I was told I was exaggerating when I said flu can kill

yanbu, it irritates me no end when they say they have the flu when they have a cold. Flu has you bedridden. I had it this year and it left me ill for weeks during pregnancy. It really shouldn’t be underestimated, I was really poorly as a healthy individual, no wonder it kills the elderly

Im not trying to educate anyone you want to kill yourself with stupidity go right ahead the incident I was talking about was nothing to do with me

I don't think you die from flu, you die from organ failure, sepsis, respiratory distress.

www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-does-the-flu-actually-kill-people/

I got the flu when i was 28, i had marathon running type fitness at the time. I was so ill, hallucinating, soaked in sweat one minute, shivering cold the next. Took about 10 days to shake it off and a good few months to feel back to normal. Can totally understand how it kills people. I’m always first in line for the jab ever since!

They have cut down who can have the flu jab this year its no longer free for a lot of people and yes it only cost £20 but poor people dont have that plus they dont have the supplies so many people calling the chemist today she had five left and wasn't due more till monday (hopefully) the phone kept ringing i was there 15 minutes

My dd age 6 spent 14 days in icu last year with the flu.

Are people really that drama llama with you about the flu?! It seems like such a trivial conversation.

are you sure you’re not spending your time “trying to educate” people who just don’t want to hear it?

Well obviously yes frail and/or elderly.

Yes it can happen but it’s statistically unlikely unless you’ve not had the jab and your immune system isn’t doing great.

It’s not particularly unlikely if you are old, frail or have other medical problems. Not guaranteed either, obviously, but there are a lot of people in those categories.

Agree - OP you clearly met an idiot, as thousands of people die of flu each year, and the 1917 flu pandemic is fairly famous.

But just as I wouldn’t start a thread about every idiot I meet who doesn’t believe you can die of kidney failure, or very high blood pressure, or untreated diabetes, I wouldn’t bother getting worked up about some twit you’ve met who doesn’t know anything about flu.

You’ve not really given any context OP? Yes it can happen but it’s statistically unlikely unless you’ve not had the jab and your immune system isn’t doing great.
Some people have a great immune system and rarely get ill (me, although I do have two very debilitating chronic illnesses!) yet others are ill every few weeks and it’s not always as a result of lifestyle/diet issues.

I know what you mean though. I genuinely nearly died twice when I had Hyperemesis Gravidarum during pregnancy and was told by my friend, a trainee nurse, that I was being dramatic! She wasn’t there when the midwife tested my urine and had me rushed into hospital, only for them to be unable to take my blood as I was so dehydrated that my blood was too thick to extract. They told me if the MW hadn’t popped in to see how I was and checked my ketones, I’d have been dead by morning. Yet apparently I was being dramatic.

Because people are tired of being accused of fear mongering exaggerating and the best one "being hysterical" because they state proven facts as a child i knew flu could kill i knew to wash my hands dispose of tissues correctly boil was hankys (yes im that old) these days people dismiss it and accuse you of lying i watched someone deliberately cough at people for fun they all found it hysterical they all got sick and were suprised i get that they were barely in there 20s but still what the fuck is wrong with people

Thousands die of flu each year in the UK.

It can be deadly, nobody should underestimate it!

I don’t know why you’d get worked up about this. Who cares if other people don’t know you can die from flu? It’s easily googleable, not special knowledge, they obviously have their own reasons for avoiding that- or maybe they’re just not interested in the conversation and trying to shut it down

I almost died of flu a few years ago and I was a very healthy person in my early 30s. It was quite a shock that could happen.

My grandmother died of flu. I never got to meet her and my mother was sad and angry and not too good at being a mum.