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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask if anyone has done flu camp

54 replies

Bellavida99 · 01/11/2023 22:52

DS18 and his friends are keen. You get over £4000 for a 2 week stay. Has anyone done it and how poorly are you? They make it sound very easy for people who are happy indoors on the internet

OP posts:
SM4713 · 01/11/2023 23:01

Has he actually been accepted to a booked quarantine stay, or just thinking about going for the initial blood test??? There is a long screening process between just ringing up to enquire and actually get put in a quarantine! Chances of actually getting to quarantine stage are also slim, depending on which study he is applying for, passing health screens, GP records, tests etc etc. Its also not just 2 weeks. There are screening visits both before and after the quarantine phase and certain restrictions too.

Unfortunately, people see the money and assume they will be accepted with open arms, whereas in reality, it can be a tough screening out process along the way!

Original poster
Bellavida99 · 01/11/2023 23:08

he’s only just done the initial contact form but as you say they’re excited by the money. I did wonder if it was that simple. Thanks I guess he can start going through the process and see

OP posts:
Borborygmus · 01/11/2023 23:52

The only time I knowingly had flu I ended up with what I guess would today be described as 'long flu' (which lasted years). So personally I'd avoid it like the plague!

Lougle · 02/11/2023 00:04

I wouldn't. I used to be an intensive care nurse. Flu is a horrible, horrible illness when you get it badly, and you can't predict who will get it badly or when. I've seen massively fit, exercise dedicated, healthy eating, young people come to within a hair's breadth of dying, then needing advanced life support and months of rehabilitation just to learn to walk again. In fact, you couldn't pay me enough money to deliberately contract a virus that mutates and that even all these years later, the scientists still can't predict with any real accuracy.

Badgerstmary · 02/11/2023 00:06

My eldest ds tried to get onto it but didn’t pass the blood test.

NigellaAwesome · 02/11/2023 00:19

No way would I knowingly put myself in flu's way.

I got a nasty strain 11 years ago and it left me with asthma which I still have.

AntonFeckoff · 02/11/2023 00:23

No. £4000 is not enough for the risk involved, not to mention the restrictions, pre-admission appointments and follow ups.

FreyafromLondon · 02/11/2023 00:44

I think it's crazy to think people actually think money is more important than their health

Lovelydovey · 02/11/2023 01:00

There's a diary from someone who did it on tiktok. Looks dead boring and easy money to me.

myopinionmatters · 02/11/2023 01:48

I tried. Did all the test but told my BMI was to high. It's not bad according to others I met there that religiously do them.

OzziePopPop · 02/11/2023 01:56

Honestly, I’ve only ever had ‘real’ flu once. I was 21 and lost several days of my life - I literally couldn’t remember a thing. I’d been in bed and to the loo that’s it. I guess I drank water too, don’t remember!

I was actually ’ill’ for a couple of weeks, but those 3-4 days were terrifying. Flu is not to be messed with, even by the young and healthy!

Coyoacan · 02/11/2023 02:14

You can tell that covid is no longer in the news, when people are back to saying how very, very dangerous flu is, when during the pandemic anyone who dared to say that covid was like flu was eaten alive for minimising covid.

Sorry for derailing

StellaLaBella · 02/11/2023 03:00

Please talk him out of it. My dad was a GP, he'd get so frustrated by people thinking the flu was just a "bad cold" and were dismissive of the flu jab. He was hyper vigilant about avoiding it at all costs because he had patients - young, fit, healthy - who were never the same after a bad dose.

But I was still all no big deal until just like OzziePopPop I got proper flu years ago in my early 20s. I have never - hand on heart - been so sick. I vividly remember coming to lying on the tiles in my bathroom and my mom finding me and calling my brother to haul me back to bed. If I'd been frailer, immunocompromised, whatever, it wouldn't have been good. I likely should've been hospitalised but that was where I'd caught it, visiting my grandmother. I can totally see how a bad flu could decimate a ward or a care home.

Luckily, I bounced back in a few days, a stone lighter and ready to mingle just in time for the Christmas party season 😬

Onethingatatime23 · 02/11/2023 03:35

You can have flu mildly or not know you have it though, it doesn't always knock you for six. That's how it spreads.

Dentistlakes · 02/11/2023 04:47

Too much of a risk imo. I know you feel invincible when you’re young, but flu can be incredibly nasty and have long term health implications for some. There are better ways to earn money. I would definitely try to persuade him not to do it.

Lochness1975 · 02/11/2023 05:57

I’ve only ever had flu once and I thought I was dying. I have never been so unwell, I was even hallucinating because of my temperature. Never would I voluntarily put myself through that.

stayathomer · 02/11/2023 06:05

Oh my word this sounds BATSHIT to me!!! I used to work in a virology lab and this sounds like the most horrendous scam ever- flu is something that is tested for and studied, vaccines and testing are part of the medical landscape. PAYING people for this? Nuts! Shouldn’t be legal. Tell them to back away op

Original poster
Bellavida99 · 02/11/2023 09:10

Thanks all. I’ll show my son these sobering messages and persuade him to not pursue it. I thankfully haven’t ever had bad flu but it sounds horrendous and I certainly hadn’t thought of the long term risks either.

OP posts:
AntonFeckoff · 02/11/2023 09:12

OzziePopPop · 02/11/2023 01:56

Honestly, I’ve only ever had ‘real’ flu once. I was 21 and lost several days of my life - I literally couldn’t remember a thing. I’d been in bed and to the loo that’s it. I guess I drank water too, don’t remember!

I was actually ’ill’ for a couple of weeks, but those 3-4 days were terrifying. Flu is not to be messed with, even by the young and healthy!

I had flu when I was 17/18. There are several days where all I can recall is waking up, not knowing if it was day or night, shivering and sweating with an excruciating headache, swigging from a bottle of juice by the bed, and mercifully falling back into unconsciousness. There’s a picture of me around the time I was starting to recover where I looked like a skeleton.

BitofaStramash · 02/11/2023 09:14

I lost my hearing the last time I had flu. I now have to wear hearing aids.

That said when I was younger I would have assumed I was invincible and jumped at s chance of £4k

Idontknowhatnametochoose · 02/11/2023 09:20

This is the most stupid thing I've ever heard about. I got flu when I was 18 and I never recovered from it. It gave me chronic health issues and I'm now mid 40s. Real flu is utterly awful. It left me unable to walk properly for a long time. So many people think flu is a nasty cold when it is not. You can't get out of beds when you have flu.

Hfuhruhurr · 02/11/2023 09:25

Lougle · 02/11/2023 00:04

I wouldn't. I used to be an intensive care nurse. Flu is a horrible, horrible illness when you get it badly, and you can't predict who will get it badly or when. I've seen massively fit, exercise dedicated, healthy eating, young people come to within a hair's breadth of dying, then needing advanced life support and months of rehabilitation just to learn to walk again. In fact, you couldn't pay me enough money to deliberately contract a virus that mutates and that even all these years later, the scientists still can't predict with any real accuracy.

Nah, it's just like a bad cold, isn't it?

Joking obviously. Every medical professional I know has seen similar. I'm getting my jab asap and no way would I endanger my health on purpose!

Potentialmadcatlady · 02/11/2023 09:27

Does anyone remember the young men badly affected by a similar trial that went wrong?
I would get your DS to google what happened to them!

BashfulClam · 02/11/2023 09:32

I had a bad flu in my early 20’s. I have never felt so ill. I was hallucinating and struggling to breathe at times when my temperature went up a lot.

BlueGarters · 02/11/2023 09:33

I had proper flu when DS was a toddler. I can remember my DH having to carry me to the toilet because I was too weak to stand. I couldn’t even watch tv because everything hurt so much or even move really. It was absolutely terrible. I had nothing post viral though. I also got covid in the first wave, I was very unwell and they considered hospitalising me but DH and DS promised to stay awake for 24 hours to watch me. I had a consult over the whatever the NHS uses as a sort of FaceTime system. I felt not quite as ill as when I had flu because I remember I could manage to crawl to the toilet on my hands and knees but I had ongoing issues for about 9 months after with terrible post viral fatigue. I would say I still tire more easily than before I had covid.