Nov

Megan Griffith-Greene, researcher extraordinaire here at Chatelaine, is finally on the mend after a nasty bout of the flu. Was it H1N1? She’s not entirely sure. Nevertheless, here’s how she got well again:

“Throughout my monstrous battle with the flu, everyone I know had only one question for me: Is it swine flu?” After eight days and several phone calls, the best answer I have is, Probably. 

Ever since the flu season started, news reports have listed numbers of confirmed cases. But how important was it for me to get tested? After eight days of soup, tea, juice, sleep and bad 80s movies, I hauled myself off the couch and tried to find the answer. First I phoned the Public Health Agency of Canada. Call your doctor and get the test, I was told. Anxious for a second opinion, I called my provincial health hotline. No, came the nurse’s response. Stay home.
 
Unsatisfied (and bored of the 80s movies), I put in a call to Toronto Public Health. The lovely, patient man who got my call actually gave me an answer that made sense: You probably have the swine flu. Go back to bed.
 
Getting tested for H1N1, he explained, is only useful if knowing the strain of flu will influence the course of treatment. So it’s important for groups who are being closely monitored because they are likely to get severely ill – such as the elderly – or for those who end up in the hospital. But if everyone who has flu symptoms gets the test, it will only gum up already overworked labs. And since I was on the mend, his best advice was to get some rest.
 
He also advised that while I probably had H1N1, I should still get the H1N1 vaccine. (In the unlikely case that I had a different strain of the flu, I would be protected; if I actually had H1N1, the vaccine is still safe.) I recommend you do the same, because if this was H1N1, trust me, you don’t want it. I’ve never been so sick: feverish and achey with an ugly cough and no appetite – in other words, most of the common H1N1 symptoms as outlined by Public Health Canada. (Complications from H1N1 – such as wheezing or chest pain – may require a doctor visit.)  I didn’t get off the couch for eight days, and it took almost two weeks before I was fully back to work. Even after three weeks, I’m still exhausted, and my inbox has an epidemic of unanswered e-mails.
 
So I survived swine flu, probably. And the best advice I received was to stop wondering whether I actually had H1N1 and instead focus on one thing: getting better. My only other advice? The movie Monster Squad (circa 1987) really doesn’t hold up.”

Body Talk