Oh ffs, feeling shit. Think it's flu.

[Justmuddlingalong]

Had a headache for a couple of days, bit of an upset stomach. In the last few hours, the headache's ramped up, sore, scratchy throat and now my body feels achy.
Had the flu vaccine about a month ago, but know that's no guarantee of not getting it.
Anybody had these symptoms recently and can give me a rough time line to feeling better?

I'm ten days in. Five days of 39C+ fevers, and now a hacking cough and zero energy. I normally run ten miles most days - I still can't walk normally to the shop 300m away.

There is a lot of flu around so I’m assuming the vaccination is not very effective this year.

I’m on day 10 of what I think is a horid cold, lost 5lbs, I feel like things are starting to get better today.

I've been coughing for weeks but nothing else until today and now I ache all over and keep sneezing and have a sore throat. DS has just had a heavy cold but no temperature. There's alot of viruses circulating but not all the flu. I haven't had the flu jab so have to take my chances.
Hope yours doesn't get too bad! Get well soon x

Just had an ice lolly, for medicinal purposes.
Think I'll take a couple of painkillers and have an early night.
I'll either feel better or worse in the morning.

Yes I've had it all week, nasty. Unfortunately I didn't get around to getting my flu jab till last week so that's on me. Feel like a 90 year old! The joint pains are bad.

I had my flu jab and felt similar to you but it only lasted about 3 days, so there is hope!

I had it and had had my flu jab.

not fun

Flu has you go from well to extremely sick in a matter of hours - it’s one of the classic features of flu. If you’ve been feeling a bit off for a few days then it’s not likely to be flu, more likely a bad cold.

This is not true. 'Flu can be mild, incapacitating, asymptomatic and anything in between. It's a myth that you have to be at death's door to have flu.

The circulating flu strain mutated in June which was an unusual thing to happen in our summer. The vaccine mix was decided in February so it could go into production, so it only offers partial protection this year - still better than nothing though.

She didn’t say nothing about how tough you feel, but the speed at which the symptoms peak

I didn’t say anything about death’s door. I’m not one that claims you can’t have flu if you wouldn’t pick up a £50 note.

But rapid onset (often hours) is a classic symptom of flu. Feeling increasingly unwell over a number of days is a cold symptom.

I read the flu jag isn't protection against this new strain that is flooring people. (As a pp said)

This is why I don't bother with the jabs. Every year after the flu season has finished they say the same thing, that the jab wasn't as effective this year..but then it never is any year as far as I can remember!

It is true that you can be infected by the flu virus and only have mild symptoms or sometimes even be asymptomatic. At the same same time, it is also true that a very common presentation of flu symptoms is a sudden onset of a high temperature without many symptoms before that.

Whilst the op could be infected with the flu virus and have mild or non typical symptoms that come on slowly and mildly, it is pretty pointless say it is flu, since without a test we have no way of knowing whether it is actually flu or not.

Without a test, symptoms are the only way to judge if something is flu or not . So if you don't have a test but you become ill suddenly with a high temperature over several days, so ill that it is not really possibly to work, then although that still might not be flu, chances are it is. If you have mild symptoms that come on slowly, while it might be flu, chances are it is not.

That is really all people mean when they say, you would know if it is flu. You actually ofyen don't know for sure but if certain symptoms are there presenting in certain ways, chances are high you have the flu

That’s interesting, thank you. I know they look at which strain was most prevalent the previous year. I always get the flu jab and often wonder about the actual process of calculating which strain to vaccinate against.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2dr8gzdz1wo

When I had flu and eventually ended up in hospital with it, I went to bed with a mild sore throat then woke up in the early hours feeling like I was on fire. The fever hit like a steam train and I could not get it under control at all. I was a bit delirious as my temp went so high and dh had to get me damp flannels and mop my brow, like the Victorians!!

It was really unlike my experiences of other viral illnesses.

I would do anything not to be part of this year's surge in cases as it took me weeks to get better last time.

I think I am coming down with something and I know exactly where I picked it up 🤬. DSis insisted on bringing nephew out with us and he looked at death’s door and could barely stand. I wish I had put my foot down but she said don’t worry, it’s not flu (as if she was qualified to know) and muttered something about not allowing him to stay at home unsupervised with the WiFi.
OP, I hope you feel better soon.

I had a cold then went on holiday. Felt fine but listless and tired. Came back on Sunday. Tuesday PM the headache started. I dosed up and thought it was just a cold on Wednesday, but Weds eve the full on sore throat was out and I was bed ridden for two days, vomiting etc.

In terms of how long, honestly I think it depends on so many things- you had the flu jab so it may not be AS bad, age is also a factor. I'm 45 and have an underlying condition and I couldn't get up for a couple of days until the fever broke. Then another two days of bed rest. Then extreme fatigue, coughing for another week. I'm anticipating maybe two more weeks of coughing and tiredness.

I'm not very actively religious but I actually remember praying when I was in bed.

The main thing is, IMHO, to try and have soups and juices and something very mild like half a banana if possible after about 36 hours, as the dehydration takes over otherwise. I think not being able to keep anything down can really affect recovery time.