IN MY SHOES: What It’s Like To Have Swine Flu
HealthDay News reporter Serena Gordon, an asthmatic, tells about her 10-day bout with swine flu – which she contracted from her daughter when H1N1 "spread like wildfire" the first week of school, because the vaccine was not available. Gordon started feeling tired and achy on a Thursday and rapidly progressed to being barely able to breathe by Saturday night:
I have plenty of asthma medications on hand to help control symptoms, but even at the maximum dosage, I was having trouble getting enough air.
I'd also developed full-blown flu symptoms - a fever, muscle aches, coughing, inflamed throat, headache, but no sneezing or sniffling. The fever and muscle aches - the real flu part - weren't too severe. In fact, as flu goes, it was mild. …
By Sunday evening, I was having so much trouble breathing that I considered going to the emergency room. I decided to wait, but headed to the doctor on Monday. …
My doctor said I likely had the flu, but she didn't hear pneumonia in my lungs yet. I left with a handful of prescriptions, including one for oral corticosteroid medications to help open up my airways. …
It took several days for the corticosteroids to work their lung-clearing magic, which is longer than usual, but I was finally able to breathe again, and to speak full sentences without coughing mid-way through. During the time I was sick, my non-asthmatic husband got all the same flu symptoms I'd had, except none was nearly as severe.
About 10 days after I first felt ill, I woke up and suddenly felt fine. My illness, which I believe was H1N1, had left as quickly as it had come. All that's left is a lingering cough. …
H1N1 blindsided me. I now understand how people - particularly people with chronic health problems like my asthma - can succumb so quickly to the virus. There's simply no warning that it's going to get as bad as it does, leaving you little time to act.
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