Swine flu, are we at greater risk?.

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I have Type 2 diabetes and have just been diagnosed with Swiine Flu. It has affected my blood sugars but not to a great extent. As long as I am extra careful of what I eat and take my tablets regularly I seem to be coping OK.
 

smcc

Well-Known Member
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62
Type of diabetes
Type 1
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Insulin
pedro606.

Grumpy? Not I, but I would not like to rely on your advice on health matters. I assume that you are not a health professional as you would probably not have phoned your GP about your flu symptoms. :wink:
 

smcc

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I am certainly not aggressive. I am well aware that lots of people do not, at times, agree with their GPs, or other doctors for that matter. We usually agreed to disagree. Most came back to see me when they needed me.
 

Willow31

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It is probably a good idea to take a daily multivitamin too. I have also been wondering what the underlying health problems are concerning the people who have sadly died. Surely they can't all have had heart problems?
 
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smcc

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62
Type of diabetes
Type 1
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Insulin
Chronic lung disease, heart disease and kidney disease.
 

Willow31

Newbie
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Sorry, I posted my post after only reading page 1, I didn't realise there were more pages! With regards to the kidney disease, I spill protein in my urine & my GP has me down as stage 3 - should I be worried even mpore so about Swine Flu b/c of this? Many thanks for any help you can throw my way :)
 

smcc

Well-Known Member
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62
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Type 1
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Insulin
With stage 3 CKD you are no more likely to develop flu than the average person, but, because you have a chronic disease, you are more likely to suffer complications. Unfortunately, the increased risk cannot be quantified. Preventive measures are important and, if you develop syptoms, you should certainly make sure that you get Tamiflu.
 

Delightfuldan

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Type of diabetes
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I am a Diabetic 2 sufferer,well, I am sure that most people are panicking because there is too much 'media scare'. I suffer from hayfever in the summer, a lot of it is the pollution and dust around and it makes me sneeze and blow my nose and sometimes feel a bit 'flu like'. If I was neurotic, I would probably be rushing off to my doctor asking him if I have the 'dreaded swine flu'. The mind is a very strong controller of our body and if we think we might have swine flu' we might get it. So maybe a lot of the people out there are mistaking the symptoms and only have an allergy to the pollution around us. This is only a theory and I am certainly not going to panic as, stress is a great factor in raising the blood levels. :roll:
 

tara112

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my daughter in laws mother brother and girl friend have swine flu i am frighten that i will get it with having diabetes and crohns i just hope i dont catch it will the flu jab help swine flue
 

jenrose

Well-Known Member
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290
Type of diabetes
Type 2
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Tablets (oral)
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very cold and very hot weather
Hi
The usual annual flu jab will not prevent swine flu as it is a different type of virus therefore requires a different vaccination. A vaccine for swine flu is being tested now and won't be ready for some weeks. If you do come down with symptoms of the flu telephone your GP rather than the national flu line and tell them that you have diabetes and they will give you advice. That is the advice the government is giving to people with diabetes and other chronic health conditions.
 

lizives

Member
Messages
18
"One pupil at a school near where I live has been diagnosed with swine flu, the school was closed down for a week I think and one teacher also suffering from asthma has been given Tamiflu, the rest of them havent though,"

My daughter works in a high school where her son is a pupil. They got Pig Flu 2 weeks ago. Staff from another school which was closed when a few pupils got the disease, had been sent to her school to work..........................how daft is that?
She and her her son were quarantined for a week at home (GP's advice) yet the school did not close and now others have it. I am T2 so stayed out of the way just in case.
Is there any sense in what is being done to prevent the spread of pig flu? I think not. Time someone made some hard and fast rules. Children of adults who have the flu were still being sent to playschool nearby. Adults affected have not been advised to stay away from work yet others have. What is going on? Who is making up the rules?
If this is going to be a true Pandemic it will not be a surprise. Nothing is really being done to prevent it spreading. I think we need to be very careful.
 

ccoles1

Member
Messages
16
Hi All. I had Swine Flu 2 1/2 weeks ago (Started Sunday 12th), ketones were only raised slightly for one day, BS were up and down but not much higher than normal. TamiFlu started Monday. By Friday I felt nearly back to normal, Started to Feel Ill by Friday afternoon, taken in to hospitial Friday night having trouble breathing, diaognosed with pneumonia and spent a week in isolation on a ward as they were worried that I still had swine flu, my wife contact so many differant organisations and people to see if I was still infectious but nobody would say yes or no. Even though NHS Direct say's 2 to 5 days from the on set of symtoms you are infectious then after that you are clear. It had been 10 days from the on set I was still in isolation my wife asked them why they were not taking there own advice, they said becouse every one is running scared they were putting the other patients minds at rest. So my wife asked for a bell so you could ringing it shouting unclean as when she walked on the ward everyone took 2 steps back.
The medical treatment I received was excellant, very swift and definatly saved my life as my wife was adviced that I was critical when brought in and they were preparing to take me to intensive care if they could not stablised me.
I am glad to be home.
ccoles1. Type 1, Hb1c 9.2, Dafne June09
 

bunty

Well-Known Member
Messages
74
From experience (not with piggy flu), a spell at home is really very good if you have a healthy (lol) interest in car insurance, debt agencies and house buying.

I had flu at 14 and as i remember, it was all i could do to blink without causing my head to feel it would explode, so the accounts of this virus i've read tend to suggest that the majority of victims to it get off lightly, with a raised temperature and slight aches.

Our Colonel has a cold and we all viewed him suspiciously this morning but shrugged and carried on regardless. I think the motto is Keep Calm and Carry On, isnt it?

bunty
 

rogbert

Well-Known Member
Messages
96
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
winter
smcc said:
As a type 1 diabetic for more than 40 years, and a recently retired GP, I am appalled at the way the UK government and the press are treating the present flu epidemic. They have been developing a Pandemic Flu Plan for years, in order to "be prepared" for an avian flu pandemic. The present H1N1 (swine flu) pandemic seems to be a less serious illness than normal seasonal flu, and the English Health Service seems to be handing out Tamiflu, a drug of doubtful benefit and with quite significant side effects, to all and sundry on the basis of a phone call to a call-centre, staffed by people with no medical experience and working to a series of tick boxes, or by completing a series of questions on a web site. For the vast majority of people, the only benefit of the anti-viral drug is to reduce the severity of the symptoms and to shorten their duration by 1 day. I am not certain whether I would want to take the drug, given its side-effect profile.

The organisation of the flu response in England has been chaotic. Thankfully, in Scotland, the response has been more measured and Tamiflu is being offered mainly to people with underlying chronic disease and young people, who seem to be moe susceptible.

WRT possible pre-existing immunity, it appears that the disease is not affecting most over 60s, the suggestion being that they have been exposed to a similar H1N1 virus before. An H1N1 virus has been part of the seasonal flu vaccine for the past 4 or 5 years, and it seems likely that anyone who has had the annual flu vaccination for chronic disease should have a degree of protection.
I have been told by an expert that anyone over the age of 60 should be well protected as most of us had already got swine flu in the 1960s.
 

Rob49

Member
Messages
5
I read in the newspaper today (1st Agust) that people born before 1958 may be immune from swine flu as it has likely done the rounds within the prior 10 years. Personally as a 60 year old I hope they are correct.

Has any of our experts heard of this?
 

peppiB

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Messages
101
Rob49 said:
I read in the newspaper today (1st Agust) that people born before 1958 may be immune from swine flu as it has likely done the rounds within the prior 10 years. Personally as a 60 year old I hope they are correct.

Has any of our experts heard of this?

As a 62 year old who has just spent 5 days in bed and is currently struggling with spinning head and trying to keep his eyes open, I would suggest they are incorrect! :cry:
 

edwin

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Regarding people over 60 having protection from swine flu, it must all depend on if you had flu as a child which was the same, if you avoided it then you would not have the built in defence now. Well thats my idea any Doctors out there to shoot me down.

Its my first post so dont be too hard LOL

PS I am 64 and there is no way I can remember if I had flu as a child