What does flu feel like?

[Thisnamechanger]

As far as I know I've never had the flu, although I tend to get a few colds a year that make me snotty and tired for a few days.

Yesterday afternoon I started a bit of a dry cough but thought maybe it was my new air freshener. Felt really tired so went to bed at 9.30 then woke up pouring sweat and shivering madly at about 3...couldnt get warm at all, even under three blankets. Arms hurt, legs hurt, even skin seems hypersensitive, feel queasy and dizzy...I'm freezing (clothed, in coat and under blanket) but face is burning. Cough is relentless and really, really painful. WTH is this??? 😱 Paracetamol does nothing!

Main difference with flu and a cold is the suddenness of symptoms generally I think. A cold often takes longer to arrive, with a gradual increase of symptoms. Though, again, it varies.

My mam has had it this year despite having the jab and she says she felt worse then when she was going through chemotherapy.

I think I had flu recently. Despite the fact that DH was only downstairs, and I was in bed, I still had to call him on my phone to come and bring me some water, as I couldn't face getting out of bed. Kids were amused to hear me talking on the phone from so near!

You can take Paracetamol and Ibuprofen at the same time - timing it so you take them at the same time for the first dose in 24 hours helps maximise feeling less awful (it's usually Paracetamol every 6 hours and Ibuprofen every 8 in 24 hours). Do NOT use cold remedies at the same time. If you have painful sinuses/your face hurts, send somebody out to the chemist to get Sudafed on its own, not with any additional meds. It needs to be the Sudafed bought from the chemist from behind the counter, not the shit stuff that you can get in the supermarket or on the shelves.

Lots of fluid - if somebody is around, send them to get you full sugar lemonade, let it sit at room temperature (as ice cold can make you feel sick) and have tiny sips almost constantly.

Have cold packs and wet flannels to keep your temperature down (which reduces headache if you use them to 'chase' the pain around your head). Yes, you'll feel cold, at least when you aren't feeling like you're burning up.

If you feel well enough to consider a bit of food, a broth like soup (chicken stock cube and a handful of frozen veg) is a plan. A shower when you can walk and stand up will help - it's OK to have to sit on the shower floor.

If you need a hot drink, hot stock helps (the salt helps to prevent dehydration) and if you get more 'cold like' symptoms, add a bit of ginger and pepper. If you crave sugar, orange juice heated up with ginger and honey is more comforting than lemon and honey.

NO visiting newborns or pregnant ladies until you feel perfectly fit again - you wouldn't want either of them to have this. And use hand gel in any case.

Prop yourself up in bed to make it slightly easier to breathe at night. And if you start feeling it's hard to breathe whilst laying or sitting down, you need to call NHS Direct, as it's very easy for flu to end up as Pneumonia (and my God, that's a whole different ball game).

When you're better, you could still get the flu jab, as there is more than one variant knocking around at any one time. It's worth it, even if you need to pay - as you probably know right now.

Hope you feel better soon.

Flu feels like the worst physical exhaustion you can imagine. Every inch of your body aches like you've been kicked all over. Your lungs hurt and even standing up is too much effort. You veer from sweating buckets and drenching the sheets one minute to shivering and being freezing cold snd clammy the next.

People tend to say they have flu when they have a bad cold but the two are really nothing alike.

If you were even conscious and not tripping the fuck out with hallucinations that meant the three million quid had become a multifanged, eleven thousand tentacled demon that was currently ripping your head, chest and every nerve ending apart whilst sitting on your heart and lungs, that is.

Indeed.

The first time I had flu, I was fine when I put my first foot on the bottom of our stairs, by the time I got to the top I could barely walk, and crawled to my bed, and there I stayed for 14 days and 14 nights. It came on that quick, and my OH was wondering what the fuck I was doing, i'd only gone upstairs to use the loo. It was horrendous and I spent a week hallucinating that every shape in the room was coming alive at me.

I've had flu only twice in my life (49).
Both times is came on really fast and was awful. Never felt so ill, ever.

I’m just getting over it despite the flu jab. Horrible. I still feel awful. Been 11 days for me and over 2 weeks for DH.

People have had proper, tested for, flu, and only really had mild cold symptoms.

Yes - DD goes to boarding school, and when the flu went through the school pretty much everyone with the slightest symptoms was tested. Several of them had flu despite only mild symptoms.

DD tested positive so I went to bring her home. By the time I arrived (24 hours after the phone call due to a massive snowstorm) she was up and about, doing her homework, and was very hungry. No aches and pains, a bit of a cough, a bit snotty. She was able to restart online school a couple of days later.

We all get the flu jab every year so maybe that contributed to her not getting the flu so badly.

OTOH my stepsister died of sepsis caused by flu - it really can be awful.

That's all really helpful mitzik thank you.guess I'll be hibernating and waiting nfor baby picks for the foreseeable.

Dear God you guys weren't kidding!

Day three...have not moved from this spot in bed appart from staggering 4 paces to loo. Fun features include: sensation of nails been driven into every joint, constant headache, dizziness, nightmares, weakness and OMG the sweating. So gross. Waking up multiple times a night shaking with drenched sheets. Urgh. Have definitely learned my lesson re. Flu shots!!!

DN or DN hasn't arrived yet... 👀👶

Sounds like flu to me.

I've only had it once, but it knocked my stuffing right out for at least 3 weeks. An exhausting, racking cough, as well as generally feeling awful. Even after I was considerably better I remember walking the dog with a dd who said, 'Mum, can't you walk a bit faster?'
No, I honestly couldn't.

Rest, keep warm, paracetamol, or paracetamol alternated with ibuprofen, plenty of fluids and vitamin C. Night/Day Nurse also good.

But those ads for flu 'remedies' that imply you can still keep going if you take them, are a lie when it comes to proper flu, as opposed to a heavy cold or 'man flu'.

Hope you start to feel better soon.

The lemonade advice is brilliant by the way! Thanks for all your tips MN

I had it over Christmas. 3 days in bed then when DH come to bed i got up on the sofa as i couldn’t be touched without hurting. Had to see the emergency doctor as i had no voice, no eating no drinking, coughing, hurting from coughing. Today im looking forward to my 1st meal since the 22nd if December-Christmas dinner!

It will soon pass. Oh and next year im paying for a flu jab!