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?

I mean imagine saying "I thought I was pregnant once because I felt a bit off my food for 12 weeks then got a bit bloated and eventually had a baby. But then 5 years later I had perpetual vomiting for 12 weeks then blew up to size of a house and eventually had a baby. So I guess I wasn't really pregnant the first time!"

Pregnancy also gives a good example of the fallacy of judging someones capacity to work based on the name of their physical condition. Some people can carry on working with no difficulty throughout their pregnancies. Others fall victim to hyperemisis, pelvic dislocations, pre-eclampsia etc. Telling them they are only pregnant and should be able to work isn't exactly useful.

Can I just say that I get pretty upset when I read people saying that if you can type, you don't have a migraine?

I've had migraines since I was 22. I started taking the pill and for some reason the hormonal swings triggered migraines, which have never gone.

I get migraines for several days around my period, and for several days around ovulation. Triggers also include lack of sleep, which is frequent because I have 3 DDs who wake in the night for various reasons.

I have no choice but to get on with it. I am lucky that they are all at school now, so I can take to my bed for a few hours once I've got them there, but I have to carry on.

I get a severe headache over my right eye. I feel nauseous. I have waves of exhaustion and extreme noise sensitivity. When I'm mid-migraine I feel as though every sound is coming in on a different channel.

I can take triptans to get rid of some of the symptoms, but the fog continues for at least a day afterwards, if not two. That's if I'm lucky - often I get another migraine as the first one is fading.

Today, I woke up with a migraine. I got the school run done, then went to bed from 10am -2pm after taking my triptan, two paracetamol and two ibuprofen.

Now, the headache has eased, to the point where it is just an unpleasant headache, but I still feel nauseous, disconnected and exhausted...almost 'out of body' sensation. My thinking is sluggish and it's taken me over 10 minutes to type this post.

You can get migraine without headache, too. I sometimes just get severe neck pressure and pain, or wierd numbness in my face and tingling in my fingers. My neurologist said that these are all different types of migraine aura, but most definitely migraine.

If I stopped every time I had symptoms of migraine, I wouldn't do anything at all. I have about 8 truly 'good' days per month

"There is no way you could dose up and get through it."

Maybe that was true for you, but it isn't necessarily true for everyone. I don't understand why we can quite happily accept that some people have different experiences of illness for all other kinds of ailments, but that everyone seems to think that flu is an absolute. As stated numerous times on this thread, one person's 'completely incapacitated' is another person's 'felt like shit but carried on', whether that's due to the strain or strength of the flu tht's been contracted, or just the fact that if you haven't got anyone to do things for you, you have to do them yourself.

ice this isn't a digestive thing, this is probably inflamation of the stomach lining as per viral gastroenteritis - a deep pain just in my stomach (not my gut) and only when I move about. Should I go to the doc or just hide?

I was assuming the gut ache and subsequent explosions was a result of not being able to eat much and lots of liquid.

I was eating fine until the stomach ache which set in yesterday, I had been eating fine until about 4pm. As I say there is no general gut problem, just pain in my stomach when I move around or eat anything.

But they wouldn't be unable to work because they are pregnant Ice the other conditions would stop them from working not the pregnancy itself.dislocation conditions may be brought on my pregnancy but it is another condition in its own right if you suffer from any of the things mentioned.

For example I wouldn't phone in sick saying can't come in today because I'm pregnant you would say because you had pre-eclampsia or a pelvic dislocation

Likewise influenza doesn't keep you in bed - it's the way your body happens to react to it.

Well quite...that was my point really....that naming the cause doesn't tell you the useful info.

lou sorry to hear you have such a horrid time with migranes. I get really really mild migranes. They are clinically migranes (all the symptoms and physiological responses, auras, sound issues, numbness etc.) but they can usually be subdued by a double (or even single sometimes) dose of ibuprofen.

Again it isn't the fact that its a migrane v. headache that makes it serious v. not serious, its the affect it has on you personally and whether any of the drugs work well for you.

It's not quite the same though Ice but ok.

My opinion hasn't changed.

I have to add my flu pence to this, sorry could not help myself.

I had flu a while ago and was so ill my daughter called an ambulance as she thought I was dead. Was mortified that they came and diagnosed flu, I was really ill and had a doctor who came out twice after. He said he had never seen anything like it.

I had appendicitis and emergency surgery not long after and honestly think flu was worst.

I don't know if I have a mild case of flu at the moment, or a nasty, heavy cold. All I know is that I have been ill since Boxing Day, am still as ill as ever, feel like shite, keep coughing my guts up (and frankly my pelvic floor is not up to the stress of this cough), haven't slept properly in the whole of that three weeks (due to waking up to either cough convulsively or to have a drink because a bunged-up nose means I am mouth breathing and within an hour have a mouth like the bottom of a parrot's cage). And I have no energy at all.

Kill me now please.

I genuinley think that some people do just have to get on with it though.

So.....if ypu had flu.....and you were on your own with v young dc....you are saying that you genuinley wouldnt beable to look after them. You would be too busy contemplaiting death in a dark room?
There are times that people do not have the luxury of giving into illness. Yes I know flu is horrid....I have had it twice properly. Once I had dp there to help with v young ds. The other time I didnt have anyone ( dp also ill with flu) but I jad to get on with it. It was bloody agony to move, open ky eyes or do anything....but it was either that or leaving a 2yo to his own devices all day. No choice really.

Also some people deal with things differwntly. What about labour??

I know many many people who have had v straight forward births. No intervention, no complications. Totally textbook. Thwy all coped differently and had different pain relief.

Take two of them.....one is a close friend. She was begging for an epidural half an hour into contractions. Her labour lasted 10 hours. She had pethedine, epiduraland gas and air. No stitches no problems.

A family member. 12 hour labour. Bit of gas and air that was all. No stitches problems etc.

Both women were of a medium build and had babies from 7.6lb to 7.8lb.

People deal with things differently.

Bloody hell I had huge compl8cations with labour. Spd to the point of not being able to walk or move. Ds was back to back. I was induced. Had a 14 hour labour after a week of stop start contractions and no sleep. Couldnt eat. Couldnt move. Tore almost frknt to back amd had so many bloody stitches. It took hours. I uad no pain rwlief whatsoevwr. I got up and went home and did about 15 night feeds that night........

......so I think people can "get on with it" sometimes when they really nees to with a bout of flu.

Yes it can kill.....but mosyly in the v young or elderly or someone with decreased immune system etc. Its horridand it bugs me when people say thwy have flu eveytime tthy sniffle. But at the end of the day it affects people sifferwntly amd some people are just better with pain/illness/getting on with it!!!!le

hmmm see stitches are another example I think of naming the problem not the result. Having just given birth you were FULL of pain relief...all be it natural pain relief of your bodies making.

The day after I gave birth I got 4 separate visits from various anaesthetists who had tangled with me during my labour, most of which wanted to explain that what happened wasn't really their fault it was the result of my biology. I seem to basically not respond to endorphins. I don't kill pain myself and any painkillers which use the same pathways also don't work on me.

As a result I had my stitches done under general anaesthetic...

Not really a matter of getting on with it or not. More a matter of variation of biology.