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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To wonder if you can have mild flu

60 replies

Fluffyears · 24/01/2019 10:29

I have had proper flu several years ago. Diagnosed by gp who had to do a house call as I was very ill. I was also hallucinating due to my temperature going nuts. It took weeks to recover and I had a bad chest infection.

I always roll my eyes at people who ‘had flu last week’ No you had a virus!

This week I have been floored by something awful, my face hurts across the sinus area, my head is thumping, throat and ears hurt, have no energy, every joint aches, all my glands hurt so even my under arms and groin hurt, I feel queasy and have lost my appetite. I kind of want to curl in a ball and cry as I just feel ‘off’ I feel terrible and have had to stay off work. This ticks every flu symptom apart from a temperature so can it be mild flu?

OP posts:

DustyMcDustbuster · 24/01/2019 10:59

OP - what about those who claim that any time they’ve had the flu vaccine, they get the flu? They make feel a bit punchy.

lovingmatleave · 24/01/2019 10:59

Just getting over the same thing too - sore throat radiating pain from throat, shivers despite being wrapped up in hundreds of layers, feverish, no appetite at all, achy, little energy etc. almost a week in am just starting to feel better.
Didn't think it was flu as had flu before and the comment about the £50 note on the floor struck a chord as there was no way I could have got out of bed for it when I had flu.

With this I've been able to walk upstairs and move a bit, but in the main pretty much floored!. Apparently its going around where I am, takes a week to get over, but lingers on for another week or so

adaline · 24/01/2019 11:00

Sounds like sinusitis with the head and face pain - I sympathise, it's horrible!

I was floored with a bad cold a fortnight ago - I had two days off work and I felt horrific. I had a temperature, a headache, streaming eyes and nose and earache - I never normally call in sick for a cold but there's absolutely no way I could have made it through a nine hour day plus two hours of commuting on top!

Original poster

Fluffyears · 24/01/2019 11:00

@dustymcdustbuster DH better share it lol.

OP posts:

MereDintofPandiculation · 24/01/2019 11:02

I also get irate (inwardly) when people call it flu every time they have a mild cold. Trouble is, both colds and flu can vary in severity. If you've been running a fever for several days, runny nose, continuous cough, sore throat, sinus pain, headache, unable to think straight, drowsy and permanently drifting to sleep only to cough awake minutes later, no appetite, walking to the toilet takes all your energy, and you tell work "you're staying off sick because you have a cold", you're not going to get very far. No wonder people use "cold" for "an upper respiratory tract infection that I can largely control with medication and still do some useful work" and flu for "an utter respiratory tract infection that has completely pole-axed me".

Original poster

Fluffyears · 24/01/2019 11:06

Argh dusty the flu jag giving them flu makes me ragey. A woman I know had cancer so was given the flu jag and straight away got tonsillitis and said it must be the flu vaccine as she hadn’t had tonsillitis for years. Erm yeah but you also didn’t undergo chemo and effectively destroy your immune system then either. Also the flu and tonsillitis are two completely different things! She refused to believe it and said she wasn’t getting the jag again..... I found that so selfish that she might put her family through the risk of losing her to flu and it’s complications.

OP posts:

adaline · 24/01/2019 11:06

I also get irate (inwardly) when people call it flu every time they have a mild cold.

Probably because a lot of people don't take colds seriously. Sometimes they just floor you - you can take the maximum amount of painkillers and still feel absolutely dreadful, but you can't exactly call in sick and say "I have a cold".

When I do return-to-works with my employees we have to mark the reason for absence electronically - the only way to signify someone is off with cold-like symptoms is to select the influenza box!

mogloveseggs · 24/01/2019 11:09

@fluffyears i am a lone worker often hence why i had to go in-no cover. The boss did send me home when she arrived though thank god

MereDintofPandiculation · 24/01/2019 11:10

I'm guilty of using the "flu" word - it's been the only way I can quite get over to people what the Pandiculation household has been like the last 2-3 weeks - 3 ghostly figures doing what we needed to survive and ignoring the other two. Good job none of us could eat because none of us was capable of preparing food. I'm over it now, and the other two are recovering. Presumably not flu, as the one who had a flu jab was hit as badly as the other two. But it's a lot more ill than I've been in many years.

Original poster

Fluffyears · 24/01/2019 11:16

@meredint you can have the flu even
With the jab. The jab only protects from one strain and they ‘guess’ (educated guess) which one will be the pandemic type that year. I hope my sinuses calm down as I had sinusitis once, across my nose swelled and I felt like i’d been kicked in the face, numb and painful at the same time.

OP posts:

3WildOnes · 24/01/2019 11:17

You can have mild flu. My dad has dies gnoses swine flu but wasn’t very ill at all. A bad cold can be worse than a mild flu. Someone up thread posted a link but lots of people have a flu virus and are affected mildly.

Bluelady · 24/01/2019 11:19

Sounds like flu to me. And not mild, it's floored you. Hope you get better soon 💐

MinisterforCheekyFuckery · 24/01/2019 11:21

Our GP used to say “you know it’s flu when there’s a £50 note on the floor, but you’re too ill to pick it up”. I’m sorry, but I’m skint, I’d drag my lurgy-riddled body over hot coals for £50!

Someone posts this every time there's a thread about flu
Ridiculous that a GP would say that, it's completely unscientific, it's basically an old wives tale. When I had swine flu years ago I dragged myself into work- I didn't know I had swine flu or I probably would have called in! I ended up getting sent home before my shift finished but could definitely have picked up a £50 note!

Moussemoose · 24/01/2019 11:23

I've got a bad virus at the moment. It's not as bad as the flu, I can get up, I'm still eating, but I can't leave the house and I sleep all the time.

It's like flu lite.

Original poster

Fluffyears · 24/01/2019 11:24

I keep thinking i’m Feeling better when the paracetamol hits. So yesterday i took the bin out. I ended up lying on the living room floor tying to get the energy to get up onto the sofa.

OP posts:

Original poster

Fluffyears · 24/01/2019 11:25

@moussemoose flu lite 😂 love it.

OP posts:

ThereWillBeAdequateFood · 24/01/2019 11:26

I think that £50 thing is bollocks. I get where it comes from but people can generally drag themselves out of bed to use the toilet when they have flu.

It sounds like flu or an utterly wretched cold.

I think viruses hit in different ways. Dh and I have just had a god awful cold / flu. We both had the same symptoms but I never got a temperature - he sweated buckets. I lost my voice he didn’t.
So I’ll bet people can catch the same flu but one gets worse symptoms than the other all the time.

Missingstreetlife · 24/01/2019 11:30

You can take painkillers for sinusitis, if it's viral it will clear in a few days, if it doesn't improve see gp. Plenty of fluids, zinc and vitamin c.
It's not unusual to hallucinate with flu, it's horrible, a few unlucky people have proper psychosis. Post viral depression and fatigue also very debilitating.

BottleOfJameson · 24/01/2019 11:32

The flu isn't always so bad. I've had it before diagnosed by a doctor, I felt awful but it wasn't the worst bug I've ever had. I know it can be horrendous but it isn't always.

3WildOnes · 24/01/2019 11:33

3/4 of people with flu show no symptoms from the link post up thread.

thecatsthecats · 24/01/2019 11:44

You can have a bloody awful cold that floors you and you certainly can't go into work. You can have flu that you come off fairly mildly from.

(I've had both - missed almost a week of work for a streaming, snotting, voice lost, pounding headache cold. Had swine flu and was treated like a leper, but didn't feel too rough.)

Only the incredibly unimaginative and frankly stupid draw a hard line between the two.

Passportapplication · 24/01/2019 11:48

I've got shingles, I just wanted to feel sorry for myself with you all if that's ok as feel so fed up stuck in bed with stuff to do!

capercaillie · 24/01/2019 11:55

I've had some sort of virus (so the dr says) now since Jan 3. Miserable. Achy, sore swollen joints, shivery, fatigue, rash (now gone but replaced by itchy skin). Dr seems to think it will go away eventually. But not soon enough for me. Haven't felt this unwell for years.

Original poster

Fluffyears · 24/01/2019 12:14

@passportapplication urgh I had shingles years back you poor soul. If you can get an order from lush the fresh farmacy soap helps as it has calamine lotion in it.

I tend to hallucinate if my temperature goes up. If I get a cold I usually get awful nightmares from having a slight increase in temperature.

OP posts:

Sparklingbrook · 24/01/2019 12:22

DS seems to have this. Completely wiped out, headache, hot and cold but is able to make it down to the kitchen for drinks. Day 5 of it today, it's getting no better or worse.

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