People saying they’ve never had flu?

[Cumbrianlassie]

I find this incredibly strange. I’ve had flu several times in my life and I’m 36, I mean the ‘proper’ flu - body aches, fever, skin pain, headache, cough, no appetite, fatigue for several weeks and weakness.

I had it in January, as did my DS and DP.
Havent had this new strain yet but feels inevitable!

Are some people just immune?

Some people have better immune systems than others.

I'm in my 40's and have had flu twice that I know of. Once as a kid and once at university, when my parents came and got me and took me home for a week.

DH is the same age and, to the best of his knowledge, has never had it.

In general, bugs that floor me for a week, he can shake off in less than 48 hours with half the symptoms, so this seems in keeping with general trends!

I've never had it - I'm 38. Never had covid either (to my knowledge anyway), and can't remember the last time I had a tummy bug or even a temperature. I've had the flu jab every year since my mid-20's though either paid by work, paid by me or on the NHS while pregnant.

DD is hardly sick either - 3 years of nursery and only two days off ill. And no days off school yet...

I've had swine flu but not the run of the mill flu that goes about every year. Definitely a bad cold with temperature and body aches. I'm 44.

Late sixties never had flu. Had streaming colds aplenty never flu, only had jabs last few years as per NHS advice. I never had any childhood illnesses either apart from very mild German measles. My sister a couple of years younger had the lot measles, mumps, chicken pox, German measles and nits 😂

I'm in my 30s. Been struck down with flu twice; once in my teens and again in my 20s. Weirdly, the second go round felt much worse. The shivers, chills, muscle aches and fatigue.... I wanted to be put out of my misery.

This time round, I have a cold which has mostly gone, but has left a nasty, vicious, lingering hacky cough which is making me feel totally miserable. My belly hurts and I'm a bit sleep-deprived.

Im 36 and never had flu. I’ve had plenty of low level colds, couple of chest infections and tonsillitis many times. But never the flu

Sometimes it's better immune systems and sometimes it's merely luck of the draw. Some years there are hardly any bugs floating around, or, some people are avoiding all the sick people without realising it.

Im 49 and husband 53, sister, 47 her husband 58. We have 6 (16 and up) children between us and none us have ever had the flu. I don't think its that unusual not to have had it.

Yep. And that leaves about 80% of people who don’t. A lot of people think a bad cold is flu. It’s not. It’s not nice but it’s not flu.

Nearly 70, have had flu several times over the course of my life. Definitely flu not just heavy colds, I was bed-bound for up to a week then 1-2 weeks beyond getting over it. Always at a time when a lot of others were also coming down with it, i.e. early winter. Haven't had it for a couple of decades but have been housebound so less likely to come into contact with it.

I’m early 60 ‘s and even though I’ve sworn I’ve had flu my doctors (when they tested) said that it wasn’t. Horrendous fever, sore throat, body aches, cough…I get depressed too. Yet the times I’ve sworn I’ve had it I apparently haven’t.

I honestly don’t think what I have had was ‘a bad cold’ it’s the excruciating body aches for me, the chills and high fever, my skin literally hurts so much. Even my hair hurts. This is my experience each time I’ve had the flu including the January just gone.
My DS (age 6 at the time) was so lethargic I’ve never seen him like that, he was falling asleep in the doctors surgery. This is child who is normally like Tigger from Winnie the Pooh. He didn’t want to eat anything and neither did I, which is highly unusual for me.
Maybe it was just a cold, but I’ve had bad colds before and they didn’t involve a very high fever and such painful body aches that I was crying out and having painkillers every four hours on the dot.

This is complete nonsense. We all had a crash course in how a virus works during the height of the pandemic. Some people can definitely tap something into a phone whilst feeling pretty ropey. Other people can’t remember their own name, have hallucinations, alternate between fevers and shivering and wouldn’t care if an asteroid was about to hit their house. And some will be out for their morning run completely oblivious to the fact that they have flu. Just like Covid. But not Covid.

I've been very lucky to not had it in 50 years. My DM I know had it once as I remember as a child her being in bed for two weeks. .she now 80 and only had it the once. That childhood memory is why I always get the flu jab and my parents get it too. Real flu is awful and a killer. So no I been lucky enough not to have flu but had bad colds etc

Late 50s, never had flu. I worked for many years in customer-facing roles and rarely had a day off sick. I think I had 2 days in 20+ years. I’ve had colds but I know it’s never been flu based upon how it is described.

Those asking about my immune system:

My diet isn’t the best. But not the worst either.
I'm overweight but haven’t always been
I drink a lot of water
I take several vitamins including D3 + K2
I haven’t slept properly since I had my DS 7 years ago. And I’ve had insomnia on & off throughout my life.

I've had it once and it absolutely floored me - I lost 3 days and a stone in weight, I've never felt so awful (and I had pretty bad COVID 3 times after vaccination!)

I now pay for a flu jab every year as it was so frightening to feel so poorly.

Things like improving you diet and getting enough sleep can help OP, but they’re often easier said than done. Do what you can about those things, but the thing that’ll probably help protect you the most is to pay for the flu vaccination. I’d get it booked if I was you.

I've never had flu, as far as I know. So if I have, I didn't have it badly.

Maybe I’ve not had it, I’ve had confirmed Covid and had a fever & aches with that too. I get the same reaction with norovirus. Maybe I had an over reactive immune system response?
Doesnt explain why my DS was so unwell in January though.

I’m nearly 70 & have never had anything remotely like flu, only colds sometimes lasting a couple of days with sore throat & runny nose but no aches & pains. I don’t bother to get the flu jab offered to us oldies as what’s the point.
I never had any covid symptoms either & didn’t bother with the jabs after the first couple.

Perfectly normal not to have flu. I think people say they've had flu and they mean a bad cold. Flu is very severe can't get out of bed. Never had a jab never had flu I'm 40. My mum has had it once she's 70. Don't know anyone my age that has had flu. I think it's mostly old people.

I’m thinking there must be something wrong with me reading this thread and maybe I need to speak to the GP as it’s not unusual for me to have had a couple of instances of extremely bad aches, full body chills and a fever.

I had swine flu when that was doing the rounds but that’s it

I'm 43 and have never had the flu, neither have any of my children. My husband had Beijing flu when he was about 16, but not since. My Mum had it once in 74 years.

I'd have thought it more unusual to have had it than not.