We are in Orange County where flu has hit HARD! My son has been sick since last Thursday. The whole 9: fever, cough, sore throat, vomiting, diarrhea, nasal congestion, fatigue, lack of appetite. I am 99% sure it is flu. I finally took him in today because he has had a fever for 6 days now. Doctor asked if he got the flu shot and I said no. She then said, "it's only about 30% effective this year anyway, so it's not a big deal." She did advise me to bring him back next week to get it so he doesn't get sick with flu again this season. She didn't bother testing him at this point but said there are MANY viruses going around now in addition to flu, so he may not have flu specifically. His lungs were clear but she gave me a Rx to fill if his fever spikes again today (at the office it was 98.0, but the nurse was new and ran the temporal scanner over his forehead super fast, so I don't think that was accurate). Of course now he is sleeping again and his fever is back over 100. So I'll be filling his Rx because I'm not messing around with a secondary infection.
Interestingly, I DID get the flu shot this year. On Saturday night, I awoke at 1am unable to breathe! I could not take a deep breath without severe pain and a feeling like I needed to cough violently. I freaked out and tried to get past it for 30 min before I woke my husband and told him something was wrong. I felt fine otherwise, no fever or anything. I ended up going to the ER because I have never felt that way before and I was worried. After ruling out a heart issue and pulmonary embolism, they gave me a steroid breathing treatment, suspecting bronchospasm due to an inhaled irritant or sudden mucous build up. It helped and I went home. Sunday, I felt awful. Body aches, headache, continued shortness of breath and chest pain, slight fever (99). Yesterday, I started coughing up thick mucous, but was able to take a deep breath again. Today, I feel about 95% fine. I have a coughing spell every once in awhile that brings up gunk. No more body aches or headache. No further symptoms. Based on this trajectory, I suspect my son DOES have the flu and I also caught it, but because I got the shot, I got much milder symptoms.
Interestingly, I DID get the flu shot this year. On Saturday night, I awoke at 1am unable to breathe! I could not take a deep breath without severe pain and a feeling like I needed to cough violently. I freaked out and tried to get past it for 30 min before I woke my husband and told him something was wrong. I felt fine otherwise, no fever or anything. I ended up going to the ER because I have never felt that way before and I was worried. After ruling out a heart issue and pulmonary embolism, they gave me a steroid breathing treatment, suspecting bronchospasm due to an inhaled irritant or sudden mucous build up. It helped and I went home. Sunday, I felt awful. Body aches, headache, continued shortness of breath and chest pain, slight fever (99). Yesterday, I started coughing up thick mucous, but was able to take a deep breath again. Today, I feel about 95% fine. I have a coughing spell every once in awhile that brings up gunk. No more body aches or headache. No further symptoms. Based on this trajectory, I suspect my son DOES have the flu and I also caught it, but because I got the shot, I got much milder symptoms.