Home medical experimentation

[Let'sgoflying!]

A few hours ago I started with all the harbingers I usually get of an impending flu’; headache, hot eyes, photophobia, “eyes going too fast for brain to keep up with”, achey all over, then a few respiratory signs - we know where that’s headed.
Usually.
This time however we have the modifiers of:
-I got my (not the high dose, probably the quadrivalent) flu shot last Wed (right on 5 days before onset)
-I found a tamiflu dose from last year, took it at 7:00pm, and will have a full course on hand tomorrow.
Feel free to start a raffle;
‘brief illness’
‘x hours to recovery’
‘dead by daybreak’

 

[James331]

This is not as exciting as I had hoped

 

[murphey]

Mass quantities of chicken soup.

 

[benyflyguy]

What part of country are you in??
It’s a bit early to see flu?
A lot of ppl get a “flu like illness” post flu vaccine- basically your immune system reacting and learning how to flight flu for later use- they basis for ppl to say the flu show always gives them the flu...

 

[jsstevens]

A few hours ago I started with all the harbingers I usually get of an impending flu’; headache, hot eyes, photophobia, “eyes going too fast for brain to keep up with”, achey all over, then a few respiratory signs - we know where that’s headed.
Usually.
This time however we have the modifiers of:
-I got my (not the high dose, probably the quadrivalent) flu shot last Wed (right on 5 days before onset)
-I found a tamiflu dose from last year, took it at 7:00pm, and will have a full course on hand tomorrow.
Feel free to start a raffle;
‘brief illness’
‘x hours to recovery’
‘dead by daybreak’

Should have made it a poll...

 

[PaulS]

I spent 7 hours in an aluminum tube with 200 + other people yesterday. At least 30 % of those were very ill with uncontrollable coughing. Most of that 30% apparently have not heard of covering your mouth when you cough, thereby assuring the propagation of the multiple viruses causing these issues in the first place. I'm doubting the flu shot is your issue.

 

[Everskyward]

‘dead by daybreak’

It's past daybreak now...

 

[Stan Cooper]

I spent 7 hours in an aluminum tube with 200 + other people yesterday. At least 30 % of those were very ill with uncontrollable coughing. Most of that 30% apparently have not heard of covering your mouth when you cough, thereby assuring the propagation of the multiply viruses causing these issues in the first place. I'm doubting the flu shot is your issue.

Happened to me coming home from the Albuquerque balloon fiesta last month on Southwest. The lady sitting next to me was coughing and sneezing the whole flight. The next day I knew I'd caught it; it was two weeks before I was fully recovered.

 

[AggieMike88]

What part of country are you in??

He is in West Texas, in the general area of El Paso

 

[AggieMike88]

I spent 7 hours in an aluminum tube with 200 + other people yesterday. At least 30 % of those were very ill with uncontrollable coughing. Most of that 30% apparently have not heard of covering your mouth when you cough, thereby assuring the propagation of the multiply viruses causing these issues in the first place. I'm doubting the flu shot is your issue.

The Japanese have the right idea of making wearing surgical masks a common practice. Not only to protect yourself, but as a common courtesy to others when you feel ill to reduce the chance of spreading airborne contaminants.

Next time I'm required to travel on commercial airline, I'll wear one. If someone inquires, I'll just pass it off by saying that I'm a bit under the weather and don't want to pass it to them.

 

[Let'sgoflying!]

Well I was able to work this morning, but stayed home this aft.
I want to say either the vaccination and/or the Tamiflu has attenuated the symptoms.
Normally I am moaning in agony as if someone beat me with a 2x4 and put glass shards in my joints but this was much, much less. Just a weariness and dizziness with some upper congestion/throat thing and minor aches & pains. Maybe I'm dreaming but I hope to be back to 80% by tomorrow and done with it by Friday.
I have never had any flu vaccine reaction in the past; and have never heard of being 100% and then 5 days post-vaccination having a reaction, but I don't know a thing about it.
I am 180mi SE of El Paso, the Drs offices are going strong with flu-like illness currently.

 

[Lachlan]

The flu vaccine didn’t make you, or anyone, anywhere, ever, sick. Egg allergies notwithstanding, can we all just put the trendy anti-vaxxer mentality away and start using our brains for more than zombie bait?

 

[MuseChaser]

The flu vaccine didn’t make you, or anyone, anywhere, ever, sick. Egg allergies notwithstanding, can we all just put the trendy anti-vaxxer mentality away and start using our brains for more than zombie bait?

According to my GP, the flu vaccine can and does cause flu symptoms in about 10% of the people who get them and, more likely than not, that is what @Let'sgoflying! experienced. If I'm off base, hopefully an MD can chime in and correct me, but as I understand it the vaccine introduces some form of the virus into the body so that antibodies build up, and that's what helps make you immune to the virus down the road. The "virus" contained in the vaccine is somehow dead or inert and is not supposed to cause ill feelings or mild cases of the flu, but it does in, as my physician said, 10% of the people who get the vaccine.

The "trendy anti-vaxxer mentality" of not having your children vaccinated against measles, polio, diptheria, and other awful diseases is both deplorable and selfish... I agree. The flu vaccine, however, is not near as cut and dried. I've had the flu vaccine several times, and got quite sick two out of the three times. Some folks say that's not possible, and that I got sick because I already had the flu by the time I had the vaccine but just hadn't shown the symptoms yet; that's the common retort. Who knows what the truth is. Between my physician and my experience, I'm going with yes, it is possible to feel poorly due to the flu vaccine.

 

[Lachlan]

According to my GP, the flu vaccine can and does cause flu symptoms in about 10% of the people who get them and, more likely than not, that is what @Let'sgoflying! experienced. If I'm off base, hopefully an MD can chime in and correct me, but as I understand it the vaccine introduces some form of the virus into the body so that antibodies build up, and that's what helps make you immune to the virus down the road. The "virus" contained in the vaccine is somehow dead or inert and is not supposed to cause ill feelings or mild cases of the flu, but it does in, as my physician said, 10% of the people who get the vaccine.

You (or someone you know, that knows someone who knows someone) might develop flu-like symptoms from the vaccine, but you won't get influenza from the vaccine.

 

[PW_Plack]

You (or someone you know, that knows someone who knows someone) might develop flu-like symptoms from the vaccine, but you won't get influenza from the vaccine.

The symptoms are the body's attempt to fight the virus, so technically the miserable part is not getting the flu, just experiencing your body's response to either the infection or the vaccine.

 

[PW_Plack]

The "trendy anti-vaxxer mentality" of not having your children vaccinated against measles, polio, diptheria, and other awful diseases is both deplorable and selfish...

We know what happens to a herd of deer on an island with no predators - disease, starvation, poor health. Wildlife managers work hard to prevent such situations - it's why they've reintroduced wolves here in the west. Then, when managing the health of our own species, we seek to kill off or suppress every organism which causes us unpleasant symptoms, and wonder why our immune systems have lost their calibration and have started going after tree nuts and gluten, or even attacking our own hair follicles.

I'm not sure the anti-vaxxers are any more selfish than the pro-vaxxers.

It recently made national news when there were 544 cases of measles reported nationwide. When I had the measles as a kid, I think there were more than 544 cases in my school alone, and we all lived. I also had mumps and chicken pox. There's a balance somewhere. I think we over-vaccinate. I recently had the shingles vaccination, and I'm on-board with polio shots, but I'm irritated by drug ads on TV urging me to "ask your doctor about being vaccinated against pneumococcal pneumonia." I've had flu shots three times since 1974, including the infamous swine flu campaign, and had symptoms after each shot, so I don't get them anymore.

It's OK. I'm retired. If I get the flu I'll just skip the EAA chapter meetings and won't have to sneeze on anyone.

 

[ktup-flyer]

stay away from me

 

[azure]

We know what happens to a herd of deer on an island with no predators - disease, starvation, poor health. Wildlife managers work hard to prevent such situations - it's why they've reintroduced wolves here in the west. Then, when managing the health of our own species, we seek to kill off or suppress every organism which causes us unpleasant symptoms, and wonder why our immune systems have lost their calibration and have started going after tree nuts and gluten, or even attacking our own hair follicles.

I'm not sure the anti-vaxxers are any more selfish than the pro-vaxxers.

Everyone is selfish. The issue is not selfishness, it's public health and, on an individual level, whether one accepts the science behind vaccination. The concept of "herd immunity" has been much in the news recently - the idea that when the percentage of individuals who have immunity to a pathogen drops below a critical level, those who lack immunity suddenly become much more vulnerable to infection. I am not a biologist, but my understanding is that there is solid science behind this idea. As far as I know, there is no science behind your notion that links vaccination with auto-immunity -- though I have to admit, it's an intriguing idea.

It recently made national news when there were 544 cases of measles reported nationwide. When I had the measles as a kid, I think there were more than 544 cases in my school alone, and we all lived. I also had mumps and chicken pox. There's a balance somewhere. I think we over-vaccinate. I recently had the shingles vaccination, and I'm on-board with polio shots, but I'm irritated by drug ads on TV urging me to "ask your doctor about being vaccinated against pneumococcal pneumonia." I've had flu shots three times since 1974, including the infamous swine flu campaign, and had symptoms after each shot, so I don't get them anymore.

I was recently tested and found to have immunity to measles but was never vaccinated that I can recall, so chances are I had it as a child and it was misdiagnosed as something else (as hard as that is to believe). So evidently I survived. That doesn't change the fact that measles can be a serious disease. It was recently in the news, as well, that the virus can cause "immune amnesia" that wipes out learned immunity to other infectious agents. No thank you, if my immunity test had come back negative, you can bet I would have chosen to get the shot. I had the shingrix vaccine as well, both doses, and had very unpleasant immune reactions to both... but I don't regret getting it in the least.

It's OK. I'm retired. If I get the flu I'll just skip the EAA chapter meetings and won't have to sneeze on anyone.

If you get "the flu" chances are it won't be true influenza (as I suspect the OP's illness wasn't, either). But if you do, I hope you survive. The lab technician here at my college nearly didn't. He developed pneumonia as a complication, required intubation and was in a medically-induced coma for a couple of weeks. His lungs are permanently damaged. Today he cannot climb one flight of stairs without getting badly winded. Me, I get the flu shot every year. Had the pneumovax a couple of years ago too. No regrets.

 

[Lachlan]

The symptoms are the body's attempt to fight the virus, so technically the miserable part is not getting the flu, just experiencing your body's response to either the infection or the vaccine.

A real case of influenza will make you afraid you might die, followed by a few days of being afraid that you will live long enough to continue suffering. The flu can kill otherwise healthy individuals in rare cases, and children and the elderly in all-too-frequent cases. But let’s not be a herd of sheep and vaccinate against it. We’re wolves! (What? Oh, that? It’s just a sheepskin shirt I wear whenever I don’t feel good.)

 

[Zeldman]

This thread has been disappointing to me. You mean to say not one of you has tried any home medical treatments?

When I was a young adult, I had a flap of skin grow on my neck. No pain, no irritation, just an unsightly 1/2 inch flap of skin that grew on my neck.

My doctor said it was nothing, and he would cut it off for 200 bucks.

I went home, had a few stiff drinks, took my steak knife and cut it off.

Still, it hurt like heck, and a little more blood loss than I expected, but 200 bucks is 200 bucks. Might have well been 2 million bucks...

 

[Let'sgoflying!]

Learned something about Tamiflu & viruses yesterday, I thought ‘man I feel like a hundred bucks, no way I’ll need to take anymore’ ‘with a virus, once it’s licked, you know it’. So I stopped after a few doses and last night it came back!
Back on it last night, and functioning again.
With antibiotics I know only too well you should be finishing the entire course, did not realize the same applied to the flu virus.

 

[Let'sgoflying!]

2 weeks later
fully recovered from the flu but now a cold is seriously kicking my butt. omg the discomfort.
Started Tamiflu within 12 hours of slight hard palate irritation but it has had no effect by day 3.
Dr. Google failed me, or my skills with the tool failed as I cannot find where Tamiflu is useful or not with the common cold.

 

[benyflyguy]

2 weeks later
fully recovered from the flu but now a cold is seriously kicking my butt. omg the discomfort.
Started Tamiflu within 12 hours of slight hard palate irritation but it has had no effect by day 3.
Dr. Google failed me, or my skills with the tool failed as I cannot find where Tamiflu is useful or not with the common cold.

Tamiflu is useful for the influenza. Some years Better then others.
Nothing short of a time machine and common sense works for a cold.

 

[Everskyward]

I had the shingrix vaccine as well, both doses, and had very unpleasant immune reactions to both... but I don't regret getting it in the least.

I had the first shingrix vaccine a couple days ago. I remembered reading what you wrote here, so I was wondering what kind of reaction I might have. The injection site is a little sore if I press on it, but I can't feel it otherwise. I might have been more tired than usual the day after, but that could also have been because I spent the day sailing. On the other hand I spent all day sailing today and I feel fine.

 

[azure]

I had the first shingrix vaccine a couple days ago. I remembered reading what you wrote here, so I was wondering what kind of reaction I might have. The injection site is a little sore if I press on it, but I can't feel it otherwise. I might have been more tired than usual the day after, but that could also have been because I spent the day sailing. On the other hand I spent all day sailing today and I feel fine.

I don't remember how much detail I went into, but my reaction to my first dose might have been partly due to what I was trying to do the following day: a moderately strenuous hike in the Worcester Mountains of Vermont. Sailing might have been a better choice of activities! I completed the hike, but I was way more tired than I should have been, and felt as if i was coming down with something for about 24 hours afterward. But I avoided all strenuous activity after the second dose, and I had a similar reaction anyway. Everyone is different, from what i was told. Having a reaction to the first dose doesn't predict a reaction to the second; and not having a reaction to the first dose doesn't mean you WON'T have a reaction to the second.

But I'm glad you didn't experience anything unpleasant from the first dose.