Venusian Death Flu

[Gurm]

*cough* *hack*

So it's New Year's Eve, 2003.

We've gone to visit friends in Pennsylvania, had a good dinner on the 30th, and were going to spend the 31st chilling out and relaxing before having a relatively low-key evening watching the ball drop and drinking non-alcoholic Asti.

And then, at 4:30AM, Logan wakes up in the next room SCREAMING. Drenched in sweat, and screaming for mommy.

He was running a 104.9'F fever.

So we give him tylenol, cool liquids, try to get him to sleep... he gets a little better as the day goes on...

New Year's Day - same thing. Same time of the morning, drenched in sweat, screaming.

So we pack it in and go home 2 days early. At this point, the fever needs both Tylenol AND Advil, alternated, to keep it down.

(Bear in mind, those of you without children, that 104 is NOT the dangerous fever for a child that it is for an adult. Kids can tolerate 104' fevers just fine, it's not until they stay up over 105 for an extended period that it's bad...)

So rather than leaving bright and early Saturday or Sunday morning, we begin our 6+ hour journey Thursday EVENING.

By the time we get home, I'm feeling run down and so is Julie. Uh-oh, this doesn't bode well. We wake up the following morning both with full-blown flu. Shivering, fever, body aches, hacking cough, clogged head. Grr...

Thus began our (thus far) weeklong flu adventure. Logan's fever didn't break until night before last, that's an ENTIRE WEEK with a fever that spiked to nearly 105'. His cough is SLOWLY getting better, but he's still congested. Our fevers are gone at last, but again we still have massive sinus clogging, draining, and chest ickiness.

Then YESTERDAY, I was sleeping quite deliciously (you know the kind of sleep where you wake up in the morning, realize that the kid is NOT awake yet, and roll back over to get another half hour or hour in? THAT kind of sleep...) and suddenly I had a little twitch... and got shivery and woozy and couldn't sleep. ARGH! NO NO NO NO!

Felt fine all day, after a slightly shaky early morning, and now today the same thing happened. I've been up for an hour and a half now.

I refuse to allow myself to believe that my mystery disease is back, because that would just suck beyond all possible comprehension. So I'm going to assume that this flu, whatever it is, has now moved down from my head, through my lungs and chest, and to my intestines, where it is causing me to have mild distress in the mornings.

Either that, or I've been on this damn sinus medicine (pseudoephedrine with expectorant) so long that this is what "coming down" feels like.

Either way, I wish this flu on no-one. I cannot possibly offer any advice on how not to get it, other than sequestering yourself away from the world all winter and having your groceries and beer delivered through an airlock. The vaccines are ineffective this year (and healthy people shouldn't get them anyway), so all I can say is drink lots of OJ, take your vitamins, and stay the HELL away from ME.

- Gurm

[GNEP]

A very similar flu was going around London before Christmas. You feel truly awful for 2-3 days after having felt a little run down as a precursor, and then it becomes better but recovery drags on for a few weeks.

So I reckon that it may be the same thing - and is not the mystery illness.

[gt40]

My oldest daughter basically slept for 4 days with a fever on and off, and took about a week after that to recover to normal. My youngest recovered a little quicker, and both ended up with a bad cough after the few days of fever and tiredness.
The worst part was that we had to postpone Christmas day celebrations as both were too weak to stay awake enough to open their presents. So we had our gifts and Christmas dinner 2 days later.
Neither myself or my wife got it, however. (tis a good thing as there would be nobody left to take care of the sick).
They were both still feeling the effects on New years eve - so we all just watched TV and went to be early.

[Admiral]

Had something similar a couple of weeks before Christmas, almost a week with 38-40C fever. Was prescribed medicine to keep the fever down (around 38C) and advised to keep away from antibiotics.

[Helevitia]

My friends daughter came down with something very nasty that she would go into convulsions(twice) and literally could not control her bowels. She has been this way for 4 days now. The doc told them it was some kind of crazy flu + bacterial infection.

[Gurm]

Yeah there seems to be an epidemic this year of not only the flu, but the flu followed by a secondary infection. I feel better knowing I'm not the only one, but it still sucks.

- Gurm

[Admiral]

Personally, I can deal just fine with the chills, fever and sweating, it's the dry throat that gets to me.

[DukeP]

I had the flu 22 days in september.

Only bedridden 2 times 2 days, but the headache, joint aches, distrubed stomach etc. all through.

Coughed into early november..

Good luck clearing it!

~~DukeP~~

[Gurm]

Thanks. The only things remaining are a bit of a headache (with stuffiness and head pressure) as well as the cough... and the queasiness in the mornings. But today, unlike the last 2 days, I managed to ignore it and go back to sleep. Everyone I talk to says this thing just takes like 3 weeks to ditch.

- Gurm

[RhinoZ]

I feel for you Gurm, we went throught the same thing two weeks before Christmas. I'm glad you are all alot better.

I woke up my oldest daughter (4.5yrs) one Monday morning before work and she felt warm, so we kept her home from school (junior K) and it lasted until Friday. She had a fever in the 38.5 - 40C ( 101-104F ), but she was good about it, not too cranky just tired, took little cat naps here and there. Tylenol kept her happy.

Then on Sat. my wife feels a bit under the weather, and on Sunday she was a complete write off. She slept all day, with fever spikes and very achy and tired.

On Monday my youngest daughter (22months) wakes up a little warm, and my wife is still a mess in bed. So I stay home from work send my oldest to school. Then at about 4:00pm I'm playing with my youngest on my lap making her laugh for a good 20 minutes then she justs falls over in my lap. I thought she was playing so I'm like come on Jenna sit up as I try to sit her up, but she's like bowl of spaghetti. I pick her up and look at her face and her eyes are transfixed to the ceiling and her hands are shaking and she not responding to my screams. I yell at my wife to get a big blanket for Jenna and we all get in the car and drive off to the hospital. Jenna's still twitching and now starts foaming at the mouth, my wife is freaking and starts crying, my oldest is crying because she's sad for her sister. Then Jenna settles out of the seizure after about 5min. We get to the emergency room at the hospital in about 10mins. I walk in to admittance tell them what had happened and they just took Jenna right away, and my wife followed. I took my oldest, Riana, to my Sisters's place about 5mins away and return to the Hospital.
Jenna had a Febrile seizure. Her temperature spiked too fast for her body to handle. She was fine but very grogy for about two hours before she started to get back to her usual happy self. I've never been so scared in my life.
For the next 24 hours we had to double dose her with Tylenal and Advil, even into the night because the seizure has a high probabilty to occur again in the next 24 hours.
Jenna was fine after that. we kept her temperature in check with the fever reduces, she had a little more energy than Riana did but her fever stuck around for 6 days. My wife was feeling alot better by Tuesday THEN I GOT SICK ON WED. But by Sunday before Christmas we were all great.
Now we all had the flu shot, so all we got was the tiredness and fever of the flu. We didn't get the coughing or hacking or gastro symptoms alot of our friends and family had. But I still would not like to do that ever again. Hopefully for all that we (and you and the rest of you guys) went through,we all should be completely immune from anything for the rest of the winter. Right!!

[Jon P. Inghram]

That sounds rather frightening, glad it wasn't something really serious.

Been struggling with some sort of illness for over a week now... first symptom was a sore throat and runny nose. That went away and was replaced with a stuffy nose and a "productive" cough (to put it politely. ) The nose has more or less returned to normal, but has been replaced by aches and fatigue, which combined with the presisting cough is getting rather tiresome. Bleh.