I got Flumonia :-(

A survivors tale of the worst New Zealand flu season ever

You may have noticed I’ve been absent from my blog for the last 5 weeks. Unfortunately I’ve been very sick, and even ended up in hospital for a stint. Thankfully I’m on the mend now.

1. The first point of this blog post is to let you know that if you live in New Zealand, we are in the middle of the worst Influenza season ever. This was something I was not aware of before I got sick, but definitely something I AM aware of after talking to the doctors and nurses in hospital, finding out how many of my friends and family are sick, and reviewing Flu related news. If nothing else, be aware of the fact that this Flu season is brutal and be careful if you develop Flu symptoms.

2. The second point of this article is to tell you what happened to me, what I did right and wrong, and to analyse the lessons of how I probably could have prevented being hospitalised, and being sick for such an extended period. Despite being middle aged, and therefore having a reasonable amount of life experience from previous illnesses and what to do in various situations, somehow I perhaps let the situation get worse than it needed.

In my main discipline - Information Technology - there is something called a “no blame post mortem”, where if there is an I.T. disaster, you go through what happened afterwards, and then you try and make sure that next time you do a better job.

This is my analysis of what happened and the mistakes I made with my health. So if you’re interested, you can learn from me being a flu dummy.

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The 2024 NZ Flu Season

For whatever reason, the 2024 Flu season is BAD. People really ARE dying from the Flu this year, so the common Flu is no joke, and I learnt that myself the hard way.

Hospitals have been overwhelmed, however I also must say that when I needed it North Shore Hospital and the NZ Health system was there for me every step of the way, and that’s something I’m very grateful for.

Some of the recent Flu stories in the NZ media.

• Husband of Wellington nurse who died from Flu opens eyes and responds to nurses (after nearly dying from the Flu himself)

• Brother fights for life after developing flu-like symptoms

• Why the Flu continues to cause NZ so much harm

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My Flu and Pneumonia Experience

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First week - She’ll be right

On a Thursday afternoon, I started to get a little throat tickle and a dry cough. By nighttime, however I had brutal hot and cold chills, a raspy burning cough, was sweating but cold, had a pretty obvious fever and was feeling very rotten.

Having had the flu before, I correctly deduced that this was the flu, not a cold, and not Covid (gave myself a test), and decided to grunt it out. When I’ve had the flu previously, it normally lasts a few days, so that was my expectation that I was in for a 2-3 day sickness. However from the beginning this was clearly the worst flu I’d ever had.

My whole life I’ve shied away from Panadol / Ibuprofen etc, but this time I felt I clearly needed it. I had some Maxigesic tablets on hand from a recent dental procedure, which are a combination Ibuprofen / Panadol mix in one tablet.

I started taking the maximum dose of Maxigesic allowed on the packet which was 2 x tablets 4 x per day. This seemed to barely contain my fever and symptoms, and did nothing for my cough.

As I had correctly deduced that this was the flu, and therefore a viral issue and not a bacterial issue, I also correctly deduced that Antibiotics would not be needed, but incorrectly deduced that there was no point seeing my GP as I figured that nothing could be really done for a Virus-based illness like the Flu, and I’d just have to get over it.

Suddenly the point arrived where I’d been pretty seriously sick for a solid week - I hadn’t gotten better in 2-3 days like every other flu I’ve had - and I was dependant on the max dose Maxigesic tablets in order to keep my raging hot fever at bay.

Things I did well

• Correctly figured out that I had the flu not a cold

• Did a covid test to determine it wasn’t covid and therefore very likely flu

• Realised I had a fever and took Panadol / Ibuprofen mix to keep fever at bay

• Measured my vitals - Blood pressure, Oxygen Saturation, Heart rate to make none of those were going into really bad areas.

• Already had a Blood Pressure Monitor, Oxygen Saturation meter, and Heart Rate monitors on hand at home (Apple Watch) to monitor some vitals

• Made myself Lemon, Honey, Ginger, Garlic drinks even though I didn’t have the energy

Things I did badly

• Incorrectly assumed that there was nothing my GP could do for the flu. Actually there ARE things like TamiFlu (AntiViral), Prednisone, Inhalers and other medicines that can really help with Flu symptoms. I didn’t think of that.

• Didn’t go to see a doctor after being sick 1-2 days as I should have done in retrospect, I was sick trying to tough it out by myself for an entire week with nothing but Ibuprofen / Panadol.

• Didn’t have an IR digital thermometer at home to see exactly how bad my fever was, and I was definitely burning up. (you can get them for about NZ$50 these days from any pharmacy)

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Second Week Start - Struggle

At this point I’d been struggling with the Flu for a week, on a roller coaster of hot and cold sweats and coughing, and then suppressing my fever with Ibuprofen and Panadol, and taking Lemon honey drinks.

Unfortunately at the start of week two, my symptoms weren’t really getting any better, and I started getting pretty severe stomach pains.

I was aware from my own general knowledge that prolonged ibuprofen usage can give you stomach ulcers, and also having read the packet, it said not to use for “more than a few days”, and I’d been taking the max dose for about 8 days, so I decided to stop taking ibuprofen.

In my delirious state, I remembered reading something in the distant past that said when you get a fever, it’s your body deliberately raising it’s temperature to “burn off” the bad guys, and it’s your body’s natural response to a viral attack.

So again, In my mentally impaired state, I figured perhaps that the reason I wasn’t better from the flu after 8 days, when normally I’m better in 3 days if I get a flu, was actually because I was taking so much Ibuprofen and Panadol, when I normally don’t.

I figured that perhaps my body NEEDED a fever to burn off the illness, and I was on the verge of getting a stomach ulcer from the Ibuprofen, I decided to stop taking it, and try and burn of the flu naturally.

This then began a period where I was literally burning up. I’m not sure what my temperature would have been had I had a thermometer, but I’m sure it was bad. My bed was soaked in sweat so badly I was having to change the sheets daily.

However, after about 3 days of this terrible fever, and not being able to sleep due, my fever DID seem to start going down, although my cough was getting worse.

Things I didn’t do well

• I did not do things well. At this point I should have been going to my GP or hospital. Do not try to “burn off” a flu, this is dumb people.

• Should have had a digital thermometer to see how bad my temperature was. (I now have one)

• While Ibuprofen can give you a stomach ulcer if you take it too long, I wasn’t aware at the same is not true of Panadol. You CAN take a ton of Panadol and be fine, and Panadol will also calm a fever, so I should have cut the Ibuprofen due to stomach ulcer risk, however I could have kept taking Panadol to keep my fever under control.

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Second Week Middle - See the GP

After suffering for a week, and then coming off any meds and trying to get better without Ibuprofen / Panadol, it felt like I had actually succeeded in burning off my fever, however my cough was really bad, and had gotten so bad that I couldn’t breathe in or out without putting myself into a perpetual coughing fit.

I almost didn’t go and see my GP because I was feeling a little better fever wise, however my cough was so bad that It was becoming impossible to sleep, and therefore I was starting to get delirious from falling asleep and then waking myself up with a coughing fit, so I’d developed a technique to sleep in a chair so that I didn’t cough.

At the point of non-stop coughing it was the sleep deprivation problem that made me decide I needed to see my GP.

My GP agreed that I didn’t have a bacterial infection as I’d self-diagnosed, and also diagnosed me with Influenza rather than Covid, however he did immediately put me on two different kinds of Inhalers, Prednisone and TamiFlu as well as back on Panadol and a few other medications - 8 different medications that I could have been on from 1-2 days instead of 10 days in.

After a few days I felt that all the medicines were making me feel better and reducing my flu symptoms.

What I did Well

• I get a gold star for finally going and seeing my GP, 1.5 weeks after becoming sick

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Week 3 - A change in Symptoms

At the start of week 3, despite the fact that my fever had gone, and the meds I had from my doctor seemed to be helping, I woke up one morning feeling “different”, and then noticed that my Apple Watch had been alerting all night with High Hart rate notifications. My Apple Watch figures that there is a problem if your resting heart rate is above 120bpm while you’re doing nothing.

The fact that my heart rate had suddenly gone very high on week 3 when I was actually feeling better than the previous two weeks seemed strange to me. As a result of this, I decided to take my Oxygen Saturation reading with an O2 meter that I have at home.

After doing some googling I found: “Contact your health care provider if your oxygen saturation level is 92% or lower. If it falls to 88% or lower, seek immediate medical attention”

As my O2 saturation was 87%, and my Apple Watch was informing me that my heart rate was going crazy, despite feeling better than the last couple of weeks, I decided to go to hospital to get checked out to see what was going on, and what had changed.

What I did well

• Having an Apple Watch altered me to a high heart rate issue that I may otherwise not have been aware of. Definitely shows the benefit of wearable health technology

• Checking my Oxygen Saturation to investigate further my high hart rate was a sensible idea. It was good that I had an O2 sensor at home already on hand, and for the sake of spending $50 on one at the pharmacy, I recommend having it in your health toolkit.

• Measuring my O2 saturation without knowing what the numbers meant would have been pointless. I wasn’t actually aware that an O2 saturation of below 90% usually indicates a serious problem, so I did well to determine that I had a serious problem.

What I didn’t do well

• Although I had a blood pressure cuff at home, and I normally check my BP once a week or so, and more if I’m sick, I’d fallen of the wagon and hadn’t checked it for a week or more from being sick, which may have also shown me I had a more serious issue.

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Week 3 - Admission to Hospital

Although I’d woken up with symptoms that didn’t feel that bad to me, my Apple Watch and O2 monitor convinced me to go to hospital. However, just getting up and walking about seemed to drastically worsen my symptoms, and by the time I arrived at Hospital just a couple of hours after waking up, my symptoms seemed to have rapidly deteriorated.

By the time I arrived at Auckland’s North Shore Hospital, I was breathing so fast from trying to get air to walk, and I was feeling faint, and I was starting to see black spots in my vision.

Despite some recent negative press NZ healthcare has received, once I arrived at North Shore hospital, although there was a long line of patients, they did take my vitals immediately, and said “no - you’re in a really bad way, you need to be admitted immediately”.

When I arrived at Hospital, by O2 saturation had dropped to 83%, which is critically low, and because of this my chest and Left Arm had started aching, which is a pre-heart attack sign that the heart is not getting enough Oxygen, and is screaming out for air. My heart rate had also increased to 130-140 bpm as my heart was going faster and faster to try and compensate for the lack of Oxygen. In addition, when my blood pressure was measured, it was 261/206(!!) which is in serious heart attack zone (should be 120/80 in someone healthy)

Basically my Oxygen saturation had fallen off a cliff overnight, this had pushed up my heart rate, and my high hart rate had pushed up my blood pressure.

Although I’d been struggling along with the Flu for two weeks, in a miserable condition, it hadn’t been life threatening, but now the Flu had turned into Pneumonia, my lungs were starting to lose effectiveness to get Oxygen, and this was getting into dangerous health territory.

Almost immediately after arriving at Hospital I was put on bottled Oxygen and a nebuliser with various lung assisting concoctions, but it took about 4 days for me to start coming right and being able to breath on my own again without my Oxygen saturation falling back down into the red zone without assistance.

Thankfully after half a week or so I was able to be discharged from hospital and sent home with a box of antibiotics, inhalers and medications.

What I did well

• Actually getting myself to hospital based not so much on how I felt, but based on hard data in the deterioration in my vital signs. Without an Apple Watch or an O2 sensor I may not have gone, and any further delay in treatment could have been extremely dangerous.

What I did badly

• Urgently needing hospital grade care, being put ahead of plenty of other people in the waiting room, and taking up health system resources probably could have been avoided if I’d handled the proceeding two weeks better and been on TamiFlu and Prednisone after 1-2 days of illness, rather than waiting two weeks, then Flu turning to Pneumonia and things turning really serious

Week 4 - Slow recovery

After getting out of hospital, I was hoping for my symptoms to improve rapidly, however things were slow going. After a week out of hospital and having finished all my antibiotics and medicines, I wasn’t sure if I was that much better (although I was much better than when I went IN to hospital).

It turns out that Pneumonia can seriously damage lung tissue - sometimes permanently - and you can lose a portion of lung function that never comes back. I’d forgotten that my own father had gotten a serious Flu at about 30, and afterwards his health was never the same.

Initially the doctors at North Shore hospital said it might take 4-6 weeks for me to regain full lung function, but then another doctor said it might take 4-6 months or sometimes never. Another friend I know mentioned that he got Pneumonia and has permanently lost about 15% of lung function.

As my Oxygen saturation had still not recovered due to Pneumonia related lung damage, this meant that my heart rate and blood pressure were still elevated. The week out of getting out of hospital, my resting heart rate was still 120-130bpm doing absolutely nothing (normally about 80), which had the effect of making me feel like I’d had too much red bull, and quite anxious and panicky all the time.

Week 5 - A shock and back to hospital

A week after getting out of hospital, my resting heart rate was still 120-130bpm, or 40-50bpm faster than normal.

At this point, I had a very sad event where one of my close personal friends ended up in hospital (not with flu or covid), and sadly ended up passing away.

When I went to see my friend in hospital as they were close to passing away, I felt ok, however with a resting heart rate of 130bpm, there not a lot of headroom for an increase in heart rate due to stress or exercise - I was already on the red line so to speak.

With the stress of my friend passing, my heart started to beat erratically and at 180bpm+, so I ended up being re-admitted to Auckland Hospital a week after being at North Shore hospital, where again - to the credit of the NZ health system - I received excellent care and assistance.

After spending a night at Auckland hospital I was discharged with a diagnosis of post-flu and pneumonia related tachycardia, but nothing too life threatening, although they had briefly worried I had a blood clot in my lung.

People who’ve had the flu and pneumonia are at 400% higher risk of heart attack in the month or so after being sick, and so my symptoms and risk were not worth ignoring, and it was worth being admitted to hospital a second time given my symptoms.

Week 6 - Heart Testing

Six weeks after initially getting sick, my Oxygen saturation and lung function had started to improve a bit, and I wasn’t getting so puffed going up stairs and things, however my fast resting heart rate hadn’t improved.

My GP was a little concerned that even with an O2 saturation of 95% (should be 100%), but resting heart rate was still 120bpm+, and so I was referred to a heart specialist for further testing, which is ongoing, and I still have further tests next week.

It is common for heart rate to be elevated in the weeks following pneumonia, so hopefully this is semi normal, but my resting HR is a much higher than expected.

What I did well

• Even though I’m 80% better from Pneumonia, I’m still being proactive with my heath, and investigating the residual high hart rate symptoms and things that I have.

• After being a bit “slow off the mark”, and then having a serious health scare, and learning how serious Pneumonia can be, I’m now taking things really seriously.

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So, what’s causing this serious Flu epidemic?

Ok, so I’m not a medical professional. And I’m probably outside my pay grade to make this assessment, but I have a theory.

My theory is that the seriousness of this Flu season is NOT a super strong Flu - it’s a normal Flu, and people are being hammered much harder because our immune systems are all permanently damaged from Covid. This is exactly the same way that HIV affects people. HIV is a virus, and once you have it, it’s not that you die of HIV, it’s that you die of things like a cold or basic infection because your immune system is so compromised.

I’ve personally had Covid 6+ times, and I definitely don’t feel the same. Hard to tell if I’m just old or immune impaired, but I definitely don’t feel as vital as just a few years ago.

I came up with my theory while sick, and now that I’m better I went to try and find some evidence to back the theory up, and the bad news is that there is a ton out there.

Check out this article from the Washington post which backs up my theory

Covid is making flu and other common viruses act in unfamiliar ways

And have a look at this graph of the increase in general worker sickness

I also went searching for other diseases besides the flu, and everything from Flu to Listeria, to drug resistant bacteria, to Measles cases are exploding world wide.

The only common denominator is Covid. If we are all weaker and immune compromised from Covid then of course all other measured sicknesses are going to explode.

The moral of the story is that I think that ANY sickness from now on - flu or otherwise is probably going to hit us all harder than normal.

My whole life if I’ve gotten the Flu, it’s been a 2-3 day affair and I’ve not needed help. This time around it didn’t get too far away from killing me and I ended up in the longest hospital stay I’ve ever had, and I’ve been sick for 6 weeks, with the road to getting better being tough and slow going.

So - If you get the Flu or any other sickness, get onto it ASAP, don’t do what I did and try and tough it out, the Flu has always been able to kill, but in Covid immune compromised people (all of us), it’s a lot more likely to turn lethal.

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Footnote - Thanks again NZ health system

I just wanted to take time to make a special note of appreciation for the NZ Health system. If I’d been sick in the USA and a hospital visit was going to cost me $10k or something, then I may not have ended up going, and it turned out I absolutely needed to.

Despite a lot of complaints about the NZ health care system, both North Shore hospital and Auckland hospital were there for me when I needed them over the last month, and the admission process, staff and care were absolutely amazing.

Whatever we do in New Zealand, we want to preserve our wonderful health care system, because in this case I needed it, and I’m very grateful that it was there for me.

My two hospital visits over the last month cost me a grand total of zero dollars and zero cents, and I even liked the food. No complaints whatsoever.