When should you get medical help for flu?

[Vgtasd]

I've been off my feet since Wednesday, aching all over, weak, cough, running nose, no appetite, how long will this go on for!?!? :(

Sorry but with me it took about 2 weeks. It's awful. And then when I started to feel better the exhaustion was awful.

It can last 2 weeks feeling like that.

If you get very short of breath, low oxygen levels is when you need medical help urgently. If the cough is horrific and you are coughing up gunge then see your GP.

These are just flu symptoms so you should expect to feel like this. When I had the flu in November I had these kinds of symptoms for a week and felt exhausted for another week after that.

I’ve only had flu once, and it was horrific, worst I’ve ever felt and I’ve had sepsis!
About 2 weeks of wishing I was dead, then 6 weeks to get stronger. A good few months to fell really tip top again. And I’d get really bad breathing problems every time I caught a cold for a good few years after. Great fun!
I was in my 20’s at the time too - fitness at a fairly high level.
Makes me cross when people say they've got “a touch of flu” you really haven’t got flu if you're up and about and capable of moaning about it!
Hope you turn a corner soon OP - rest and paracetamol is really all you can do.

Flu isn’t always serious. You can definitely get really sick with it but you can also get it mildly. It’s a myth you can’t get out of bed with flu.

It’s often around that level for a fortnight. So unless you develop a non blanching skin rash, you get white spots on your tonsils or your chest starts rattling leave it that long. It’s entirely normal to be coughing up green gunk with flu too - lots of people think that’s a sign of a bacterial chest infection but it’s usually viral.

It wiped me out for about three weeks. Since had two rounds of AB's for pneumonia. It has not been nice.

I think I’ve only had real flu once, I couldn’t get out of bed without support, was so weak and didn’t really know what day it was, no way could I read or type, I just kept taking medication, sipping drinks and eating when I could. Fortunately this really bad time only lasted 2/3 days when I started getting a bit better each day, but I would say it took 2 weeks to recover. At no point did I struggle to breathe, have chest pain or was my chest crackling, otherwise I would have got help.

It can last a couple of weeks, especially whatever’s going around at the moment.

Unless you are extremely short of breath or dehydrated you should be okay.

Lots of rest, hydrate and eat a little when you can xx

If you struggle to breathe.

The symptoms you describe are of flu/ bad cold and there is nothing to be done except stay in bed, drink lots of fluids and take cold and flu remedies.

I think I’ve only had real flu once

'Real' flu can have very few symptoms or no symptoms at all. It affects everyone differently. You could well have had flu a number of times over the years without knowing.

The last time I had severely symptomatic flu, it took weeks to completely get over it. It kept improving, then relapsing for over a fortnight. Then when I was able to start doing normal stuff I felt as though I was wading through mud. Sometimes I went out (say to drop the kids to school) feeling great, then collapsed in a heap when I got home. It can take a long time to feel normal again.

As has been mentioned, you need to keep an eye on your breathing more than anything else. If you are struggling to breathe, particularly while not exerting yourself, it's time to phone the doctor. I hope you're feeling better soon. Don't do too much too soon and keep drinking, even when you don't feel like it

For me it was about a week and a half so I think thats notmal:( Theres not much the doctors can do for you but if you feel like you want to see that there isn't any complications maybe go to one..
Feel better❤️

How you feeling OP? came down with flu Sunday and still in the trenches. With a toddler to care for and a 2 week old newborn.