Anyone got a flu like virus that just won’t get better?

[TabMcTat]

I have had a fever, body aches, extreme and awful tiredness, sore throat and chesty cough since the 26th. I am rarely ill and if I get ill it’s better after 24 hours. We are on day four and I feel worse. Anyone had something that just goes on and on? How long did it last? How did you shift it?

I am meant to be flying off on holiday on the 2nd and am terrified I won’t be able to go.

Not Covid, I tested.

Re test. My Covid test didn’t turn positive until 4 days after I first felt I’ll and this bout of covid has been awful.

Thanks. Will try and get another test. How long did your bout last?

It seems to be the way this winter op, gp said to us it’s the norm, everything this year is taking weeks to go, coughs on average 6 weeks!! Hope it shifts for you, our family was sick September to November (September was Covid to be fair) and my mum is in second lot of antibiotics after a cold/flu. All friends/acquaintances reporting back the same.

I'm just getting over similar, its covid in my case. I tested once on day 6 after my colleagues told me they were positive. At that point I had a fever for 2 days, severe body aches for 4 days and tiredness for about a week. I thought it was flu. Lost my sense of smell on day 8, felt better then got the cough which lasted about a week.
Hope you feel better before your holiday.

Re test, I also didn't test positive until day 4.

Lasted a month,it was awful.

Started to feel slightly better day 6, felt worse again day 10/11/12 and still feel exhausted now, day 18.
Hopefully it’s negative and it’s just some other bug 🤞🏻

There is a lot of flu around, might be that

4 weeks of full on symptoms
2 months to have full energy restored.

New strain of Covid is brutal

Yep. Been ill most of Christmas. Again like you I'm rarely ill but I was struck down in the week leading up to Christmas - bed ridden with zero energy, high temperature and cold shivers. Subsided just before Christmas thankfully, but this week I've been struck down again by what feels like the common flu - sneezing, sore throat, blocked nose etc.

Apocalyptic cough since late October. Cold symptoms that come and go. Vert tired.

Day 3 here. I usually recover from things quickly but this has floored me. Not tested. My ribs ache with coughing and the aches and shivers are horrible.

Yes I have this,day 3 now,covid negative day 1.

OK, this is all quite depressing and makes me think my holiday may not happen.

how do you know when you need antibiotics? I guess I have no chance of a doctor appt until the day I’m due to travel anyway.

I had all of that minus the cough for 10 days. I had an eye infection too and whilst it has eased my eye is till getting gunky and I'm on 3 sets of drops. The fever, chills and body aches were absolutely horrendous and I was bedridden for 3 days with a fever over 41. I tested for covid several times but was always negative.

Antibiotics won’t help. It’s a virus.

I would reconsider travel dates or move the trip. I could not have travelled anywhere if my life depended on it.

No antibiotics if it's flu as that's viral as opposed to bacterial surely?

Whether it's Covid or not is irrelevant now, there are plenty of other viruses available.

Here's what I do to try and shorten it (and it worked for me a couple of weeks ago)

Use a nasal rinsing kit daily to clear your sinuses out (I have a proper kit with the sachets in but you can use sterimar spray)

Use a facial steamer to clear congestion on chest.

Drink hot fresh honey and lemon with ginger.

Take a multivitamin with zinc.

Get some decent decongestants (the only ones I find any good now that day nurse is off the market are boots own brand, they're pseudoephedrine)

Broncho stop capsules for a cough.

Dispersible aspirin for gargling with if you have a sore throat.

Yep
I have covid and spent the whole of Christmas Day in bed.
I have aches and a chesty cough. I have had the cough for over a month
Just as you think things are getting better you are hit with another symptom. This morning I have woken up with a sore throat.
I am extremely tired
The strange thing is that I rarely get ill

If it definitely is, or could be, covid, then you need to rest. A lot, and if you can then do so for a day or few longer than you think. If you have to go out and about, go gently and rest when you can.

NOIDs reports show there's about twice as much covid around as flu (and it's doubling - so hopefully will peak in a couple of weeks), and it seems that LFTs have far more false negatives these days.

Big global wave right now - hospitals elsewhere in Europe (notable parts of Italy) beginning to creak under the strain

Well I have taken another Covid test, a brand new one after many days of symptoms, and still it’s totally negative, not a shadow of a line. So I guess this is flu. It sucks.

Be grateful it's flu rather than Covid then. I caught Covid on a flight at the end of Nov and still feel awful. I've had a sore throat and cough for over a month. Every time I feel slightly better, it hits me again. Just had to cancel all New Year plans as I'm back to being shaky and feverish. I.am.very.fed.up.

My partner had this end of November and only just getting his energy levels back to normal (though he’s been find throughout December, just not able to fully work out etc). His mum caught it and has been terribly ill with it all month, would get better then worse again. She was in hospital xmas eve and needed antibiotics for a chest infection.
I caught it (presumably same thing they’ve had as same time) but only had a minor cough with it for a week or so.
good luck with recovery, hope you manage to go on your holiday and enjoy it, even if you just relax whilst there.

Day 4 here feel awful.. and got ill same day my period came...so overall feel amazing.... tired like hell, everything hurts, poor paracetamol has no idea which pain to block first 🤦‍♀️