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Original poster

So, once you have had it can you get it again??

25 replies

laurawantsababy · 29/07/2009 20:56

I havent seen anything confirming whether or not you can get sf again.

Also, if you get tamiflu for just flu what happens if a few weeks later you actually get sf. Do you get it again??

Just curious!

OP posts:

onepieceoflollipop · 29/07/2009 20:58

My concern is that it is fairly easy to be diagnosed with sf. So what you suggest is entirely possible imo.

i.e. that someone may be given tamiflu for "just flu" or even a cold/fever and then may well succumb to "real sf" at a later stage...

NO doubt someone who knows more will come along and let us know soon.

poopscoop · 29/07/2009 21:10

No. According to my GP who i spoke to last week and posed this very question. She said once you have had it, that is it.

we are still waiting.....but hoping it doesnt happen within next 4 weeks as holiday will be up the swanny.

Original poster

laurawantsababy · 29/07/2009 21:11

Oh right, thanks. Thats good then!

I wonder if you can get tamiflu twice then...

OP posts:

UndertheBoredwalk · 29/07/2009 21:13

I was told different by my doctor, he said it's entirely possible to get it again, although if you've already had it you should have some resistance.
Can get tamiflu multiple times I think.
I think there will be a lot of people needing multiple scripts for tamiflu, is so easy to get a diagnosis now, not everyone getting it will really have swine flu anyway.

angel1976 · 29/07/2009 21:17

I was just given Tamiflu for DS but I didn't give it to him as I wasn't convinced he had it. I am sure I was told by the pandemic flu hotline that the prescription is limited to one per person at the moment, which is a big concern for me and no one could tell me if you could take it twice either...

poopscoop · 29/07/2009 21:24

oh that's interesting underthe. Bet none of them really know what they are talking about. The tamiflu, i doubt would be given freely more than once for the same person. Supplies in my village were gone within one hour, and aparently one months worth was delivered.

Original poster

laurawantsababy · 29/07/2009 21:28

It is scary to think it could all be gone soon on people with a cold.

Why cant they send out swab kits that change colour if you have then give you swine flu? That would be ace!!

OP posts:

whomovedmychocolate · 29/07/2009 21:31

Yes you can get it again. The problem with any infection is that unless your body fights it off and makes antibodies, if you come into contact with that virus again, your body won't recognise it, or will recognise it but still have to fight to ward it off again. A bit like you can have an immunisation for a disease and 'lose' that immunity after a few years and need a booster.

In particular flu viruses have a propensity to mutate so your body may be able to recognise it and put up a defence but that defence may not work if the virus does something different.

On the question of Tamiflu, it may not be worth worrying, the way we are dishing it out, it may well not work by the time you need a second dose anyway.

My view is - if you don't have underlying health problems and are not in a vulnerable group you may be better to develop antibodies on your own and rely on those, than take a pill which has bad side effects, when you don't really know if you have the virus and hope that it helps.

Original poster

laurawantsababy · 29/07/2009 21:36

Good point whomovedmychocolate. If I wasnt pregnant I wouldnt take anything. So far (touch wood) no one I know has had it. It is going round our town quite fast though.

OP posts:

whomovedmychocolate · 29/07/2009 21:40

We've been prescribed Tamiflu twice btw - declined both times (I think they are stopping you being offered twice now though!)

laurawantsababy (and sounds like she may well get one) - may I suggest good hand hygiene is the major route to avoiding it. I'm still stunned that people don't wash their hands.

Original poster

laurawantsababy · 29/07/2009 21:45

Yes I should change my name now! I also have a 14mo dd to worry about aswell!

I have some of that foam hygiene hand stuff that I put on all the time, even after I have washed my hands! Dd has a childs one too!

Fingers crossed we will be ok. Dp has asthma too so we are a great bunch!!

OP posts:

Elibean · 29/07/2009 21:50

dh made the point, last night, that Roche etc will not exactly be sitting on their hands thinking 'ah well, no more money to be made on Tamiflu production then'....so imagine there will be plenty more available if its a) needed b) still works.

Not neccessarily where its needed/wanted or on time, though, of course

Microbiologist insider info is that having it now will probably (but not definitely) give some measure of protection even if virus mutates, but not 100%. So I'm told.

Original poster

laurawantsababy · 29/07/2009 21:59

So what about the vaccine then? If it mutates surely we wont be protected?

My other concern is that they want to get pregnant women vaccinated first - Has it been tested on pregnant women and young children?

What a pain in the ass! If they had just kept everyone in Mexico for a month we would be ok

OP posts:

yummymummy310 · 29/07/2009 22:00

As I understand it althought the virus is spreading the death and hospilitisation rate is falling which would suggest that it isn't mutating and is infact getting milder, if that's true once you've had it that's it. My GP said once you'd had it you'd be very unlucky to get it again as you should have some immunity.

I'm amazed my eldest who had such huge problems breathing due to a 'flu induced wheeze' and suffered what was most similar to an accute asthma attack, has recovered amazingly well in a week.

I did give her the tamiflu very reluctantly and when she got so ill was glad I had as it's very nasty when it attacks your breathing, she was one of the unlucky ones I think and still made a very speedy recovery but I think it's really important to very closely monitor anyone with it as it's so unpredictable hence all the panic x

Elibean · 29/07/2009 22:09

Agree, yummymummy, I think thats positive news

And am glad you're all recovering now. I've read your posts (and earmarked all the info in case my two high risk dds catch it, so thank you) and you've had a rough time...hope the ribs recover soon too!

yummymummy310 · 29/07/2009 22:13

thanks Elibean glad to be of any help just trying to use what was a horrid time to help other people if I can, thanks for kind words!

whomovedmychocolate · 29/07/2009 22:21

Actually vaccines work slightly differently. And yes there are plans to trial vaccines on very little children - don't think pregnant women though. Vaccines work by building a broad spectrum immunity - so they should work if it mutates. If they work at all.

I'm still a bit skeptical about the whole thing. I reckon 80% of SF sufferers have not had it. But we'll never know. I only hope no-one dies because of a sf diagnosis which turns out to be something much worse.

cariboo · 31/07/2009 22:53

Am almost positive ds(5) had the dreaded SF, which I thought at the time was meningitis - high fever, waking up at night with dreadfully painful headaches, nausea, muscular aches & pains,vomiting, coughing, sore throat... SF never crossed my mind, stupidly enough, but folk in Switzerland are trying to tell us all that it's nothing more than a regular flu, maybe just a sore throat, maybe even a few days in bed... No mention is made of the potentially deadly aspect of this virus. So although I had ds to the paed, terrified of meningitis, the paed assured me it wasn't meningitis but asked me if SF had occurred to me. Oh, no! I said, with a hint of impatience. Not worried about SF, unlikely to get it here, etc. This was early days of July. Now, however, a month later, I'm quite certain ds had it. We're coming to England in 2 weeks for hols & I'm worried sick for dd, who's definitely at risk with her chronic asthma, not to mention nocturnal epilepsy. Everything's booked & paid for so more or less have to go. Our paed's away til end August so can't ask him for advice... can my good buddies at MN help? Thx in advance!

yummymummy310 · 01/08/2009 10:57

it's really up to you, she'd be unlucky to get it on a short trip but there is a risk of it I suppose, aslong as you got medical advice early on if she had any symptoms I would hope she wouldn't be too poorly.

It can be nasty(as you may have already witnessed}but if it's caught early and properly monitored hopefully she'll be ok.

My eldest started with SF with a temp, sore throat and cough but she had a wheeze on her chest that was unusual so I took her to the doc. He said it was tonsilitis and gave her penicilin and an inhaler for the wheeze.

Later he phoned to say he wasn't happy about the wheeze and wanted her to take tamiflu.

Later that night she had what the doc described as an accute asthma attack which wasn't a result of asthma it was as a result of a flu induced wheeze. They gave her a course of steroids and 10 puffs of inhaler and her oxygen levels went back up quickly and she was allowed home that night.

She's recovered just fine. My youngest had a much milder dose and I had a nasty dose of flu followed by a secondary chest infection.
My DH didn't get it at all.

I would hope SF wouldn't put you off coming to the UK but can understand your concerns with your daughters pre-existing conditions, it's one of those choices you'll have to weigh up x

Original poster

laurawantsababy · 01/08/2009 19:16

TBH honest I think sf is dying down now. Or the media have been told not to report on the cases.

A friend of mines dd has it (apparently) but I am not sure as I think a lot of people are getting a headache, sore throat etc and instantly thinking sf.

What part of the UK are you coming to cariboo??

OP posts:

cariboo · 05/08/2009 11:07

Good God! 2 days after we rushed ds to the docs, dd was in A&E for an acute asthma attack. They gave her 12 times her normal dose of Ventolin, steroids, oxygen... it was terrifying but I never made the connection. Until now.

jasperc163 · 05/08/2009 11:14

We saw GP a couple of days ago with suspected SF and she definitely implied that you could get it again (i assume due to it mutating) as she said better to not take the tamiflu now unless you really need it as it will be worse in autumn (she seemed to think you would only be given it once)

yummymummy310 · 05/08/2009 13:22

cariboo that is exactly what happened to my eldest but she has never had asthma, she didn't have oxygen just steroids and big doses of inhaler. Hope your dd is ok now x

Gotte · 05/08/2009 14:13

From what I understand, you will not get it again if it stays the same, but if it mutates, as flu has a tendency to do, then you could get it again, though whether the increased resistance everyone talks about means that you are less likely to catch it, but if you do,then it will be as bad as before, or if it means if you catch it a second time it will be milder, I don;t know.

cariboo · 06/08/2009 16:25

It's all very scary stuff - who knows what the media/health professionals/politicians are hiding from us? Yeah, ok, maybe I'm being paranoid, having read books like The Hot Zone & The Stand but info on this virus is scarce & often contradictory...

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