This year's flu- bigger picture

[mom2binsd]

I work in nursing homes, and most of my patients have had the flu and I'm around it all day long. I get sneezed in, touch all kinds of gross things and walk on floors that have germs. Today I helped a lady shave her whiskers, and and put a 90 year olds dentures in because he had them upside down.

I live in a cold Midwest city, and lots of folks around us seem to have the flu. I literally do NOTHING. I'm rarely sick, and I just realized I forgot to get my flu shot.

We wash our hands at home, but we don't do extra vitamins etc. We try to eat healthy. Both kids play hockey and are in close quarters with other kids etc. We are gone most weekends, in hotels, rinks and I dare say not the cleanest places.

We have always lived our lives where we do what we want, we aren't super worried about other people and if they are sick etc. My kids are easy going, rarely sick, are fine if they stay up late and sleep in. Our lifestyle has been such thst we were out in the evenings a lot and they adapted.

My son was at risk for rsv (never got it as he was given the vaccine) as a baby and now has peanut and egg allergies, but again we are careful but aren't held hostage by it.

If they are sick of course they stay home from school.

You are going to drive yourself insane if you spend all of your time worrying about who is sick, avoiding situations where someone might be sick.

Kids will get sick, but as your child goes through school and does activities she will be fine. It's also good not to let her develop fear of getting sick as that could create a lot of anxiety for her.



Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk

[JamiMac]

No changes here. Everyone washes their hands and we always take vitamins and we all get lots of exercise. I have kids in three different schools ranging from elementary to high school, so a large amount of germs to be exposed to. My dd does club volleyball so a packed gym and tournaments and DH flys all the time. I'm just hoping for the best! My middle Dd is sick now with all the flu symptoms, minus the fever and chills, so I'm guessing a bad cold? I do agree that exercise is key!




Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[petesgirl]

Not a ton different. I did buy elderberry and we are all taking that, plus I take garlic pills daily. I also insist DS use hand sanitizer first thing when he gets in the car, but that's it. Nothing drastic.

[AngB]

Well, one of our kids had the flu. I think almost every one of my friends that I can think of (even people I haven't seen in months) have had a kid with the flu. Vaccine or no vaccine. We didn't vaccinate, only one of our 3 got sick. (I said this in the other post but this includes our 2yo who stole sick-with-flu kid's cup and drank after him even day 2...still not sick and it's been over a week, he had no flu shot.) Most of my friends have multiple kids and also in their families only one kid got sick. The only reason I took DS to the doctor was because his ear was bleeding and I wanted to make sure he didn't have appendicitis or something after 3 days of weird symptoms (wasn't eating, unspecified abdominal area pain, diarrhea, fevers...turned out to be influenza and a bad ear infection even though he never complained about his ear.)

[mikala]

Nope, I haven't done anything differently this winter to avoid illness. We have tons of stuff going around our area, lots of stomach viruses, cold viruses, influenza, strep. I have the kids wash hands as soon as we get home from school and I'm reminding them to actually scrub for more than a millisecond but that's a usual reminder here.

[jenstring95]

DD got diagnosed with flu B tonight. We've been a little extra vigilant about hand washing, but I'm guessing she got it from either a volleyball tournament on Sunday or a trampoline place on Monday. Knowing that she now has the flu, I still wouldn't go back and do anything differently. My kids either miss things because I'm afraid they're going to get sick or they miss things if they do get sick. I'd rather take my chances and let them live their lives and live with the possible consequences.

As a side note, DD had the best flu test ever today. I was worried they would jam that cotton swab up her nose, and I know how painful that is. Instead the nurse had her blow her nose (with a tissue) and then gently inserted the swab just inside the opening of the nose instead of way up in her nasal passages. It wasn't painful at all, and the test registered positive well before the timer went off, so I know it was a good sample.

[StantonHyde]

DH and I work in healthcare=mandatory flu vax. Both kids are vaxed. DH is an ER MD so he is on the front line of flu care. They are seeing a lot of it this year. No need to curtail anything. People the most impacted are the usual--elderly, infants, immunocompromised, etc. He has seen some young people who are really sick but they didn't get the vax. I would say, use common sense--call your ped if you child or adult is sick for 3+ days and not improving. DS got swine flu one year. He pulled through. The rest of us didn't get it.

[TwinFoxes]

Other than stressing hand washing even more than usual, nothing.

Your colleague is definitely an outlier and is way overreacting. I do not know how close you two are, but you might suggest gettting treatment for anxiety. I can't imagine going through life that worried all of the time.

[Twoboos]

As a side note, DD had the best flu test ever today. I was worried they would jam that cotton swab up her nose, and I know how painful that is. Instead the nurse had her blow her nose (with a tissue) and then gently inserted the swab just inside the opening of the nose instead of way up in her nasal passages. It wasn't painful at all, and the test registered positive well before the timer went off, so I know it was a good sample.

Wow, this is great info!! That swab test is THE WORST. Hope your DD recovers quickly and everyone else stays healthy.

We aren't really doing anything differently. Trying to get everyone to wash hands more. I also bought some Clorox Hand sanitizer from amazon, so I give them a spray of that if I pick up from school and they're going to eat a snack in the car.

[wendibird22]

I voted yes but nothing extreme but only because I wouldn't go out of my way to do large communal things...like a children's museum...but I haven't actually changes made plans or said no to invites/activities. It's just that given how rampant flu is in my area right now there's things I would avoid doing if I didn't have to do them.