interesting. it;s POSSIBLE, I suppose, that my daughter who is 15 and I have had a mild case of flu rather than the stubborn, sneaky cold that I thought this was.

I say that partlt because the clow-onset symptoms you describe are more typical of colds, even severe ones, than of true influenza...but this flu is atypical for a lot of reasons, including that it doesn't seem to rely n cool, dry air and weatehr for its spread - remember H1N1 broke out in May, apparently in mexico...not your typical flu at all.

I have kind of been watching the calendar since as an adult (I'm in my early 50s) get true flu once every twelve to thirteen years, and it's been just about 12 years since my last session with it. (I id have what was apparently a mild case of pertussis when i made the rounds at the high school where I worked in January of 2007 - never went to the doctor to get it positively identified. as such but it would make sense.)

here's what happened in our family this time around; my daughter has been doing a sort of back-and-forth with cold-like symptoms that produced eitehr a very stuffy nose and head, or fatigue, or both, for the last couple weeks; she'd take a day off school. rest up, feel better, then seem absolutely exhausted a few days later and need to repeat the rest.

last week, when she'd been through the back and forth with it for a week or more, I started noticing a little extra mucus in my chest and figured I had a very mild version of the same cold and it would be all right.I had a day or two of that, and a very mildly scratchy throat,but it seemed to be abating, and I left on a car trip to Los Angeles for a high school reunion and to visit my parents last Friday evening.

by Saturday afternoon, driving into Los Angeles (I;d stayed at a hostel in San Luis Obispo the previous night), i felt like I was getting a sinus headache, and my eyes were stinging, but that seemed to have as much to do with Los Angeles air quality (it had been hot and smoggy, reminding me of why I left it behind) and with having got some sunscreen in my eyes while driving as anythng else.

I had a pretty annoying sinus headache and mild nausea at the reunion, but again..reunions will do that to you sometimes, (this is the first one I;ve made in 35 years...)

my nose opened up and started sunning on Sunday morning, and i actually felt better that I had, less achy too. I stopped at gaviota hot SPrings and soaked for about an hour and a half on m way home, then drove back to Berkeley - I did stop for split pea sup at Buellton, and jsut drank water and a little orange juice the rest of the way.

I was really tired and feeling cold symptoms when I got home and spoke with my daughter briefly, but pretty much went right to sleep.
Monday i had the upper respiratory symtoms and mild, intermittent fever with ocasionl chills, and m daughter seemed runny nosed and tired again - we bth stayed home,. i slept a good part of the day.
I;e been feeling well enough to kake and eat soup for dinner both days and I managed to mop the bathroom floor and straighten the place up a little - and I went out briefly yesterday to check my mail, but I'm still pretty tied and still blowing my nose and coughing a ittle, though it has stayed out o my lungs for the most part. (respiratory infections usually do; I'm really fortunate in almost never getting ronchitis.

I woke up around midnight yesterday (Il'd gone t bed around 9 PM) with an atopy-like rash on the insides of my arms, along the top line of my pubic har (sorry if this is TMI~) and on the insides of my knees. Wasn't at all sure whether that was from the alpaca blanket I;d added when my feet felt cold last nght - thought briefly that it might be from strep - or even from a little poison oak from my hike to the hot springs on Sunday. I put a comfrey-aloe salve on my sin to soother it, took some freeze dried stinging nettles (marvelous for any Type A allergic response I;ve found, incuding hives) and managed to get myself back to sleep until around 6 this morning, which is my usual non-sick wake up time.

I'm still blowing m nose and feeling a bit weak and spacey, so i think I;ll take today off work and evening classes too..have to see how my daughter is doing - she thought she was ready to go back to school today. but this has been so off and on!

there have been confirmed fl cases at her school and a lot of kids, and some teachers, have been out.

We bth have pretty vigorous immune systems that don't get severely ill much, so it;s possible, as I say, this is a mild case of flu. or it might just be a sneaky cold virus.I wouldn;t even suspect flu..I've been telling people for years that you cn usually tell the difference between a bad cold and flu byhow a cold takes a day or two to come on, but flu kind of slams you so that in 15 minutes, u can go rom feeling "normal" to feeling you;ve been knocked in the chest with a two by six board.

from the notes that Lorenzo posted here though, about a fairly slow onset for H1N1, well who knows. I'm not paranoid abut the flu and the home treatment is abut the same eitehr way. mostly rest and "tincture of time." eating very light and only to appetite= I;lve been drinking the homemade toamto juice seasoned with galic, sea salt, basil., and rosemary that I put up last month, making miso broth with vegetables and hot peppermint tea, taking some extra Vtamin C and trying to get some mild exercise when i can ...yoga stretches, a little walking in the sunlight. echinacea has never seemed to do much for viruses i me (I have great success with it for bacterial infections however, but fortunately I don;t seem to have one)I do believe in garlic and onions as great cold and flu healers, and I have a pretty good collection of medicinal herbs here, both growing outside in my little garden and dried in jars and a few freeze dried medicine capsules...for the msot part I think it;s abut resting and being patient and trusting in healing.

I have specific healing meditations.prayers I practice when i am feelig ill or anxious, though I'mnot a conventionally religious person, and I;ve been using those especialy at bedtime a lot.

well, Monday I did not have the energy to type, or even to look at a computer for long, so I suppose I;m feeling somewhat better, I;m scheduled to return to work tomorrow and we'll see how it goes.

Washin' hands a lot; staying relaxed and eating lots and lots and lots of green things