Howdy everyone...

No, I didn't disappear or anything like. I am still around and still have my C&V 1985 Fuji Del Rey road bike. I know it's been a bad winter, wicked cold, snow, ice, etc... and lots of people (myself included) put up their bikes for the winter.

However... A few weeks ago, I got hit with that horrible Flu virus that has been all over the news! It really did a number on me, and put me flat on my back for a week straight! This strain of Flu is absolutely awful! It's a different type of virus, as you aren't throwing up, you don't have the runs, etc... nothing like that. This variation of the Flu is all in your chest to where you literally can't breathe! Seriously, you feel like an elephant is standing on your chest!! Any type of normal inhale/exhale and you're on the floor coughing and coughing so bad, you think you're about to have a heart attack!!

Anyway, after taking Tamiflu and that antibiotic Azithromycin(?) or what they call Z-Pack, I got over it, but I still feel like there's residual "goop" leftover in my lungs. The docs said it takes time (about a month!) to fully recover from it - maybe even longer!

So, as you can see by the short video below, I just got back from a quick 6.25 mile bike ride to sort of "test" myself and see how I feel with bike riding. I won't go jogging and am skipping out the annual 10K road race here in town, as I won't be ready no matter what.

DON'T GET THIS FLU BUG! I DON'T WISH IT ON ANYONE!!!

Oof! That one is literally a killer. Glad to see you're on the mend.

my wife had it, and I am hoping that I also already did...about a week before she got sick, I got sick, but it was really only one day where I just stayed in bed and i thought it was just a bad cold. I am hoping was instead a mild flu, because if it was not, Ill be getting sick again with the real thing.

I did get the Swine flu back in 2009- i think it was- and I have not caught a flu since. I think it supercharged my immune system after that one.

Thanks... Yeah this variation of the Flu bug is, as you said, a killer!!!

1) Flu bug, massive chest congestion, infected lungs, aviola, bronchial tubes, or whatever else...
2) If left untreated = Flu turns into Pneumonia.
3) Pneumonia turns into Sepsis.
4) Sepsis leads to... well... you know... You become another statistic in the news!!

That sounds worse than what I had, glad your OK. Great video

Glad that you pulled through Butch, sounds like its one bad hombre. A few parishioners at our church have had it, two that I know of were hospitalized for a week. Don't push things, a relapse can be much worse than the first hit. I can speak to this first hand.

Bill

Happy that you got through it with not much bad residual, many people with the flu have been laid up for a few weeks, then recovering takes a month.

Hope everyone out there considers getting a flu shot, even now. The flu season this year has been very rough with lots of healthy kids and young adults dying of the flu and related problems. The usual vulnerable populations of over 65 and under 5 have also been hit hard.

The flu vaccine will provide some coverage (around 30-35% this year) but also boosts the general immune response to any infection, and to viral infections in particular. Even if you do get the flu, symptoms and duration are generally better than without the flu vaccine. Sure, some people have done ok without the flu vaccine, and some people still get the flu, but many people who did not get the vaccine and then got the flu get hit really hard, some hospitalized, and some getting pneumonia or...worse.

Talk to your doctor or pharmacist, strongly consider getting the flu shot. Considering our bicycle mentality where we try to get every edge we can (tires, gearing, frame and parts weight, etc.) get the edge against the flu. And yes, some people get a strong immune reaction to the flu shot and have some mild symptoms as that happens, but it is not getting the flu through the vaccine.

Note: I did play a doctor (family medicine) in my previous life, have sat with my handicapped daughter in the hospital 3 times in the last 10 years with a very bad flu, and treated scores of people during previous flu seasons.

Yup, it's been pretty rough. Worse than I'd expected. I felt the symptoms the last week of December but shrugged it off because I never get the flu. Big mistake.

Could hardly get out of bed most of January. Since then I've had enough energy for maybe one real bike ride a week, and pay for it the next day with exhaustion. And I'm much slower and more easily tired during those rides. I just keep stubbornly thinking it'll be fine this ride, or tomorrow, etc.

Oof. Glad you are on the better side of it. Thankfully no flu for me this year, but definitely a wacky ear infection that affected my balance along with some also-odd central back muscle tension that also seemed to play with my balance. Took most of January to normalize again and I'm just on daily Flonase to keep nose-to-ear passages as clear as possible. Need to schedule a follow-up appointment. With the Flonase I feel like I've been keeping something worse at bay, which is good, but...I never needed this stuff this long before. Weird year for human health here in the US. Hope it clears up quickly--bad stuff indeed.

Please see the duplicate thread in 50+ sub forum Pills & Ills.

Back after the Flu...

Thread closed.