To think that many people say they have the flu when really they just ahe the cold?

[OhFFSWhatsWrongNow]

I hear it quite a lot, especially from colleagues. "I shouldn't have come in today, I've got the flu", or "I can't stop sneezing, I have the flu"

I have only had the flu once in my life and I literally couldn't move from my bed. These people may have a horrible cold (and I do have sympathy for them, it's not nice) but they are able to walk, lift their heads, eat etc. i couldn't do any of these things.

I realise I a may be generalising here and basing this on my own experience and am prepared to be told so, but Aibu to think that the sniffles, sneezes and a runny/blocked nose is not the same as having the flu and the flu is much, much worse?

It's like having a 'touch of OCD'

Errr no, you're just a fussy fucker who likes everything just so.

Meant 14 weeks pg!

Well yanbu because people definitely do overuse 'flu'.

However, I had no choice but to deal with a newborn and a 3 year old with pneumonia when I had swine flu. Don't get me wrong - it was one of the hardest weeks of my life - but I did it.

I've had flu twice. First time I spent an unreasonable amount of time (days) in the bathroom, as I physically couldn't make it back to bed, so stayed where I was, curled up next to the toilet.
Second time, I could hear my ds, then 2, emptying the kitchen cupboards and could do nothing. My friend came and took the kids for a few days and I prayed for death. It was the middle of summer too, that's the most I'll I've ever felt in my life, it was weeks before I was back to normal.

I've had flu twice in my life and I've never been as ill, it took me three weeks to recover, I could barely move.

Just awful.

I had flu once when I was 12. I remember waking in the night knowing something was wrong and making my way to my mum and dad's room where I passed out on the floor. Everything hurt, and I knew long before my mum woke up that there was no way I could go to school. I remember wanting all the lights off, and not even wanting to watch tv from their bed (which was a massive treat, my 12yo equivalent of the £50 note!). My younger brother caught it too and ended up in hospital with pneumonia. I had three weeks off school and lost all my puppy fat (small mercies!!).

So, yanbu.

Worra that genuinely made me 'LOL'

You can get slightly milder flu. My son had swine flu. (Proven by swabs) but he was able to get out of bed and watch TV and only complained of a severe headache. If people have runny noses it isn't the flu. Flu starts abruptly with a cough, high temperatures and shivering. There are some pretty awful flu like illnesses that make you feel pretty awful though.

YANBU. I have had real flu three times in my life (yes, I am old) and it was horrendous each time. Very high temp, headache like an axe buried in my skull, sleeping 16-18 hours a day, no appetite whatsoever - you name it. Each time it took me 3-4 weeks to really feel well again afterwards and I nearly ruined a set of exams over it when I was 18. Last time I really had flu was Christmas 2001 and I ended up with full on bronchitis on top.

Which is why I take advantage of the NHS offering flu jabs to its staff. Anything I can do not to go there again, real flu is dreadful.

Agree with everybody, yanbu! I had the flu 4 years ago, I have never been that sick in my whole life. I was shivering so much I gave myself headaches, spent a week in bed, didn't eat just about drank water and a bit of tea and thought I was going to die! I then past it on to dh who was suffering the worst of it over christmas and missed the whole of Christmas Day in bed and past on christmas dinner (so so unlike him).

I've had bad colds and I hate having a cold (who doesn't) it's my worst kind of illness personally but I've only had the flu and that was horrid.

I have had the flu, it was horrible and nothing like a cold or virus. I still say I feel a bit fluey though. I use it mostly when I have a virus type thing, I feel a bit virus's doesn't feel right.

I was coming on to say what musical said.

The way you can tell it's flu is that you deteriorate rapidly unlike a cold where you may have a day or two feeling tired and run down.

You can say "I think I'm coming down with a cold" but not the flu, it comes over you within an hour.

I am so determined not to have flu that I get the flu jab at work each Sept before the flu season kicks in.

It took me 5 weeks to feel half human.

A woman at work used to regularly cry off work with the flu. Apparently she had it 4 times one year.

YANBU. I had flu once as a student. I had to come home and my Dad had to lift me onto the toilet. I was so poorly, I wasn't even embarrassed by that at 21 years old.

YANBU. I have never had flu. I have never claimed to have had flu. I judge people who claim to have/have had flu when it is clearly a cold.

I also have never said "the flu". It is flu, and there is more than one.

Yep agree !
Oooh I've got flu while sniffling into a tissue and still at work

No, you have a cold if you had flu you'd be on the floor unable to stand up without vomiting

I agree with you, daisy. When I had the Beijing flue in 1993 I was fine at 5pm, falling apart by 10pm. It was shocking.

YABU. I've had the flu once as a single parent with a toddler. I couldn't get out of bed to feed ds his breakfast! I had to tell him to bring me the phone so I could ring my mum to come over. Eventually I managed to crawl into the kitchen and give him a pack of biscuits. I was bed ridden for about a week, but it took several weeks to feel anywhere near normal again.

And I didn't have any cold symptoms - no cough, runny nose, etc. Just pain. All over. A weird raw nerve sensation all over.

Sorry, that should have been YANBU!

Worra

Like others only had flu once in 48 years and thought I was dying. Truly.

Had loads of heavy colds.

Nothing like.

My 25 year old ds got into the car today and coughed. He apparently had the flu. You know that really really dreadful man flu.

Yes cake no cold symptoms either just very high temp, aching vomiting and can't move.

YABU becauase there are degrees of 'cold' and degrees of flu.A neighbour of mine who is a GP was one of the first people in the country to be diagnosed with swine flu, and he was out for a good walk with his dog twice a day.

It's pretty unlikely that all the people on this thread have had flu just the once in their life or never had it at all. Much more likely that you've had multiple milder doses that your immune system shrugged off and just the one that really hit you hard.

The thing that immobilises you for days with roaring fevers, hallucinations and lingering exhaustion for weeks after is almost certainly flu not cold. The thing that makes you really snotty but with no fever or muscle pain is almost certainly cold not flu. But the thing that makes you hot and miserable and joint-achy but you can still just about get the kids to school or possibly even do a half arsed day at work on a Lemsip and Nurofen cocktail drip? Could be either. The 50 pound note test is not a medically recognised diagnostic criterion.

Personally if I have achy joints then it's officially a "nasty fluey cold".

However OP, YANBU to believe that many people claim flu when they actually have colds, even when their snuffly nose makes it pretty definitively cold rather than flu.