posted on May, 6 2009 @ 02:59 PM
Swine Flu Symptoms:
Fever - began as mild, currently none
Headache - yes, since Sunday
Dry Cough - yes, since last night
Sore Throat - yes, since Sunday
Nasal Congestion - mild
Body aches - Yes, since Sunday
Fatigue - Yes, since Sunday
To give you some background, I haven't been sick this entire season, which is rare for me. I work on a college campus where a significant portion of
the student body has been sick with something for the past eight months. Cold, flu, whatever. Since I came down with this ailment so quickly, I
thought it would be better to check it out and know than not know at all.
To my surprise, upon visiting the doctor's office, they would not test me! Despite having almost all of the symptoms with varying severity,
they won't test me unless my situation deteriorates.
To their subjectivity, any fever was negligible (even though I pointed out a that it has been fluctuating). Apparently, I wasn't describing my body
aches accurately enough to convey that I was/am in pain. Apparently a 7 on a scale of 10 (my estimate) regarding the severity of my sore throat
didn't warrant further investigation.
However, someone's keeping track of everyone who THINKS they might have the swine flu. I called the pandemic hotline for my state and after telling
me to go to the clinic, they asked for my income, my race, my age, and my household income.
I sit here now trying to figure out what this all means. Sure, I could have the regular flu (Influenza B). I could have a common cold. I could have a
bronchial infection. What peeves me now even more than before is the hype that this has all received. I deliberately do not watch television, and
limit my mainstream news outlets to one or two sources.
I wonder about the hundreds of thousands of folks who've gone to the clinic or the E.R. simply to be turned away without testing, or as in my case,
turned away with ANTIBIOTICS which can't even fight Influenza A. If the government and by default the news media wanted us to take this whole thing
seriously, why aren't the clinics and hospitals doing the same?
I asked the doctor why the CDC isn't being more careful about how they 'market' this swine flu, and he sort of shook his head and laughed. What I
took from it was that the CDC issues a blanket statement including symptoms and then leaves the influx of patients to doctors so they can weed out the
healthy from the sick. But how different is my case than someone else where it has been confirmed that the individual has it? Not very, says the good
doctor, but he's 99.9% sure that I don't have it. Could I have it? Yes, he says.
Anyone with similar stories? Have you recovered? Have you gotten worse? Anything I should be paying attention to at this point in time?