AIBU to have only just realised what people meant by a cold is defo not the flu !

[Bringbackdrifterbars]

I am early 30s no massive health issues and would not at all be deemed vulnerable.
I have always known the difference between a cold and flu as in one being influenza but suppose really didn’t listen when people said trust me you would know if you had the flu over a cold.
well I caught the flu and as a healthy adult ended up admitted in to
hospital for the first time in my life because of influenza A !
maybe this year is a bad strand or something but is it usual for it knock out healthy young people ? 🙈🙈

Flu is nasty, it can have serious effects on even healthy individuals, and sadly it can also be fatal

I hope you're on the mend OP!

Yes, it's normal! I hadn't had flu until 20-something. I collapsed just trying to get to the toilet. Never had anything like it before! Made me angry when my boss said 'oh, you had a cold'. No I get those all the time - this was nothing like a cold.

This is why I pay £20 for a flu jab yearly!

Flu, actual flu, is dreadful. I’m a soft arse when it comes to having a cold but flu wiped me out for weeks. I remember being in bed sweating, shivering and almost praying. I’ve only had it once but dear god, I never want it again. Vaccines all the way for me from now on.
Hope you’re on the mend.

Yes, that’s flu. Everything else is just a bad cold.

not “usual”

but certainly not uncommon

I forgot about fainting in the shower.

Nothing compares to the time I got the flu, even Covid (but then I was double vaccinated). I think you only understand when you've been through it!

I hope you're on the mend now.

Hope you're feeling better OP! Yes flu can be really savage, plenty of people who claim to have had flu actually have had a cold; and conversely plenty like @Haydug who had actual flu but get told nah just a cold when it wasn't. It's why when during covid people kept comparing it to flu it's like yes, flu kills and makes people really poorly every year even with a vaccine programme and medical knowledge around flu- this isn't a good thing!

Yep, when I had flu I laid in bed wanting to go to sleep and never woke up. If you’re on SM telling everyone you’ve got flu, you’ve not got flu.

Once you've experienced flu first hand, you realise how people die from it.

Hasn't COVID taught us that people can have many reactions to a virus?

E.g. asymptomatic, mild cold, heavy cold, feel like death, actually death... All could be people's reaction to having COVID, and we know thi because we all tested like mad.

I don't think it's unique in that - sometimes people must get influenza without symptoms, and sometimes have it appear as a mild cold. But how often have you tested whether a cold was caused by influenza?

But yeah, flu can be much worse than a cold, so you're not at all unreasonable for appreciating that

I had flu over ten years ago, in my twenties and in full health. I remember lying there, unable yo move, thinking 'I understand how old people die of this'. It took me years to get over some of the effects. For example, I'm sure I had scar tissue on my lungs that would flare up every time I had the slightest cold afterwards. Other random body parts didn't work the same for years, eg my eyelids! It affected every single part of my body! I've never been as sick in my life, never before or after (and I've had covid twice).

Well I can honestly say I will be paying for the flu jab from now on !! Don’t get me wrong I knew it was worse than a cold but i totally underestimated it !!

I had flu for the first time this year, I'm 42.
I was horrific. I then got pleurisy off the back of and it took me over a month to recover.

I was berated on here a couple of weeks ago for pointing out that it was more likely to be another virus than the flu when a poster was posting long posts on day 2 of being ill. On day 2 most people struggle to lift their heads let alone start threads!

Flu is awful. DH and I once had it at the same time when we had 3 kids under 6. We had no family to ask for help and couldn't ask friends to take the kids as they were ill too. We did it in 15 minute shifts of hell.

Make sure you rest up properly. I got chronic fatigue syndrome by going back to work too soon when I was in my 20s ended up being ill for over 5 years.

Why were you admitted to hospital?

Yes it's absolutely awful. A cold is nothing approaching flu.

I don't know OP, every few years I seem to get something that's in between. Fever, sweating through several changes of clothes, hacking coughs, shaking, can barely stumble to the bathroom without it being a major mission, everything-even-lifting-my-little-finger-hurts style illness for the first 2-3 days, but then quite a swift recovery after that. Never sure if that's flu or something else.

This basically.

Difference between a cold and the flu...

When you're lying on the sofa and see a 50 pound note blowing around in the garden - if you go out to get it, it's a cold , if you don't it's flu

Had it once in my 20s. Just got my jab yesterday.

I've never been vaccinated for Covid. Covid was milder than a cold for me. Flu was awful on the other hand! I could carry on as normal and do housework with covid. Flu had me in bed for days, collapsing if I tried to get up!

Glad you’re feeling better and this thread makes me glad I got the flu jab last week. I’m pregnant and have been having horrible cold after horrible cold so couldn’t handle anything worse like the flu.

The only time I had flu, late 20’s, I remember being woken up by the then dp asking for my works phone and who he should call to say I wasn’t going to work. The bed was soaking wet bed (From sweat), and I felt like every hair on my body and all my teeth were in so much pain, temperature sky high, and also feeling sick.

I was off work for 2 weeks and have never felt so unwell.

I laugh now when people come
to work after having a day off with ‘flu’.