FIRST-HAND REACTION TO THE SWINE FLU VIRUS

So, how did this all begin for me. Well, on Tuesday morning this week, I woke up in Epping feeling a bit groggy. I had a very soar throat and a cough which almost came out of nowhere. When I stood up, I felt incredibly dizzy and my muscles ached like I’d completed some form of marathon. I also had pain in the joints of my shoulders, arms and fingers. I soon realised I also had a headache and a runny nose. Naturally, at first I thought I probably just had a bit of a cold or perhaps even flu, but all I wanted to do was rest and sleep. I have recently undergone some surgery to remove and replace some bones in my leg which has required me to rest for a long period of time so I did wondered whether this was to blame for feeling so lethargic and achy. I had a good nights sleep on Tuesday but woke up with a high temperature and covered in sweat on Wednesday morning. Everything else was pretty much the same. I just spent the day in bed catching up with some paperwork. I do, however, remember having to walk downstairs for some water and feeling very short of breath.

By Wednesday evening, I thought that perhaps something was wrong. I knew it wasn’t just a cold, but I’ve never suffered from flu before. My muscles seemed to ache as time was passing and I had less strength to pick anything heavy up. My mind did turn to the idea of swine flu and I decided to look up the symptoms of the NHS Direct website. I took the ‘test’ available online which told me to contact my GP immediately, but it was out of hours, so this morning I made the call and after waiting 20 minutes to get through to the receptionist, my details were taken and a doctor from the duty team called me back within about 15 minutes. She discussed my symptoms in detail and asked me lots of questions. She also made me take my temperature whilst she was speaking to her.

Before I knew it, I had an over-the-phone diagnosis that I was the 10th person in West Essex to have contracted Swine Flu. I was informed that I would be prescribed 75mgs of Tamiflu, which was only available to be collected from four pharmacies: one in Waltham Abbey, one in Loughton, one in Nazeing and one in Harlow. I have been informed that I must be incubated and not have contact with anyone for a period of at least 5 days and must call my doctor again if any of my symptoms get worse.

And so I am laying in my bed waiting for my sister who has kindly left her place of work to visit the pharmacy and bring me the antivirus serum, which the doctor also informed me does not stop the virus in its tracks. It simply reduces the amount of time you have it. I will keep you posted with how I get on…!!