Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

How common is proper flu?

170 replies

Duckypoohs · 08/06/2021 21:54

I'm just wondering how likely it is I have gotten to my age without having it

I remember my Mum being really ill once, she looked and felt really bad, I mean terrible. Dr came out but she didn't spend time in hospital.
I looked after her the best my mid teen self could.

Sister was v I'll too but a couple of years earlier

OP posts:
Topbird29 · 08/06/2021 22:24

Only had the flu jab the last couple of years, and when was pregnant (so twice when younger). Guess I may just have been lucky so far. Only started getting vaccine now as getting older, so seems like a good idea.

Grace58 · 08/06/2021 22:27

I had it the year that swine flu was doing the rounds and suspect it was that. It floored me and my then boyfriend for two weeks over Christmas, we could barely move, getting up to go to the loo was a struggle. Horrendous!

MrsFezziwig · 08/06/2021 22:28

@Duckypoohs

Could you get to 30/40 and have not had it? Despite being exposed?
I’ve never had it and I’m in my sixties.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

General health
Blossomtoes · 08/06/2021 22:30

I’m 67 and have had it twice. It was Hongkong flu in around 1968. However 22,000 people died of it in 2017.

HowCanHeFindIt · 08/06/2021 22:30

I’m 61 and never had it. I remember my DM having flu - it took her about 8/9 weeks to fully recover.

GCAcademic · 08/06/2021 22:31

I’m 46 and have had it twice. It was horrendous. I couldn’t move from my bed and was shivering violently. I was off work for a couple of weeks and it took several more weeks for the feeling of exhaustion to go away.

Eloisedublin123 · 08/06/2021 22:32

I’m 47 and had it once age about 35. I was so sick I couldn’t watch tv, nothing but lie completely still.

Mangofandangoo · 08/06/2021 22:32

Mid 30s and I've had it once. Legitimately thougtno was dying. It came out of the blue too, one minute fine, then bam it got me.

sociallydistained · 08/06/2021 22:32

Had it a few times including swine flu. If you have you know. Week 2 I am actually praying to god for health because I don’t believe I’ll ever be healthy and not bedridden again. It’s truly horrific I can’t even explain. I described it to my partner once and he said he has never felt like it and I said he should be thankful. Its hard to imagine now waking up on day 14 still has ill and completely weak and helpless and feeling like you’re dying as on day 1!

prettyvisitor · 08/06/2021 22:33

Well I'm 50 and I've only had it once in my life. Plenty of heavy colds but proper, can't get out of bed flu only once.

HelpfulBelle · 08/06/2021 22:34

I've had it once in my entire life - swine flu - nearly 12 years ago.

I came down with a streaming nose and 2 hours later I took to bed...for a whole week. I thought I was going to die. I was hot and cold all the time and shaking like a leaf. Every muscle in my entire body ached. DH managed to get hold of Tamiflu which made me puke every hour on the hour.

I did lose about 21 pounds though, which was nice!

Original poster
Duckypoohs · 08/06/2021 22:34

@Grace58

I had it the year that swine flu was doing the rounds and suspect it was that. It floored me and my then boyfriend for two weeks over Christmas, we could barely move, getting up to go to the loo was a struggle. Horrendous!
I remember the whole swine flu thing where you could get tamiflu if you had symptoms.

I think it's because I got a weird letter asking if I had chickens from the government. Then there was some story about bird flu.

I have no idea why the whole thing freaks me out but it does. I was very freaked out about covid. It was pretty obvious that it wasn't major though

OP posts:
sociallydistained · 08/06/2021 22:34

I think the true torture is being bedridden but not being able to watch tv let alone read. You’re just in and out of the shakes, hallucinations and sleeping. Awful awful!

Wanttocry · 08/06/2021 22:35

if you have to ask then it isn’t flu

I don’t know why people always say this - you can have flu mildly, or even asymptomatically.

sociallydistained · 08/06/2021 22:37

To the person who had swine flu Over Christmas, I relate. I went down on Christmas Day. It came out of nowhere. I have a picture of the morning and I look fine I was at my mums house and I remember for dinner I said “can I lie in your bed I don’t feel right” I didn’t have Christmas dinner you guys!! Can’t express how much of a big deal this is. Then I was still bedridden for New Years and some big drama happened in my flat building NYE and I didn’t have a clue. Had police knock on my door NYD to ask if I’d heard anything, I said I was in bed all day and all night barely even conscious 😩

Original poster
Duckypoohs · 08/06/2021 22:38

@sociallydistained

I think the true torture is being bedridden but not being able to watch tv let alone read. You’re just in and out of the shakes, hallucinations and sleeping. Awful awful!
Oh god (hermitically seals self in)
OP posts:
mrstea301 · 08/06/2021 22:41

I'm 37 and I've had it once. Once you've had proper flu, you never claim it again when you have a bad cold. I couldn't get up and down the stairs, and felt like all my bones had been pushed out of shape!

haveaday · 08/06/2021 22:41

I've only had it once and I'm 43. I think I was 25 or 26 and I thought I was dying. 2 whole weeks in bed then 2 more weeks on the sofa. Worst illness of my life. My partner is 46 and has never had it.

phodopus · 08/06/2021 22:42

It's usually a once or twice in a lifetime type of thing.

Covidatemyhomework · 08/06/2021 22:42

I think I’ve had flu once. Absolutely hideous. 3 days in bed, could barely drag myself to the loo (which baring in mind I ate nothing and barely drank a thing for 3 days wasn’t as much of a problem as it could have been).

I remember the old saying ‘if someone placed a £50 note on your doormat, you would be too ill to get it’. Well, they could have placed £10,000 on my doormat and I still wouldn’t have been able to get out of bed. Awful. I have the flu jab now.

FireUnderpants · 08/06/2021 22:43

I had it once at the age of 30. And have since had the flu jab every year since.

It came on ridiculously quick and I’ve never felt so ill in my life.

user1471453601 · 08/06/2021 22:43

I'm 70, I've had it twice. Since I was 59 I've had the flu jab.

DD is 50 , and despite my nagging, never payed for the jab. Until she got flu. DD is normally fit and healthy. It put her in bed for two days, never been known before.

The upside is, two years later, she gladly pays for her flu jab.

I agree with other posters who say, if you have to ask, it isn't flu.

wherewildflowersgrow · 08/06/2021 22:47

I had it once. For me it was nothing like bronchitis, which I've had a few times. I went to the doctor feeling terrible, and when I got home (in a busy city) I was so ill that I parked the car at an angle splayed half across the pavement and the other half across the road. DH discovered it when he got back from a work trip 2 days later.

QioiioiioQ · 08/06/2021 22:52

mid 50's, I've had what I assumed to be flu a few times, maybe once per decade but I've never had full blown flu with muscle aches.

Hairbrush123 · 08/06/2021 22:52

I’m 24 and I’ve never had the flu however circa 6-7 years ago — I was on holiday in Jamaica and a mosquito infected me and I ended up with a viral disease called Chikungunya.
Fortunately I had a mild version of the disease but I still felt sick! I initially thought I was having a heart attack as my chest very tight and my heart was racing, I had very bad joint pain, weight loss, extreme fatigue and weakness. I say it was mild as I wasn’t bad enough to be hospitalized and all I needed was bedrest but boy it was scary especially the prospect of being in a foreign hospital so far away from home!
Mum had the flu in the 80’s and she said it was the sickest she has ever felt. She has the flu jab every year now.