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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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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:

simbacatlivesagain · 22/12/2014 10:16

Yes. I got told off on here last week for pointing out that if someone had flue they wouldn't be able to type on mumsnet.

I have never had flu. My OH and father have and both were dire. I have a cough, cold, sore throat earache and cough at the moment. Ear hurts! but I dont have flu. I am allowed to feel a bit sorry for myself (as others are) even without flu.

NowBringUsSomeFuzzpiggyPudding · 22/12/2014 10:17

YANBU! I will never forget the time I had flu - it's what triggered my first flare up of ME.

I suffer badly when I get regular colds/viruses/chest infections now (because of the ME) but it's still nothing compared to that first time.

Shosha1 · 22/12/2014 10:18

I've had it twice once when I was a single parent back in the 80's.

My 5 year old went and got a neighbour as I wasn't making sense.

Parents came and got me and I stayed with them for two weeks. Took me weeks to recover

2nd time was Swine Flu 5 years ago
( night of the christmas MN meet up grrrrrr)
Was blue lighted into ICU where I stayed for 4 days and in actual hospital for 8.

You know if you have flu, not a bloody cold.

NowBringUsSomeFuzzpiggyPudding · 22/12/2014 10:18

Yes. I got told off on here last week for pointing out that if someone had flue they wouldn't be able to type on mumsnet.

Ha! Yes I often think that but am never brave enough to say it

TripTrapTripTrapOverTheBridge · 22/12/2014 10:26

Quangle it sounds like you have this awful virus doing the rounds,beware it lingers and appears to come and go after a constant period! Set my asthma off too,not had a problem since my teens.Same happened with a friend who thought she grew out of it too

Theas18 · 22/12/2014 10:29

re " if you have flu you wouldn't be able to type on MN"

I sort of agree but after my swine flu experience I probably could have typed. It wouldn't have made any sense and every key stroke whold have hurt though!

TripTrapTripTrapOverTheBridge · 22/12/2014 10:35

Open YANBU and I agree it's daft but it doesn't generally bug me

There is a huge difference though.I've only had flu once.Went to work just feeling a little iffy and within two hours was slumped at my desk with the office junior and secretaries trying to get me to drink water while organising a taxi home for me.

It was horrible and I had to drag myself out of bed to go loo,trying not to collapse on the way.Totally out of it too! Didn't even desire drinks,never mind food.

First day back at work a little over a week later and my trousers where falling down around my hips!

skinnyamericano · 22/12/2014 10:37

One of my FB friends had 'flu last week - I was quite worried for her as she had a big holiday planned.

But sure enough, 2 days later she popped up right as rain! (obv I was glad for her)

When I had the 'flu (only once) I was an absolute mess for a long time.

OopsButItWasntMe · 22/12/2014 10:43

From UCL link here

"Around 1 in 5 of the population were infected in both recent outbreaks of seasonal flu and the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic, but just 23% of these infections caused symptoms, and only 17% of people were ill enough to consult their doctor, according to new UCL-led research."

funnyossity · 22/12/2014 10:53

Oops, that fits in with my logic!

When the swine flu was around my DH, who never gets seriously ill, was laid up for a few days, but only out of it for 1 day and did a long car journey while in the throes. But given that it was such an unusual event for him we did associate it with the swine flu that he wouldn't have had his usual super immunity to. My husband did call his flu though many here would doubt him! The rest of us were a bit ill around the same time..

SunsofAlanKey · 22/12/2014 12:31

I have had proper flu about 4 times in 40 years, and it was horrendous. My kids got the flu one Christmas, they were pole-axed for the entire Christmas period, I had never been so worried looking at them crying their eyes out on Christmas Day because their limbs hurt so much..... They did not have the strength to open Christmas presents, it was awful. As they recovered all they did was sleep - my daughter slept nearly 24 hours straight through. They were only 6 and 4 at the time. I will never forget it.

Gatehouse77 · 22/12/2014 12:44

I've only had 'flu twice and I was bed bound for 3-5 days.
One overriding memory is waking up for the toilet and thinking how I couldn't face even the thought of getting out of bed, so I went back to sleep! The first time, I was sharing a house with my sister and she ended up taking time off work to look after me as I got tonsillitis on top of the 'flu. Grim times...

motherinferior · 22/12/2014 12:44

One common strain is actually quite mild, according to the main experts I've interviewed (proper epidemiologist flu experts). I was quite surprised to realise that.

My main encounter with flu was nearly 20 years ago and I was ILL.

Notmymonkeys · 22/12/2014 12:46

I'm just recovering from a bad cold. When I came down with it I had a moment of panic that it might be the flu as it started very suddenly and I had a high fever. Then I realized I could still cope with lying in bed watching crap tv and could manage to reach the tissues. I felt like shit for several days but it wasn't the flu. It started less than a week ago and I managed to get the shopping done this morning. So nope, not flu.

My personal bugbear is people who have "allergies". I have an allergy. If I come into contact with the allergen my whole body swells up, my throat closes, and without swift administration of adrenaline I would die of suffucation. What you have, love, is a tummy ache because something you ate doesn't agree with you. Do you see the difference at all?

Destinycalls · 22/12/2014 12:50

I've had it twice in my life (hundreds of colds) and I am in my 40s.

On both occasions I would have been happy for someone to shoot me to put me out of my misery. I jest not!

YANBU in the slightest!

19lottie82 · 22/12/2014 12:53

This gets on my wick too! I've had "proper" flu twice. Once about 13 years ago, and once about 6 years ago. I was bed ridden for a week, could hardly even stand or make it to the bathroom and felt like I'd been punched in the jaw (inflamed ear canal apparently), then I didn't feel "right" for about another 2 weeks after that.

My old flatmate tho, used to inform me he had the "flu" while smoking a B&H and supping a can of Stella! More like Man Flu!

maleenteringfemalefacilities · 22/12/2014 13:11

I had real flu once - lost 10 lbs in 5 days, barely made it to the toilet on several occasions, my dad took me to the doctor as I was throwing up every 15 mins on just water - the doctor gave me an anti nausea jab just so I could keep paracetamol down.

I got swine flu as well - it wasn't normal flu as I'd had the flu jab a week beforehand. Surprisingly it wasn't as bad - in fact the worst part was that I'd been off for 3 days, so on the Wed headed to the dr to get an official sick cert for any further days (was hoping to be off the Thurs and Fri) - and he signed me off for a further 2 weeks - in quarantine! DD had to go to my folks, my laptop broke so I ended up re-reading half the books in my house, I was never so bored.

The start of it was crap though - it came on in about an hour, I was in work and ended up in a taxi home at 6pm (I never get a taxi unless I've been on a night out), and I got into bed in fleece pjs, a dressing gown, fluffy socks, and 2 duvets. The bed was beside a hot radiator - I still felt chilly. I was in bed for 24 hours straight, got up for 1 hour and then went back to bed - on my 40th birthday.

Threesoundslikealot · 22/12/2014 13:27

I had flu once, about 15 years ago. Somehow I managed, on a sort of mad autopilot, to take a transatlantic flight on the day it came on, because that was what I HAD to do, but it was horrendous and the flight staff clearly wanted me nowhere near them. I spent two weeks in bed after that.

But I think more than anything that this mislabelling can be dangerous. My father, in his 80s with seriously compromised lung function, refused the flu jab every year because 'I get flu all the time and it doesn't bother me'. My dad was NOT a man who didn't complain about illness so I think it's fair to say if he'd ever had flu, we'd have known about it! An attack of actual flu would have finished him off in hours.

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