, and part because I think this entire thing is overhyped. More people die of heat stroke in Norway in a year then swine flu tongue.gif

Posted by: MickeM Nov 2 2009, 10:21 AM

If everyone took the vaccine the spreading would come to a full stop. In my belife the vaccine isn't mainly to protect the ones with perfect health but to protect the risk groups, if also all the healthy ones took the shot it would stop from spreading to the risk groups aswell.

I don't think this angle ever was in the media; that one should take the shot to protect others and not themselves first. The angle has been to scare people into taking it, which makes folks evaluate "do I really need it for my own sake?". But probably led to a lot more taking the vaccine compared to saying "99% of the population don't need it t protect their own health, but please take the vaccine anyway to protect the risk groups". Who's number one? Appealing to peoples sympathy for others would probably lead to noone except the risk groups themselves taking the vaccine. Sad as it seems. dry.gif


From that aspect NOT taking the vaccine concidering one doesn't need it is very selfish. Maybe not realizing the purpose is to fully stop the spread and not protect you and you and you and you who already are healthy but to stop it from spreading to risk groups where there for a fact will be causalties. People will die.
I urge everyone who can think further than to themselves to take the vaccine. Because if everyone does that, we can later pat our backs and say we helped saving XX or XXX number of people from dying. It takes 30-60 minutes until you're back home again, I think it's worth it.


I usually don't tell people what they should do but in this case I see too many who has interpreted it as being all about themselves and their own health when it's actually about stopping the spread from reaching others. Everyone that doesn't take the shot gives the flu free passage.
Put yourselves aside and take the vaccine for the sake of the people who for a fact will die if they get the flu, even if you don't know them! smile.gif

Posted by: audiopaal Nov 2 2009, 11:35 AM

Many different opinions here smile.gif

I'm not in a risk group either, and that means I'll have to wait 4-8 weeks before I can get the vaccine.
Yes, in Norway you'll have to wait quite a bit before us "normal" are getting the shot.
And the vaccine can take up to 3 weeks before you get the full effect, which means that I might not be fully vaccinated for 11 weeks..
That's a long time, and I probably won't take the shot when I get the option to do so.
No one knows what side effects it may have. Maybe there's no side effects now, but what about in a year?
It's not been tested properly, so no one can really say what's gonna happen to certain people.

This is my opinion, and no doctor can take that away from me smile.gif

That said, if I see everyone dropping like flies in 4-8 weeks I might reconsider smile.gif

Posted by: Jesse Nov 2 2009, 11:57 AM

Mick's got a good point, so take them flu shots!

Posted by: Jesse Nov 3 2009, 11:57 AM

smile.gif Went to doc for my cough (it's stuck:P) and got antibiotics:)

Posted by: Jesse Nov 3 2009, 05:26 PM

:X Took one of the capsules and got really sick (like, throwing up sick) then I rememberd I might've had these before once with the same nasty effect (even worse:P)
Effect should've wore off by now, got new ones, that my body can take.

Posted by: Vasilije Vukmirovic Nov 3 2009, 11:06 PM

That flu is so popular in Serbia, all day long they are talking about it on all TV stations...
I saw women wearing a mask yesterday!

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Nov 4 2009, 01:11 AM

I posted in my previous post that I don't plan to take the vaccine unless it is needed. I'm just reading about other posts in more detail, and just want to state that I will take a vaccine as soon as I can, cause now I realize it will help preventing the virus spreading. Didn't think of it that way, and sorry if I offended anyone.
The thing is that I do not know when will this happen, or even if my country has vaccines for everybody. I will phone the medical center tomorrow and ask them.

Posted by: Marcus Siepen Nov 8 2009, 11:29 AM

In my opinion it is nothing but a huge media hype to make people spend money on medicines... I talked to my doctor about it, and he absolutely agrees...

Posted by: Marek Rojewski Nov 8 2009, 01:10 PM

I also think about it as a hype, and a planed action aimed at earning money on it. Besides telling everybody to take the vaccine to save the minority is as good idea, as saying the minority to take the vaccine by themselves, and save themselves in the process, or am I missing something? (if so, please tell me what)

Posted by: tonymiro Nov 8 2009, 01:37 PM

Like MickeM I have a notified COPD (I'm alpha 1 -ATD). So two possible reasons for healthy people to take Tamiflu:

1 - Flu viruses mutate in the wild. If only those with a major COPD and thus particularly susceptible to them took Tamiflu then it would serve little purpose due to the mutation. Others would contract and spread it and the virus would mutate leaving those with a COPD who took Tamiflu back at square one. (TBH we'll be back at square one soon anyway as another strain of flu will rear up and start of some new pandemic anyway. All we're doing is dealing with one strain here...)

2 - Just taking the Tamiflu will leave me out of it for several weeks whilst my immune system tries to recover. Just taking Tamiflu will actually reduce my life expectancy because of how it affects my COPD. For those with normal health that isn't the case. You take it, maybe feel a bit off colour for a day or so then you're back to normal.

Having said all that I do agree that there is a degree of hype surrounding Swine Flu and the makers of Tamiflu will make quite a lot of money. Also as said elsewhere on this thread there are lots of strains of flu which also result in major issues that haven't received anything like as much attention - perhaps because they haven't been given such a media friendly and emotive pseudonym as 'swine flu'.

Will I take Tamiflu? Not yet. I live in a small rural community and as such there is little exposure risk. If the risk increases I may change my mind but it isn't there yet. Am I being selfish and or naive - see reason 2: at the moment there is more risk to my health and long term consequence in taking it then not doing so.

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