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.

“A bit rough for a few days” is not a description of what having flu is like!

Is jag a word? Isn’t it ‘flu jab’ not jag?

You’re correct. A jag is a fancy car!

In Scotland, jag, not jab, is common parlance for vaccination.

As others have said-= go get the jab. Do it today. I paid £19.99 for mine at a pharmacy

Oh- and in the meantime wear a mask and liberally deploy hand sanitiser.

I paid £17 to get the jab done privately at Boots.

I get it done every year after catching flu in my 20s. It's worth it.

I have paid for the 'flu jab for years. Still got something nasty this year - no idea whether it's 'flu but the symptoms are different from a cold.

Top tips for survival, make sure you have paracetamol and ibuprofen in the house to cope with aches/pains fever. Lemsip, so nasty usually, becomes oddly comforting, but remember it is one of your paracetamol doses. Cider vinegar and honey (capful, spoonful) topped up with hot water is soothing and mildly therapeutic, (the honey is antibacterial, vinegar mildly acidic so slows virus reproduction). Staying hydrated is important, hot drinks are good.

And NEVER take exercise while you have the thing. Obviously you'll have to potter round doing house stuff, but no gym, no walks, no running. That's really dangerous.

Get a grip, it’s the flu. This is part of life.

Reminds me of a quote from Herodotus:

”Far better it is to have a stout heart always and suffer one’s share of evils, than to be ever fearing what may happen,”

How old is your DS op? My DS is 5 and was given it at primary school.

I would agree about seeing your GP about your health anxiety though. My DD is a couple of months too young for the flu vaccine but i can’t really spend my time worrying she will get flu.

We as healthy adults also choose not to get the vaccine. I only had it with one pregnancy.

You said your son had it, is he immune compromised? Because if he is and you are his main carer you are entitled to a free flu jab, you do not have to be in receipt of carer benefits to qualify. GP surgeries are really shit at telling people this. I was registered as a carer at my GP surgery for 10 years before they told me I could get a free flu jab!

I'm in my sixties and have had flu once. It was awful but never had it since, i think the odds of getting it are quite low but as others have said get the jab. It's still available.

With some kindness, you seriously need to find some perspective in life.
Christmas will not be ‘ruined’.,,one year three of mine got chicken pox Christmas Eve, one year I had to postpone Christmas completely for days as I got awful food poisoning Christmas Eve, once I was in hospital Christmas Day plus four more days with pneumonia…we’ve been bereaved over that time too…yet my adult children never talk about any at of those years as being “ruined” as I just dealt with it all.

The tapestry of each family has stories of illness, injury, bereavement woven in to it, and if you haven’t had those in any horrific way just count your blessings.
See your GP.

Can book at my local boots for tomorrow. So it’s obviously area dependent. OP will
hopefully get lucky,

If your health anxiety is that bad that you're genuinely 'terrified' of getting the flu, you should probably look into seeking help for that too. I'd argue that it's a much more dangerous thing to pass on to your DS than flu.

Actual flu is absolutely rotten - I remember getting it for the first time at about 19 and having to be carried down the stairs. I got it again in my late 30s and it was a great reminder that every time I'd moaned about feeling 'fluey' in between, I'd just had a bad cold 😅

It's absolutely nothing to be 'terrified' about though. You'll feel like you want to crawl out of your own skin for a few days, and if you're particularly unlucky you'll be knackered for a week or two afterwards.

Great opportunity to buy one of those miniature attention bells from Amazon and have the other half run around after you IMO.

I had flu once, I was so ill that I had no interest in my phone or SM. So if they are posting about having flu, they probably haven’t got it.

Did you hear that they're vaccinating male chickens against flu every year now?

Rooster shots.

Just want to clear up a common misconception. You can have flu asymptomatically, with mild cold-like symptoms or the type that put you in bed for a week. You can't assume it's not flu just because it's mild - and you can still spread it.

Is the strain going round covered by this years vaccine? I’ve read it has mutated since summer so might not be now ?

Fingers crossed. I checked all the dates and there’s nothing at all near us (London). Good to know that OP can travel too

Have the jab . It sounds worth it for your peace of mind alone.

Then find ways to distract yourself. Avoid the news. Find something absorbing to do.

I have a condition that means even "just a cold" can land me.in hospital and I have seen the stories about the flu but am far too busy with work and volunteering and hobbies to give it more than a fleeting thought.

This year's flu jab does not cover the strain of flu that is currently wiping everyone out. OP has already said she knows this, so a zillion people just saying get the jab won't make a jot of difference

I once went to the doctor as I was feeling tired but sleeping well and blood tests showed I had flu! Felt totally fine except tired, thought I was going to be told I was anaemic

I would add though - I am really grateful to the colleagues who try to keep me safe by working from home if they have any cold /flu symptoms

That's something we can all do to look after vulnerable people

It's the truth!