To ask about flu symptoms..

[DefinitelyFlu]

I'll preface my post by explaining that yes, I actually have flu, not a cold, and yes, I do indeed know the difference.

I have had this flu for 5 days now. Today I woke up with the Sahara Desert in my mouth, despite drinking loads of water over the past few days...and a disgusting taste, similar to the metallic one I had in pregnancy, which I have never had any other time...but I am 100% not pregnant. Anyone else with flu have this symptom? My tongue hurts a bit too. The taste is making me more miserable than the other residual flu symptoms but nothing is making it go away! Any advice?

Missed the moment but one of the pieces of research during swine flu showed that people can have a whole range of symptoms from nothing at all, cold all the way to severe flu and test positive to flu.

I want to add to those reminding people flu can turn into more serious things. If you are still experiencing bad symptoms at two weeks please make sure you get checked with a doctor.

My dh had flu, we thought it just wasn't getting better, but at two weeks we went to the Dr and it turned out he had severe pneumonia. He came close to dieing twice while in hospital and we were told if we hadn't gone to the GP when we did he probably wouldn't have recovered. He is only 46 and relatively healthy.

Oh, and yes he did still manage to send messages even when he got blood poisoning after having a chest drain put in. Telling people they are fine because they can post a few sentences online is incorrect and frankly dangerous.

I had a horrible taste in my mouth when I had flu a couple of years ago. It was absolutely disgusting and nothing helped get rid of it for days. Food tasted even worse but my throat was so painful I couldn't eat much anyway.

I also agree that the whole "you wouldn't be posting if you had proper flu" is ridiculous and dangerous. I had proper diagnosed by a blood test flu along with secondary severe throat infection which caused quinsy and a chest infection. I was still able to keep the dcs alive through half term by crawling downstairs, lying on the sofa and crawling to the kitchen a few times a day to make food. I also just about managed to get the dcs to school every day even if it did take three times as long to get there and back and I had to get my dad to pick them up. It took at least a month before I could do both school runs and another 3 before I was back to being able to do the shopping, school runs and house stuff as I normally could.

If I'd listened to the cliché on here that it couldn't be proper flu as I wasn't confined to bed, noatter how much I checked I wanted and needed to stay in bed, then I could have ended up even more ill if I hadn't got antibiotics for the secondary infections.

I agree Bigly people experience different severities and cope with symptoms on flu differently. This doesn’t make it any less serious.

I think the flu jab is very effective but what people don't realise is that there isn't just one strain of flu. It protects against that particular strain, that's all. If you happen to come into contact with a different one, you're shit out of luck.

I don't think this is flu that I have though. Just a proper tosser of a cold that's gone to my chest.

I had exactly this when I had the flu just before xmas. It went after a couple days.. My mouth tasted horrible, my top lip felt like it was buzzing and when I brushed my teeth my mouth felt like it was on fire.

My dd is getting worse. She had paracetamol and ibuprofen and her temp hasn't lowered at all. She is shaking right now. Think I might be at the hospital by the morning in case she has developed an infection maybe? What do you think? My dh tells me I'm overreacting and yet I'm always right when it comes to my own feelings about my children's health.

If the temperature isn’t budging with medicine then I would ring 111 now for advice.

Agree with Fairylea, ring 111 if the drugs aren't lowering her temperature.

Can I ask how to tell the difference between flu and pneumonia?
My Mum has been very ill for 5 days now with what we assume is the flu, she's 72 and I've never seen her so poorly or go to bed in the daytime even after her mastectomy but she's hardly been awake. She's got a cough and I can hear it on her chest which she says is painful from all the coughing, her temperature is 38.3 so not worryingly high.
She's so stubborn and won't even take a paracetomol.

I've told her to go to the docs tomorrow but she's insisting they won't do anything for flu.

I think you need to get your Mum to the docs, given her age @dogsmum.

Anyone else unable to sleep with this one? I’m due in work tomorrow and still on probation.

For those who can’t get the temp down, call 111. Even someone strong and healthy can have complications from flu.
The hospital are recommending tamiflu to treat flu symptoms.

The people saying the Op doesn’t have flu, I was just wondering where you got your medical degrees?

In answer to the Op I get that metallic taste when ill, and a desert dry mouth, grim. You have my sympathy.

It will be great interesting to see how this develops in the next few weeks when kids go back to school and everyone is back at work. As for those daft attendance letters that schools send out saying that your child will fail GCSES if they miss a few days, can we ban these things during flu season?

Dogsmum I think your mum needs to see a gp too. She may need antibiotics. Generally if someone has a high temperature and a rattle when they cough it points to a chest infection rather than just flu - which would have a dry cough, not wet or rattling (that’s what the gp told me this week).

Well I had real flue last year, in bed for 4 days, 2 GP visits, never felt so ill. Don't DARE tell me it wasn't flu

I was going to try and get into work today as I’m still in probation. I just feinted in the shower. Back to bed for me.

Can I just say that for an adult, a temperature over 38 degrees is worryingly high. Adults are not the same as children, and in a hospital setting, we would take blood cultures if an adult developed a fever at or over 38c, because it indicates a systemic infection.

In children, temperatures can reach 40c quite easily with a simple viral illness, as they don't have such good temperature regulation.

Also, worth mentioning that people like me with Addison’s, or those who have asthma who are on steroids will not always run a fever as the steroids mask it. So having a fever or not in these circumstances isn’t an indicator of whether someone has flu or not. My temperature has been “normal” for the entire 3 weeks I have had hospital certified flu.

Just thought I'd come back and let you know that I stayed with my dd and she slept on and off. Her temp has gone down a little now. She still feels like death but she looks better to me so we plough on through another day of medicines and warm drinks and films for the two children. All the medicines have now seriously exacerbated my ibs. The worst two weeks of my life

I've no longer got a temp but was awake all night with rattly chesty cough. Can't cough anything up though and it is more rattly on breathing out than in. Would I only see my gp if accompanied by high temp? I'm asthmatic but not struggling to breathe or anything. Maybe I should leave it a day or two and see if it improves. This flu has evolved in so many ways! Not much my gp can do anyway unless I've now got a bacterial infection, right?

I had the same and it has cleared mostly over the last week. Still rattling in the mornings but unless you're struggling a bit to breath/ pain in your chest you should be ok.