Is the NHS website over diagnosing?

[peppapighastakenovermylife]

Another one of those 'Is it / Isn't it' threads I'm afraid - feels like swine flu is becoming the new 'Am i pregnant'.

I have had something that feels worse than a bad cold but not as bad as flu since tuesday. It hasnt really got any better until this evening when it just feels like a bad cold. Mild fever - 38 ish but lower with constant painkillers, aches, stiff neck, headache, constant running nose, sneezing, coughing, sore throat, bad ears, fatigue...

However I am fine - as in having to be fine as have had deadlines and had to look after children. I havent been bedridden, havent been delirious or lost three weeks of my life etc. I did the checker thing on the NHS site under pressure from my mum (can imagine myself panicking about my grown up babies in 25 years still) and it gave a code for tamiflu. I didnt get it as I dont need it.

I have never had flu, only know what flu symptoms are like from dreadful mastitis - have certainly felt worse with that. Anyway, the point of my rambling thread is that could it be this mild? I guess most people will never know, just after all the hype in the media you would think every case would be severe. I know many people are far worse which makes me think this is just a bad cold - there has been swine flu at work though. DC's have both had streaming noses, bad coughs, mild sporadic fevers, whinging made better with calpol (sore throat?). DH strangely has just had a cold - odd he hasnt moaned of man flu

have you been in known contact with swine flu? I think the tamiflu has uncomfortable side effects so it is a balancing act. If you aren't sure I would speak to your gp.

It could be a mild form.

DD (aged 3) was prescribed Tamiflu, and she had sore throat, runny nose, cough, said her knees hurt , and when spoke to GP as I wasn't sure, he asked whether she had contact with any confirmed cases. Well, sort of. She goes to ballet and one of the kids goes to a school that was closed due to SF.

So, guess if any of the symptoms that normally wouldn't be an issue if taken in isolation, are present, then they assume that it's flu.

Did you put in your name and address before you got the code and did you write it down? Only I think if you did then that's your one shot - if you get worse flu later in the autumn you won't get Tamiflu again as the system will record you as having had it.

Sometimes illness can be mild (www.mja.com.au/public/issues/191_03_030809/sen10696_fm.html).

I work somewhere where there have been a number of suspected cases including in my department. I have no real experience of flu hence the confusion - have been ill to the extent where pre children I would have spent the day in bed but two children later am building complex train tracks

I certainly wouldnt take anything now as am finally getting better - and didnt need anything. The whole thing is very confusing and I guess most people will never know. Would be nice to not to have to worry so much about it I guess.

ilovemydog - lol at my knees hurt. That sounds like someting my DS (also 3) would say!

I still have the code. Am sure there is a way around that if needed. Whole thing is a bit confusing really.

I've been diagnosed with swine flu twice as have the urchins. Neither time have we taken the diagnosis in any way seriously. Flu is where you have to lie down and hope you don't die. It is not a cold, feeling a bit iffy or even having a systemic infection (ie something that affects more than one part of you - ie your muscles and your breathing) necessarily. I have a systemic infection from an insect bite, my muscles ache, I'm tired and I have a headache. One thing I don't have is fecking swine flu.

So in short yes I do think so and I'm a bit flipping cross about it. People are taking Tamiflu left, right and centre, puking because of the side effects and blaming the flu! What's more, if they do have SF and take Tamiflu, that's one more chance the virus has to become immune. Remember head lice treatments when they worked???? Virii are generally a bit more evolved than nits.

I think at least they should be sampling the blood of one in a hundred 'sufferers' to check they had antibodies after recovery to make sure they did indeed have swine flu. Otherwise we're going to end up blaming everything on it (it sounds like the boogie now doesn't it ) and we will end up scared and confused. Oh and we'll miss those people who have meningitis/other infectious diseases which can kill you until they start dying.

But ho hum. It's good PR I guess because the govt is doing something

we've had swine flu in our house and it's affected us all differently. I've been really poorly funny enough knees hurt, as do all joints, very achey, shakey, very hot, too tired and ill to get out of bed, headache, sore throat, cough. Then got secondary infection and on antibiotics for that.

My eldest little girl started with it before me with a sore throat and was diagnosed with tonsilitis, but she had a wheeze on her chest so the doc gave her an inhaler and later said he wanted her to take tamiflu as a precaution. I deliberated whether to give her it as she didn't seem that ill.

Later that night she couldn't breathe and had to take her to childrens, she had to be put on steroids and given 10 puffs on inhaler. She has recovered well in a week.

My youngest little girl has had some symptoms such as cough, sore throat, temperature but nothing alarming at all.

Think the key to it is not to presume that because you've had it in a mild way someone in your family wont react differently. So not to panic undulely but to carefully monitor those around you especially very little ones and decide whether you think they need to take tamiflu for their protection as it only works in first 48 hours of syptoms and if they did get it bad you may have missed the boat - it's a gamble in my opinion and a decision someone that's medically trained should be making really but in a lot of cases it's being left to us Mums.

If in any doubt phone your GP or get advice from somewhere especially if dealing with little ones x

Hope you feel better and it's not swine flu x

Its all a bit of a mess really isnt it. I wonder if the media wasnt hyping things up and scaring people so much whether this would be more managable and people could actually go to a doctors and be swabbed. It seems that if someone wanted tamiflu they could easily go and get it - ill or not. I realise this is the downside of making it openly available to those who need it but seems very very confusing.

What I can't understand is why there's all this fuss about this particular flu - there is ALWAYS flu, every year, and sadly some people are very ill, but why is this one different? And why would you take tamiflu for this flu but not for all the others? For example, if someone had flu (and you know if you've got flu!) and they were tested and it turned out not to be swine flu but bird flu or asian flu or any of the other flu viruses that are floating about would they still get tamiflu?

Am I being thick?

Think it's because this flu is mainly attacking the young so seems stronger, some families get away with mild cases but we were really poorly, the tamiflu is to try and prevent serious conditions like pneumonia in children inparticular,as their immune systems aren't developed enough to deal with it as well, you don't go on line for little ones you contact your GP. Would be great if they could swab and treat but realistically there are so many people with symptoms and with the time scales of swobbing so many people someone could get really ill whilst waiting for a swob result.

My docotr had 200 call backs to make Friday not all those will have it but we have and it's our local doctors so some will.

If they'd known this flu would hit and had a jab like the flu jab the elderly and at risk get for'normal' flu they would have vaccinated children and those at risk but they haven't got one yet hence the tamiflu being thought to be next best in helping people fight it.

The thing is unless you've had swine flu it's hard to understand that it affects different people different ways I would never had thought my youngest had swine flu as she had relatively mild symptoms where as me and my eldest daughter have been really poorly. It's unpredictable that's why there's so many different tales on here, some saying help my child is ill some saying what's the big deal we've had it and it wasn't any big deal x

yummymummy - how did you know your youngest had it?

because my eldest little girl had it first quite badly and was told by doc at childrens they thougt it was that due to her bad breathing difficulties - swine flu seems to attack breathing more in a minority of cases hence all this panic, then I had it and was really poorly and got a secondary infection, if just my littlest girl had it I wouldn't have been sure what it was, everyone seems to have it differently but we have all been isolated since my eldest girl got it so am sure we all have the same thing x

p.s My littleist was still hot, larthargic, sore throat, head ache and bit of a cough and complaining her arm and calves hurt but was very up and down and at times was still playing, the hotness and aches seem to come in waves x

I'm really suspicious about the whole tick list diagnosis thing via the internet/ helpline. Surely there are a lot of people deliberating getting the answers right just to stock up on antivirals in case the country runs out later? I could tell you the right symptoms having been told them every day in the Times.

yeah that's right but the government are trying to protect themselves as so many people have symptoms now think they are worried eventually someone will be really ill cos they couldn't get through to anyone to get treatment. I was given some wrong advice by NHS direct and didn't get tamiflu as soon as I should've and ended up really poorly, where as my little girls have shaken it off much quicker hard to tell whether that's to do with tamiflu or not. Just hoping people are sensible and realise that you shouldn't take tamiflu all the time to avoid flu that doesn't work.