Really terrified about this flu going around

[Caramelbarrel]

I’m in a total panic about the flu. It’s everywhere I look online, people are posting about it left, right and centre. Including locally.

I’m always hugely anxious when my DS gets ill anyway and so if he gets it I know I’ll be a wreck. I have bad health anxiety too.

I don’t know anyone personally who has it, but I know it’s just a matter of time.

I’m so worried I’ll get it before Christmas and it’ll all be ruined for our DS. We’re supposed to be going down and staying with family.

Have the jab…

I got the flu jab from my local pharmacy about a fortnight ago. I was just a walk in and had it done within a few minutes, it cost just under £20.

I am in my 60s. I think I had flu once, when the swine flu was about, maybe 10 to 15 years ago. Unpleasant certainly but I am not in a vulnerable group so just one of those things. However, it's one of those things I would prefer to avoid, hence the vaccine when possible.

My local Superdrug offer walk in clinics only, so yours may too, OP. The jab is £9.99 with a Superdrug membership card.

If it helps, I also have health anxiety. I have also been hearing about people admitted to hospital with it. I need to stop looking at social media!

Just get the jab if you can
we are so sick but I guess we don’t actually know if it’s flu or not!

i didn’t get the jab and am currently sitting up with my 1 year old after the worst weekend of my life so sick since Thursday! Me and husband have what it is and we’ve been coughing, shivering, sweating, sore throats, exhaustion, aches

i balled my eyes out this morning it was all too much with our little kids and trying to rest

now the baby has a super high temp and will only nap on me so I can’t even sleep myself - my husband is sleeping now so we can swap in a few hours!

4 year old is well - but she had the flu spray in school.

You may not be able to get an appointment OP, I struggle every year. Currently no appts available at my local boots up to 19 Jan.

We had it this year. It wiped me out for close to 5 days, beginning to come out of it now though.

Tbh, the flu vaccine made little difference- DD is vaccinated and she was really unwell for a solid week.

It’s the worst I’ve felt since I caught Covid for the first time, tbh.

I know a jag isn’t a cure but it’s what Boris Johnson etc made you all believe.Rant over

No he didn’t.

Get the jab. I pay for it every year.

Why wouldn’t you seek to reduce that risk…? I just don’t understand comments like this. Sure it is a risk we all take, that’s life, and jabs aren’t a guarantee either (I had it despite getting a jab when I had a 4 month old baby which truly sucked). But when there’s a way to reduce the risk of both contracting it and severe disease if you do, why would you just…. Not?

No it’s not, it’s based on the southern hemisphere winter flu strain pattern, eg three to six months previous data

Flu can be symptomless or completely debilitating, and often requires hospitalisation. Pneumonia is a common complication.

That’s very reassuring for OP…..🙄

"covid rules"...
Avoid touching your face, avoid putting your hands in your mouth, wash your hands more frequently than you're used to and do it properly, if you're out in public and you feel you want that extra protection, put on a decent face mask or, keep your distance, or, avoid going out in public for unnecessary reasons especially places that are busier than typical.
Get a flu jab, whether or not it's free it doesn't matter, you get it, your arm may hurt for a couple days or it may not, and then you've got some protection. Will it be 100% protection probably not. Nothing's 100%. 50%? 70%? 20%? Hey, I figure protection is better than zero, that's why I got the covid shot and the flu shot 3 weeks ago.
At the same time, which is fine, actually it's recommended because it make sure that you get them both done at the same time, and I'll be honest with you my flu arm didn't hurt very much but my covid arm did.
And I feel awful for about 48 hours, (in the covid arm, overall tiredness, achiness, headache, chill, sore skin, sore joints.... But I didn't really care because I knew it's just my immune system reaction, I wasn't really sick...)
I've had the flu once. The real flu, the influenza flu not the pukey thing that people call the flu.
It was about 7 years ago, I'd never had it before, I didn't recognize it for what it was when I first got the symptoms, but I realized pretty quickly that this was not a cold and nothing I had before.
It really sucked. I would say about 4 days of really feeling crummy and then about 3 days of not so crummy but not myself.
Mostly just extremely tired, headache, achy, really achy, and back and forth between fever and chills. Not the worst thing in the world.
Didn't enjoy it, and I've gotten a flu shot ever since.
I don't know why you're panicking; there was no need to panic during the start of covid and that was worse.
Yes it is possible that if you're immunocompromised, very young, very old, or have some other extremely serious medical condition that the influenza can land you in the hospital, and I'm not minimizing the fact that influenza can be deadly, but for the average person of which you say you're not immune compromised, you'll probably be just fine. So why panic? All that stress will do is raise your cortisol which will then lower your immune system and then you'll get sick easier.

You can have it at a pharmacy.
I’ve had it twice in 57 years. I work in a hospital.

You don't sound very bright. It's a shame the NHS don't have higher standards.

See this from the Independent about ways to reduce the risk.
And talk to your GP about your health anxiety (and cut down your online reading).

I had the COVID vaccine, and nearly six years down the line I have never had COVID. I think it worked 😬

This is one of the rare moments when I will agree with you op. I have had the flu, and both Covid strains and I have never been so ill, but we all recovered in time. Have the vaccine and get on and enjoy your life and Christmas, all will be well.

Our whole family either have or have had it, after our youngest daughter brought it home from school. The school were giving flu jabs last week which was obviously too late since many of the kids were already off sick.

Then my wife and eldest daughter caught it, and just as I thought I'd dodged it, I got it too. For the last 5 nights I've slept so poorly, I wake up at 5am and waste time by browsing the AIBU posts on MN :)

But it's nothing to worry about unless you're 80+. Forget about exercising, keep yourself hydrated and remember to eat (we all lost appetite). Try to keep away from others, especially the elderly.

‘I work in an nhs environment’

This could mean anything. Hopefully she isn’t front-line clinical.

It does make a difference to be vaccinated. Symptoms should be over quicker and less severe, even if the variants are different. My son caught it, was feverish for two days then tired for a few days. I caught it, had a streaming nose for 2 days then felt pretty normal. Both vaccinated. (we did rapid tests that confirmed Flu A)

But the best thing you can do to avoid it is airborne mitigations. Infected people breathe out infectious particles.
So 1) wear a tightly fitting mask, preferably N95 but any tightly fitting mask is better than none
2) favour well ventilated outdoor spaces, open windows, let in air to sweep out infectious particles
3) run HEPA purifiers if you have - in an ideal world where the UKHSA did their job properly, these would be standard in schools and healthcare
4) avoid crowds.

Covid is airborne. So priority number one is not to breathe in infected particles.

That means masking as first line of defence with a tight fitting mask, preferably N95.
Well ventilated spaces and running air purifiers.
Covid is very rarely transmitted by fomites, it's almost exclusively airborne transmission.

Until everyone understands (Florence Nightingale did!) this we're never going to reduce transmission, because we're just coming out of a covid wave which has reduced our immunity to other viruses like flu.

My DS has developed a temperature and a nasty cough yesterday, and 4 week old DS has become very congested. Here we go!

Flu isn't pleasant but providing you are healthy and have a functioning immune system it's just a case of a rubbish week or two.

We also had a nasty coughing/temperature bug last Christmas, DS wasn't interested in his presents and just wanted to sleep. It was shit. But the world didn't end, and being anxious wouldn't have prevented it.

Epidemiologist here. It's an H3N2 It is subject to slight mutations which occur rapidly and frequently which makes vaccination less effective. It spreads rapidly because of these mutations.

But it isn't any more deadly than any other seasonal flu; if you aren't in a high risk group (under 5 / over 65) or suffering from an underlying condition (heart disease, respiratory problems in particular), get the jab - it may lessen the symptoms if it doesn't convey complete protection. If you get it treat the symptoms - stay in bed, stay warm, analgesics, plenty of fluids. You won't have much of an appetite - don't worry about it - eat what you can when you can. You should seek medical assistance if you are having breathing difficulties, you have a high temperature that doesn't go down after taking paracetamol (especially if patient is very young), you have an incapacitating cough accompanied by side or shoulder pain or you have an underlying health condition and your flu symptoms are not improving after 10 days.

It's nasty. A lot of the people crowding hospitals don't really need to be there but it is nasty. Highly unlikely to kill you or your DC. HTH.