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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think I've had the flu hundreds of times

93 replies

Fanfeckintastic · 22/12/2014 08:06

Is this just a word people sling around for every little sniffle or have I been struck down hundreds of times with the flu and not even realize it?

I've never thought to diagnose myself with the flu but seemingly everyone around me is pottering around, blowing their nose, looking a bit stuffed up, and apparently this is the flu?

OP posts:
Honeybear30 · 22/12/2014 08:10

YANBU. This drives me mad!! So many people claim to have flu, they really don't. Unless they've been in bed for two weeks and hardly able to hold their own head up, they don't have flu. They have A COLD.

KneesoftheBee · 22/12/2014 08:13

People who say this clearly have never had flu.

StillStayingClassySanDiego · 22/12/2014 08:14

No, Flu causes the sufferer to be bed ridden, delirious, possibly have diorrheoa and vomiting and is worse than straight forward child birth.

I've had Flu twice in my life [I'm 46] and was in enough pain I could barely move without wincing.

Ifyourawizardwhydouwearglasses · 22/12/2014 08:14

Test for flu -

You see £100 in the garden through the window. If you go get it, you don't have flu.

Hassled · 22/12/2014 08:14

I've had flu once in my life and it was beyond awful - I've had bad colds since and they don't begin to compare. Certain members of my family have "flu" about once a month and it drives me crazy.

Fluffyears · 22/12/2014 08:18

You only get proper flu a few times in your life or never if you are really lucky. Flu can kill even healthy people that's why it is so bad! I have had it twice and once was considered a 'mild dose' according to Dr. The mother time I was delirious from fever and lost 11lbs in weight. The house could've gone up in flames and I wouldn't have done anything.

Original poster
Fanfeckintastic · 22/12/2014 08:19

The worst part is, these are otherwise completely reasonable people! To me it's like saying you've got a broken leg when you have a cramp.

I'm shocked how many people make these claims, customers in my shop "Oh I'm smothering with the flu" Confused or when I had a terrible dose of a common cold "are you over your flu?"

Agh! I'm probably unreasonable for being so irritated by it!

OP posts:
piggychops · 22/12/2014 08:19

I've had it once. I was bed ridden for a week and exhausted for about 6 weeks. The nasty virus doing the rounds at the moment isn't flu. It's just a really heavy cold.

MyballsareSandy · 22/12/2014 08:22

This pisses me off too. I had flu last year and it was awful. I remember going downstairs to get a drink of water as DH was out, and it took me ages to summon the strength to climb back up the stairs, had to do it in stages.

Mulderandskully · 22/12/2014 08:22

No I read once the average is once every 7 years. I haven't had it. I have had/ still got that nasty virus and it is horrible but it's just a cold.
People seem to think cold refers to a lightweight sniffle and they need something more serious to describe what they're going through Hmm

Pooka · 22/12/2014 08:24

I've had flu twice in 40 years.

It was very memorable!

First time I was 12. My memories of it are very vivid. Unable to walk in a straight line. Staggering home from school and lying wrapped in a blanket I'd found in the hall right next to the radiator because I couldn't face the stairs. (Not neglected child, mother teaching and home an hour later).

Second time was more recent - Christmas 2007 wasn't at all festive as first dd succumbed before dh, then me, then ds.

ninja · 22/12/2014 08:24

I'm with you on the annoyance, the other one is people saying they have a chest infection when they have a cough. I get really nasty coughs, but have never considered that I should say that.

Pooka · 22/12/2014 08:25

I've had some hideous colds too over the years. But nothing compares.

canweseethebunnies · 22/12/2014 08:25

I've has the flu once, when I was eighteen. It hurt to move my eyes.

dangly131 · 22/12/2014 08:26

I think the issue starts when ppl call a runny or blocked nose, a cold. Nope its just a runny or blocked nose! Then when they do get a cold, it feels much worse than the 'cold' they had before so therefore it equals flu.

FamiliesShareGerms · 22/12/2014 08:29

YANBU - when I had flu I slept for 26 hours straight. The horrid head cold I've had for two weeks now doesn't come close to how miserable I felt then

losersaywhat · 22/12/2014 08:32

Oh that bugs me too. It's the same too when every little headache us a migraine.
Ive had the flu once as a teenager and hope I never get it again.

KneesoftheBee · 22/12/2014 08:33

I don't think it helps that we see "cold and flu" remedies everywhere.

It's like marketing bandaids "for cuts, scratches & open heart surgery"

GokTwo · 22/12/2014 08:35

Yanbu. I've had it once. My god it was horrendous. I was wiped out for 2 weeks, literally didn't get out of bed besides going to the loo for days on end. It is totally different to a cold.

WilburIsSomePig · 22/12/2014 08:36

Agreed. I've had it a couple of times and have never been so ill it's completely incapacitating. I get very rolly eyed if if hear people moan about having flu when they're up wandering around snorting over everyone.

tilder · 22/12/2014 08:37

You are so not BU. I don't think I have ever had flu. Am pretty sure if I had, I would know about it.

I have a horrible cold at the moment and am sure when it starts to spread it will miraculously transform into flu.

WeirdCatLady · 22/12/2014 08:38

Another agreement here. I had flu once, it was godawful, I thought I was dying.

I now get the flu jab.

DishwasherDogs · 22/12/2014 08:38

YANBU.
I had flu once, and it was a mild dose.
I thought I was going to end up in hospital I felt so poorly.

Loads of people I know won't ever say they have a cold though, it's always flu, even when they're up and about. Same as people don't have tummy bugs anymore, it's always norovirus.

Moln · 22/12/2014 08:39

Had flu twice, the swine sort and the human one. Was hospitalised for the second one, if I could have avoided having to wee for a week I would have, the pain and monumental amount of effort it took to get to the loo if unforgettable.

Roomba · 22/12/2014 08:40

Completely agree, OP! I've been suffering with a really awful cold for two weeks now, the first couple of days I did feel delirious, very achey, slept all day etc. but it was still nothing compared to the flu I had aged 18 (first term at uni). Then, I don't think I even knew who I was or where I was for about a week, was bedridden for almost two weeks and weak as a kitten for about four weeks after that. I hallucinated, shivered violently to the point my hallmate thought I was having a fit, puked, rambled incoherently, the works. I always have a flu jab after that, and I am very scornful of sniffing people who claim to have flu (I'm looking at you, exP, who claimed to have it at least three times a year).

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