My first night home from Pennsylvania on Sunday was followed up with a trip to the Doctors on Monday morning... The diagnosis was "Bronchitis or atypical Pneumonia"!?! Seriously, what is that??

They were going to send me for an xray on my chest for clarification, however, decided that they would hold off on that because they had sent me for an xray four weeks ago for one of the other times that I have been sick this year.

Since then Megan, my wife, and Willow, my daughter, have come down with the same thing. I was hoping it would miss Willow simply because it has been a bitch to get through the nights with this as an adult let alone as a 15 month old.

It seems as though I have been sick almost constantly for the last two months... However, it doesn't just seem to be me. Around my workplace we have been operating on about 50% manpower since January with people out for weeks on end with all sorts of chest infections/pneumonia related illnesses.

But, it goes beyond that, outside of my work place people seem to almost constantly ill with similar illnesses.

While I appreciate that the change of the seasons causes health issues, this year seems to be worse than previous years. Is this limited solely to my area or are other people experiencing similar health issues?

Same here in the southern part of NYS. I've had a chest infection twice since January and both my husband and myself have had a terrible bout of intestinal flu as have others in my office. I've had a pneumonia shot and a flu shot this year and am praying that it wards them off like garlic to a vampire.

im really hoping I dont get a chest infection now im in the US, since having whooping cough in my teams every single cold i get turns into a chest infection or bronchitus and stays with me for weeks Ive had a really annoying cough for weeks now but hopefully it wont go further than that!

I hope your daughter is ok

To the OP. Wow! That's terrible that you and your family are all ill at once.

I've not heard of anybody who's had anything that you describe.

Just a thought though. How often do you change your air filters in your home? I've read that doing it monthly is a good thing and you don't need to get the expensive ones either.

Also, hand washing can prevent getting ill. I think this is especially true in the workplace when one is exposed to so many people. Fortunately, in my line of work, hand washing is done more often than normal and I haven't got ill this winter.

If you are getting sick repeatedly you need to go to the doctor. I used to get chest infections constantly following a very bad case of bronchitis a few years ago and finally my doctor gave me her strongest anti-biotics and I haven't had one since.

Glad to hear it's not just Rochester... Maybe it's a NY thing?

I think I've had about 8-10 Dr visits since mid-february (when I first got ill), including an xray and second opinions. It's unusual because I get ill, get put on anti-biotics, get better and then about a week later get ill again.

This last one has really knocked the stuffing out of us though. I don't think I have ever been as sick as I have felt in the last week (and now my wife and daughter are going through the same).

Regarding the antibiotics... The Dr tried putting me on Avelox back in March, which apparently is hard core stuff, and I had an allergic reaction to it in my tendons, so that was a no go. I've only just got full motion back in my right wrist.

Getting the air filters checked at home is a good one... (and something that we are currently looking into)... our house is 140 years old and there is a lot of dust which gets churned up with the forced air. I miss central heating sooo much. We've got some guys coming around this weekend to give the place a really good professional cleaning. We're also looking to get a humidifier or two as well because the air is very dry here in Winter. I know, with spring here, it's a bit like closing the stable door after the horse has bolted, but hopefully we can avoid come of the issues next winter.

Basically, it's been a fun few months!!!

We have the bug here in the PNW as well, I am home sick now. And sad to say we have had a couple of teens die from what they thought was a chest cold!...turns out the young man started coughing up blood from the infection and died the next morning! unreal!...anyhooo....pay close attention to the babe, (as I am sure you are) But what ever variety of flu this is, it lasts for weeks on end and is a killer for real!

Been like that where I live in Maine too. One bloke I work with sounds like Darth Vader and we haven't been able to understand him for weeks now.

My wife was like that earlier this year and a lot of people I know have had something similar. Me, well I have had to wipe my nose twice since January.

Hope everyone feels better soon.

We are the same. Started with a cold in January and have had chest infections, another cold, more coughs and so on. Mostly me and the youngest but OH has got it again now. I know lots of families with the same thing and I've heard of several cases of pneumonia.

We have never been like this!

Same here...seems to be a bad winter all over. Sort of makes me wonder....why...where did this bug fly in from?

Jeez... Thanks!!!

One of things which our Dr told me earlier this year was the flu vaccine which was given to everyone this last winter had no effect on the flu, because it was the wrong strain... Ooops!

We are keeping a very close eye on Willow and apart from a slight fever, running nose and coughing she doesn't appear to be as badly hit as Megan or I (fingers crossed).

I've been on Zithromax for six day now and it does appear to have done the trick. I'm down to a persistant dry tickly cough and a bit fuzzy in the head (no change there), but Megan only started on her antibiotics on Wednesday so she's got a few days to go until she'll start to feel better.


That's how I've been at work... Some people I speak to have enough of a problem understanding me without me sounding like I'm talking underwater. The fact that I can bearly hear anything anyone is saying isn't exactly helping. On Wednesday, one of our customers was giving me medical advice while I was trying to help fix her server problem. Funny.

It's been bad down here in AZ too. I had that chest infection and it knocked me out, I've never been so ill. It seemed to hang around here for a long time and some people caught it more than one. My Boss was off for days and he still can't go anywhere without a bag of Halls. it was the worst winter I can recall for a long time, in terms of number of people falling ill and the type of illness.

Probably Lassa fever ... I will say goodbye now .....

I'd best say my goodbyes then...

Funny you coming out with that... I seem to recall it is nearly two years ago that you "died"!!

I guess it's not just Rochester (or NY). Sorry to hear that I'm not the only one going through this.