Can we please stop spreading the same tired old myths about flu?

[AutisticAndMore]

The ones about not being able to get out of bed if there was a £50 note on the floor and talk of “real flu”.

Flu can be asymptomatic, mild, moderate or severe. It’s still “real flu” regardless of severity.

It’s a tiresome and potentially dangerous myth that it always has to be severe. And no you might not know for definite that you have flu unless you test for it/are tested but you don’t have to be confined to your bed to have flu.

https://www.cedars-sinai.org/newsroom/yahoo-life-why-does-the-flu-make-some-people-sick-but-not-others

But surely if the symptoms are relatively mild, most people are going to think they have a cold, so they aren't going to bother testing to see if it is flu. Even if they did test and it was positive for an influenza virus instead of a cold virus, why would it matter?

Nothing OP has said suggests that it isn’t serious or fatal at times.

You don’t know you’ve only had it twice, because I assume you weren’t tested every time you’ve been ill in a milder way.

It won’t be long before people insist it’s “just the flu” no need to take time off

Once in a while there's a really bad one, apparently that is happening this season

Yes I was always confused by the Covid test comments along the lines of “I feel shit but it’s not Covid so off to granny’s birthday party I go!”

Same, had to crawl to the bathroom and was bedridden for 2 weeks. Ended up in hospital with pneumonia. I was young and healthy too.
If it's mild and you don't feel too bad then it doesn't really matter whether or not you know you have flu. I mean if I was mildly ill I wouldn't be testing so I wouldn't know. I only knew I had flu previously as I ended up in hospital so I'm not even sure how all these people with mild symptoms know they have the flu rather than another virus.

That you know of. You have had flu 3 times you know about and that is the point I think.

We all have flu at the moment and for 2 of us it is awful for the others it is just a bad cold - they wouldn’t know it was the flu if we didn’t have it and would have assumed it was a cold

I don't know what the "real flu" is, or many myths around it.
I care for my husband, work in an out on he house, choose to cut my grass with a scythe.
All by choice and pretty active.
However, first time ever I had something that felt like the "real flu", only couldn't stand up for about a week.
Husband did what he could, he was affected too, but not that severely, he's vaccinated and I'm not.
It was definitely an experience.

Because you may be visiting vulnerable people. Even people in hospital and spreading it further.

So what you are saying is that everybody should be testing for flu all the time, just on the random unlikely offchance that they might have it but be asymptomatic?

People who have immunocompromised family members will keep away from them if they have a cold.

No I am saying that people should be more cautious and I know of people who do visit vulnerable members with colds but who wouldn’t if they knew that their mild cold was actually flu. Or who would visit hospitals because they think it’s “just” a cold.

If it's not possible to limit the effects then there would no vaccine. I agree OP, people need to understand it can affect everyone differently. My brother used to get it every single year and every single year it would floor him. I was 'floored' once, but that doesn't mean it was the only time I ever had flu.

I won't go and visit vulnerable people in my family with any kind of cold because I don't what it is - it could be a minor virus, it could be a strain of covid, it could be a strain of flu.

Yep. First response sets the tone. It'll just be loads of that.

You're perfectly correct though OP. We'll all have had flu that didn't affect us too badly, and not realised it was even flu.

Anyone who does with any viral symptoms is just a selfish arse though aren't they? I never test when I'm ill but even with a sniffle I wouldn't go anywhere near my mother as I'd likely kill her.
Saying that, something has to kill you in the end right? I can avoid my mum but she still goes to busy supermarkets etc
When we talk about elderly relatives, we can't protect them from airborne viruses unless they isolate forever. I mean my mum is v vulnerable with heart and lung disease so she wouldn't ever attend a party. Anyone who is vulnerable is always taking a risk going to a gathering as viruses are often most contagious before symptoms anyway.

Yes. That’s a good point. Until Covid appeared I always figured that if I had sniffles, sore throat, headache, cough etc but I wasn’t too bad then it was a cold, and if I had those things plus shivers, zero energy, possibly feeling faint then it was flu. But I still test for Covid as I do act differently if I know I only have a cold (eg if I have Covid I would automatically cancel but with a cold I would warn someone and give them the choice).

Selfish arse or not. Many still do it. Not helped by myths about the flu. And I agree that the vulnerable should take precautions to protect themselves also and that level of protection should be their choice but I do think it’s important to know that even mild symptoms can be flu and not only a cold hence this notice from an NHS Healthboard as people who think that they have only a cold, visiting hospitals is a very real problem so they specifically mention even mild symptoms.

But you don't know for certain that you have only had it three times. That's the point.

You could have had it and only had a headache. You could have had no symptoms, or just a slightly runny nose.

And the three times you did have it, was that confirmed by a test? Because a cold can also floor you. As could one of the many Corona viruses that circulate in the human population, not necessarily Covid but also not flu!

I agree OP. I’ve had flu and still managed to do a yard of horses. Ive also done the same with serious kidney infections.
Some people can still function even when extremely ill and some can’t. A friend of mine said she couldn’t even do the yard with a cold, let alone flu, so people are all different.

I thought that the difference between a cold and flu was the speed at which it hits you?
With a cold ( and when I had Covid) you can feel it coming on for a day or two.

Both times I had Flu, I felt fine and then Bam! within an hour I was vomiting with a spiked temperature, felt like I’d been hit by a bus.

Ive had flu about 3 times and i had it bad.
Always tell myself you either get better or die.

Well your not going to know you have flu if your asymptomatic or just have mild symptoms are you? Like when I had covid pre vaccine roll out. I had no symptoms bar losing taste and smell while people was dying from it in droves worldwide. If I had only partly lost taste and smell I'd be oblivious. So not sure what my point is here. But I think I'm trying to say no one knows they had mild flu or mild covid. You don't get tested for very mild illness.

It depends upon the person. I can get a cold instantly but I have been hospitalised by colds a few times. (Yes actual colds as I was tested) I don’t extrapolate that to mean that’s the experience of your average person though.

I get the flu jab annually ever since I learned that I could carry flu asymptomatically and end up killing a patient because I wasn't protected. That was absolutely breaking news to me as I'd always thought you'd be flat on your back half dead with flu. Every day is a school day and I welcomed the information.

Agree. It’s also annoying though when people say they are/were sick with “flu”, to describe every cold. If it felt like a cold, and you didn’t have a flu test - just call it a cold!

Exactly this. Stop calling it flu if you haven't been tested. It also does my head in when people say they've got tonsillitis without a diagnosis and they've probably just got a sore throat. Tonsillitis is the worst illness I've ever had and yep I couldn't get out of bed.

Totally random but I love your user name.