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've had it twice - once in my mid 20s and once when I was 40. Both times absolutely horrendous - I've never been so ill in my life, absolutely burning up and could only stand up for a few seconds at a time. Absolutley nothing like a bad cold. The latter dose was while I was still bleeding heavily after a miscarriage, and DH had it as well, but we had a 5-year-old to look after and just to make it extra fun, it was Christmas.

DS had it when he was about 8 or 9, as did half his class - that was really quite scary. It hit him like a ton of bricks and he just slept and slept for days.

ive had proper flu twice and im nearly 40. Both times it was diagnosed by a doctor as i was so ill i couldnt even drink water without throwing it up from the shivering. the first time i had it i was mid teens and i spent two weeks in bed and then another 6 ish weeks gettign back to full strength. i was 28 the secodn time i had it and my brother who i lived with at the time had to take time out of work to look after me as i was so ill i couldnt be left alone

I had flu once when I was 26. Couldn’t get out of bed for a week, had to be helped to the toilet. Was hallucinating and sweating, didn’t eat for 6 days. I honestly wished I would die it was that awful. Hopefully never again!!!!

I think that often when people talk about the flu, they talk about it in the context of a heavy cold/crossover to 'the flu'. And when you're talking about it like that, there is a huge difference between heavily symptomatic colds and heavily symptomatic influenza; they're worlds apart and if you've had a significant flu infection you do know the difference between that and a bad cold.

I've had the flu reasonably mildly, it was diagnosed by my dr - I thought I had tonsillitis but turned out not. I'd say I was midway between feeling fine and feeling like I'd been hit by a train. Would have been able to pick a fiver up off the floor 😁

[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]
I was just letting you know your voice wasn't alone in the wilderness @ShowOfHands!

To be fair there are times when I've been that broke I'd have clawed my way to the front door for £20 even if my legs had been chopped off!

I am also a single parent and there are times, even when I've been horribly ill with Flu/kidney infections and D&V, I have still had to parent as there has been no other choice!

So I agree it's not really a fair barometer!

Definitely never had flu. But then I've never been ill at all really. 50 this year. Never had flu jab.

"Definitely" in the sense of flu that makes you properly ill. Not wanting to contradict the posts about how flu can be asymptomatic etc!

I think I’ve had it a few times. The first time I had it was in my mid 30s. It hit me like nothing I’d had before - raised temperature, shivering, headache, and very heavy aching limbs. I was in bed for nearly a week. Almost a year to the day I got it again, same symptoms. Then six months after that during the London olympics I experienced the same symptoms. Someone told me that because of the amount of tourists in London that year there was a summer flu bug going around (I’d been into London using the tube etc the day before my symptoms started). Luckily I didn’t have anything the following winter. For the next few winters I had the flu jab. I didn’t get the jab in the autumn of 2017 and I was quite ill that November/December and was still having sinus issues into the New Year. Then at the beginning of 2020 i came down with something that felt like flu but luckily quite mild and I was fine again after a few days.

I'm nearly 60 and have had it once.
Likewise DH who had it once but I didn't catch it from him although one of our toddlers did and was very unwell .
DC1 hasn't had it , DC2 as above just once and DC3 had it when they were 11 and had three weeks off school; again only they caught it at that time.

Think I had it in my late 30s although it wasn't diagnosed. I was so ill I couldn't turn over in bed. It's the worst illness I've had so far! Norovirus was very unfun too but at least didn't last very long.

It's not very common. I'm 52 and had it once.

@Duckypoohs

Could you get to 30/40 and have not had it? Despite being exposed?

Yes, easily

I'm 36 and had it once
Had norovirus, woke up on day 3 thinking "oh I don't feel sick! Why am I so cold? No I'm hot.."
Flu 2 weeks in bed

I've had it once when I was in my 20s can't remember the exact age but DD1 was little like maybe 3-4.

I woke up with a slightly sore throat with half an hr I couldn't move, managed to call my mum who came over but DD had to get a chair to climb on to open the front door.
My mum called the doctor on the way to my house and they were out within an hr and thought I had meningitis so I was blue lighted to hospital. I remember nothing else, spent 5 days in hospital in and out of consciousness on antibiotic drip and fluids . They had done a lumbar puncture and it wasn't meningitis thankfully but flu. The only day I remember was day 5 I managed to get out of bed and use the loo so they sent me home later that day, spent another week In bed.

I get the flu Jab now even though I have to pay for it.

I'm 31 and I had the flu a few years ago. I was so ill and I just slept and slept. It must have buggered my immune system because I ended up being unwell for about four weeks - flu, then I got a cold, which brought a sinus infection, then a chest infection and then just as that was clearing up my face was agony with a cluster of coldsores.

Noro was worse, though. I caught that in 2018, symptoms started the day after we arrived home from a holiday in New York. I had vicious D&V for days and the constant nausea was so bad I wanted to die. I stopped being sick as there was no food in me but I'd drink a glass of water and it would come straight out the other end in the same state it went in

My GP gave me antiemetics (which made me feel drunk!) and I lost a stone in five days.

@AnnaSW1

If you're not sure you've had it then you haven't had it. Flu is a whole different level. When you have it you know

DD only knew she had it because it went through her boarding school, and they automatically tested anyone whose roommate had it.

She tested positive, was given Tamiflu, and I drove 300 miles to the school to get her.

She drove us the 300 miles home.

I am also a single parent and there are times, even when I've been horribly ill with Flu/kidney infections and D&V, I have still had to parent as there has been no other choice!

What happens if you're admitted to hospital?

I remember when DH was abroad and I was ill enough that I had to take my kids to urgent care with me. They put me in an ambulance. When I pointed out that my kids were still in the waiting room they asked me for the phone number of someone who could come and pick them up. They ended up at a neighbour's house overnight.

I'm 40 and have had it once and have never been so ill. I remember being at the bottom of the stairs wanting to go back upstairs to bed, having struggled downstairs for a drink, but just knowing I didn't have the energy so I laid down on the wooden floor and slept there instead for about twelve hours straight. My husband had it at the same time and had such a high fever he was hallucinating. We were childless at the time and I have no idea how we would have looked after a child in that state.

I tested positive for swine flu and just felt like a bad cold about 10 years ago I’ve always had flu jabs most of my life I believe.

@Hm2020

I tested positive for swine flu and just felt like a bad cold about 10 years ago I’ve always had flu jabs most of my life I believe.

Yes we had swine flu go through our family in 2009 I think. DD2 just about ended up in hospital. DH was hallucinating. DS sniffed a bit and maybe sneezed once.

I didn't think I'd caught it, as I never had any symptoms, but who knows?