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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To wonder what the hell has happened to colds?

83 replies

Mumoftwoyoungkids · 09/02/2014 13:34

I have a cold. Remember colds? Feel a bit rotten but carry on with your day as normal with the help of lemsip?

Not this cold. I can't get out of bed. I hurt. All over. My temp is so high I am alternating between shivering and wondering if My face is going to set on fire. I had to crawl to the loo. I have a cough that make my wonder if my lungs are going to explode.

How has this happened? Are colds worse these days? Am I getting old? I'm only 34 - surely too young for "bit of a cold but it has floored me".

OP posts:
DonnaDishwater · 09/02/2014 13:35

Sounds like you have the flu!

Kveta · 09/02/2014 13:37

that sounds more like flu tbh.

there was an utterly miserable cold doing the rounds here before christmas - every flu and cold symptom bar the fever (thus not flu!), but i have had 2 more mild colds since then, so think bad one was a one off.

I had proper flu this time last year and it was very grim indeed. hope you feel better soon

Honeysweet · 09/02/2014 13:43

Agree re flu. Had it 4 times in my 20s. But not before or since.
There is a world of difference between a cold and flu.

AmberLeaf · 09/02/2014 13:43

That's flu.

Can someone get out to get you some neurofen cold and flu [or boots equivalent]

Original poster
Mumoftwoyoungkids · 09/02/2014 13:44

I don't think it's flu. I have had flu. I wanted to die. I don't want to die. I can read or go on the IPad. My memory of flu is that I couldn't do anything except stare at the ceiling (wanting to die).

(I think I might have been a bit of a drama queen when I had flu.)

OP posts:
Glitterfeet · 09/02/2014 13:46

If you can still crawl to the toilet then it's not flu Grin

Honeysweet · 09/02/2014 13:47

I did think that I couldnt have gone on MN when I had flu.

Fallenangle · 09/02/2014 13:48

There are different strains of flu so they don't always have the same severity. Do not believe the TV ads that tell you you can take some concoction and you will be right As rain, you won't.

Jinty64 · 09/02/2014 13:48

I have a really rotten cold. No energy, throat like sandpaper, nose like Rudolph, thumping headache and shivery. I'm up and about but I couldn't have gone to work. And this is day 3!

hermionepotter · 09/02/2014 13:49

is this like a new test for flu.. can you still MN? Grin

Glitterfeet · 09/02/2014 13:51

Who cares what virus causes the illness. You have my sympathy, I've had a bout of something similar a few months ago and it wasn't nice.

Glitterfeet · 09/02/2014 13:54

They should issue iPads and MN app at hospitals, if you can use it, it's not flu. Who needs blood tests. You definitely can't use play candy crush with a migraine.

marryinhaste · 09/02/2014 13:57

I've had this twice since new year - have had to take time off work and felt so lame saying it was a cold, but the hot/cold ill sweats and feeling of no energy meant I just couldn't go to the office. But not bad enough to be flu.

I'm 35, so maybe it's a mid-thirties reaction to colds Grin

Thumbwitch · 09/02/2014 13:58

Still sounds like flu. It might be a less virulent strain of flu than what you had last time, or your body might be a little more resilient than last time, but if you have a high temp, then it's far more likely to be flu than a cold.

Towanda · 09/02/2014 14:03

Sounds very much like flu. I managed to drag myself on the school run and to the GP where I was told I had flu with similar symptoms to you.

I've also had flu so bad I could barely lift my head from the pillow for over a week.

Pipbin · 09/02/2014 14:06

My mother's test for flu is this:

If there was a £50 note at the bottom of the garden and you wouldn't go and get it, then you have the 'flu.

Chunderella · 09/02/2014 14:09

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

GlitzAndGiggles · 09/02/2014 14:11

I had flu when I was 19 it was horrible. I too was switching from hot to cold within minutes. I even turned down a Chinese so I was defo ill

OrangeMochaFrappucino · 09/02/2014 14:27

I have something similar to you, OP. Feeling a bit better on day 5. No Lemsip here as 29 weeks pregnant and the gross cold symptoms brought a very unwelcome return to the 'morning sickness' I had up til week 23. Really not happy! Had thé flu vaccine this winter and I know I haven't had flu but it's a 'flu-like' virus imo! It's definitely going around and knocking people for six, whatever it is.

ThePigOfHappiness · 09/02/2014 14:31

There is a terrible virus going around this year. Nearly all my patients have had it and they are miserable. If you am can get out of bed it's not flu, that's my test!
Whatever name you want to put on it, it's still rotten. Thanks

Abbierhodes · 09/02/2014 14:35

There's a nasty virus going round here that feels very much like flu. The main difference is it doesn't last as long. I had the 'wanting to die' feeling for less than a day. A week later I'm still very tired.

Hope you feel better soon.

dramajustfollowsme · 09/02/2014 14:41

I'm on day 8 of the flu. Starting to feel human again. Still don't have energy and have cold symptoms but my temperature is back down.
I'm pregnant too and had the flu jab but the doctor said that this is a strain of flu they didn't expect so didn't include it in the vaccine,
Going to attempt to go to work tomorrow. Feel like that is adventurous - I haven't left my bed really since last Sunday.
Hope we all feel better soon.

tryingreallytrying · 09/02/2014 14:49

Yup, I have it too. It's horrible, isn't it? But not flu - I had flu jab too. And I can go to the loo - but going downstairs/household stuff still an effort.

tryingreallytrying · 09/02/2014 14:49

Seems to be doing the rounds here (around London) atm.

NearTheWindmill · 09/02/2014 14:53

temperature means infection I think
crawling to loo and can't get out of bed
aching all over
coughing makes you feel like your lungs will explode

Are you eating and drinking? If yes, it's not flu (imo).
Might it be something like bronchitis?

Also some people react differently, I had flu years ago when the DC were tiny. Caught it from DS who was very poorly. I was very poorly in bed for days but got up once or twice to come downstairs only to have to go straight back up again. DH had to take me to the loo a few times because I was so unsready. MIL then caught it and was up although sitting quietly and could manage tea and walk out in the fresh air. Boy did she rub in how her side of the family could fight these things and work their way through them.

I don't think I'm a shrinking violet though I've had other illnesses that my doctor has been horrified I've kept going through and I carried on with a bad sprain and bit of bone shearing off my ankle once too.