A high school classmate of mine has died due to a condition called a Thyroid Storm brought about by H1N1. Yikes.

I had never heard of this. I hope I never do again.

Yikes! I'm sorry about your classmate.

congrats, teppy! Welcome to the exciting and terrifying world of home ownership.

Wrong Steph, Steph.

Hee! True 'dat. But let me add my congratulations to Stephanie -- yay house!!!

A high school classmate of mine has died due to a condition called a Thyroid Storm brought about by H1N1.

H1N1 can also cause something called a Cytokine Storm, which is what has been responsible for many of the H1N1-related deaths that occurred in otherwise healthy people in their 20s-40s. It's very freaky.

That's awful about your classmate.

I'm not close to her or anything but my sister knows her family and goes to the same church. It's horrific for her kids, who are still pretty young. I think she may even have a grandchild.

I'm hating on H1N1.

Stephanie, I'm so glad they accepted your offer! The house sounds wonderful!

That's such a shock, Cash. I have ended up in a couple of exchanges with people who say they're not getting the vaccine because it's "too dangerous." I keep pointing out that the flu kills thousands of people every year.

That's such a shock, Cash. I have ended up in a couple of exchanges with people who say they're not getting the vaccine because it's "too dangerous." I keep pointing out that the flu kills thousands of people every year.

The swine flu vaccine in '76 killed more people than the flu did. It's not wildly paranoid to be afraid of that happening again with H1N1. [link] [link]

Approximately 40,000 Americans die each year from flu and flu-related conditions.

The 1976 swine flu vaccine caused one unusual side effect: an increased incidence of Guillain-Barré syndrome, which, while dreadful, is usually not fatal. Each year, approximately 1 out of every 100,000 people in the U.S. come down with Guillain-Barré. Its cause is not fully known, but it seems to be related to severe infections. Experts estimate that an additional 1 out every 100,000 people who received the 1976 vaccine were diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome. The vaccine did protect people against that strain of flu; the effort became a political nightmare because the flu did not reach the epidemic proportions predicted.

H1N1 can also cause something called a Cytokine Storm, which is what has been responsible for many of the H1N1-related deaths that occurred in otherwise healthy people in their 20s-40s. It's very freaky.

I just read a thing online that says it's possible that nicotine can help prevent a cytokine storm by blocking some doohickey in the stuff.

Those are all medical terms, ya know.

I'm also glad that my thyroid is gone as Thyroid Storm tends to hit people with hyperactive thyroids, which is what I had.

t pets scar

Yeah, a better measure would be what percentage of people who got the shot died from it versus what percentage of people who did not get the shot died from the flu. And even that's not a great measure, because it doesn't take into account herd immunity.

Approximately 40,000 Americans die each year from flu and flu-related conditions.

That number never fails to shock me.