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?

I've had flu twice in my life and really known about it.

HOwever, there's been a virus doing the rounds since early December that's quite flu-like without actually being flu! For three weeks my family has been struck down by hacking productive coughs, lost voices, snuffles, sore throats, feeling of aching limbs, sinus headaches, flushes etc...not all at the same time necessarily but it's been a virus that has lingered one way or another until now (and DW still has a husky voice although not a sore throat and I've still got an intermittently hacking cough).

I had the flu once, in 1999. I was off work for two weeks and was still exhausted for a few weeks after that. I remember all I could stomach was ice cream and coca cola! Same with food poisoning, only ever had that once and again you know if you've got it.
People who cry wolf over flu tend to always have food poisoning too-ie they are too posh to have the shits!

It is true that most people sneezing on you at work and claimin they have flu probably have a cold, because there are loads of different viruses which cause cold type symptoms. It is also true that actual flu can be awful and, in the worst cases, kill you.

However, there are lots of different strains of flu and they are bound to affect different people in different ways. For example, the 1918 strain was usual in that it killed a disproportionate number of young healthy people.

It's true.

I've had colds. I've had bad colds.

And then there's proper, bone fide FLU. Which is utterly horrendous! It's note even in the same solar system as a cold.

I was rendered incapable of moving from the bed, save to crawl to the toilet for three whole days (in between the two weeks it took to feel normal). DH was working away and my Mum had to take DS (he was about 1yr old) and look after him. I spent most of the time hallucinating and dripping with sweat.

I used to get flu and or viruses every few years and it wasn't until I got diagnosed with asthma in 20s after I'd had bronchitis and doctor recommended a flu jab that I didn't get flu anymore or it made the virus/heavy cold more bearable.

It was no fun having to see an asthma nurse and take inhalers but eventually we worked out it was worse in winter (more colds) and I was better in spring/summer though I sometimes got hayfever.

At the same time though I got more sleep, better diet, took vits etc so it was a wake up call health wise.

Shakey you're so right a bad cold/slight virus you can dose up with lemsip max and crawl into work depending how conscientious you are....

Flu I recall I literally couldn't move at all, the £10 note story is so true, I couldn't care less about anything but getting better and laying my head somewhere cool/with cold compress etc....

Although flu is generally much worse than a cold, it isn't always. I'm fairly sure that DH and I had swine flu during the summer a few years ago. Although my children (and most children at their school) were really ill with flu symptoms for over a week, DH and I just had what seemed like heavy colds.

I've had the flu once when I was a teen. I literally spent the week in my mums bed and couldnt move for shit. I remember be so bunged up I thought my face would explode, I had soreness under my nose from blowing my nose so often, I didnt wanna eat, barely had the energy to drink anything, coughing so much I threw up.

Everything else remotely similar is just a bloody awful cold.

That's really interesting about the vaccine OhYouBadKitten. I think the vaccine has the same strains in it this year as the last few years. This article says that the vaccine was around 51% effective in the 2012/2013 flu season. Does that mean this year will be even lower because I didn't think that was that great!

I've only had flu twice in my life to my knowledge. Once was the famous (real) millennium bug 1999/2000. I was just about able to get out of bed, but it was horrible. That time it turned into a bad cough which hung around for all of January.

The second time was in 2005 my son was 3 and my husband went down with it about 12 hours after I did! Fortunately we were just about fit enough to get ds up and dressed and over to nursery (5 minutes in the car) and at the weekend my mum came from Devon to Hampshire to look after him. I was off work for 2 weeks which is absolutely unheard of for me, I can go years without taking a sick day, my husband went back a little bit sooner.

Any other time I've been ill it's been a cold of varying severities where I may feel awful but can function. I've never bothered with the flu jab, so I guess not getting it has just been down to luck.