Are You at High Risk for the H1N1 Swine Flu Virus?

May be you have been wondering if you are one of those at high risk for having complications from the H1N1 Virus. I hadn’t thought about it much until I found out that I was at high risk because of my asthma. What are the other things that can put you at high risk?

Pregnant women – There have been several reported cases of women contracting this while pregnant and losing their babies and even their own lives.

People with medical conditions like asthma, COPD, and who are on or have recently been on a ventilator are at a particularly high risk. The complications from “Swine Flu” can involve respiratory problems and pneumonia.

Other medical conditions such as cardiovascular conditions, liver or kidney problems, diabetes, and weakened or suppressed immune systems can also put you at a higher risk than someone who is completely healthy.

Adults over 65 and children under 2 are thought to have a harder time getting over the flu if they get it.

A tip to remember if your child gets the H1N1 virus is to make sure they are not taking an aspirin based product while they have it. Since et is common to have a fever while fighting the flu children 19 and under would have a higher chance of developing Reye’s Syndrome.

If you are at high risk, there is no reason to worry, it just means you will want to take extra precautions to keep from getting it, which we covered in a previous post.

Tips to Keep from Getting the H1N1 Virus

In the previous post, we covered the topic of the swine flue in great detail, but there's no reason panic. Here are a few steps to keep yourself from getting the swine flu and stay healthy this winter.

Wash your hands as often as possible. Hand sanitizers such as “Germ-x” or “Purell” are also very effective.

Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth especially when you are out in public because germs can be transferred from your hands to these places.

Avoid being around sick people. Obviously this is not easy to do as you will have to be around sick coworkers. But just try to keep your distance as much as possible.
Do NOT touch surfaces such as doorknobs, railings, etc. The germs can survive anywhere from 2 hours to 8 hours!

After you come home from work or a public place, shower immediately and wash your clothes.

Make sure your eating very healthy! Take vitamin c to boost your immune system. Also, avoid food high in sugars as these can weaken your immune system.

Exercise to improve your overall well-being so that you are stronger to fight this flu off. However, be very cautious how and where you are working out. If you work out at the gym, be especially careful as the many surfaces there are ideal to spread the virus.

These are all great tips to help you stay healthy during this flu season. But even after the H1N1 virus has slowed down, you can still use these tips to keep healthy year round! :)

The Swine Flu - Should you worry???

With the flu season approaching, and apparently starting (as we have all been sick this week), there are some tough decisions placed on us as parents. Do we or do we not vaccinate against the swine flu this year?

I have struggled over this decision for some weeks now and have come to the conclusion that we will NOT vaccinate. In discussing it with my husband, we decided that the factors weigh heavy towards not vaccinating our children.

As with any big decision to become well-informed, I hit the internet. I know, I know...not always a good idea, but there are some great resources on the internet. I specifically like the WebMD site as well as some others. The Mayo Clinic is also a great resource. But the resource I find the most helpful are just other parents like myself. Sharing their thoughts and ideas on such things, on blogs, yahoo groups, etc.
There are so many people who are concerned about this vaccination.

I see that it seems the government is very much for and in favor of the vaccination, but in my research, I found that there are a lot of universities doing independent (government funded) studies with the exact viral strain from this spring and they are not leaning towards the vaccine. In their studies they are saying the complete opposite of what the government is telling us. Their findings are that the strain this fall/winter will not be as harsh as we are being told. That it will NOT "pack the punch" that it had last fall/winter, but will actually be milder. It is showing that it isn't a viral strain that is able to mutate or able to mutate with another flu strain to create a worse one. They also have said that the vaccine itself is more of a worry than the flu, because it has been hurried through so quickly that the studies normally performed on new vaccines have not happened. That's scary! I like what they have found, though. The fact that the flu will not be what we thought it would be and there is nothing to worry about.

According to the CDC, we will have the worst pandemic that we've seen in many years. With 30-90,000 people who will die in the U.S. alone. With 1.8 million people sick and hospitalized with the Swine Flu (H1N1).

Hmmmm....who to believe???? Well, I trust in the Lord, #1. So do not have a fear about this at all, even though I have a son who is "high risk" because of his early (premature by 15 wks.) start in life. He had a lung condition which would put him at high risk with the H1N1 flu. So, I am trusting the Lord in all this. And Secondly, I am having a hard time believing anything the government has to say lately. ((No...not going political here, although I just might sometime. ;) )) I honestly believe that the independent studies that are being conducted by the universities are our best bet and always have been. We've (the nation) always used their information as a basis for issues like this in the past, so why are we not listening now??

Just my opinion. And that is certainly all it is. It was hard to come to the conclusion I did. In one CNN article, I believe it was, the journalist was balking at people who chose not to immunize their children against H1N1 flu and he had the gall to say "Let's just see how she (the person interviewed) feels about the vaccine when her child is lying in the hospital fighting for their life". How cold is that???

I am going to be posting another snippet in the next day or two on how you can help minimize your chances of getting the Swine Flu. Some handy tips I came across that we can use against not only the Swine Flu (H1N1) but just the regular fall flu.
Thanks for listening ;)

Blessings,
~J.~
p.s. - Picture compliments of my goofy son, Adan. He is actually not sick, just looking a bit that way. lol