hello! Hope everyone had a good Christmas and I wish you all happy and healthy New Year. Have any of you suffered from this dreadful Flu virus which is currently rife in the UK? My husband and I were hit with it on Tuesday 20th December with sore throat, and chest, cough and shivers. Spent days in bed and are still suffering. As a consequence, we were unable to travel to spend Christmas with our son, had we even felt like it and it looks like we will be bringing in 2023 similarly. We’re doing all the right things , keeping hydrated but have no appetite. and still feel bad and shivery. I have ET but for the past 2 months with the agreement of my Haematologist, have been having a rest from Hydroxy and up till my illness, must say I was feeling so much better with no Chemo. I plan to start Peg possibly when platelets start rising again which they well might have with this Flu. Just wondering if anyone here has caught this devastating virus. We did both test negative for Covid. Kind regards, Fran
Flu Epidemic in UK.: hello! Hope everyone had a... - MPN Voice
Flu Epidemic in UK.
wish you both better and a happy new year
Hope you are feeling better soon.
I did get some sort of cold/flu prior to the Holidays. took me about 3 days to shake it. Sounds like what I had may have been something different since I recovered pretty easily.
Wishing you all the best in the New Year as you embark on a new stage of your MPN journey.
Thank you Hunter and I wish you a healthy and happy 2023. Yes, this bug just doesn’t want to leave us! 11 days now.
Sorry to hear of your suffering and wishing you a continuing recovery.
Did you get the flu vax? It's supposed to reduce the length and severity of the illness, same as the Covid one. I get the vax every year.
This year I got the Flublok brand vax. It's supposed to work better than the others. Unfortunately I had a very rare adverse reaction to it and my immune system attacked my shoulder/arm nerves (Brachial Neuropathy) Incredible night time pain. It's getting better slowly.
So it worked well against my nerves, not sure if it worked on the flu.
With that I will still get the flu vax again, but I think it's possible the IFN led to the reaction with this particular vax, although the neurologist says not. He also said this reaction does not make a future one more likely. I'll get the regular chicken egg type next time.
I had no problem with the new Covid vax.
thanks for your reply EPguy. No I must admit I didn’t have the flu Vax as I previously had a bad reaction to one and decided against having it. However I know my daughter in law had the Vax but has still suffered the same bad Flu as we have. There are so many people with it in UK I don’t think they got the strain of the virus quite right. Sorry to hear of your very painful reaction to Flubloc and hope it wears off very soon. I had no problem with the 6 th Covid Vax in November. Best wishes, Fran
They claim it's a good match in the US, we may have different strains, or a new strain just showed up in both. Anyway the chicken egg vax is really old fashioned, and rarely is a good match. They are working on mRNAs for flu, same as the Covid one. Maybe that will finally be a decent flu solution.
I think the supplement Acetyl L Carnatine has been very helpful for improving my nerve damage, various reports support the idea, but of course no proof here.
What was your reaction to the flu vax? It seems maybe more troublesome than the Covid one.
Yes, the claim is that the got the right strain this year and it will be very effective.
According to the UK report just below, best case is ~50% for the current flu vax. Someday we'll have flu/covid vaxes that work like the measles vax, ~90+% against any infection. But it will probably take some of the same new tech that will give MPN therapies the same high outcome.
"...two doses of MMR vaccine was 96% effective in preventing measles, and one dose was 95% effective in preventing measles"
I found this recent info for UK:
"Current data suggest that the main strain of influenza circulating in the UK is H3N2, which tends to be associated with more severe disease, particularly in vulnerable groups such as elderly people and young children. The current flu vaccine broadly covers this strain, but even during seasons when most circulating flu viruses are well matched to the vaccine strains, vaccination only reduces the risk of flu illness by between 40% and 60%."
theguardian.com/science/202...
So at only 50% in the best case that explains your daughter in law's misfortune. We do need a better vax.
With my misfortune I don't know if it worked at all.
Thank you,EP Guy! I meant to answer straight away but got distracted. This article was very interesting and helpful. Both my husband and I are feeling better now and hopefully on the mend. Don’t want to tempt fate!. Best wishes. Fran
Given your condition did you speak to your GP about antivirals? I would have thought they could have been justified early on
Fran I have escaped it so far but my son aged 30 & v fit had it & was so ill was sent for lung scan . Put onto steroids & inhaler & took 3 weeks recovery . It’s a nasty strain but I also don’t think any of our current injections re flu have any effect on this strain . Hoping you recover . 👍
So sorry to hear of your ill health- my husband and I both had coughs-felt unwell-colds tiredness- I have ET and am taking Anagrelide for it. We have had 5th covid booster and flu vac this year. My husband still has a slight cough but much better- mine has gone (I hope for good).
Wishing you both Healthy Happy 2023!
wishing you a speedy recovery and health on Peg
Hubby has had the flu for about 10 days now, showing little sign he is feeling better, so far it's left me alone. You're platelets generally rise when you are ill, your doctor should allow for that. I hope you feel better soon and I wish you well in your journey with interferon. Hopefully this year will see more treatments for us.
I have it at the moment same symptoms as you feel rotten I to have ET have lost my voice .hope all have a happy and healthy new year
Yes I have the dreaded virus also, I have ET and take Hydroxy. For some reason I never go off my food but like you just trying to drink lots to maintain hydration. The cough is awful and is making my sick and a dreadful headache which I have had now for four days. I keep testing for covid but all negative there. I am really pleased that I had the flu jab, goodness knows what state I would be in without that. I must be honest I was quite frightened because this is the first virus I have had since developing ET three years ago, I am keeping an eye on my temperature just in case things go 'pear shaped'. Hope you recover soon, not a great start to the new year.
hi
Hope you feel better soon
My husband came down with it on Christmas Day and on the 3rd day tested Covid positive.
I have PV and interferon, started feeling really unwell on 27th with sore throat, headache, chills etc, tested negative for a further 2 days, thought I’d test one last time, as we had a house full of family for Xmas, 29th tested positive !! Found this almost made me rest up and be more mindful than is it was flu interestingly.
So unsure whether it’s flu or a version of Covid going round as not every tests regularly anymore understandably as we are living with Covid more and more.
Hope you all rest up either way as whether it’s flu or Covid it seems some people are taking a v v long time to recover and having relapses.
A quiet NYE !
Wishing you all good health in 2023.
Yes, had about 2 weeks before Christmas & just showing signs of recovery.
The virus landed me with a nasty chest infection.
For UK MPNers information; Due to GP being closed I filled in an online form on the 111 website. Got a call from a doctor the same day. Explained I had a chest infection & also had ET. He prescribed anti biotics to my local chemist which I duly picked up the same day. Would highly recommend this to anyone who has a cold or flu that causes a chest infection as it was much quicker than waiting for a GP appointment.
Thank you for this information,Three Lions. If my chest continues to give trouble I shall attempt to ring and speak to GP after tomorrow's holiday.
Yes, got it at the moment. Started with runny nose and cough about 2 weeks ago, still had the cough when my husband very kindly gave me his flu germs yesterday! (Yorkshire man - they don’t give much away!) He was a lot worse than me, kept being sick so rang 111, they were very thorough with their questions, doctor called an hour or so later and arranged for antibiotics to be picked up at local chemist which very fortunately were open late. Last night I started to be sick too, but I’ve got a bit better as the day has gone on. Taking paracetamol has helped with the headache. Don’t want to eat - very unusual for me! Keeping hydrated though. To top it all the boiler has broken down, managed to get someone to come and look at it tomorrow.
Hope everyone has a happy and healthy 2023.
I'm sorry you had to get the flu before the holidays. I also had a really bad cold a couple of weeks before Christmas but I'm well now. Hope you feel better soon.
Hiya. Yes all had it here. Its awful and can't seem to shake it
My family in the Willamette Valley in Oregon got it, first my partner on Christmas Eve, then my sister visiting from Illinois. Now that my shift keeping the household running is over, I'm getting sick. My sister was tested and doc said it was Flu A. My daughter and I got negatives for that and covid, but perhaps I tested too early. My partner had fever and coughs for many days. New to ET, I had postponed my medication decision appointment until this post holiday week, now I don't know if I'm healthy enough to be at a cancer clinic, probably won't be! I intend to convince the doctor to prescribe Interferon instead of HU, so I wouldn't be surprised if my anxiety about that conversation colored my immune system gray.
Hope your both feeling better! It's a nasty virus.I caught the Flu virus 2 weeks prior to Christmas. Had the cold shiver's fatigue and no appetite for about 5 or so days. Followed by 2 weeks with a bad chest, breathlessnes and fatigue. Seems to be going slowly and normality returning.
Hi Fran, so sorry to hear that you and your husband have been so unwell with flu, I do hope that you both feel better soon, take care and best wishes, Maz x
Peg Interferon and flu jab
Thumping noise in ear
COVID and Flu vaccine - ET JAK2 
Flu jab
