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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to not know the difference between flu and a cold!

253 replies

usernameishistory · 17/02/2020 22:45

I spent the night not moving because I felt so ill, freezing cold, despite many (many!) layers, and needing a pee all night but feeling too ill to have one, despite it eventually really hurting by about 3am. I didn't sleep all night because I just felt too bad and freezing. Is this a cold?

Why can't I tell? Cold the night before, cold again tonight, feeling woozy and wobbly, cough, and pathethic!

OP posts:
Twiglets18 · 18/02/2020 07:57

When I had flu I had that freezing cold couldn’t get warm fever - however I have had that with really, really bad viruses and tummy bugs. The defining feature of flu for me was my bones and joints aching to the point I was in actual agony and crying I was in so much pain. And DH being so scared he rang our OOH GP service. I think I had a bit of sore throat but felt more like a strained throat from too much talking, no other ‘cold’ symptoms.

There’s a nasty cough virus doing the rounds that we’ve all had that left us all feeling very flu like with a hideous cough - but wouldn’t say it was quite as bad as when I had flu.

Twiglets18 · 18/02/2020 08:05

Yes @Candymay that’s what I thought and upper respiratory tract infection is a cold.

FizzyIce · 18/02/2020 08:08

Flu comes on quickly , in my case I’ll feel a bit ropey when I wake up in the morning but by the evening I’ve been hit by a truck .
I can never eat when I have the flu and getting up to the toilet is exhausting.
Last time I had it I cried my eyes as I felt like I was dying Blush

FizzyIce · 18/02/2020 08:10

@Twiglets18 I had this at new year .
Woke up with a sore chest and then was downhill from there.
Loads of us had it and it lasted ages.
I only know it was flu as some days I could eat a meal and sit downstairs for an hour or so , definitely couldn’t do that with the flu!

FizzyIce · 18/02/2020 08:10

*it wasn’t flu

Parker231 · 18/02/2020 08:12

I’ve never had the flu but DH is a GP and his comments are that most people who say they have had the flu, haven’t. With the flu you would be in bed for a week, unable to look after your DC’s, at home for two weeks and feel weak for up to a month.

SimonJT · 18/02/2020 08:15

I had swine flu, apart from being a bit breathless when walking etc it didn’t feel any worse than a bad cold. I have type 1 diabetes so I was only diagnosed as it sent my blood sugars crazy. I felt well enough to work (at home, didn’t share my germs at work) and I was well enough to do weights at home.

Flu isn’t going to have the same effect in everyone.

Shelovedtobehome · 18/02/2020 08:24

Had flu last year, was off work for 2 weeks.
1 week off that googling 'do I have sepsis' in bed.
I honestly felt like I could have gone to hospital I was that poorly ..... ibruprofen/panadol every 4 hours wouldn't even take the pain away. Not fun.
Feel better OP, whatever it is you poor thing.

Likethebattle · 18/02/2020 08:28

I had some sort of virus the other week. Sore throat, Chills, cough and aching joints. I also had a temperature but could carry on so I’d say not flu but not a cold either as no runny nose etc.

The one time I had real proper flu I was so ill I wanted to die. I had been feeling unwell all day and had a sore chest, awful cough and one eye kept streaming. I got off the train and climbed into my car and burst into tears as I couldn’t pull my head together enough to drive. I got home and crawled into bed and then I was in and out of consciousness. I lost half a stone as I survived on orange ice lollies. 6 weeks later I got norovirus Sad

Robstersgirl · 18/02/2020 08:36

I had pneumonia for 2 weeks before I went to the doctors as I thought it was ‘just flu’ I was so poorly I couldn’t even lift the phone to call the doctor. Took me another 10 weeks to feel better.
Get well soon Flowers

Jess827 · 18/02/2020 08:38

You'd know. Agree that it sounds like a bad cold.

When I had flu I'd have said I wasn't sure when I had colds. Now, after having it once, I wouldn't say that. When I had flu I was so ill I stared at the wall for a week while keeping a bucket near me, even moving the 10 feet next door to bed was a huge task I couldn't manage. I literally just slept and stared through the whole week, covered in sweat at various body fluids, it was awful, awful, awful!

Needless to say I get my flu jab every year since, I wouldn't want to go through it if it can be avoided!!

Lighteninginabottle27 · 18/02/2020 08:39

If there was a winning lottery ticket on the lawn and you felt too poorly to even think about going for it, you probably have flu. Its nothing like a cold, there is no snot or coughs but there can be sickness and the most awful pains in your joints. You consider you should call an ambulance, you cant make food or even a brew. Wetting the bed would be easier than making it to the bathroom. It lasts for days.

Jess827 · 18/02/2020 08:40

When I had flu I'd have said I

Before I had flu I meant

NemophilistRebel · 18/02/2020 08:41

Whenever I have a bad cold I get fever too

I’ve always been told with the flu that you can hardly leave your bed or move downstairs
Luckily I beleive I have only had this once

Notso · 18/02/2020 08:43

I can see though that I am completely unreasonable in not knowing the difference! I somehow thought I would be.

Of course you are not being unreasonable, you aren't a doctor (I assume) and I doubt anyone who has posted is either
Does it really matter anyway what whatever is making you feel like shit is called. It's not going to make you feel better.

chinateapot · 18/02/2020 08:43

@Robstersgirl I’ve just done that. Spent just over a week thinking I had flu and wouldn’t spread it around so not contacting GP. Ended up in resus with pneumonia. And I’m a doctor Blush. Not always easy to tell!

ChazsBrilliantAttitude · 18/02/2020 08:49

I thought flu tended to cause a much worse sore throat and a cold tends to have worse nasal congestion. If you have a high fever it’s more likely to be flu.

EugenesAxe · 18/02/2020 08:51

A bad cold can give you a fever, and a high one, just as much as flu.

The difference for me was length of time in bed, aches, and reaction of fever to medication. With the flu I was consistently 103F dropping to 100F with antipyretic drugs for at least a day, with a bad cold I was about 101/2 and returned to normal temp (87F) with drugs, and my temperature waned quicker. With the flu I shivered in bed with aches for 2 days, with bad cold I stayed in bed for 1 day but I didn’t feel completely out of it the whole of that time, like I did with flu.

ChazsBrilliantAttitude · 18/02/2020 08:51

When I had full blown, hit by a bus flu, I developed a secondary chest infection and pulled the muscles in my back I was coughing so hard. So don’t keep soldiering on without medical advice if you feel like you are getting worse.

MadamePewter · 18/02/2020 08:53

If you don’t know then it’s a cold, however unpleasant. You will know if you get flu.

Hope you feel better

Robstersgirl · 18/02/2020 08:56

@chinateapot I should’ve known better too as I’d had it before. It’s a really horrible illness isn’t it? Knocks you for absolute six! I think these days we are encouraged so much to use other forms of help like chemists etc and to avoid spreading germs that when we really need help we discourage ourselves from getting it. I was ill right over Xmas and new year which didn’t help in accessing medical help.

Branleuse · 18/02/2020 08:59

Its perfectly possible to get milder versions of flu as it is with any virus. Its still the flu. The flu comes on quick and knocks you out. You get a temperature and shivers, and youre either out of action or close to it. Really really unpleasant.
A cold comes on gradually and is more of a respiratory issue. You can be really ill with it, but usually you can soldier through as long as you dont get a secondary chest infection etc

ChazsBrilliantAttitude · 18/02/2020 09:01

Flu can be both an upper respiratory tract illness and a lower respiratory tract illness according to the NHS. The main thing is that it is a systemic illness which is why everything hurts.

Menopauseandteensdontmix100 · 18/02/2020 09:04

Does it really matter which you have OP? I have had lots of colds and flu like symptoms over the years but I have only had proper flu twice.
With flu one day I felt so ill I wanted to die at one stage. I got DH to take the kids out from my sick bed as I couldn’t be bothered with them at all. He did this and took off for the day I was so ill I barely had the strength to get out of bed for a wee couldn’t make it downstairs for a drink and ended up with a UTI with dehydration (high temps yet I felt freezing much of the time). I was also hallucinating and having very weird dreams.

TheLadyAnneNeville · 18/02/2020 09:10

Colds generally start with sniffles/blocked nose. They “stream” and are pretty uncomfortable especially with accompanying raised temperature. They don’t generally make you take to your bed. You end up with a red, sore nose and start to feel better after 36/48 hrs.

Flu will start with a heavy chesty feeling. Cough. Headache. High temperature. Goes on to feeling utterly exhausted, aching and usually the need to crawl into bed. And stay there.

I’ve recently had flu. It wasn’t like any cold I’d ever had and I literally took to my bed, couldn’t eat and the cough meant after 3 weeks, I need a course of steroids and inhalers to help shift what had settled in my lungs. It was dreadful and I can well understand that elderly/young/those whose health is already compromised can die from it.

If you get it OP, you KNOW the difference.

Stay well! 😊