Published: November 03, 2009 05:24 pm      

Coughing, aching, sniffling: Flu and other bugs bite early this season

In some ways it resembled one of those horror movies you see on television. People coming in and out of the office wearing surgical masks over their mouths.

They were coughing. They looked sick. Many were talking about having the flu. Nope, it wasn’t the best of times to visit the doctor’s office.

The H1N1 virus, more commonly known as the swine flu pandemic, is real. People across our region are getting sick. I thought I had it as well. While my doctor’s appointment had already been scheduled well in advance, I, of course, got sick just in time. It started with a sore throat and blossomed from there.

Runny nose. Deep congestion. An unsettled stomach. Waking up at 3 a.m., and not being able to fall back asleep.

Yes, I thought I had the swine flu for sure. But there was no severe fever. No muscle aches. No chills. Having caught the seasonal flu a few years back, I knew these were all symptoms of the flu. And having written quite a few stories about the H1N1 virus, I knew fever, body aches and chills were also symptoms of swine flu. I had none of the above.

However, everyone who looked at me, and saw me blowing my nose, or coughing, surely thought I had the swine flu. I stopped at a local department store and bought cough drops, aspirin and two different types of cold medicine, as well as a large carton of orange juice. As the cashier saw me approaching, her eyes got big. She began to hesitate. I could tell she thought I had the flu.

I tried to comfort her — telling her it was simply a pre-emptive strike. I said I was fine, but simply had a sore throat. I said I wanted to start drinking orange juice early just to play it safe. I doubt she fell for anything I said.

The bad vibes continued at work. As soon as the boss saw me walking into work carrying coffee, she too automatically assumed I was sick. She knows me well enough to know that I don’t drink coffee unless I’m sick. I was sick, but I didn’t have the swine flu. Just a common upper respiratory infection. It’s going around, and takes about five to 10 days to shake, according to the doctor.

By day eight, I was mostly back to my normal self — with the exception of a nagging cough and some sniffling. I began exercising again, including 30 minutes on the treadmill, and lifting weights. I am hopeful that by day nine, and day 10 for sure, this thing will be gone for good. This nasty bug took much longer than it should have to shake.

It seems like the different viruses, colds and other bad bug strains out there may be packing a little bit more punch this year.

The timing of this common cold was terrible. Most folks who get sick now automatically assume they’ve got the flu. I did, and it was kind of scary. I even went to the ATM machine and took out money — fearing I could end up in the hospital in a matter of hours.

Apparently, just about everything is going around right now — and we are just getting started with flu season.

You don’t normally see a full blown outbreak of the seasonal flu in our region until January or February. Health officials believe most of the influenza activity we are seeing right now is H1N1, and not the seasonal flu. So we could be looking at a double dose of flu activity this year. Swine flu now, and seasonal flu later this winter. Hopefully that won’t be the case, but things are certainly off to a bad start for the moment.

It’s kind of scary to see people walking around with masks. That’s not something you expect to see in the Bluefield region. Anyone who doesn’t think the swine flu pandemic is real should stop by his or her doctor’s office. You will see a lot of sick folks in the waiting room area — and some may be wearing surgical masks over their mouth.

It’s starting to look like we are in for a long and rough flu season. I’ve got my hand sanitizer ready. I’ve already been sick, and I have no desire to get sick again.

I know it’s November already, but it still seems a little early for all of this sickness to be going around. You don’t normally associate Thanksgiving, Christmas and the holiday season with the flu. That normally comes in January or February.

When it comes to the flu and other illnesses, we’re way ahead of schedule this year.

Charles Owens is the Daily Telegraph’s city editor. Contact him at cowens@bdtonline.com