Here's a paraphrased dialog between the doctor at the ER and myself regarding my flu like symptoms.
<after telling him my symptoms and him checking my respiratory system>
Dr: Well it sounds like we have the flu. We don't even test anymore. The CDC has declared that the quick test is only 10 to 50% accurate and the other test is about $1000 and it takes 48 to 72 hours to determine. Furthermore any antiviral I would give you will probably only be around 10%, we save that for pregnant women and those going through chemo.
Me: What if it's swine flue
Dr: There's a good chance it is, but it doesn't matter, you have to do the same things to recover from either. I know it's got a cool name 'H1N1' and all, but really it's a media hype and your chances of dying from it are next to nil. Just get some rest and don't go into work until 3 days after you've stopped coughing
So there you have it from a doctor. I don't know what his bias is if any, but this swine flu 'epidemic' is hogwash. And if I do have it, I've lived through plenty worse illnesses. I'm mildly uncomfortable at the very most. Furthermore, why did I have to pay $100 to get that diagnosis? Because my girlfriend was scared that I had the swine flue. What did I find out? That I might have it...but who cares. Worst $100 spent...ever.
My advice is if you come down with flu like symptoms that are bearable, just tough it out. Get lots of rest and drink plenty of water and all that old school shit. Even if you live somewhere that has public healthcare, it's not worth the time to get checked out. Of course I am not a doctor, don't listen to me.
Stumble This
(Your yearly flu can be just as deadly as swine flu, I can only guess the fuss is that H1N1 is... more bad?)
we're gathered here to say goodbye to Jive "Rottenseed" Mittens, who sadly passed away from the swine flew, unlike Glen Beck, who regrettably didn't catch the disease.
So, as we now piss in Jive's ashes and smear it on the walls of his favorite synagogue, let us say thank you for all the good times he has shared with us unlike Glen Beck, who no one likes.
http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=swine_flu
...Hey, can I have your power points?!
The real issue is that even if it's only serious in 0.01% of the people who get it, it seems likely that essentially everyone will get it, and in a country with 300 million people, 0.01% is still 30,000 people. Ya know, ten times the number of people that were killed in some event eight years ago that sent us into a psycho-jihad against Muslims.
It's not the end of the world as we know it, but it is worth raising a fuss over.
The media does go overboard with it, and really goes for the sensationalism about thousands dead, and the vaccine, and the .000001% chance the vaccine will have serious side effects, and gleefully shows us video of people who fall into the 0.01% who've been hospitalized, but they aren't actually lying about its effects as near as I can tell.
Obama says it's a national emergency. That's all some need to hear.
You always find a way to work in some kind of unsubtle 'big bad gub'ment' fear mongering, no matter what the subject. If you could take off the partisan blinders for half a second, you might come to the logical conclusion that combating persistent strains of the flu is generally considered a good thing. No president wants to be remembered as the guy who said the Spanish Flu was no big deal, except maybe Ron Paul.
Off to the FEMA camps with him!
The thing they are worried about is it's chance of mutating into something more deadly, but at present it's no worse than normal flu. It's actually a good thing to get it now (as long as you aren't weak or pregnant or otherwise in a position where a normal flu would be dangerous to you) as it'll give you antibodies to it for when it possibly becomes dangerous.
^ Good point. H1N1 is all blankfist's fault.
Off to the FEMA camps with him!
See DFT, this is what a sense of humor looks like.
It took another week to bring her back to being human again, but a total of 4 weeks all together to come back to full strength.
The flu can be bad, even a regular strain.
It sucks but you just have to tough it out.
She ot both the regular flu shot and H1N1 shot a few days ago. (she works in a docter's office), She had a lump on her arm a little bigger than a golf ball.