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Is this swine flu?

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lynbrown | 22:04 Mon 03rd Aug 2009 | Body & Soul
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For a couple of days now I have felt shivery, my arms and legs are achey and I have had a bad headache . However, I have not sneezed and am not off my food.

Could it be swine flu?
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yes, ring the helpline, they will take your details and ask you loads of questions about your medical history and probably tell you to stay in for 5-7 days and then give you a long code for 10 tamiflu tablets to collect from a local supplier, but it is a limited distribution and so be prepared to have to get someone to travel a fair distance, you will need them to take an id for you and an id for them
the number is free 08001513513.
however, i was told afterwards by my GP that because ringing the helpline from your own volition and getting the code for the medicine means you can't then get it from your local pharmacy, if you are likely to have trouble finding someone to travel on your behalf, you are better ringing your GP and asking your local pharmacy to home deliver.

You have the same symptoms I had and they diagnosed me as showing early signs of swine flu

I felt like every muscle and joint from my neck to the back of my knees had been battered, my headache lasted 4 days and went frm above my eyes roght over the top opf my head and I kept feeling hot then cold.
oh and I had no cold, sore throat or cough. I know that I had some form of flu because now i am better I can really tell just how bad I was. i also think i had started feeling unwell at least 4 days before my GP told me to ring the helpline. I have had noi side effects from the tablets because I made sure i tool them with food as per the instructions
Most importantly are you running a temperature? If not then you probably don't have it. Like dot.haukes, my brother had swine flu and never coughed or sneezed once! if in any doubt call the helpline.
Could it be swine flu?...........it could be.

Is it swine flu?.....no idea and neither has anyone else.

What do I do?......treat it as swine flu.
The interesting feature of �swine �flu� is that the only people that have been properly diagnosed with it are the (very) small number of people that have unfortunately died from it.

Various strains of influenza are prevalent all the time. Last year some 3,000 people in the UK died from �flu. Around 30 at most have died from this current outbreak. Unless the patient is particularly vulnerable (very young, very old, or with other underlying health problems) no medical treatment is usually necessary. The symptoms of all of the strains are almost identical: the patient feels absolutely dreadful, is sweating hot and freezing cold at the same time, every bone and joint aches, there is difficulty lifting one�s head off a pillow.

As I understand it �swine �flu� is no different. I have had proper �flu (as opposed to �man �flu� � a heavy cold) three times. On each occasion I thought I was going to die, on each occasion at its height I wish I had died, and on each occasion I made a startling recovery after spending about 72 hours in bed without troubling the medics.

This latest epidemic has come at an unusual time of year, but its effects are much the same and very few people will really need medical assistance. And indeed medical assistance is the last thing they are going to get with the current arrangements. But this is a government that must be seen to be doing something. Hence the adverts in the daily papers, the useless help lines and web sites, and the difficult to obtain, ineffective medication that is prescribed over the phone by medically untrained operatives (some of whom have asked patients questions such as �what county is Essex in?�).

Unlike the advice given by KRUSTY I should say if in doubt go to bed (you'll be there anyway if you really have 'flu), take two aspirins or ibuprofen and only if you see a serious deterioration or no improvement in a couple of days consult your GP.
New Judge

There are differences between H1N1 and the common seasonal varieties.

1) It may evoke mild symptoms unlike the "I want to die" symptoms of the seasonal variety.
2) It has a predilection for babies, children and young adults, less than does the common variety.
3) Swine flu has a propensity to spread at a greater rate than the ordinary flu.
4) At the moment, there is no properly tested vaccine for the H1N1 unlike the common flu virus.

You are quite correct however, as this is a nightmare for the epidemiologist, as the routine cases are never confirmed.

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