To hate when people say they have the flu? (Lighthearted)

[MeepMeepVrooooom]

I have absolutely no idea why and I think I'm a bit mental for this however...

I hate when people say they have the flu when they don't. It's a cold, man up a bit. I have every sympathy for people who do have the flu and are really ill.

You don't have the flu if you are sitting down the pub having a pint, or at work not looking like you are about to pass out, or going shopping. You have a bloody sniffle.

Does this annoy anybody else or should I get a grip and a large glass of wine and ignore it when anyone says it in future?

Yanbu but I do think people are quite unsympathetic if you are honest and say you have a cold. I had a nasty cold that had me in bed for two days and Im not completely over yes (post viral cough). But when I tell people ive had a nasty cold i just get a 'so what' look

I love you LadyIsabella - shame nobody has listened to you.

People having a bugbear about this is one of my bugbears.

There are loads of people who've tested positive for having had swine flu who never felt particularly ill. I had a 104 fever and felt knackered for about a year afterwards (this is unfortunately not an exaggeration) but that is not the case for everyone. That said, I'm only assuming it was swine flu because I had it smack back in the middle of the swine flu outbreak and have reacted strongly to all the swine flu containing flu jabs since then.

You cannot tell if you have the flu by how bad you feel. You can only know for sure that you have the flu if you are tested for it which only really happens when the government are worried about an outbreak of a new strain of flu such as swine flu or bird flu.

There are also many different viruses that cause the "common cold". One of the types of virus that causes "the common cold" are corona viruses. Try telling people who've come close to dying of SARS (a corona virus) that your bout of flu was worse.

You can't just decide that you've had the flu because you felt awful or that someone who's made it into work doesn't have the flu. There are many different respiratory viruses and how ill they make you depends on a whole host of factors such as whether you've had a similar virus in the past (if you've had something similar enough then you'll normally have some resistance and not feel as bad) or if you are nutritionally deficient, immunodeficient, are stressed, haven't been getting enough sleep etc.

I had flu when I was 7. I was completely knocked out for 2 weeks; I was just carried between the sofa and my bed. As I was quite young I thankfully can't remember much, but I do remember the total exhaustion, the pain all over and shivering and sweating all at the same time.

I really hope I never get it again as an adult. I'm happy with it remaining just a distant memory!

IronOrchid

Had flu once and though I was dying. Actually going to die. Not schlebbing around in peejays. Dying

I had flu 2 years ago and I felt exactly like this, everyone said I was exaggerating but I honestly thought it was going to kill me. The NHS website calls it a mild illness

Agree QueenStromba, I think there are a few of us on this thread.

I took one of my children to the dr when he was young and he called the ambulance. My toddler had gone down hill very rapidly. The first few rounds of dr's at the hospital thought it was chicken pox.

(it didn't turn out to be chicken pox but a bacterial infection that is usually very common and very very mild, you wouldn't think anything of it. He was in ICU for quite a while but luckily survived)

They thought it was chicken pox because, obviously, some of the symptoms were similar. But it also didn't surprise them that chicken pox could be so bad.

I don't go around proclaiming that children don't have chicken pox because some children are very ill from it, it's usually a mild illness. I also don't go around saying that people can't have a particular bacterial infection because my toddler nearly died from it. Like flu most people never get tested.

There are rules:

People are allowed a few minutes moan for minor symptoms. Let's face it, repeated sneezing, reduced hearing and a blocked nose isn't pleasant. In a minor way it can affect day to day functioning.

If people are feeling awful they should be given sympathy for the duration, whatever the cause.

People who take every opportunity to wriggle out of doing mundane day tasks because they sneezed should not be pandered to. I don't care if those few sneezes were the result of a specific bacteria, virus, or they stuck feather up their nostrils.

I had flu when I was 16 - in the absolute prime of health.

I walked into the kitchen to get a drink feeling completely normal & within seconds the room was spinning and I had to sit down on the floor.

Didn't get out of bed for a week, except to crawl to the loo. For the first couple of days, I couldn't even keep Lucozade down. Never been so unwell in my life.

I think my DS had a relatively mild version of flu a few years ago - (it might have been Swine Flu as it was around that time) - he conked out on the sofa for a good 24 hours, but was perfectly fine after that. That it was over and done with so quickly made me wonder if it was true flu.

So yes, OP - I agree with you. Most people complaining they have flu don't have flu. They'd be lying in a darkened room wondering if they are going to die if they did, not moaning on the internet about it.

JustGetting The effects of flu can be felt in some people for weeks and months afterwards. Even if you don't have the virus anymore, it sounds like it absolutely wiped you out. What does your GP say?

I agree, I've had the flu. When my step-mother what she could do, I said please kill me as it's the only way it will end. My father had to lift me into the bath wrapped in a towel, so I could be wash by my step-mother. Completely humiliating if I wasn't so ill. I spent 5 days or so in bed, and extra 2 in hospital and lost a lot of weight. Being on a drip was the low point.

It may never return....!!!!!

To be fair the only time I felt as bad as when I had flu was when I had tonsillitis.

I actually thought my head was going to explode. I couldn't eat and drink for two weeks and was vomiting because I couldn't physically cough. I genuinely thought I was never going to be well again and used to sit and just cradle my head. It was horrific.

All these X factor contestants who say 'well I can't sing as I've got tonsillitis'. I beg to differ.

Totally agree, I had the flu once and it was grim. We'd just moved house (two days before I got ill) and I just lay on a beanbag on a bare floor and stared into space, totally incapable of doing anything. It then turned into tonsillitis, and I don't have the words for how grim that was. At one point I was hallucinating. Awful, and hopefully never again!

Hettie they didn’t said anything more than chest didn't sound too good, and was entitled to ask for AB's because of duration,
Other one didn't recognise me at first then told me it was because I looked worn out, and lectured me about making sure I get myself onto PIP so I can live a bit better.

Can't get into the surgery and have to be seen in a nurses room, so half any appointment goes on accessing computers.

Didn't ask if it was flu, just would AB's be a sensible request. Just saw the thread and descriptions and wondered if it would explain it.

The only way I can type this is just after pain killers kick in with left eye covered, screen down looking at the reflections on the key board and squinting. Eyes ear and teeth hurt, tongues stuck to the roof of my mouth again, my scalps sore and prickly, brain and eyes feel boiling but forehead feels normal but bed clothes soaked. If I had a gun I’d have shot the left side of my head off by now.

I have an ex who used to claim he was getting a malaria bout every time he felt a bit dicky.

How I laughed. I've had malaria and I couldn't have even told you my name, let alone diagnose myself!

This week I'm suffering the worst cold of my life but nope, deffo not flu or malaria!

I have the opposite pet peeve - people insisting that you can't have the flu if you have managed to do anything other than complain about how ill you feel. I once walked to the doctors because I thought I had a chest infection (no car at the time) and then had to walk back with my 'full blown flu' diagnosis only to have that £50 note line trotted out to me by my line manager when I called in to let her know.
I did feel like shit, but I didn't have any choice about doing things as I lived on my own at the time and needed food.

Yanbu. I've never had flu in my life, yet I know people who have it every Winter

Is this a good time to raise the issue of celebrities who are hospitalized for exhaustion?

Ohhhh yes Crowler please do.

I think I have stomach flu at the moment but actually it's called viral gastroenteritis. Had a cold last week where I couldn't move for swollen glands, these seem to have come up again.

Not been sick yet but painful stomach cramps which come and go.

I think the correct terminology is essential. Next time someone tells me they have flu, I shall say 'what, INFLUENZA? Oh my goodnes you could have died!'

Again, someone can have flu and not nearly die, can be able to get out of bed, can sometimes even have barely any symptoms at all.

I grant you that most of the people who say they've got flu despite being out and about probably do have a nasty cold. However, come the next big flu pandemic, this "unless you're flat on your back with your eyes shut begging for death it's definitely not flu" attitude spouted on this thread will actually kill people by spreading disease.

So how do we tell the difference between a cold and influenza?

Please oh god please tell me you are joking Lady?

I would say a high fever is a good way to separate the two (says the non-doctor). I've had only one high fever in my adult life and I felt like I had a life-threatening illness, and I couldn't even watch TV (that's how I knew I was really sick).

Why do you need to tell the difference horse? We don't know the names of half the viruses our kids get but if they're sick we keep them at home and give them whatever they need until they're better and that's that.

I agree with you Lady. People thinking that they musn't have flu because they can get up and then heading out and spreading it to everyone.

I'm not actually. In general, yes of course you're right.

But in the context of a pandemic, this "if you're not praying for death then it's not flu" dogma means that people who are lightly affected by a dangerous virus will fail to self-quarantine, and infect the vulnerable. Pandemics are always a tightrope between shutting down services by over-quarantining or spreading the virus too widely by under quarantining, but spreading misunderstanding doesn't help.

Well if you have a high fever you could say it's more likely to be flu but that doesn't necessarily mean it isn't flu if you don't have a high temperature.

the main difference between cold and flu is that with a cold you can continue working etc/
you will feel a bit rough for about 24 hours and it might be nice to stay in bed but not essential. you can take some paracetamol and feel a bit better.
flu on the other hand actualy knocks you out and might even give you hallucintory dreams etc., you will be literally unable to get out of bed.