Or that's what we think anyway. He had a virus the end of July-fever, sore throat, cough, fatigue, bodyaches, headache, etc... It started on a Monday morning and it lasted about 4-5 days but his ears started hurting so he went to the doctor the following Monday and had ear infections in both ears. The doctor at the time said it sounds like it was influenza and H1N1 was the only one going around. Now he's in college in California and the school has been fighting H1N1 for a few weeks now. It's a small, private college and everyone is around everyone all the time. Profs have been sick as well as tons of students. I think at this time over half have either had it or have it as I write this. There are about 350-400 students. Friday afternoon he called me and told me he thinks he's getting sick. Later that night he had 101.7 fever and was just exhausted. So he took Advil and slept a ton. He's still not feeling well today but he said it isn't that bad. He said he actually felt worse with the July illness. He went to the Halloween dance Saturday night-along with tons of other sick kids! Heck, they're all exposed anyway, especially from the kids that work in the cafeteria. So I wonder what's going on-did he have the swine flu in July and it is just different enough on the West coast that he has it again? Very perplexing. His dad is a pharmacologist and also thought his July illness was influenza. But what he has now has to be because kids have tested positive with the actual H1N1 test. Very strange. I hope he gets better quickly especially since he's so far away. I'm in Iowa.

Most likely he didn't have swine flu in July. There are other viruses that can mimic flu symptoms. Even strep throat (a bacterial infection) can come on just like the flu, and is notorious for causing ear infections.

The other possibility is that one of the illnesses was a seasonal flu and the other H1N1. I'd say it would be more likely that he had H1N1 in July and seasonal now (unless he was vaccinated over 2 weeks ago) Just because other kids have tested positive for H1N1 doesn't mean that's what everyone has. It's about the right time for the first wave of seasonal flu to start to hit.

It's less likely that he had seasonal in July, though not impossible. Though like I said, I think the first illness was probably something else. Heck even this illness could be something else. College campuses are breeding grounds for all kinds of ick, worse than kindergarten...lol.

Hope he feels better soon.

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Once the game is over, the king and the pawn go back in the same box.

This is what makes the flu so frustrating for health care workers... and why the people of the US are freaking out...
Your post says your son has H1N1 AGAIN... However neither time has he been tested or has he tested positive for it...
Everyone is jumping on the SWINE FLU bandwagon... I bet half the people that say they have or had it really didnt... Just an assumption because people around them had it...
Your son has the flu... Plain and simple until a test proves otherwise...

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Be careful what you wish for.....

There's the possibility of a virus instead of either variety of the flu. Even with testing, there are a lot of false negatives. The flu swab is done through the nose and has to reach all the way to the back of the throat. If there's not crocodile tears running down your face by the time it's over, the swab most likely wasn't done correctly.

Hugs to you both...hope your son feels better.
My son too lives on campus at school, and all kinds of bugs are going around!
Can't wait to get him home for Turkey Day!

Yes, I agree with you. My neighbor's son (who is 7), called me last week and said her son had the swine flu AGAIN! I said, 'well, he must not have had it the first time." She said she took him to the doctor both times and the doctor said he had swine flu. (However, the doctor did not test). Just because he has a high fever and is coughing and congestive, automatically health care says it's swine flu. I don't think he's had it either time, IMO. Sounds like a bad cold or just regular old bronchitis.
Is this a scare tactic? And if so, on behalf of whom??

I think it's a "jump on the bandwagon" tactic. Everyone wants to be labeled somehow. I wrote earlier that a normally sane, rational co-worker was almost exhuberant about his 13 yr old daughter "having" swine flu. No testing, no isolation, etc. Turns out she didn't have it and that was announced with much less fanfare.

Everyone is trying to fit in, and the swine flu is no exception. Why say it's flu when you can say it's swine flu? I've heard several rumors about how someone "knows" someone who has / had it. PUHLEEEZE !

dl

Women test positive for pregnancy all the time and yet that doesn't mean those around them are pregnant.

I truly do not understand your deciding "But what he has now has to be because kids have tested positive with the actual H1N1 test" . Guess it saves a little money on the office visit when you can decide he has it because everybody else does. Wow.

dl

Even before "swine flu" hit, I know tons of people that every time they get sick, say they have "the flu" even when they didn't seem that sick. Some people will get a mild case of the flu, but I would bet most of these illness were another virus.

I'll run into people at wallyworld and they'll tell me they have the flu (if it were true, why are you out spreading it to everyone else?) or call me on the phone and tell me they have they flu, then go on to ramble about everything else going on in their lives.

The last time I had influenza was 12 years ago. Me, dh and our 10 month old son got it. We all stayed in bed together for about a week. Going shopping was out of the question, the only time one of us got up was to use the bathroom, get a drink, or throw away a dirty diaper. I don't think either of us showered or ate that whole time. We finally had to get up when our son started having seizures. I had to call my mom to come take us to the hospital (other than the doctor that was the only phone call made during that time). There was no way either of us could drive, we got dizzy just standing up. Running around telling everyone we had "the flu" was out of the question.

Now granted not everyone has that severe of a case, but true influenza makes most people extremely ill and unable to function all that much.

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Once the game is over, the king and the pawn go back in the same box.

Wow, some posters on here assume I am an idiot or extremely uneducated. Geez. I've had influenza. I know the symptoms. First round he went to the doctor who definitely thought it was influenza. So maybe we are all ignorant here? lol It's pretty darn easy to differentiate between a cold, etc... and actual influenza. Influenza hits you like a brick and knocks you down. That's what he has had both times. He is at a small, private, fairly isolated college so it makes sense that it would spread like wildfire. Not everyone runs to the doctor to get a test when you know what it probably is. In fact, the medical community DOES NOT want everyone running to the doctor to get tested. Most doctors usually know what is circulating in the local community anyway.

Sounds like you got hit with type "A' that year. Sounds like the one I had back in 1989.....AWFUL!!!

Exactly. I have had the flu twice in my life. The first time my daughter was hospitalized for 4 days with it and I got it from her. I was 6 months pregnant and miserable.

Then I know I had it a few years ago. Once you have had the flu you just kind of know when you have it again. The flu is truly miserable. Like you said other than laying in bed and getting up to use the bathroom, you can't do anything else.

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Insanity laughs under pressure we're cracking

He probably did have some type of the flu at least one of those times, but it would be extremely unlikely that he had H1N1 twice.

A few years ago both my kids and dh came down with strep, they all had positive strep tests. That Friday night I got hit with a sudden high fever and sore throat, before long I had tons of white puss bubbles on my throat. I had two options, go to the ER or see if I had any refills on antibiotics (the doctor I had at the time always wrote one refill for every prescription he gave me. I'm not sure why but I think it was because I had trouble swallowing pills and half of them would often end up wasted and I'd need another bottle.) So Saturday I called the pharmacy and they said I had a refill of z-pack, so I had that filled (normally I would not take antibiotics without seeing a doctor first but it was pretty obvious what was wrong) I still made an appointment Monday and saw the nurse practitioner. When she examined me she said it was probably the flu, because that's what was going around. I told her that everyone in the house had strep. She couldn't do a strep test because I was already on antibiotics but she said if it was strep I should already be better (it was just less than 48 hours since starting antibiotics) so it must be the flu. She finally did a nasal swab and it was negative. Still she insisted I had the flu and should stop taking the antibiotics

The kicker... the week before my mom got sick and went to see her, she had a positive strep test and was put on antibiotics, four days later she was still sick so she went back in. The nurse told her she needed to give the meds a chance to work. But apparently had I had strep I should have been better in less than 2 days.

My point being, I think whenever there's an outbreak of the flu, some health care professionals are just as guilty of classify all "flu-like" symptoms as the flu, unless proven otherwise.

Like I said in my earlier post, if it was influenza both those times, it's most likely that one of them was probably the seasonal flu.

One or both of them could have also been one of the many viral or bacterial infections that can cause "flu-like" symptoms. Like I also said in my earlier post even though H1N1 is going around the campus, it almost certain that several other illnesses are too.....it's college (aka...a germ factory)

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Once the game is over, the king and the pawn go back in the same box.

It's certainly not bacterial. We'll never know for sure. I'm just going on what the doctor said after she examined him in July and by what's going on now at his campus. The last thing the local doctors want is every person coming into the office with influenza symptoms just to get it "verified". I had to go to my doc a few weeks ago for a swollen ankle and I got put in a "non-flu" waiting room. When I took him in for his July exam we had to wait in a different area and come in through the back door. They are doing the best they can to stop the spread. Both of his bouts with whatever he has(d) are not the usual cold type illnesses. They are more severe than the usual viruses that circulate.

as I have posted....I had a flu-like virus approx 2 years ago.
I was tested, and had a "flu-like" virus, but not the actual flu.

It came on in a matter of hours. At 430 PM I just felt kind of tired and "icky", but 9 PM I was sick, sick, sick: 102 temp, sore throat, pounding head, etc. This virus lasted nearly 10 days. There was days I didn't pray to get better, I just prayed to die! That's how bad I felt....

When we moved here, 6 years ago--all the men in the family came down w/ the flu (tested positive)--my poor oldest had strep and double ear infections as well.

Without testing, no one knows what they've got. Any MD who didn't or wouldn't test, and just blithely diagnosed anything more serious than the cold type illness, I would NOT return to! That's sloppy medicine that only makes the situation worse for the most part. I'd be damned if I would be satisfied with "oh, it's probaby the flu, but we don't want to test..."

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Mental that one, I'm telling you. ---Ron Weasley, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"

Actually, you can get a false negative on a flu test. Maybe that's what happened to you when you were so ill. It's always possible. Even testing does not guarantee it. My ds did get an influenza swab in July but since it was already 7 days into the virus it tested negative which, having researched, is what usually happens that late in the illness. The doctor said it was probably too late for it to test positive but tested anyway and she said all the symptoms matched influenza and that's probably what he had.

Not trying to be harsh just saying that people really should not label it SWINE flu if they are not getting tested...

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Be careful what you wish for.....

Not that I am a medical expert but I can't see how you can get the "swine" flu twice. Doesn't the disease leave antibodies in you so that you are immune to it. That is why they are saying people over 60 are not being given the shot...they have enough anti-bodies in them from years of sickness that they should be protected....either that or there isn't enough vaccine ... so they don't care if we die off...having lived our long and happy lives LOL

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Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent.

E. Roosevelt

Does it really matter what virus anyone has? Whether it's the flu, or just some flu-like virus, or H1N1?

Regardless.... if you have a virus, you may feel very ill. Or you may not.

I think "flu" has become a generalized term. From dictionary.com:

1 : INFLUENZA
2 : any of several diseases caused by bacteria or viruses and marked especially by respiratory symptoms —see INTESTINAL FLU

So I do think someone can say, "I have the flu," and not have tested positive for *influenza*.

To state you have the *swine* flu, specifically, though, is probably more specificity than anyone should use unless they have been tested.

FWIW... my oldest son had H1N1. He got a killer headache, then body aches, then was dizzy, then got a fever that would ultimately vacillate from 99 - 102, and began coughing a deep, heavy cough. The next morning I took him to the clinic. He tested positive for it. He was put on Tamiflu.

I *think* my youngest had it, too. About 36 hours after DS1's dx, he started in with the same symptoms. He got on Tamiflu immediately after a phone call to the Dr.. His symptoms then tracked much differently than DS #1. His fever never did get very high, and his first full day he threw up several times. They say the more severe H1N1 patients are apt to have vomiting and/or diarrhea, but his other symptoms (the typical H1N1 ones) never got all that severe. He ran a low grade fever for several days.

Was it just that the Tamiflu kept it at bay? We didn't have him tested, so I guess we may never know. And that leaves me unsure if he should get the vaccine or not. He's our asthmatic, and the one we really don't want to have it... if he hasn't already!

True, but I think one of the main problems with referring to all "flu like" viruses as "the flu", is that you commonly hear people say things like "I got my flu shot this year and still got the flu"
Some even believe that the flu shot caused their flu. (this is possible with flu mist, but not the shot) When in reality they probably had some other illness.

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Once the game is over, the king and the pawn go back in the same box.

Good point... and very true!

I hope your son is feeling better

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Tim
My Husband, My Love....Best Dad
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People are really ignorant about what the seasonal flu shot protects you from. It drives me NUTS when people say "I got the flu shot but I still got the stomach flu", etc... I then try to explain that the flu shot only protects against the predicted 2 or 3 influenza strains that are/will be circulating. It doesn't protect against the stomach flu or a cold, etc...

Your description sounds right on target! My youngest ds first time around sounds just like your sons symptoms-headache, body aches, cough, tired, fever, sore throat, sudden onset, etc.... This time around the fever is higher but he also has congestion that he didn't have the other time and the other symptoms too, although they aren't as severe this time. My oldest son had fever, fatigue, dizzy when up and walking, etc.. He is better now-it did last 6 days though. It's definitely a crazy flu season!

Yes! Especially since there is no "stomach flu."

Actually yes there is a "stomach flu"
Gastroenteritis (stomach flu) symptoms, causes, and treatment on MedicineNet.com

There is also a page on the mayo clinic site about it...

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Be careful what you wish for.....

Weird. I thought Gastroenteritis and Influenza (flu) were two different beasts.

Stomach Flu or Influenza?

stomach flu is a misnomer.

Kind of like people who call a typical headache a migraine. Worlds apart....

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Mental that one, I'm telling you. ---Ron Weasley, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"

They are. "Stomach flu" is just a lay term for Viral Gastroenteritis, it really has nothing to do with influenza. And Gastroenteritis is just a general term for inflammation that causes vomiting / diarrhea.

There are a lot of viruses that can cause the "stomach flu". Rarely are they specifically tested for or diagnosed when a patient gets sick. Instead a general diagnosis of Gastroenteritis or "Stomach flu" is given. Most run their course in 24-48 hours. Occasionally a patient will become sick for a longer period of time and the doctor will want to do more testing. When my son had rotavirus he was sick for over two weeks.

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Once the game is over, the king and the pawn go back in the same box.

Doctors are labeling it swine flu. Most aren't testing. They do random tests and judge how much seasonal flu is in the area, most places have next to no seasonal flu yet. Most random tests ARE H1N1.

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Jackie

Music is what feelings sound like._ ~Author Unknown

Thank you!

I am about 98% sure I had piggy flu in early October. I am rarely sick. I called the doc to basically just tell them if they were keeping count. That was on the third day when I finally realized what was going on. They asked me to stay away unless I felt I "really" needed to be seen, which I did not.

Symptoms -- HUGE headache for about 12 hours but I get headaches often, so I didn't think too much. Then I was nausiated. Not horribly though, and I attributed it to the headache, which is not uncommon for me. Then all hell broke lose. Every long bone in my body hurt and my elbows and knees, too. Then, I could not command my body to get up off the couch. My husband would leave at 7am and I would be right where he left me when he got home 12 hours later. I lost all interest in food and slept for 2 days straight. Then my throat got sore and I had a fever and very minor sniffles. Then the cough started and that's when I put it all together. Three weeks later and I am using an inhaler.

Three people where I work did go to the doctors and tested positive the next week. Apparently, a few people had it the week before I did. If I got it at work, it is pretty easy to spread because I wasn't anywhere near the ones that were sick the week before I was. For me, the worst part has been the cough/breathing involvement. Sleeping 48 hours straight was weird, but the dog enjoyed it. I haven't ridden my bike since getting ill because I am worried my inhaler won't be enough for exercising in the cool air, so you can imagine the respiratory involvement has been the worst aspect.

I have had "achy, sneezy, sniffly, feeling like you're gonna die" colds before and this was nothing at all like that. Every day was a new symptom. It was quite an odd little virus.

When my kids had the H1N1 (they were all tested) they all had varying degrees of symptoms. A few you would have barely known they were sick, some were uncomfortable, and one who has other conditions was hit the hardest and we were back and forth between the Doctors and hospitals. I was surprised at the wide range of symptoms.

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Nicole

"Doctors are labeling it swine flu. Most aren't testing" I work in a large academic hospital and not ONE dr is labeling this SWINE flu without testing to back it up. I would be suspect to those who are...

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Be careful what you wish for.....

It's impossible for any of us to know exactly what doctors around the country have said, obviously, but I know what ours are saying:

"He's got all the symptoms of swine flu, but the only way to know for sure what it is is to test. I'll leave it up to you to decide if you want us to do that or not. It's going around, and about 85% of those we've tested are coming up positive, so it's quite likely... but without a test, we just can't know."

Some are putting only those who get the test and are positive for H1N1 on Tamiflu.

So... do those patients who didn't get the test than running home and saying, "He said it looks like I have swine flu!"?

Are their friends and families then saying, "John went to the Dr. and he has swine flu!"

When the reality is... that's not quite what the Dr. said...

A few weeks ago about 10 of 14 on my 13 year-old-daughters soccer team were sick.

One tested positive for strep, 2 tested positive for swine flu, one has a nurse for a mom who said it was most likely swine flu, 1 called the doctor who told her, "you can come in and I can charge you for the test, but it's going to say swine flu so stay home, rest & take advil." (they stopped giving out Tamiflu here, too, due to resistence and shortage). The rest just assumed it was swine because the 2 tested positive and they all had the same symptons within roughly a 2-week period.

So, you can be suspect of the doctors, but the fact is they are overwhelmed with the swine flu and are, indeed, telling people not to come in, just stay home and treat with advil. A lot of them aren't testing for it. I've heard it a lot around here. Luckily, we've avoided (knocking wood) but there have been a lot of people sick and the seasonal flu isn't going around yet.

Lisa

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"It's not having what you want,
It's wanting what you've got"

Swine Flu, Cold, Virus, Flu~whatever~I hope your son feels better really soon. It must be really hard not to be able to take care of your "baby" when he is sick when he is in college.

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John 14:1
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GO BEARS!!
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If you have a swab shoved up your nose to the back of your throat, I doubt you'll be shedding crocodile tears. I suspect they'll be sincere.

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If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition, and then admit that we just don't want to do it.

- Stephen Colbert.

Exactly wow!!

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Be careful what you wish for.....

Thank you! Yes, it's not fun with him being so far away but at least he calls me a few times a day so that helps a ton!!! And he said he thinks at least 2/3 of his classmates and profs have had it. Yikes!

I've read all the back and forth posts on here. While it's true you can't say definitively what particular virus it is without a test and even those aren't 100% it's safe to say he's sick!!! I just wanted to vent on here 'cause it's scary to have him sick like that within 4 months and now being away from home... I'm not one to run to the doctor unless it's necessary so I didn't see any reason to suggest he go to a doctor out there. Some of the kids that have gone have tested positive so that's good enough for me. He stays on campus, it's small, private and relatively secluded so it's pretty safe to say it's the same virus circulating. I've told him to make sure he watches for a secondary infection and then he would get to the doctor pronto.

"My son has swine flu....AGAIN! "

I would not have thought that it was possible to fall victim to the same virus twice.

It's pretty ridiculous to me that absolutely nobody is getting a normal cold or respiratory virus at all this year. It's all H1N1....every last cough, sniffle, sore throat, fever....all swine flu. It's as if it's some kind of merit badge.

cj/

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I was walking home one night and a guy hammering on a roof called me a paranoid little weirdo. In morse code. -Emo Phillips

CJS.. I agree... People are treating it like a merit badge...

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Be careful what you wish for.....

How right you are!!

About 3-4 wks ago a dad comes in the school office and wants to speak with the school nurse about a private matter. The nurse wasn't in so he had to talk with the secretary. This dad had just come from the doctor's office where his DD was diagnosed with H1N1. He thought that his DD was the first to be diagnosed. Ummm...No!! The school started having students with the flu the first week in Sept.

Colds are certainly different than an influenza. I was talking to a friend of mine at the Halloween Target clearance today. All her kids had influenza recently when it swept through the schools. She called the doctor and they are not testing for H1N1, as I've already stated, and she said the doctors are going by what is prevelant locally. And that is influenza. Call it H1N1 or whatever you want but it's not a simple cold or little virus but an influenza. It's not a merit badge but with all the hype it's a relief to get it over with. We are in a town with a pretty darn good medical school and I do give our local doctors credit for being on top of things. They are human, they can be wrong, but they are definitely above average here.

"All her kids had influenza " The difference is you didnt mention that she called it H1N1 as you did in your original post...

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Be careful what you wish for.....

Who cares!!!! And the only influenza that the doctors are saying is in this area IS H1N1. No seasonal influenza here yet. You can do the deductions.

FYI If you check out the CDC influenza map it looks like "seasonal flu" is only showing up in Africa and China but H1N1 is in almost all countries.

Long time ago, almost back in the stone ages--- I learned in microbiology that viruses mutate quickly. After viruses mutate it is possible for a person to "get" the virus again because it is different than the first time they got sick. Some if a virus replicates through the host RNA it will mutate quickly, now I admit I don't know if H1N1 uses RNA or DNA to replicate.

H1N1 uses RNA , however last report I heard was that they were not seeing mutations in the virus that would render immunity (natural or vaccine) ineffective. In fact they believe older citizens still have immunity from previous vaccinations. Whether they're right about that, I don't know.

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Once the game is over, the king and the pawn go back in the same box.

Yep, I called the health dept about that and there are no reports of mutations so far....

post limit reached, thread closed. Please feel free to open a second.

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