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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:
eurochick · 09/02/2014 20:00

I had the weirdest cold/mystery virus in January. It kept me in bed for a week. Nothing has done that since primary school (I'm 38)!

Day 1 - feel tired, sore throat
Day 2 - tickly cough, burning throat. Send OH to buy honey and lemon
Day 3 - sore throat and cough completely gone. Sinuses blocked. Send OH to buy something to unblock them.
Day 4 - Streaming nose. Send OH to buy tissue supplies.
Day 5 - slight better.

It was the weirdest thing - like several illnesses in one. And all while feeling so rough it was an effort to move from my bed to get a drink. We now have a lot of unused remedies because as soon as they were bought, it had moved on to the next thing! I've never known anything like it.

DisappointedHorse · 09/02/2014 20:03

It sounds like there are some nasty bugs going around.

I have a horror of a cold at the moment. It started 2 weeks ago, a few sneezes followed by full on snot and temperature within a few hours. I seemed to be getting a bit better after a few days then got a 2nd wave of it. Headache, skin pain, cough, sore throat and even more snot.

I have had a headache I can't shift for over a week now. I've been in bed early most nights and have felt really awful. Hopefully I'm over the worst now.

Interesting re flu and temperature though. I don't consider myself to have ever had flu but nearly always get feverish with a cold.

Hope we all feel better soon.

OrangeMochaFrappucino · 09/02/2014 20:32

Apple and cinammon Lemsip! And the waited til I was pregnant to bring it out! I can't wait for my first post-breastfeeding cold so I can try it out!

Methe · 09/02/2014 20:33

It is yummy!

ohfourfoxache · 09/02/2014 20:35

Omg that sounds lovely!

Probably not worth being unwell for but it may be a silver lining!

wontletmesignin · 09/02/2014 20:36

I know!! I have had this cold thing, or whatever it is for over a month now. I am sick to death of it.
It hasnt had me too bad, at the start i felt awful but now its just the blocked nose feeling driving me mad and the cough!

I didnt think colds could even last this long!

Methe · 09/02/2014 20:38

I took some in to work and the lad I sit next too was eyeing it up so he had a sachet even though he wasn't even unwell and he loved it Grin

I felt like a drug dealer.

ohfourfoxache · 09/02/2014 20:41
Grin
TeamWill · 09/02/2014 20:42

The horrible symptoms are your immune system getting rid of the virus - streaming nose - your immune system ridding itself of the virus.

I had the 2 wave virus over new year - just as I thought I felt better BAM -it hit me again.
They are clever, viruses- they can mutate and everything Wink

missymarmite · 09/02/2014 20:45

I am sure colds are worse these days. I used to get over a cold in about 3 days, now they linger for over a week! And the runny nose! Hell on earth.

bigwellylittlewelly · 09/02/2014 20:48

I fell ill just over two weeks ago with flu. The proper kind.

It was the pain, fever and loss of appetite which meant for me it differed from a bad cold. That and the fact it turned into pleurisy. As DH admitted earlier I've been really quite unwell.

cupcake78 · 09/02/2014 20:53

Same here. Very odd cold/flu thing happening. Shivers, boiling, sore headaches and full body is sore and weak. Bad throat, ears and very sore larynx.

No idea what it is but certain I don't want it and I certainly don't have time for it.

Dreading school run tomorrow am

overthemill · 09/02/2014 20:53

I am sure I read somewhere that we get 200 colds over a lifetime! That's something to look forward to!

dramajustfollowsme · 09/02/2014 21:34

I'm going to attempt not only leaving the upstairs of my house but going to work tomorrow. I have barely moved since last week. Tomorrow, I am going to be teaching 23, 8 year olds. Even typing that makes me want to cry. Sad
Dh is going to drop me off and pick me up so I don't have to drive, find a space and get to work too. I really feel like I could do with another few days in bed but hey ho.
My vicks, paracetamol, Vaseline and tissues are packed and ready to go - unlike me.

StealthPolarBear · 09/02/2014 21:37

I have had a cold sine early jan. it omes and goes. Not severe symptoms like yours just achy neck and head and dry throat. Never had a cold linger so long

StealthPolarBear · 09/02/2014 21:38

Over the figure I heard quoted was 30! Seemed solos to me, as a healthy adult I usually get two per winter

OneUp · 09/02/2014 21:39

I had an awful cold last year where I had a temperature. I'd been reading a book beforehand and I kept having funny moments where I was hallucinating that I was in the book. The temperature/hallucinating part only seemed to last for a day but I feel awful

newsecretidentity · 09/02/2014 21:49

I currently have my second cold in a month. I'm managing to be out of bed, courtesy of some very nice cold and flu tablets, but the hot and cold flashes are starting to come even with the meds.

NearTheWindmill · 09/02/2014 21:50

well I had the most minor little cold about four weeks ago and am still coughing my way from about 4pm - 10pm.

MoominIsGoingToBeAMumWaitWHAT · 09/02/2014 21:51

I had adenovirus a couple of years ago. Could only just drag myself to the loo and eventually able to be dragged to GPs when my mum got worried, wanted to die, could use laptop in spits and spats but had to keep putting it down... I felt horrendous, I'd definitely describe that as one step down from flu, which I've also had and spent two weeks asleep/sniffling/crying and nothing else Grin Could yours be something like that?

Get well soon everyone Thanks

Loz1975 · 09/02/2014 22:19

I'm on day three with yesterday being the worst. Shivers aches and feeling so cold with hot flushes the next. Doesn't feel like flu but much more than a cold with a chesty cough and wheeze. Also horrible sinus headache .I've been sleeping so much. This eve is the first time I can read , mn etc. Not seen downstairs at all .Dh keeping the fort going . Hoping tomorrow I feel like me again. Wishing you better soon as well op.

Utterbollocks · 09/02/2014 22:25

At least day 12 here, age 33. Starting to feel better, but still have headache & sniffles. It really has floored me. So fed up now.

AnAdventureInCakeAndWine · 09/02/2014 22:28

It is perfectly possible to have mild flu, which hits you worse than a cold but not as badly as full-on, can't-move-out-of-bed flu.

Generally a cold comes on gradually and builds up a couple of days of sore throat, then a runny nose and a cough, getting gradually worse. Flu more usually hits you all at once sore throat, headache, muscle aches, cough, congestion all at the same time with very little warning. And a fever (other than a very mild fever) is more likely with flu than with a cold.

McPheezingMyButtOff · 09/02/2014 22:39

I think its a mutation of 'manflu'. That's normally just a cold, but leaves you incapable of doing anything.

If its any consolation, I'm on day 3. And this morning, I coughed so much I pissed myself Shock

Signed....Mcphee. 38 and no pelvic floor Blush

breatheslowly · 09/02/2014 22:40

I've had a horrible cold this year, including temperature and time off work (which feels wrong). I'm confident it wasn't flu, but was also pretty shocked that a cold was that bad.