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 ? 🙈🙈

It was on BBC news a week or so back that last winter more people died from flu than COVID approx 14000 flu and 10000 COVID total 24000 which is on the high end of the normal winter range. You can have cold. flu and COVID symptomless or mild or bad, but colds rarely cause death. But is definitely possible to have a bad cold that is worse than mild flu. The person OP caught flu from may have been completely symptom free.

i was already in the hospital with my daughter when I caught it 🙈

I've had flu only once around six years ago. What was so different with influenza was the speed I became terribly unwell. I was going out with friends to a concert and had showered and was getting dressed when all of a sudden I felt terribly ill. It was nothing like a cold where there is a build up with a couple of sneezes and a tickly throat. I went from perfectly well to almost collapsing ill in seconds. I was then in bed for around five days except to go to the toilet. I've had Covid and felt extremely unwell before vaccines but there was still a bit of a 'build up' to the illness.

It sounds as though you had a really scary time. Not many young, healthy people are admitted to hospital because of flu. However, absolutely NO young, healthy people are admitted to hospital because of a cold. So it's completely understandable that you are making that distinction.

Flu is absolutely awful, I’ve had it once, hopefully never again. Makes me cross when people say “oh I’ve got flu, it’s definitely not a cold” when they’re up and at work, out shopping or posting on social media. No, if you’re doing that you’ve got a bad cold. I could barely even get to the toilet when I had flu, I remember crawling to get there as I was too weak to stand up.

My Mum always used to say the difference between a cold and flu is, if there was £100 on the floor by your bed, would you get out and pick it up? Yes, it’s a cold. No, it’s flu.

If its flu the note could be on the floor by your bed and you wouldn't care because you think you're going to die.

The flu is like covid. Some people can have it and be really poorly, or some people can have it and hardly feel unwell at all or even be asymptomatic. It’s not always worse than ‘a cold’ and you wouldn’t always know you have it, but obviously if you have it badly you would.

@samepasswordforall1

What was so different with influenza was the speed I became terribly unwell.

it was exactly the same for me, very scary how quickly it came on.

Your mum was wrong then. Mine thinks this too actually, so I get it.

Saying that, I do get being annoyed at people self diagnosing with flu. Virtually nobody who claims they've got it will actually have had a test. But that's the reason to be annoyed that someone with a sniffy nose reckons they've got flu, not because you think it isn't flu unless the symptoms reach a certain level of severity.

I've had flu a few times during my life, always awful. Everything hurts, can't even bear to be touched! No chance of being online sitting up in bed, or pottering around in a dressing gown! Usually takes me about a month to recover from flu, mainly because it goes to my chest then I have a cough afterwards for ages.

Some strains of influenza virus are worse than others though, and the first influenza you ever have gives you some sort of immunity to that strain if you encounter it again (so-called 'original antigenic sin').

I’ve had flu (all confirmed by doctor) 3 times in my life (asthmatic). The one year I got bronchitis as well it ramped up my asthma and my doctor suggested I get yearly flu jabs. Since then I’ve never had flu.

I had flu, made it to a bed and pretty much slept for two days. I could barely make it out of bed to go to the bathroom / get s drink
of water

Not if you have flu mildly or are asymptomatic with flu. We saw with covid how widely the symptoms can vary, from people being critically unwell in ICU to people who are asymptomatic and don’t even know they have it until testing. Flu is the same. You could be too unwell to get out of bed with the virus, or could continue to go about your daily life with just a sniffly nose.

Just like covid the only way to know if you have flu is to do a test, it’s not about how poorly you are as everyone’s immune system will be effected by and fight off the virus differently.

Even the same strain affects people differently. My four year olds caught influenza A (confirmed by a test). My son stopped breathing. My daughter had no symptoms. Flu is really variable and most posters on this thread are completely wrong about its severity.

I’m sorry you had to find out the hard way, @Bringbackdrifterbars .

I had proper flu a couple of decades ago - not badly enough to need hospital, but it knocked my stuffing right out for at least 3 weeks even after I had largely recovered.
I well remember walking the dog with a dd when I was much better, and her saying, ‘Mum, can’t you walk a bit faster?’
’I’m sorry, I really can’t.’

Added to that, all the endless coughing had so weakened various muscles that for some time afterwards, every time I coughed at all, I would fart and wet myself (a bit) at the same time!😱

How terrifying your son stopped breathing! Yes I expect it's often down to one's personal experiences of the virus. Every time I've had flu I have been really ill.

Had flu once as an adult. Awful. I knew I was ill when I ended up lay on the floor at work and couldn't get up.
But regularly had high temperature when I was ill as a young person to the point of hallucinations. I thought it was fairly normal but they put me in sick bay for a week at university.

Yes. I was hospitalised with influenza B in my late 30s. It wiped me out for months afterwards. I’ve never been as unwell . It left me with kidney damage and post viral fatigue for a long time afterwards. Previously i’d been fit and healthy.
Every year since, as soon as I can, I pay for the flu jab.

It literally kills people every year, sometimes to pandemic levels.

Flu is the only illness that I have had that makes me shudder thinking about it. I remember sitting on my sofa after the school run and suddenly thinking I have to call dh home and I had never done that before or since. I stayed in bed for weeks.

one and only time I have blanks in my memory and it took me months to feel normal again. I was around 32 I think. I wasn't diagnosed face to face but over the phone. Do you know what though I couldn't tell you my symptoms apart from the very very odd feeling at the beginning- like nothing I'd ever felt and I knew it was serious. How can you lose chunks of time? But there you go and bless dh even had to carry me to the toilet. I have a flu jab every year since and I can now see exactly how so many die from it

I had flu years ago and I remember every single bit of my body hurt, even the blankets on my skin. Took me a month to recover. Never ever miss a flu jab now.

Yep. I had it when I was 25 and in peak health. I remember having to bum shuffle down the stairs as I literally didn't have the energy to walk down steps.

I had flu 10 years ago and it was horrendous. It came on very suddenly and I was unwell for about 3 weeks in total. I was also put on a drip in A&E but thankfully not admitted. I have been terrified of catching it again ever since.

That’s a myth though. Flu can be mild, hence it’s ability to spread.

For me it was the shock of how much worse flu can be compared to a cold. No bad cold I’d ever had prepared me for getting a bad case of flu.
I could barely get out of bed for 4 days and coughed so much I pulled the muscles in my back. I get the flu jab every year now.