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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to wonder what it is that makes flu so scary?

66 replies

bubbleymummy · 04/01/2011 20:54

DH and I were chatting about this today. We all take risks with our health every day. People do things that they know increase their risk of different types of cancer and heart disease such as drink alcohol, smoke, eat unhealthy food etc . We get into our cars and drive, some people participate in risk sports..why is it that the idea of flu gets people so worked up? Is it purely the media coverage at the moment? When you look at the figures, catching flu should really be quite low down in our list of worries but yet so many people seem to be worrying about it. Why is that?

OP posts:

geezmyfeetarecold · 04/01/2011 21:50

I am just recovering from this god awful flu. It took 16 days from me. Nightmare.

SlightlyTubbyHali · 04/01/2011 21:51

I'm with you there Bolter. Someone today told me they had flu but were at work. I thought "how the hell did you get out of bed then?"

I had flu when I was at uni. I went from a mild sore throat to blurry vision, fever, sweating, aching all over within 3 hours. My boyfriend put me to bed and I stayed there for a week, hallucinating some of the time. I was weak for another 7-10 days even after I climbed out of bed. My boyfriend was a star and came in to change me out of sweaty pjs, give me fresh water etc. another reason why I eventually married him

But it was hell. I still remember speaking to a monster who was sitting at the end of my bed...

A1980 · 04/01/2011 21:52

That's awful geez.

Perhaps i will cough up the £12.99 for the vaccine. 16 days off work would exhaust my paid sick leave. I can't have that. We only get given 10 days paid sick leave.

LtEveDallas · 04/01/2011 21:53

I had swine flu last year. Spent a week wishing I was dead, never felt so ill. Sickness, coughing, snot, joint pain, shivers and sweating. Went back to work a week later, but still weezing, doc signed me off for another week saying I had prob developed bronchitis.

Towards the end of the second week went to bed feeling rough and was woken up by DH telling me he was taking me to hospital - he'd been trying to wake me for about 15 mins because I was 'breathing really weird'. Turned out I had pneumonia! I was admitted for 2 days and off for another 2 weeks.

From swine flu to pneumonia in 2 weeks, and it took about 6 weeks till I felt really 'me' again.

That's why I'm 'scared' of flu. I never want to feel like that again.

hobnobsaremyfavourite · 04/01/2011 21:55

Because at best it makes you feel like shit and at worst it can kill you.
HTH

JiltedJohnsJulie · 04/01/2011 21:58

LtEveDallas, have they given you the pnuemonia jab? Just asking as I've had it and found that its helped me to stop worrying so much.

geezmyfeetarecold · 04/01/2011 22:00

The worst thing is when you have to be off for a week because your child has it and then you catch it. Double time off.

Original poster

bubbleymummy · 04/01/2011 22:06

I'm not sure I can entirely agree with those who say "if you can get out of bed it's not flu" or similar. Something like 1/3 of people were found to have had swine flu last year completely asymptomatically. All viruses can be more serious in some people than in others. Flu viruses circulate every year and we don't all catch it (although we probably came into contact with it) There are many mnetters who had confirmed swine flu whose family members did not have it as bad or not at all and vice versa.

I know flu can be serious, I'm just wondering about why there is so much more worry this year and the only reason I can think of is the intense media coverage. If we picked any disease or reason for hospitalisation and wrote headlines about it everyday we'd probably worry about everything!

OP posts:

SlightlyTubbyHali · 04/01/2011 22:09

You're probably right there - although then I'd probably claim to have a cold and not flu. Because to me flu has always been a very bad virus.

Interestingly (or not) the Telegraph has a "swine flu symptom checker". It says, if you have ONE or more of the symptoms listed you may have flu. The list includes headaches, runny noses, sore throats iirc. What a diagnostic tool!

emmyloulou · 04/01/2011 22:09

Because flu can kill you, the word flu is used too much to describe a bad cold.

Also the new flu strain is attacking young, healthy people more and more as older people probably already have immunity to it.

When flu starts to put the young in hopsital then yes it is a concern as it's a killer.

LtEveDallas · 04/01/2011 22:12

Jilted, I didn't even know there was a jab, I certainly haven't been offered one! I am at the docs on Thu for something unrelated so will ask then, thank you.

zipzap · 04/01/2011 22:13

I had real flu the week that the SARS flu worries started - having been in a conference most of the week with lots of people who had flown in from HK and the far east where there were lots of cases at the time.

I can remember realising I was poorly during the day but dosing up on paracetamol and neurofen to stave it off thinking it was just going to be a cold (and because I'd paid lots of money to be there). Walking towards the tube I saw a taxi and staggered into it because I couldn't face the tube and just didn't care about the cost, got home to my flat and collapsed on my bed,, that was it.

DP (as he was then) came home several hours later and found me in the exact same position, with a temp of 105 and apparently spent most of the next day sponging me to keep me cool, trying to get me to sip drinks and moving me every so often as I didn't have enough energy to roll over.

He didn't bother to get the doctor to come as he'd spoken to friends that were docs that had just said to keep on with the paracetamol and neurofen - and because he thought the flat was too messy to get a doc to come.

I had a temp at about 104 for the next 2 weeks and needed to recuperate for a good 3 months before getting back to anywhere near normal (had recently been made redundant so no pressures to be back at work without being ready, a mixed blessing). For most of that time you could have stuck a million pounds an inch away from my hand to be mine if I touched it - I just couldn't move, it hurt so much and beyond that I was so zonked I wouldn't have cared. Never been ill like that before (or again fingers crossed!)

Several weeks later I was reading an article about SARS and realised my symptoms fitted exactly - including the thing that the article highlighted (highlit?) as the difference between SARS and flu - but by then it was too late to find out what I'd had. Just know it was incredibly horrible and I'd never want to go through it again - and as other posters have said, get very annoyed when people say they have flu when actually they just have a nasty cold or virus - if they really did have flu they wouldn't have the energy to mention it for at least a month!

herbietea · 04/01/2011 22:13

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

CainInThePunt · 04/01/2011 22:18

Its not scary if you are fit and healthy as I was when I had flu however, it is scary when you think that it can kill the very old or the young (and we nurture our old and young) or those with underlying health problems and the underlying health problems is probably the biggest source of fear - they are not always apparent so an apparently healthy person can die for no apparent reason. That is frightening.

JiltedJohnsJulie · 04/01/2011 22:20

LtEveDallas I wasn't offered it either but a nurse suggested I ask the GP for it. He asked my why I wanted it, I gave him a quick summary of what had happened to me and he sent me straight to the practice nurse to have it there and then.

At least now I know I can still catch the flue but have less chance of getting pnuemonia.

backwardpossom · 04/01/2011 22:22

If you've ever had proper flu, you'd know why it's scary.

elephantine · 04/01/2011 22:24

The 'pneumonia' jab only protects against pneumococcal pneumonia. It is still possible to get pneumonia caused by other organisms. With other flu strains it is usually the complications of flu eg pneumonia that kills. Swine flu is capable of doing that on its own even in young healthy people by causing severe respiratory distress.

JiltedJohnsJulie · 04/01/2011 22:27

Thanks elephantine, had realised that which is why I'd put I was less likely to catch it.

chillichill · 04/01/2011 22:32

so all this chat about flu, how many of you got the jab? I have never had the jab and never would have thought about it before having dd but am thinking of getting one to protect her. I would not get her the jab but she is only 3mo and I'm so scared she will get it, or I or dh will and pass it to her.

CainInThePunt · 04/01/2011 22:37

backwardpossom thats not true, don't scaremonger.
You feel like shit yes, can't get out of bed for a couple of weeks yes but if you are logical about it you know its just something you have to go through til it works out of your system.

Real flu is not scary, just infinitely miserable. Its only scary if you are an 'at risk' group and even then if you are quick to react and look after yourself you can give yourself the best chance.

glastocat · 04/01/2011 22:39

I had swine flu last year, I lost a stone in a week. It was just awful, I couldn't even keep water down. I actually wanted to die, I felt so bad. I had a temperature of 104 for three days running, hallucinations, the lot. So yeah, I'm scared of the flu.

MardyMare · 04/01/2011 22:42

Personally I go by the weekly stats, like the ones released every week on the HPA site, not by the papers, though I do read about it in the papers sometimes too.

It's the numbers that are making people pay attention to flu because there's currently a steep peak in the flu stats - numbers are increasing, and so is the pressure on the health service. Of course they could be clearly on their way down again by next week.

OP, do you assume anyone mentions flu (or thinks about doing something related to it) that they're 'panicking' or 'worrying' or 'scared'?

I'm sure some people do panic but equally lots of people just have it on their radar as another thing to consider and pay attention to - like discussing weather, relationships, school applications... just another bit of daily life that's sometimes in the background and sometimes not.

It's a pretty horrible illness, numbers of cases are rising, and no one's sure when the peak will come, so flu is in the foreground of people's minds now (especially anyone with asthma or anyone who knows anyone with it). I think it's quite natural really, and it's not a sign of people being blindly scaremongered to.

BiscuitNibbler · 04/01/2011 22:43

Just looked at the Boots website and in the FAQ about the flu vaccine it says that it doesn't protect against swine flu. Is there anywhere you can buy the swine flu vaccination? And anywhere that will vaccinate under-18s?

JiltedJohnsJulie · 04/01/2011 22:44

catin I'm not in an "at risk" group and consider my experience to be quite scary. FWIW it was 4 months before I could return to work.

JiltedJohnsJulie · 04/01/2011 22:51

What MardyMare said.

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