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AIBU?

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Original poster

To wish that people would stop posting that they've got flu?

91 replies

Sidge · 20/12/2008 21:26

When they patently haven't got flu or they wouldn't be able to get out of bed, let alone be posting on the tinterwebnet?

A cold is not flu!
A viral illness is not necessarily flu!

Thank you. As you were.

OP posts:
Ineedmorechocolatenow · 21/12/2008 08:12

Only had it twice in my life and it was so awful and agree with others that you feel as tho you're going to die. I think mum called out an ambulance at one point as I lost consciousness for ages! You can see why people died from it in the 'old days'.

I also hate it when people complain of migraines when they blatantly have a bad headache. If you've ever had a migraine, you'll know! You can't see, you're throwing up, you have strange pins and needles all over and you have to sleep - all the time. You're not typing away on Mumsnet, or going out to the pub!

kittywise · 21/12/2008 08:23

I've also only had flu twice thank christ.

The last time was 7 years ago and I live in dread of ever getting it again. I was in early pg with dd1 and had a one and two year old at home. I struggled valiantly on for a week then became bedridden for 3 weeks and developed pneumonia.

You are all so right when you say that it is only those who've never had it that would call a common cold the flu.

Of course in days gone bay it was a terrible killer, especially of the very young and very old, didn't it wipe out thousands after the end of WW1?

OhYouMerryMerryKitten · 21/12/2008 08:32

dh, dd and I had flu when dd was a few weeks old over the millenium. It was truely hell on earth. dd was nearly admitted, I prayed to be admitted because I couldnt even pick dd up. dh was barely strong enough to pick her up. The GP said I had to feed her 2 hourly day and night to stop her getting dehydrated. So I lay there just rolling over to feed her when ever I roused a bit.

It was horrendous.

littleoldme · 21/12/2008 08:32

I get really cross with the kids I teach when they tell me they need tissues because they've got flu. No you bloody haven't- if you did you would be in bed and unable to move. Grrrrr
Then I get more annoyed that thier parents have sent them to school with a cold and no hankies grrrrrrrr

Ineedmorechocolatenow · 21/12/2008 08:38

...and that they've sent them in to school to pass all the nasty bugs onto you and the other kids littleoldme.... that pisses me off too....

Original poster
Sidge · 21/12/2008 10:52

MincePirateCat - I'm not disputing that viruses can make you feel terrible, but they're not the flu.

That is my pedantic gripe. Having nursed people that have died from flu it really gets my goat to hear people with a bad cold say they have the flu. It sort of minimises the real effects of flu.

OP posts:
LedodgyChristmasjumper · 21/12/2008 10:55

I had flu when I was 7 and my dad had it at the same time over Christmas. On the Christmas Eve my dad collapsed with it and on Christmas day I was so ill I couldn't open my presents! I still have the photos of that Christmas and I am a deathly shade of white. I agree flu is horrible and is vastly different to a bad cold!

Hulababy · 21/12/2008 10:58

Have only ever had flu once and it was awful. I literally couldn't move. Always bugs me when people say they have flu but are still up and about - yes, they may be recovering from flu but def not in the midst of proper flu if they are capable of anything IME.

Like pyscho - have alo had onsilitus with the whole halluncinating, complete shut down type effect. Awful it was, very similar to when I had flu.

I have had a number of very heavy colds - but they were nothin like real flu.

littletownofmeglethem · 21/12/2008 11:06

YANBU. I had flu over the millenium, I have never felt so shit in my life . If I remember correctly I took my temperature when I was feeling a bit better and it was 103!!!! God knows what it was when it was at it's worse. Didn't get out of bed, just lay there,drowsy listening to fireworks going off.

MerryFlippinChristmas · 21/12/2008 11:10

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

CoteDAzur · 21/12/2008 11:11

I don't have just a flu. It is man flu. I think.

expatinscotland · 21/12/2008 11:16

YANBU

I hate that, too!

Last time I had real flu I was an amazingly fit 25-year-old.

Within hours I was so weak I had to hold onto the walls to get to the toilet. But other than trips there I was too weak to get up at all.

Wound up spending Xmas in hospital with pneumonia.

If you're posting on the net, you have a bad cold.

Sorry!

TrinityRhino · 21/12/2008 11:23

I have had gf too
that was hell too

ThePregnantMerryYuleWitch · 21/12/2008 11:26

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Myrrhcy · 21/12/2008 11:31

I/we've had a flu like virus - which is what I've been saying all along!

As everyone else says real flu is in a different league. Fortunately neither of us has had it for years, it would be a disaster with dc.

bran · 21/12/2008 11:31

It's interesting what Lyra said about being only being able to catch flu every decade or so because of slow mutation of the virus as I've had it 3 times that I can remember with about a 12 or 13 year gap between each bout. The last time was 3 years ago in spring so I'm probably safe for a while longer.

DH had flu 3 years ago as well, fortunately he was nearly fully recovered before I went down with it, but he has no memory of it at all, which I find very strange. We were talking about the flu jab a couple of months ago (I get offered it because I have diabetes) and how horrible flu is and I mentioned how ill he'd been with it and he said that he had never had flu. I was surprised that he didn't remember because he was off work for well over a week and had to do shorter days (what most people would consider a normal day) when he went back. I was glad he'd had it first because when I caught it he sent one of his employees to do DS's nursery drop-off and pick-up without even suggesting that the walk would probably make me feel better.

duchesse · 21/12/2008 11:36

I have had flu precisely three times in my life, and the last thing I would have been able to do when stricken with any of those bouts is post on the interweb about it. I once read that they test of true flu is to place a £50 note on the stricken person's bed. If they are unable to even sit up to get it, they have flu. Anything else is just a cold.

liath · 21/12/2008 11:49

I get the flu jab at work every year, thank goodness. Have had proper flu twice & remember being at home alone with it as a school-girl and falling unconscious on the way to the loo.

thumbElf · 21/12/2008 11:53

yes Lyra is right about the flu virus - it mutates slightly all the time, like cold viruses do, but it has a big change to a new strain every 10 years or so. So most people who catch it will be fairly immune to it for the next 10 or so years until the next big change (assuming their immune systems work properly).

The flu vaccine is not able to pick up all mutations of the current flu virus, and is completely ineffective when there is a big change, until they produce the new vaccine against the new strain. So even if you are vaccinated against flu, it is still possible for you to catch it, depending on which minor mutation you come up against.

bran, your DH is probably having selective memory about it - he doesn't want to admit to the lapse in his manliness that allowed a mere virus to get the better of him, perhaps?

bran · 21/12/2008 12:22

Yes, I think so thumbElf. He's quite annoyingly smug about the fact that he never gets ill, and thinks that if you ignore the symptoms and carry on as normal then it'll go away and anyone who gives in is just a malingerer. The only two illnesses that he admits to are the time when he broke his leg (came home saying it was broken, went to A&E the next day on his way to work, they admitted him and put a big metal pin in to hold the completely snapped bone together) and the time he got chicken pox about 6 years ago when his work wouldn't let him come back until he was no longer infectious. Everything else is forgotten. I still find it hard to imagine how he could have forgotten the flu though, he was so ill with it.

laweaselmys · 21/12/2008 12:30

There are three main strains of flu and one of them is relatively mild and common.

But yes there is a difference. Although I have sat in bad with my laptop 'in recovery' post the worst of it before.

ilovejonty · 21/12/2008 12:45

I had what I think was flu as a child aged about 7. It was Christmas day and I didn't want to get out of bed or look at any presents. I was delirious and felt like I was drifting in and out of consciousness and kept seeing wierd patterns on the ceiling. It was not nice.

ilovejonty · 21/12/2008 12:46

Just seen ledodgy's post, maybe it wass the same year/ virus?!

BrieVinDeAlkaSeltzer · 21/12/2008 12:50

Crosses Cheshire Kitty off the Christmas card list, did I really need to know your postie died from pneumonia. Well did I ??

JodieO · 21/12/2008 12:52

I've had proper flu a few times, if I got it again now I'd just have to carry on though because I'm a single parent. Maybe others are in the same situation? Unless you are literally dying/in hospital then you have to just carry on being a parent tbh.

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