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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:
Fifthtimelucky · 08/06/2021 22:54

I'm 60 and I've only had it once, when I was about 13.

BakedTattie · 08/06/2021 22:55

I’ve had it once when I was about 10. It was awful, I was hallucinating with the fever.

FairyDusting · 08/06/2021 22:57

I’ve had it three times (I’m mid twenties).

The first time was in primary school and I remember being scared I was dying. I just remember lying on the sofa completely naked and with a sheet over me sobbing because I was freezing and my Mum wouldn’t let me put clothes on because I had a terrible fever and was profusely sweating.

The last two times were as a uni student one year apart from each other. The first time I just thought it was a cold/infection that I was struggling to shift until the doctor told me to go home and get in bed because I had the flu. The second time it hit me really hard and I tried to ignore it and kept going to work and putting in crazy hours because I was a broke student. I ended up in hospital with pneumonia. I’m entitled to the free flu jab so I make sure I definitely get it now.

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Wombats12 · 08/06/2021 22:59

Once, I'm late 40's. I really thought I might die, going to the toilet took every ounce of strength and I thought I might not make it back to the bed nearby. I think it really is one of those things once you've had it, you know everything else is a bad cold.

custardbear · 08/06/2021 23:02

I'm 49, brother 50 and DH 44 - none of us have had proper flu
DB is ITU consultant and sees many vulnerable people in itu with flu each year ... lots of pregnant ladies ... it's fairly common

Remaker · 08/06/2021 23:03

I’m early 50s and I’ve had it three times. The first one I don’t remember as I was a toddler. Whole family came down with it apparently.

Then I had it again in my early 30s and then when I was 50. Now I get the flu jab every year! My mum is 85 and has only had it twice.

I think one of the reasons it is uncommon is that you are far too ill to get out of bed so you don’t go out spreading it around, unlike a cold.

SandyCane · 08/06/2021 23:04

Once, when I was a student. Went on a night out feeling a bit iffy, within a few hours I had fainted and felt awful. Had to be brought home and never left the house again for 3 weeks.

Original poster
Duckypoohs · 08/06/2021 23:05

All cards on the the table, I am an alcoholic. I have felt like actual death many times. I think I might just leave it to fate. Just like covid probably a less embarrassing death certificate.

OP posts:
LawnFever · 08/06/2021 23:06

I’m 43 and I’ve only had proper flu once when I was about 17, I couldn’t get out of bed, never felt so ill in my life.

PurplePansy05 · 08/06/2021 23:06

I'm 34 and had it twice. Once was a horrendous stomach flu in my 20s and I ended up losing a stone in weight in a fortnight. Second time around 2.5 years ago, I was flat out in bed, couldn't move and felt awful and weak, but it lasted around 4-5 days and I gradually got better. That first time was honestly horrendous.

Pinchoftums · 08/06/2021 23:07

God we got swine flu when the kids were about 1, 4 and 5. No one to ask for help as we all had it and couldn't pass it on. DH and I were so I'll we got up in 10 minute sessions to mind the baby. It was okish when all the kids were I'll as they were listless and wanted to lie on us but when they got better before us it was hell. Literal hell. We were too ill to do anything other than basics. Thank fuck I was breast feeding and we had the milkman. I think the older ones survived on bread, cereal and biscuits for about 3 days.

LindaEllen · 08/06/2021 23:11

Had it twice, and after the most recent time I vowed to always get my flu jab even though at 30 I have to pay for it.

DipSwimSwoosh · 08/06/2021 23:15

Once I was exhausted and my head hurt to lift it off the pillow. I couldn't breathe well, too stuffed up, my throat was killing and I couldn't swallow. I was quite scared so got an emergency GP appointment. She took my temperature, listened to my breathing, looked at my tonsils and said 'flu'. She gave me antibiotics for the tonsillitis and sinisitis caused by it, and told me to go to bed and not get up except to eat or go to the loo for a week. It took about 6 months to feel fully better. I got recurring tonsillitis in that time and had lots of time off work. I was 27.

BrownEyedGirl80 · 08/06/2021 23:15

I've had it twice.

You know its real flu when if someone offered you £1000 to walk to the next room youd tell them to fuck off

BrieAndChilli · 08/06/2021 23:30

People will tell you that if you can move a cm, or go to the toilet then it’s not flu! That really can’t be the case else it would never spread as everyone with flu would be comatose in bed!!
I’ve had flu twice. The way to tell that it’s flu is by how quickly it hits you. First time I had taken DD to horse riding and then into town. I was fine, laughing and having a lovely time. Did notice a slight thickly throat coming on Came home, sat on the sofa with a cup of tea and by the time I finished it i felt like I had been bit by a truck!! A couple of days of being ill later the kids woke me at 7pm as they were hungry and I had been asleep since school finished. I went down and put a pizza in the oven and it wore me out so much I had to lay down on the kitchen floor and go to sleep. DH came on shortly after and though I was dead!
2nd time wasn’t as bad thankfully.
I was also ill (as was the rest of the family) during Christmas 2019. I do wonder if it was covid as it was different to the flu, all on the chest and coughing and it took me weeks to feel better. Literally couldn’t move without doubling over coughing. Me and DH were really bad whereas the kids had half a day of raging temps and a small cough that lingered a couple of weeks but otherwise ok.

BashfulClam · 08/06/2021 23:35

Husband hasn’t ever had proper flu. I’m 40 and had it once, the house could have fallen down around me and I wouldn’t have been able to do anything. I started feeling ill in the morning but I was due to meet a friend and had cancelled twice already so dragged myself out. At her house my eyes kept streaming I couldn’t stand up for any length of time. My chest hurt just walking to the train and I burst into tears in my car at the station as I felt so awful and couldn’t remember how to drive…major chest infection and flu was what the out of hours gp said. I thought I was going to die.

austrian · 08/06/2021 23:37

if you have to ask then it isn’t flu

Why do people say this??

Hasn't Covid shown us that the same virus can affect people to varying degrees, from asymptomatic to death and everything in between?

The only way to know for sure you've had the flu and not the common cold or another virus is a medical test. Not whether you're incapacitated or lying naked on the bathroom floor.

In those cases you most likely had a severe case of the flu but it doesn't mean that someone with mild symptoms 'didn't have the flu'.

justasking111 · 08/06/2021 23:44

Once student 19 I don't remember much. Flatmate Boyfriend looked after me . I'm 64 now, never had it since. Have had flu jab for a few years now. I was out of my head with high temperatures

Mandatorymongoose · 08/06/2021 23:50

I'm pretty sure I've had it twice (significantly)in my life, I have usually had the flu jab (work in health). Once as a child which I remember very vividly, once as an adult the one year I didn't have my jab. Felt like a week long really shitty hangover, achey, nauseous, exhausted, shivery / hot and not really with it, sometimes to the point that it was like being drunk with none of the fun bits. I'd rather not have it again.

QioiioiioQ · 08/06/2021 23:51

We must all be exposed to whatever flu virus is circling at any given time surely?
Some of us have no symptoms, some mild....🤔 and some are completely knocked out for 2 weeks or more😟

MustardRose · 08/06/2021 23:51

I'm late 50's and I've had it bad three times. I was flat out for over a week, and took at least a month before I started to feel even halfway normal again. Cold sweats, hot sweats, shivering, headache, raging temperature and hallucinations, cramping all over, barely able to drink, let alone eat, so weak and shaky I could barely get out of bed to go to the loo, lost over half a stone each time.

I get the annual flu jab now.

ShowOfHands · 08/06/2021 23:56

Flu in 75% of cases is asymptomatic. That's three quarters of cases with no symptoms at all. It's a load of old nonsense that it's debilitating and that's how you know it's flu.

DH and I both had swabbed and confirmed swine flu. He was quite unwell. I had a slight sniffy nose and carried on as normal, even ran a half marathon.

Flu can present in myriad ways, including you having no idea you have it. But people will continue to be convinced it's only diagnosable if you can't get out of bed to fetch some money off the lawn.

Smokeahontas · 08/06/2021 23:56

I’ve had it once, also over Xmas. I couldn’t have got out of bed if you had a suitcase with a million quid on the floor. I remember it coming on very quickly & not much else for a week.

HelpMeh · 09/06/2021 00:01

I've had it once when I was 11. I was properly knocked out for a good 4 days and staying in bed wasn't a choice, it was all I could do.

I've been ill with chills/fever once or twice since then but not wiped out like that.

Heartofglass12345 · 09/06/2021 00:03

I'm 36 and I've never had it!
I was really ill once but I don't know what it was, I think it was a virus or something. I was being sick and was so dizzy I couldn't walk down the stairs!