To be p'd off at the way my GP is dealing with swine flu.

[Pennies]

Coz mine's not. DD has been fluey for 5 days now and I went down there for the drop-in surgery this PM and they won't let you in. You have to ring the bell and they're meant to come out. We waited 10 minutes in the pissing rain for someone to come out and give me a piece of paper with the NHS Direct number on it an d told us to go away.

Are all GPs doing this?

So you can't get it twice?

Everyone of us but my son were also tested in our home as well, jumpjockey.

But it was also after my son had a confirmed positive.

You are so right though!

The policy was all over the place!

On a Sunday, my son had fallen ill and had 39 degree temp, a cough that made him vomit, diarrhea.

So on the Monday he saw the GP. Now the GP knew they were already testing in hospital and not in the surgeries.

I rang hospital, and the receptionist patched me straight through to NHS24 and I went throuhg the whole rigamarole AGAIN!

Then the nurse said, 'Your GP is supposed to come to you,' I said, 'Well, he said that's not so for here,' and mentioned the name of the town, which was having a huge outbreak.

She said she'd ring me back.

By chance, in the meantime, the HV phoned and confirmed what GP had said, to go to the caravan to be tested.

Even as we queued, the nurses were all saying, 'Oh, this baby is just teething.'

Well, yes.

But he also had swine flu.

smallorange - you could if the virus mutated.

Here's more info on it all

Farkity fark. We're all doomed aren't we.

I wouldn't think so, small, because of the nature of flu viruses.

Hope so, because then that means I can help people who might fall ill in the Autumn with no risk to our family.

I have already had several strains of normal flu, I know. Would be happy to submit samples to any sort of studies going on. It's for a good cause.

Volunteered cervical biopsy samples back when they were developing the HPV vaccine.

My dad's given LOADS of blood.

His mother had a bad case of Spanish Flu, her first child and husband died from it but she lived, and since it would appear he is impervious to strains of flu that develop from birds.

But it came to light when all of us in his family got the Hong Kong flu and he did not.

After that, a doctor/researcher friend got him involved as a source of study.

i think tht it has been massively under reported.
some of the people at school were negative, but I'm not sure how specific or sensitive the test is- ie can you get false positives or negatives?
and it depends on the skill of the swabber too.

So i think they would say if you have the same diseasea signs as somebody who tests positive and you have been in contact with them- what is the likelihood of you haveing an identical looking but different disease? it would be too much of a coincidence TBH.

They are using the tests as a "sentinal" ie telling them that there is an outbreak- if people are testing negative but have the same disease and are in contact with positives- they are not part of the stats, but are being treated as if they have flu.

this illness has been circulating around all the schools in the area recently, but one day last week one class at school had 8 pupils instead of 25.. and the head got very suspicious...
she actively asked for swabs to be taken etc and found some positives.

Othre schools round here haven't been so proactive so apprently have no psotive children

My DH is a GP and I read the new advice that he got today. If your GP thinks that you have got swine flu they are being told not to bother swabbing any more and Tamiflu is only to be given to vulnerable groups - not everyone who you have been in contact with. It's far too wide spread now to try and stop it - hopefully it will remain begign because the official back up plan and predictions for what could happen are really scary - they even scared DH!

well i phoned NHS Direct and am awaiting a call from the health board.

Oh and I now have a temperature as well as DD2 to add to the general fun and am due to have a c-section on Mon.

Anyone ever had a section while having flu?

DS has now runny nose, temp and cough. What am I supposed to do with these flu like symptoms?

Unless your DS is in a vulnerable group, then he's likely to do fine.

@Brunocat: presumably your DH practice is in Birmingham or London?

Does being a toddler make him vulnerable? He's 3 in a month.

just found out one of local schools has it and HPA have advised it remains open and they are giving tamiflu to all students. Surprised they are keeping school open. If ds1 was at that school he would no be going in.

it really isn't that bad- honest!
And i reckon there's loads of infected people around who are a bit ill with it and have absolutely no idea they are infected....

I had it. Confirmed case. I can promise you it's not as bad a regularly seasonal flu unless you are way immuno-compromised, including for babies.

My son was only 7 months when he contracted it.

The second time I had it, I really messed up my lungs. I went back to work too soon because I was afraid of being taken for weak. I was 25 and as fit as ever in my whole life, and I started sport at 3 with ballet.

I got pneumonia and spent Xmas in hospital and the pleurisy was so dire it was March before I could even get to the top of a 30m climbing wall without sucking wind so hard I thought the saliva would rise up in my throat and I'd choke it back so as not to be seen as weak.

I scarred my lungs for life and then when I was 28 and my marriage broke up I took to smoking.

This wasn unpleasant, but NOTHING like that.

Save the Tamiflu for people who need it!