Family Affairs and other matters

My poor daughter is not at all well. I called the GP this morning and gave him her symptoms:-

High temperature (38.6C)
Massive headache
Sore knees
Vomiting all night long
Sore throat

He immediately said that her symptoms filled the criteria for the diagnosis of swine flu and prescribed her Tamiflu and I was thinking “OH NO, surely not….why isn’t it just a simple tummy bug like usual?”. But they are no longer doing a swab or blood test or even seeing the patient, so how can we know for sure? It came on unbelievably quickly – one minute we were having lunch together (and sharing a carrot cake with one fork) and shopping in Top Shop and then, literally, the minute I had paid for everything she announced she was feeling terrible and needed to go to bed immediately.

I understand that a system has now been put in place by the NHS to cope with the virus. They have set up “swine flu” centres within each borough and after I’d spoken to my GP this morning he told me where I had to go to pick up the prescription. The problem was that not only was it bloody miles away, but the GP had to call me back to say that he couldn’t fax through the prescription because their fax machine was broken owing to the large amount of requests they have been receiving. So I had to drive to the GP’s to collect a photocopy of the prescription and then drive about half an hour away to pick the drugs up. What on earth is going to happen in a few months time when there are more cases? One fax machine? Is the NHS really still using fax machines? What about email? Or another sort of online request. It’s going to cause chaos.

He reassured me that whilst the onset of swine flu is very sudden and typically comes with a bad headache, it appears to settle quickly and is relatively mild for a flu virus, clearing up within a week whereas some seasonal flu can often tend to last up to two weeks. It seems that currently the risks are no more and a lot less than some seasonal outbreaks. Although this afternoon another doctor pointed out that whilst vomiting was a rare symptom compared to diarrhoea, if she keeps vomiting at the same rate she may need to be admitted to hospital for fluids.

It seems that it is the younger age group (5 – 12) that are most affected by this virus and that the elderly as a group are getting it least so far, possibly due to the fact that they have some immunity from different strains they picked up previously.

According to The Times report this week, if Tamiflu is taken quickly it can reduce the severity of the symptoms and the risk of passing on the virus. Apparently what it does is stops virus from replicating. Although I understand that there are conflicting views on how effective it will be and it made my daughter feel even more sick. However, as the NHS are no longer offering it to the rest of the family as a preventative measure, I now feel like a sitting duck (with a sore throat and headache looming).

I had to cancel my class at the last minute this morning which was not good, but on balance, I think they’d rather miss a class than have me spread my potential germs all over them, which would have been highly irresponsible.

I feel so sorry for her. It’s horrid being constantly sick AND having a temperature and a huge headache. She’s really uncomfortable. I’m using that bacterial handwash every time I go near her and Dettol cleaner, but nevertheless I BLOODY HATE VOMIT. My two boys are going to spend the night at their dad’s – I really don’t want teenage son to pick anything up before his rugby tour. So it’s isolation city in our house. Girl germs only. Perhaps we have inadvertently discovered one of the first positive reasons for divorce and owning two separate houses.

The number of people contacting their doctor over fears they have swine flu has jumped almost 50% in the last week to 40,000 a week, figures have shown. More than 73 people per 100,000 reported flu-like illness from 6-12 July – up 46% on the week before, the Royal College of GPs said.

As I needed to find the details myself, I am just going to add the crucial details for the UK, should anybody need them in a hurry:-

Symptoms include a high temperature (38C/100F or higher) and two or more of the following: a cough, sore throat, runny nose, limb or joint pain, headache, vomiting or diarrhoea.

Follow advice at www.nhs.uk or call NHS Direct on 0845 4647 (08454 242424 in Scotland).

If you are still worried, contact your GP who can dispense Tamiflu if required.

Do not go to your pharmacy, surgery or A&E without first speaking to your doctor. A friend or relative should collect Tamiflu for you if you are the one that is not well.