Just recovering from a second round of sweating, sneezing, coughing, shivering, snot and general illness that had me in bed for a few hours on Xmas day and all day 27th to 28th. I wouldn't feel so bad, but I had this on the 20th too resulting in my first sick period in four years. I see a few others on FaceBook have also had the same. I wonder if this is payback for not having the flu jab this year..
Yes done the rounds here too, goes then come back it's lovely. 2-3 weeks to get over properly.
by typing this you have spread it to me now.........cheers
Wayne... you've infected both Natalie and I. I've spent all of Christmas dying and am still suffering. This really is the most unpleasant illness I've had in a while :(
Right, some facts here just in case anyone is interested and to clear up some myths - some will find this interesting! The Flu and the Common cold are caused by separate viruses. The Flu is caused by the Influenza virus, of which there are several types. The World Health Organisation (WHO) make predictions about the most likely strains of the Influenza virus that are likely to circulate during the next season, typically around November to March in the Northern Hemisphere. This is based on trends and patterns of Influenza that circulate to a lesser extent at other times of the year here, but more so in the Southern hemisphere where their Flu season is generally the opposite to ours (of course). The Flu Jab typically consists of around 3 different types of vaccine, that is 1 vaccine is for a particular type of Flu and the 3 types administered each year are as a result of what the WHO believes will be the 3 most likely strains that will circulate based on their research. They're normally right, but not always, hence you can still catch the Flu even if you've had the vaccine because if non of the vaccines are a match for the actual strain of Flu that is in popular circulation and you catch, you can still get ill. Of course, other strains of Flu continue circulate all year round but to a lesser extent. In order to understand how a vaccine works, you first need to realise how a virus attacks the body and how the body responds to that. The Flu jab is, like most other vaccines, not the 'dead version of the virus' as some people think. A virus is made up of a nucleus that contains the genetic material of the virus, on the outside of this nucleus there are protein strands that attach themselves to the cell walls in the body, allowing the genetic material to break out of the viral nucleus and begin disrupting the normal cell activity. The protein 'signature' is unique to each virus (a pertinent point to remember). The body reacts to this by initiating an immune response to the virus, producing histamines (hence the mucus production) and also anti-bodies in the form of white blood cells in order to kill that particular virus. The body doesn't recognise the virus itself, it recognises only the protein (signature) for that virus. With the the exception of a small minority of viruses, the body can produce an anti-body specifically for that virus so the next time it 'sees' that protein signature again, it knows what the virus is and produces the anti-body much more quickly and hence you are 'immune' from that virus (until it mutates and the signature changes slightly). So now we have grasped the basics, the vaccine is easy to understand. The vaccine is in fact, the proteins from a particular virus that are injected in to the body. These proteins are removed from an actual virus and 'grown' in a Laboratory, for the Influenza vaccine these are typically cultivated in Egg shells and hence you're asked to sign a disclaimer to confirm you haven't had or don't have an allergy to Eggs. The body sees the protein taken from an actual virus, as a virus, and produces the immune response needed to combat 'that' virus. As there is no viral nucleus attached to the proteins, there is no 'attack' on the cells so you don't actually get ill, yet the body still knows how to combat that virus when it sees the protein signature in the future. A typical full immune response to the Flu jab takes around 13 days. During any immune response window, the immune system is more susceptible to other viral or even bacterial infections as it is 'busy' producing an anti-body for the 'false' viral infection administered in the jab. Now, this explains why Wayne may have had 2 viral infections so close together, because the body is still busy fighting the first one so is less able to cope with the second one. Equally, you might just get unlucky! A common cold is caused by one of around 200 different types of virus, there is no 'cold virus' as such, just this huge number of viruses that cause cold symptoms because they attack the respiratory system but in a different way to Influenza. The Influenza virus is no more a 'cold' virus than Ebola for example, they're totally different viruses, something people must understand. The other misconception is that Antibiotics work on viral infections; this is actually false and antibiotics only work on bacterial infections. Even then, there is different types of antibiotics and only certain ones can be used for specific bacterial infections. The only time a person would be administered antibiotics when they have a virus is if the virus had caused the body to suffer a bacterial infection as a consequence of the virus (e.g. a bacterial chest infection). The best way to avoid catching a virus is good hand washing, and disinfection of surfaces contaminated or likely to be contaminated with a virus (e.g. door handles, taps, desk tops etc). You can kill it with an antiviral substance, the best is household bleach (or Sodium Hypochlorite to give it it's chemical name), failing that any substance/wipe containing Benzokonium Chloride. So there we are, the basics of viruses and how to kill them.
Yes James, thanks for that I dont know where I'd be without studying for 5 yrs to achieve a first class BSC Hons and then MPhil in a different medical field for you to copy and paste that information on a trivial thread started by a forum regular, so glad your here to help us, caring about our welfare so diligently.
[QUOTE=JUDGENINJA;753733]Just recovering from a second round of sweating, sneezing, coughing, shivering, snot and general illness that had me in bed for a few hours on Xmas day and all day 27th to 28th. I wouldn't feel so bad, but I had this on the 20th too resulting in my first sick period in four years. I see a few others on FaceBook have also had the same. I wonder if this is payback for not having the flu jab this year..[/QUOTE] You gave it to the poor "few others" on face book. (Shakes fist :P)
Ffs James. One word "fud"
Thanks James.... Will it make me feel better soon...? Apologies to all those I've infected with the what I'll call "wayne-flu".... Caring is sharing after all...!!
Stop being a girl
Read most of that jamesT5 and found it to be informative, but if you have copied that, which is fine, you really should include the source.
Man up you big pussy :lol:
[QUOTE=Saaamon;753989]Read most of that jamesT5 and found it to be informative, but if you have copied that, which is fine, you really should include the source.[/QUOTE] It wasn't copied Simon, it was knowledge in my head from stuff I've learned and written out in my own words. :D
[QUOTE=Ettienne;753747]Yes James, thanks for that I dont know where I'd be without studying for 5 yrs to achieve a first class BSC Hons and then MPhil in a different medical field for you to copy and paste that information on a trivial thread started by a forum regular, so glad your here to help us, caring about our welfare so diligently.[/QUOTE] ...didn't spend six years in evil medical school to be called 'Mister', thank you very much!