Something strange is going on… winter bugs

[Hazless]

Is it just me or is something strange going on? Nearly everyone I know is sick. Levels are off the chart. My son had 10 in his class last Friday.

I’ve just had a really awful respiratory thing. It started with an awful sudden sore throat (not the usual place, lower down) then progressed to fevers for 3 days (I never get a fever, I’m an adult and can’t recall the last time), pain all over, chills, body tingles, the worst headache of my life that two types of painkiller didn’t touch.

Day 5, Now I’m left with a lingering cough and snotty nose and everything smells and tastes disgusting. Even air from outside stinks like the inside of my rotting nose! It’s gross. I’ve lost weight because everything tastes so disgusting. I look awful… grey skin and dark Circles. All my kids are poorly too but seem not as bad as me.

i also felt extremely delirious and depressed during this bug. I’ve never felt so down. It was like something switched in my brain. It was very sudden and hit me like a train. I’ve not had that before.

not covid as both tests I took negative.

im not one for conspiracy theories but is something going on? Is there a new strain of covid? I’ve never had a bug like this before. And I’ve never known so many people sick at one time. What on earth is going on? It can’t just be from lock downs many months ago.

We we're shut off from the normal run of the mill virusus for a decent chunk of time. Our immune systems need a work out on occasion. Now we're playing catch up I'm presuming.

Exactly , people seem to think that Covid is the only virus about these days

Xmaslurgy

It's winter - it happens. We've just forgotten because of COVID and spending so much time isolating and social distancing.

I'm in my thirties and vividly remember a few winters at school where we had barely anyone in classes because of bugs going round, and the headteachers were sending out letters telling people to stay home if they'd had cold/flu symptoms to try and stop it spreading. We almost had entire year groups out with it at times.

My parents worked in hospitals and there were several years where there were no beds because of norovirus and wards having to close entirely to try and contain the spread.

That's right dear, get it out of your system.

I’m sorry you’re unwell. However, I don’t think there’s anything weird, it’s just normal winter illnesses. You say you know a lot of people who’ve been unwell recently, however, on the other side of the coin I don’t know anyone who has been unwell other than a minor cold. Quite a few kids in my DCs school last week had strep-A, but there’s always something going round at the end of term and generally it’s the tiny ones.

They had a thing about this on Radio 4 this morning.
Due to covid precautions a lot fewer people got the flu the last couple years. Now we have relaxed all the hand washing, masking and distancing. So the flu is back with a vengeance! Some strains are just more potent than others. The cold snap also makes picking up air borne viruses easier (they thrive on cold dry air, and our noses are not as efficient in clearing mucus so a virus can take hold).
We've been so hung up on covid I think people have forgotten how bad a flu can be.

My mates girlfriends Nan works down at the MoD serving teas and that to the big meetings. She said there has been lots of activity the last few days and all the big wigs have been there and people like Bill Gates

New virus? Keeping it hidden?

Everyone’s immune systems have weakened from having covid (including kids). That, plus Covid just being allowed to let rip through the world. It was never going to end well.
People just like to blame lockdowns though 😂

I have also been ill - and it was unusual in that it wasn't a normal cold and lasted much longer. I have put it down to not mixing with people for a while during the pandemic and then being more susceptible to bugs. I don't think there is any conspiracy though.

😂

🙄🙄FFS

Your username is appropriate….

Nothing strange about it at all!

This was always going to happen after lockdowns and isolations!
I'm not saying it didn't need to be done, while the authorities had to get to grips with Covid, but even before making the decision to lock down, of course anyone with any iota of medical knowledge knew that this would be the longer-term result.

Hope BG bought some nice biccys with him !

10 years ago flu or some other virus ripped through my kids' primary school and our local area. At one point there were only 4 children in ds' class. I was in bed for 3 days with it, and that has not happened to me since. dd was off school sick for a week, that has never happened to her since. Our school parents' christmas party was decimated. DH managed to dodge it but he was the only one in our family not to get it. Most of my friends were ill at some point, and most of their kids.

So... I think YABU. This year is not strange, it's just the normal ebb and flow of respiratory viruses.

There are some very confident scientific assertions on this thread.

I haven’t read any reports or articles by scientists confirming any theory about “weakened immune systems” due to social separation. I’m not sure how anyone else can be so confident. I don’t think that’s how our immune systems work?

I thought the most supported theory was that covid weakened immune systems. Does anyone have any references to cite either way?

It’s called influenza. There’s been worse and better years for flu ever since 2019. Nothing new.

This research suggests that contracting even mild covid can have lasting effects on immune systems. www1.racgp.org.au/newsgp/clinical/even-mild-covid-cases-can-have-lasting-effects-on

Yeah this will be next years pandemic

“Covid” started around the same time of the year and now people don’t care about it anymore they’ll invent a new one to keep us under control for the next 2 years

I’ve had exactly the same bug. The last time I was this unwell It was a hospital acquired infection.

I was very tired and achy for a week before the fevers hit. about 5 days of fever and god awful headaches where brushing my hair felt like I was stabbing my scalp with pins. Now I’m just very tired and wheezy.

my DC has it too and has slept most of the last 2 days.

I would put it down to being isolated but I’m not and wasn’t. DC was at school for the entire lockdown. My regular week I’m in contact with multiple different groups unlike the usual office workers seeing the same people daily.

a new strain of an existing virus is more likely and that could be RSV, cold, flu or covid. It’s not conspiracy theory to consider this. It could be a strain of covid not picked up by testing and certainly closer to flu like illness we’ve been told covid will become.

it’s certainly highly transmissible. DC doesn’t spend much time with me closely and I’m a stickler for airing house (damp and mould) so how quickly DC caught it, after me is interesting.

Would you like to back up your wild assertions with some evidence? Because most medics say that it's constantly being ill that runs your body down, not periods of comparative wellness.

OP couldn't say for sure but things seem much of a muchness round here, possibly slightly less sickness than you'd expect.

I also think folks are so fixated in covid that they’ve forgotten there is a whole swathe if other respiratory illnesses. It’s like for some people covid is the only one. Colds, flus, chest infections, bronchiatias,pneumonia no longer exist now. It’s all covid and a conspiracy round covid.

it’s quite odd that people forget normal life so quickly and now utterly panic and normal winter bugs

@UseAMuckySock who's "they" and what sort of control do you think they desire?

I also think folks are so fixated in covid that they’ve forgotten there is a whole swathe if other respiratory illnesses.

Over 200, I think?

I work in a university and it's pretty standard to be ill all Xmas after fighting through the term. Usually I'm just well a day before the new term starts.