Stressed Out Because of "Killer Flu" Doomsayer

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I often go on the Weather Network to check out the local forecast and other weather-related news. That is how I first learned about a nasty strain of influenza that has arrived earlier than usual and infected much of Canada and the US. Right now according to the Flu Report on the site there is no influenza activity where I live. Yet. Of course people can leave comments, and being a bit of a germophobe/hypochondriac with doomsday phobia I had the absolute gall to ask if this was THE flu that would wipe out the human race. Apparently there is this person who regularly appears on the site to tell us all why the world is ending because of extreme weather and he raved "Be VERY afraid, for it is THE flu that will kill you faster than tsunamis and hurricanes and earthquakes! God help us all!" Who knows, maybe they were being sarcastic but I can't tell since it's only text, so I will have to assume this person did mean what they said. I also yet again made the epic error of reading this comment late at night just before going to bed last night. I had anxiety and uncomfortable dreams all night long, including one where I saw a 3-month old infant with the flu sealed inside an incubator built into a wall inside a Target store near my home! I guess I will just have to seal myself inside my apartment until sometime in April. Of course I will very soon be out of medication and food and supplies both for my two cats and myself, but anythings worth surviving a pandemic, right???

Seriously though, I am sick (no pun intended) of putting up with this insanity every single fall and winter for the past several years. I am also sick of people saying how they can't wait for summer where we don't have to worry about sickness at all. Yeah right. You can get sick any time of year, and in summer we only have to worry about heat waves and heat stroke and cancer-inducing sunburn and wildfires and drowning in stinging jellyfish-infested seawater and kids being out of school coming to my apartment building to commit vandalism or get drunk and stoned and scream and yell all hours of the night.

One more thing: Friday I went out with my social worker and she told me she wasn't feeling well and had a headache so we couldn't go out for very long. Of course I thought to myself oh god no she's coming down with flu and now she's going to give to me, and sent my anxiety through the roof, and it wasn't until I started to have a meltdown that she told me it wasn't something contagious. Of course she could have lied just to calm me down. But it didn't help at all, and when I got home my cats ran outside and were out all night and it was freezing out. I got them back indoors the next morning but all in all this has been an awful weekend.

The media networks create flu paranoia every year just to encourage people to get shots and have something to talk about on slow news days.

And this is one of the reasons why the news upsets me ... I wrote about it in the general autism forum and, I will check again, but I believe it went unanswered. I am like you. It took me too long to finally get my flu shot due to anxiety as it did not go well the last time, but this time it was just fine and I regret not getting it earlier - but my anxiety was so bad I just couldn't get over the intense fear and fixation. The truth is people die every single year from flu, always have, and the usual vulnerable people are at greatest risk. Most healthy people suffer misery and maybe some post-viral infections.

The freaking news, that is so hard to get away from as it intrudes everywhere with it "dah-dah-dah" music and manner of reporting just tightens every muscle in my body and intensifies these severely repetitious messages. Gossip on steroids. BBrrr. I am with you. However, I think shutting off the t.v. is the best solution. That and just washing our hands properly - sing happy birthday twice, getting sleep, eating well - and we've made it this far through so many flus. It hit early this year which is part of the hype - and if we think about it, it hit when people are extra crammed together for holidays and extra stressed - I think that's why it got such a foothold. We'll be okay

Last edited by Logicalmom on 13 Jan 2013, 12:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Every flu strain for the last five years has been "worse than any previously known flu strain" and could reach "pandemic proportions in days", according to the Media.

Get a flu shot (if you want to).
Wash your hands frequently.
Use a "fist bump" instead of a handshake.

Just use common sense, even when it isn't flu season.

* Also, there are so many other viruses that are not flu, so not every cough and misery is "flu". I keep reminding myself of that. I do wish people with a cough would be more considerate about covering up - into their arm or a kleenex - that miffs me.

And I think the flu that everyone worries about will be the one that seems to affect healthy people more - such as swine flu wasn't so unsual except that there was a somewhat of an increase in the people not normally vulnerable who were severely affected - I was very sick with flu that year. This year I think it is just a matter of timing, like I said, and so the sheer numbers of those affected.

theres a killer flu every year
remember swine flu? that was supposed to kill everyone

The media often uses scare tactics because it increases their ratings. The flu can be bad, but typically if you're an average, healthy adult you'll be ok. If you're really worried go and get a flu shot each year, they're really helpful!

I've seen this the past few days in the news, and I think, wow, there must not be much happening in the news. Sure enough, there aren't that many other stories going on. It's just something for the news media to get you all excited about. After all, some people die from the flu every year. It's not common, but it does happen. Some years the flu isn't talked about in the news at all, that doesn't make it any less deadly to those few people. To them it was a killer flu year.

I'm somewhat careful every year to avoid colds and flu, so I will continue that.

What I do:

Try to avoid environments where people can sneeze on me, wash my hands regularly, eat right, drink fluids, get plenty of sleep, and take vitamins - I find zinc and C helpful.

When I worked in a busy office I got a flu shot most years.

Remember that a sneeze is the most common way of catching a cold or flu. It produces a fine vapor that can travel a long ways and linger in the air. People should stay home when they're in the part of an illness where they sneeze a lot, because they're likely to spread their illness around. (But don't go accusing people who sneeze - maybe they just have hayfever.)

Yes, and I have been taking vitamin d and omega 3's in addition to c - they have anti-inflammatory properties and tend to be lacking, generally - d in northern climates, and omega 3's from modern western diets.

I am also sucking back apples and fresh garlic.

I am anal about hand washing. I worked as a Nurse's Aide with vulnerable clients and this was drilled into me. Friction and water do the job - most people do not wash their hands long enough or thoroughly enough - but I am glad to see any effort. I carry hand sanitizer with me because I know how so many people give their hands a quick swish and that's it - then touch everything.

Yes, we can just do the best we can. I avoid the news like the flu

One thing is that what people often think of as the flu is really a bad cold or stomach bug. Even then, the easiest way to be protected is the flu shot, or washing hands frequently and avoiding people who are sick. There are people who do die of the flu, as the 1918 Spanish Flu killed many people who were healthy young adults before they got sick. These days, people who die from the flu are children, elderly, or those with weakened immune systems. If you're a healthy adult, generally you don't have to worry that much about dying from the flu.

I'm not big on vaccinations... too much toxic crap in those things and don't seem to be super-effective when it comes to the flu. (Yes, I know about Polio, don't harp on it.)

That said, taking care of the body with good food, washing hands, etc. will go a very long way. Reduce or eliminate refined sugars too, since they knock down your immune system by a huge amount!

I REALLY wish more workplaces didn't reward people by calling them "dedicated" when they come in coughing & sneezing, spreading the disease to the entire office! HR calls it "good", and calls employees who stay home to get better, "lazy".

Hi lostonearth35, it also bothers me when things "stack" and several issues are going on at the same time, and I'm glad you got your cats back indoors the next morning.

I also tend to be a hypochondriac, and honest to gosh it helps when I calmly seek out middle of the road information, and try and be an educator for others when the time and occasion feels right, without overdoing it. So . . .

In part, flu can strip the epithelial cells of the throat making a person more vulnerable to bacterial pneumonia. I have a source saying it's a warning sign if a child seems to be recovering and then relapses with a high fever. And presumably this is the case for adults, too.

To me, this is a playable poker hand. I mean, it's specific enough information that I can do something about it. Ideally, I could put in a call to my doctor and he or she could call in a prescription for an antibiotic which I could start in like three hours.

The other warning sign, in zen simplicity, is if a person starts having trouble breathing. That can be either viral or bacterial pneumonia. Such patients are sometimes given both antivirals (such as Tamiflu) and antibiotics.

Oh, yes, vaccines, my personal decision is that if I happen to be in the place anyway, I might go ahead and get the flu shot. But I'm not going to make an extra motor vehicle trip, or make it a big event during the course of the day.

The following is the most useful information I've found:

And presumably the case for adults, too.

And it helps to have a doctor you already know, where you can start the antibiotic in a couple of hours. Or if not, maybe a MediClinic ("Doc in the Box"). Or, maybe a visit to the local emergency room. I mean, possible pneumonia is a serious enough medical situation.