THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

dreaming

There certainly have been flu outbreaks which have caused concern before. I remember about 10-12 years ago, when I was still working, seeing managers walking round counting heads. When I asked what they were doing I wasn't given an answer then, but later found out that they were counting up how many people would be likely to be left in different scenarios - e.g. if 3 in 10 succumbed, or 6 in 10 etc. Apparently people over 50 were likely to have some immunity from the flu strain doing the rounds so we (myself and 2 others) were deemed less likely to catch it (as the strain was last seen 50 years) and would therefore be in work. I pointed out that we 3 "oldies" all had children/family members and if they were very ill, or died, then the chances are we wouldn't be too worried about turning up to the office, so their planning was largely irrelevant.
According to reported figures from Public Health England, the current flu strain is not causing any greater instances than previous years, except that more people are going to their doctors (or A&E) instead of self-medicating at home. This then pushes the "reported" cases number up, but not necessarily the number of cases of flu. For many people flu is a rather unpleasant illness but one that can be treated adequately at home. Obviously there are some people for whom it is a great deal more serious but the current (Aussie) strain is no more dangerous than those experienced in previous years.

mardatha

Fuddle you're so right. I remember lying in bed after a bad flu thinking "why am I out of breath lying in bed! - and that was pneumonia. No cough no wheeze no pain, nothing. But I was off my feet for 5 -6 weeks.
That was a really bad flu, it was about 1968 I think, maybe a year or two later. I also had a bad flu in about 73 or 74, was in bed for a month then.
Also right re being firm with medical people, they are not gods and they do not always know best!

[Deleted User]

I remember the Asian flu in the early 1970s, it's the only time I can remember being laid up and too weak to do more than crawl to the loo when I had to, really nasty! and even as a fit and healthy 20 something it took weeks to actually get back to normal and feel fit again.

monnagran

The first Asian flu, or at least the first to be called that, was in 1957/8 when I had just left home and spent a week in the college san. Most students went down with it, it spread like wildfire. There were beds in the library, in common rooms, it was chaotic.
One of my friends was determined not to get it and wouldn't come near any of us, she walked around and attended lectures with a handkerchief soaked in Dettol over her nose and mouth.
She didn't get the flu, but a couple of weeks after we had all recovered she went down with chicken pox, but that's another story.

The next time I had flu was in 1998 and I was a year off retirement. It came on very suddenly and when I got back from school I just managed to get upstairs to bed. I wasn't seen downstairs again for 6 or 7 days.

By my reckoning I'm due for it again in 2038 if I'm still around at 99 years of age.

It will appal all you good preppers but I have never had a flu jab. I have known so many people who have had the jab, been quite ill after it and still caught flu that I wasn't willing to risk it.
Fortunately I have always been in robust health and never suffered with wheezing problems. If I'd had fuddle's troubles I would be thinking very differently I know.

My preps are to stay away from crowded places as much as possible, wash my hands a lot and to stay well clear of doctors waiting rooms, those hotbeds of germ-spreaders.

thriftwizard

I had 'flu badly in my late teens, about '77; had been my cousin's guest at a Regimental Ladies Night and felt ghastly the next morning. After much twitting about hangovers, my cousin drove me home, but I passed out en route & didn't really wake up for a week. When I did, I was a stone lighter; that's never happened again! And as weak as a kitten, which for someone who used to climb mountains, walk many miles a day, sail & row, was horrible. My mother later told me that I'd apparently been too ill to be taken to the hospital, which was already packed anyway. My temperature had been through the roof. I'd previously had pleurisy, more than once, and the consensus was that all that could be done was to make me comfortable & hope for the best.

So luckily I survived, but not many months later I caught glandular fever and developed ME, which had yet to be invented. That led to me dropping out of university & having to repay my student "grant" which was a fair bit of money, back then! I'll always wonder whether the 'flu left me weaker & more likely to catch the Epstein-Barr and hit a virtual brick wall afterwards. I've been very lucky & only relapsed once - cross fingers! - but I think now, I can see the warning signs and take things easy - drop a market or two, for example - until it passes. Which wouldn't be possible if I were in conventional employment, of course.

Like Monnagran, I'm afraid I've known too many people go down with "something" after the 'flu jab, having worked for some years in sheltered housing. When Mum was whisked into hospital in September, the young doc in A&E greeted her by name, and pointed out that she'd been admitted every September for the last 3 years with "markers" for an infection (which was never tracked down) - just about a week after her 'flu jab each time. "Which, of course, must be entirely co-incidental..." I do understand that it can save lives for people who are very vulnerable. But I'm not at all sure that it cannot possibly cause any mischief...

mardatha

From FluTrackers tonight:
Flu outbreak has now killed 93 people in Britain this winter
The number of people to have died after contracting the flu in Britain this winter has soared to 93.
New data from Public Health England states that 27 flu-related deaths were reported in England in the first week of January.
This takes the overall number of fatalities since October to 93 – with 85 people dying in England and eight in Scotland.
Previous figures from last week listed the number of deaths at 48...

fuddle

Bird flu has been detected in 17 wild birds in Dorset. I don't know anything more as just came across the BBC News screen.

My grandma died having the flu jab. She had asthma and COPD and had her jab every year. The time she died she has her jab in top of being under the weather. Days later she died because her organs began to shut down.

When I was in hospital in October I had the flu and pneumonia jab one week previous. One of my comorbities was having those jabs and I will be extremely nervous next year but I think I would be stupid to not get it considering. I just don't know.

[Deleted User]

mardatha wrote: »

From FluTrackers tonight:
Flu outbreak has now killed 93 people in Britain this winter
The number of people to have died after contracting the flu in Britain this winter has soared to 93.
New data from Public Health England states that 27 flu-related deaths were reported in England in the first week of January.
This takes the overall number of fatalities since October to 93 – with 85 people dying in England and eight in Scotland.
Previous figures from last week listed the number of deaths at 48...

This is shocking and even more worrying is the fact that there are no available beds in hospital, so it is down to us, the real os way, to know how to nurse ourselves as much as we can

Fuddle you are a wise old head in a young body, you have really got to know your own body and hence are aware of changes that tell you to slow down/get to bed/see the doctor. So many have no clue about themselves, let alone how to nurse through illness, for example the comforting power of steam, the hot drinks with honey and lemon plus taking a couple of paracetamol, the grated ginger steeped in hot water. The taking of a hot bath at the very first sign of a cold

You don`t have any chance to prep and nurse yourself with flu. It strikes fast and suddenly you get so ill, you cannot move, never mind go to the shops

I had real flu only once, in 77/78 and I have never forgotten it. So I am avoiding people

moneyistooshorttomention

That's a decision no-one can make on anyone else's behalf.

A friend of mine announced she's going to have it - no known-to-me respiratory type problems in herself/her family.

I'm not going to have it - and my mother has adult onset asthma and has had pneumonia pretty recently. Before that - her father died of COPD (from the job by the sound of it).

I'm not sure whether I think it would work or no and am not that inclined to rate it as likely. I'm just trusting to luck that no-one is antisocial enough to go "out and about" unless they're as sure as they can be that they don't have flu. That hope got rather dashed this morning when someone said they'd had flu and then wasnt 100% sure they'd got rid of it before going near others and obviously doesnt care if they pass it on (as they've clearly got a "One of those things/So what if they do catch it from me?" attitude). I didnt think she had any manners - and she confirmed it with that attitude.:cool:

I've bought the essential oils I was short of for making Thieves Oil and will mix it up in a minute. Wish I'd made it up before going out this morning now that I know someone so inconsiderate/selfish was at it.....

A group of volunteers I'm in is one short at the moment - because she is staying away from everyone until she's got rid of it (even though we're one down anyway - because of a different illness someone else has got). But she's doing the right thing staying away - so that's been clearly pointed out (ie when someone was complaining about her letting us down). Nope - she'd be letting us down if she turned up before she's sure it's gone.

fuddle

I'm a long way off having the oils for thrives but it will be something I work towards for next autumn. I've only just discovered the wonder of essential oils but finding reliable oils at a manageable price is proving a bit of a minefield.

I quit my charity shop again. It's to do with protecting myself and it is pretty self centred of me so I would never try to suggest that it's for the good of other people and maybe that's why I feel terrible about letting them down.

It's definitely a personal decision over whether to jab or not. The nurses were having their jabs when I was in hospital in Oct. There were a few who refused. While I know it's a personal decision I can't work out how I feel about it in terms of patient care. The thing is I don't know any body who has been properly laid out with flu... ever really. :cool: