Did we already have swine flu?

[NervousNellie]

Hi all! I was wondering about this because I see that some of you posted about the swine flu back in December of 2008. I live in the USAand last October 2008, my 5 year old daughter became ill. She had a fever, sore throat, some muscle aches and bad cough that turned into pneumonia within 12 hours of a doctor's visit (her lungs were clear at the doctor's office and overnight she developed pneumonia). I started to feel like I was coming down with something, so I went to the doctor's. I got sent to the hospital for a panic attack because of a racing heart. Was at the hospital for 6 hours and sent home with a diagnosis of "anxiety" (well duh...). Within 2 days of coming home from the hospital, I developed a high fever, stuffy nose, cough (but not too bad), body aches and chills like I've never had before in my life! I couldn't eat and was too tired to sleep (if that makes sense)! My fever was so high (over 103 degrees F) that I couldn't even move and I had to take Tylenol every 2 hours to keep it down. I had no energy for about 12 hours and couldn't even get up to get a glass of water. My doctor prescribed Zithromax to me - I though maybe it was a sinus infection because of the stuffed up nose and cough. Within 11 hours of taking the Zithromax, the fever broke and I was feeling much better the next day. I suffered with the fever for about 24-48 hours - it took about 4 or 5 days to get my energy back. My husband took care of me the whole time, but I was isolated to my bedroom. My 3 year old daughter got mildly ill with a fever and slight cough, but my husband never got sick.

Do you think that we could have all had the swine flu already? It wasn't reported in the US until April 2009, but I can't help but wonder if it was already spreading back in 2008. Were these symptoms of the swine flu? Your thoughts would be appreciated!

[Welsh.Baz]

I thought it was a pretty well known fact the US had swine flu before this newer outbreak?

[NervousNellie]

Actually, we never heard anything about it!! I live in New York, which was one of the hardest hit states this past spring and the US was reporting that this came from an infant/toddler who came to the US from Mexico. If it has been in the US much longer, then obviously it isn't a very big concern since it wasn't reported a long time ago! I was just trying to get everyone's thoughts to see if you think we have already had it! I haven't had the flu in 15 years (I'm 30 years old), so I can't remember what it's like!