Observed symptoms from "The Great Influenza" by John M. Barry, Pt. 3....

[Media_Lies_Daily]

...from pages 235-236:

Symptom E: "Extreme earaches were common. One physician noted that otitis media--inflammation of the middle ear marked by pain, fever, and dizziness--'developed with surprising rapidity, and rupture of the drum membrane was observed at times in a few hours after the onset of pain'. Another wrote, 'Otitis media reported in 41 cases. Otologists on duty day and night and did immediate paracentisis on all bulging eardrums...'. Another: 'Discharge of pus from the external ear was noted. At autopsy practically every case showed otitis media with perforation....This destructive action on the drum seems to me to be similar to the destructive action on the tissues of the lung.'

Symptom F: "The headaches throbbed deep in the skull, victims feeling as if their heads would literally split open, as if a sledgehammer were driving a wedge not into the head but from inside the head out. The pain seemed to locate particularly behind the eye orbit and could be nearly unbearable when patients moved their eyes. There were areas of lost vision, areas where the normal frame of sight went black. Some paralysis of ocular muscles was frequently recorded, and German medical literature noted eye involvement with special frequency, sometimes in 25 percent of influenza cases.

Symptom G: "The ability to smell was affected, sometimes for weeks.

Symptom H: "Rarer complications included acute--even fatal--renal failure.

Symptom I: "Reye's syndrome attacked the liver."

An army summary later stated simply, 'The symptoms were of exceeding variety as to severity and kind'.

[Fovea]

1. Was this the Spanish Flu?

1918 pandemic?

[Media_Lies_Daily]

3. Yes, it was. Also an avian flu.

[sharonking21]

2. I had some kind of Influenza A

back around 1985-87 (can't remember exactly) that led to my losing my sense of smell for about two weeks. I know that this can be a permanent complication at times (your olfactory bulb in the brain resides very close to the nose) so I sure was glad when it came back. This particular bout of flu was the worst I have ever had--I was in bed for a couple of weeks--I also became very depressed afterwards and the fatigue afterwards was stunning--lasted for a couple of months. I've gotten my flu shot ever since--except for this year when I couldn't find it.

Had something else back in the 70s (never was able to find out WHAT it was)that made me even sicker--literally had to crawl to bathroom --was too dizzy to stand up--and heard auditory hallucinations resembling coke bottles being rolled over the roof. My friend and I had been to the coast and we both got sick. She was in bed for three months, running ungodly fevers most of one month in hospital. We were sooo curious as to what it was but never got an answer. So frustrating.

When I was 8 years old, living in Brownsville TX, I got dengue. It presented much faster than the flu did--WHAM!--one minute I was walking home from school and the next I was deathly ill with the worst headache I have ever had and worst muscular pains I have ever had. I hallucinated that my skull was breaking apart like mud flats do when the sun dries them. Then I lost consciousness for two days.