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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Something strange is going on… winter bugs

310 replies

Hazless · 23/12/2022 14:50

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.

OP posts:
GloomyDarkness · 23/12/2022 17:47

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

This.

I didn't think it was a bad year for bugs at least so far - only media is altering me that it's high.

Though if it is flu - we are in area that did flu vaccines in school up to 16 years again this year- and actually GP this year were very good with vaccinations - there was a huge push locally to get people vaccinated and media tell me this year flu vaccinations nationally have been low.

Most of our family in rest of the country had flu vaccinations due to their local conditions or age. So perhaps we are just in a high flu vaccination bubble.

LolaMoon · 23/12/2022 17:49

Endofmytether2020 · 23/12/2022 17:43

That's a misunderstanding of what immunity debt means. There's a good explanation upthread.

Show quote history

They argue the idea more people will come down with viruses this year as they have been less exposed the previous 2 years is true and is what the term immunity debt can be referring to thats literally exactly what I said.

CrotchetyQuaver · 23/12/2022 17:52

lurkinglittleladybug · 23/12/2022 15:06

This sounds exactly how I felt when I caught covid in the first outbreak… the phantom smells and bad tastes can last some time, took me 2 years to get my taste buds back to normal… Also affected my eyes pretty badly too

I would second this - I went down with something 3 years ago today which completely floored me, I spent Christmas Eve in bed. With hindsight I am sure it was covid although it wasn't a thing back then. I had the start of a sore throat in the afternoon then by 8pm was a goner, shivering, sweating, sleeping and feeling dreadful. Took a long time to feel my old self afterwards too.

There seem to be a lot of nasty bugs around at the moment.

MoirasSaggyBundles · 23/12/2022 18:03

I've had all the same symptoms you describe, OP. Took me over 2 weeks to get well. Before that I had Hep A, I think, similar symptoms plus a really itchy and painful rash that lingered for around 4 weeks. I was ill for 4 weeks out of 5. Just awful.

MoirasSaggyBundles · 23/12/2022 18:04

BTW, had rotten covid caught abroad in August, and have not been 100 percent since. Had lots of ear infections and dizziness bugs this term before getting Hep A. Never had anything like it before.

mydogisthebest · 23/12/2022 18:06

I've got what I think is a heavy cold and so has DH but I don't know anyone else that is ill

Catsgivethebestcuddles · 23/12/2022 18:10

I do think this term has been particularly bad. We've had one thing after another.

Having said that, when I was a child (1980's) it was very rare I got to attend the last week of school before Christmas. I had a horrible chesty cough/ became really unwell without fail. It got to the point that I referred to it as my "Christmas cough". I always missed the Christmas parties.

FeloniusGru · 23/12/2022 18:11

I agree that this winter is particularly bad for illness. One child started nursery in September and the other started school so we seem to have been hit badly and I can’t remember that last time we were all healthy at the same time.

All four of us have been ill for the last 3 weeks with this cold/flu/whatever it is. It’s been 10x worse than when we had covid, I’ve had my flu jab this year and have still been very poorly - fever, bedridden, awful cough, headache, sore throat, sickness, you name it. Today has been the first day I’ve felt better than the last in almost 3 weeks. And I’m someone who is never usually ill!

I don’t think it’s anything suspicious however, I guess it’s just the first winter for a while that we’ve actually mixed with others and we need to build our immune systems up. I don’t think I even had so much as a cold in 2020 so my body is probably a little shocked 😅

Here’s to a healthier 2023!

Jennybeans401 · 23/12/2022 18:13

We've had similar and I also wondered if this is a new strain of Covid. Really similar to covid as I had the weird smell of cigarette smoke in my nose for days and good tasted off. Family have also been severely ill and its not flu.covid tests all negative.

Jennybeans401 · 23/12/2022 18:13
  • food
DucklingDaisy · 23/12/2022 18:15

AndEverWhoKnew · 23/12/2022 16:19

I have the same symptoms as you OP. I don't think it's Covid. And I don't think it's flu. I've had both. They weren't like this.
I'm not sure about the 'oh it's the first winter' theory either. Mainly because everything was open last winter and hardly anyone was ill around Christmas.
It could be a completely new strain of Covid or perhaps a new strain of something else.
If it is Covid-related, it's proving that the 'let's ignore it and pretend it's gone away' strategy isn't as effective as last year's 'wear masks and take care'. But prepare to be inundated with Covid deniers and lockdown naysayers. It's as though they have an alert every time there's a Covid thread on here and they then bombard the thread until everyone else gives up and just continues reasoned Covid discussion elsewhere.

I'm not a covid naysayer, I just had a horrible bout of covid in fact, but universal borderline arrest is an exceptional, once in a lifetime emergency measure not just a new tool in the public health toolkit.

Endofmytether2020 · 23/12/2022 18:15

LolaMoon · 23/12/2022 17:49

They argue the idea more people will come down with viruses this year as they have been less exposed the previous 2 years is true and is what the term immunity debt can be referring to thats literally exactly what I said.

Show quote history

No it's not. You were talking about our immune systems needing to be "constantly challenged". Your immune system is not a muscle that you need to pump in order for it to stay strong (completely debunked idea that a covid minimising extremist put out a while ago). If you haven't had norovirus in the last four months, you won't have any immunity to it for example. So if no-one has had it for four months and it starts spreading again then more people might get it at the same time - collective immunity debt. But getting norovirus repeatedly doesn't protect you against getting it every four months. HTH.

Nameandgamechange123 · 23/12/2022 18:17

I've also had a weird bug that made stuff smell and taste rotten.

Tofuckwith2022 · 23/12/2022 18:19

PurpleWisteria1 · 23/12/2022 16:51

But this is something different / worse than other years before covid. Never have me or any of my family been so ill since we were children / teens. It’s gone on and on for weeks. I know 4 family’s who have had all their extended family cancel for Christmas leaving them with just their Nuclear family, a couple with no food.
Thats never happened before in my 30+ years of being an adult.

Show quote history

My partner had something a few weeks ago. He was on antibiotics and steroids and there is still a cough lingering.

I wouldn't be surprised if TB is circulating and people are feeling happy and proud that it's at least not covid.

sst1234 · 23/12/2022 18:19

Look at all the Covid enthusiasts getting excited that the virus has mutated. They’ll probably be calling for a lockdown soon.

Witchofthedales · 23/12/2022 18:19

Everyone I know has this. It's vile. My DH is still coughing three weeks later. Now DS 18 has started with it, hoping he picks up for Christmas ☹

Mamansparkles · 23/12/2022 18:21

The immunity debt idea has been debunked by so many immunologists. It applies to things you get in childhood and then develop immunity to like chickenpox, not to things like flu or norovirus that you get over and over. It does apply to children building up their immune system for the first time but much less so to adults.
There is also a lot of reliable research that covid destroys t cells which are an important part of the immune system. It is being widely talked about in other countries so I don't know why we aren't talking about this more.

CellophaneFlower · 23/12/2022 18:25

I had this bug for a month. It would almost go, then come back with a vengeance. Worst parts were the temp I couldn't bring down and the aches. I also looked like I'd been in make up for a dying person soap part... brown rings around my eyes. It also made my period start 2 weeks early and I'm as regular as clockwork. It was such a surprise, I didn't know where I was bleeding from at first.

My 2 primary aged kids have also had it. 1 has had 2.5 weeks off school (not consecutive) and has lost so much weight, as have I.

If a new super bug was announced tomorrow, I'm pretty sure I've had it. If not, I assume my immune system is shot after lockdown/masks/bug avoidance.

Bitbloweyoutthere · 23/12/2022 18:25

I have a December birthday. It's a rare year I actually get to enjoy it. Those years, I'm ill in November or January. Winter is shit, partly because people get ill. Throw young children or old people in the mix and it becomes a proper shit show.

I did like the covid years when people took more care over snot hygiene though.

PorridgewithQuark · 23/12/2022 18:25

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1361287/ this review of 300 studies on the impact of different kinds of stress on the immune system is very interesting.

I honestly think a lot of it is psychosomatic - which doesn't mean it's fake obviously, but that psychological factors are causing weakened immune response in a lot of people.

NeedAHoliday2021 · 23/12/2022 18:26

Flu vaccine take up is really low but we’ve followed the expected pattern (as seen in Australia’s summer period) with many early cases. In the Hospitals we’re no longer isolating flu patients because we can’t there’s too many so anyone going to hospital is at risk of flu.

Bitbloweyoutthere · 23/12/2022 18:27

I've just had an old fashioned cold too. Shit for 5 days, then on the up and able to go for a run again. My body seems to respond to colds in pretty much the same time each time.

User963 · 23/12/2022 18:30

Allsnotwell · 23/12/2022 17:25

DillDanding · Today 16:43
I heard a GP on tv the other day saying because we were more isolated during the pandemic, our immune systems are less robust than they should be.

Look at what’s happening in China.

What’s happening in China is that they are all now catching covid and as their vaccines aren’t very good against the new strains lots of people are getting ill. They’re not sicker because they’ve been locked away for two years, it’s just that covid is spreading as no-one has had it.
I think what it means in this country is that for the last two years there was very little flu and strep. That means that (eg) the ten percent of people who might have normally caught those in 2020 and 2021 didn’t so now there is a larger pool of people to infect. Which might be what you meant about China.

SirVixofVixHall · 23/12/2022 18:30

It sounds exactly like the bout of Covid that I a, recovering from. I didn’t test positive for days, and I was still negative on one brand. I was positive on Flowflex.
My friend took five days to test positive.

FlumpyLump · 23/12/2022 18:32

I had Covid for the second time 2 weeks ago. Started off with tight throat and chest. I thought it was asthma related at first. I tested for Covid and kept getting negatives. On day 5, I got a positive Covid test. I am only just started to feel “normal” again.
My friends daughter who is 15, never tests positive on the lateral flow tests. During the main pandemic when PCR tests were available, she would test positive on them but never on the home tests.
There are lots of nasties doing the rounds at the moment though and flu existed long before Covid. People’s immune systems have taken a hit with all the lockdowns and isolations/precautions.
People are also struggling to heat their homes properly due to the cost which has an effect on respiratory illnesses like asthma. I know mine is set off with cold temperatures.
Not many can afford to live comfortably at the moment and I think that’s playing a major part in illness also.