It isn't always SF

[MilkNoPoisonPlease]

About 8 weeks ago my dad satrted feeling unwell and a week later, was diagnosed with swine flu.

he was diagnosed over the phone within about 4 minutes and was given a weeks course of Tamiflu, there was no reason to doubt that it was swine flu, although my mum who is a qualified nurse of 32 years wasnt convinced

Once that had finished he still felt unwell and a week later went back to the doctors who said it was just after effects of swine flu and he would be fine

Went back AGAIN 2 weeks later and was given a course of antibiotics to try and fight what the infection was

still didnt work and visited the doctors about 3 times since each time being told it was just after effects of swine flu

last wek he ended up going to A&E as he felt so unwell and was admitted into hospital that night for IV antibiotics to treat a urine infection that he has had for 8 weeks now. he came home last night. theyre not convince he ever even had swine flu

So instead of having a simple UTI treated, he was treated for swine flu which he didnt have, and is now being treated by doctors for a severe UTI and will be having tests this week to check for kidney damage

Im not scaring people but im letting people know that if you feel that youve been "fobbed off" with the swine flu diagnosis or arent convinced you have it, to keep going back to your GP, my dad has indured 8 weeks of feeling V unwell, antibiotics, a stay in hospital and now possible kidney damage because he was diagnosed with swine flu in under 4 mins without seeing anyone.

sorry if you think this is pointless!!

Your poor Dad, it is a good reminder to people not just to assume. I hope he makes a full recovery quickly.

What a horrible thing to happen to your dad - you're right it is important to keep going back if you're not sure. I hope he turns out not to have any kidney damage.

Also I do wonder if over the summer when things quietened down they should have been telling us to go back to just seeing, or at least speaking to, normal GPs from the start. As I understand it the pandemic hotline is really meant to be there for when there are so many cases that it's the best most people will be able to hope for. It will always lead to other things being missed - it's a second-best solution for an unusual situation when medical services are stretched.

I hope all this vaccination works and they can get enough done to slow it all down. Anything that slows down the spread will take the pressure off the health service so each GP will have that bit more time to see or speak to people and to try to work out when something really is or isn't swine flu. I hope all those people who think it's all just hype and aren't bothering with the tissues for coughing and sneezing, or who are sending still infectious children to nurseries and schools, will think about that.