How common is proper flu?

[Duckypoohs]

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

I have no idea whether I’ve had flu or not. I’ve taken briefly to my bed with viral symptoms but didn’t have a swap or a diagnosis because the NHS has better things to do. You never normally get swabbed with flu/colds so you don’t know for certain which it was (although there there are differences in symptoms and at the severe end that is being discussed on this thread it’ll always be flu). In the recent swine flu epidemic lots of people actually got swabbed and found that their virus symptoms that left them “poorly but coping” were actually flu.

In bed for a couple of days with aches and pains and a temperature but well enough to drag the kids out to nursery can absolutely be flu. It’s hundreds of variant viruses from three major strains hitting millions of different immune systems - of course it can vary in seriousness.

This “if you can get out of bed it’s not flu bollocks” can kill in a major pandemic because it makes people with milder symptoms ignore quarantine rules.

@MrsCrosbyNRTB I think you can only see me because you're invisible too...

@CandyLeBonBon

I was being tongue in cheek. But I do know after 18yrs on Mumsnet that you can point out the facts about flu as many times as you like and the "wouldn't get out of bed for £20 on the lawn" mentality wins every single time.

@Abraxan I think you haven't had the flu

I'm 50s now and have had flu once. I caught the swine flu variant. Came home from work one Friday and suddenly felt a bit rough, made the DC tea and lay on the sofa. I came to on Sunday evening. I really don't remember much about it. Apparently I had been talking and moaning and looked 'hot'.

[quote AnnaSW1]@Abraxan I think you haven't had the flu [/quote]
Believe me, I've had one really bad dose. That was the classic 'cant move if you paid me' version!

I had it my first year of uni, it was unpleasant and I felt awful for a bit but got over it fairly quickly, unfortunately it triggered my immune system and at 19 I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease - rheumatoid arthritis and within a year I was in a wheelchair. I've now had RA for over 20 yrs, thankfully it's now under better control thanks to some pretty heavy duty meds and my level of disability is less, I haven't however had a day in that time where I haven't had to take pain relief. So to me flu was a life changer.

Oh wonkylegs, that's awful. I'm so sorry.

Late forties and never had flu. I've never had the vaccine either, although because I'm asthmatic I'm always invited. I'm a needle wus, I'm afraid, but if its as painless and easy as the Covid vaccine was, I think I'll be first in the flu jab queue this year.

I've had it a couple of times. It completely floors you - zero energy . You lay in bed not caring if you die . I didn't shower/ wash for 5+ days because you just physically can't. Drag yourself to the toilet , which I then fainted off. I then managed to get up and wash, but then just sat watching tv without getting dressed for another 5 days.

52 and never had it. Had glandular fever aged 19 which was horrendous and can't imagine anything being worse than that. Bedridden for 2 weeks with sky high temperature that these days would have a mother demanding blue lights to hospital! No medication as 'its just a virus that has to work its way out'. They did give me antibiotics for the severe tonsillitis though although I'm not sure they stayed down on many occasions..

My mum had flu twice - once when 61 and once when 66. Shes now 73 and has an annual vaccination. Dad is 75 and never had flu and only had his first flu vaccination last year as he had to become a carer for mum after she had a stroke.

I've never had flu unless I've had it mildly. DD2 had it one year (aged about 13yo), and, even bearing in mind that she has a taste for the dramatics round ailments, she was really bad for about 2 weeks, hardly able to stand. None of the rest of us knowingly had it though.

God the drama on this thread. It’s perfectly possibly to get mild or asymptomatic flu. You don’t automatically know if you’ve had it.

I've had a few times where I haven't been able to get out of bed for a week - always either when at school or when working at a school (over heated germ factories!)
Hubby had swine flu and was in bed for 3 weeks, I considered phoning 999 for him at a few points. DS and I got what I assumed was norovirus the first week of him having it - although I thought we had it too, but we were fine in a couple of days - don't know if we had it but more mildly now from reading this as we'd both slept in the same bed as him just as he was coming down with it.

I always post this on flu threads but it is a myth that flu is always a severe illness. 75% of flu cases are asymptomatic and these rest range from mild to severe.
In an average year 20% of the population become infected with the flu virus. So an average person might contract flu once every 5 years.

DH, DD and myself got of badly end of 2019 , first year we were late getting our shots. I was hospitalized for a couple of days. In-laws scoffed at the idea of us catching flu and at us getting flu jabs most years because it couldn't be that bad.
Earlier this year they both caught flu for the first (memorable) time and are in their late 60s/early 70s. They are now converted and finally believe flu is "real".

@Sunnyday321 whilst it can completely floor you, most cases are asymptomatic or mild.

I've had bad flu twice (am nearly 40). Once when I was a teenager - I was apparently hallucinating and spent a week in my parents' bed as my mum was so worried about me. I remember my eyes hurting, along with everything else.

And once when I was around 30 - my partner and I had it at the same time and just lay in bed for five days, mostly sleeping, before even being able to shower. Neither of us remember much about it. It was hideous, and I have no idea what we would do if we caught it now because wtf do you do with a toddler when you can't move? I always get the vaccine now.

I think I had the flu once when I was 38. It came on during Christmas Day. During Christmas dinner in fact. I sat down to dinner feeling OK and by the time dinner was finished (I couldn’t eat mine) I had to go to bed as everything hurt and I was struggling to breathe. Definitely could not have got out of bed to pick up £50 note from off the floor.

I had it once when I was 22 for 3 weeks. Horrible.

I had it once when I was 25 and was off work for three weeks. It started with an extremely off the scale painful lump in my throat which came out of nowhere and then bam! Wiped out and felt like death. I remember crying, it was so awful.

Proper flu once around 1976/7 age about 12 which wiped me out for 2 weeks, think planning to sit up and take a sip of water or going to the loo. Never had anything remotely like it until Christmas 2019 which I suspect was Covid even though supposedly it didn't exist in the uk at that time.

I was diagnosed with it once (and suspect I had it another time) I felt bloody rubbish and mainly stayed in bed for the few days until I began to feel better and didn't leave the house for a few more days after that. That said I wasn't on death's door and was totally better in about 10 days.

The one bit I found very different about the flu compared to a bad cold was that it came on super suddenly. I literally remember going out for lunch and feeling OK and by the end of it feeling terrible and having to go straight home to bed.

[quote ShowOfHands]@CandyLeBonBon

I was being tongue in cheek. But I do know after 18yrs on Mumsnet that you can point out the facts about flu as many times as you like and the "wouldn't get out of bed for £20 on the lawn" mentality wins every single time.[/quote]
Except for the last 18months. Because anything that made you that ill during the 2019/2020 winter was definitely covid being in the U.K. much earlier than we knew about.