Flu symptoms - 9 weeks pregnant

[DeusEx]

Hello everyone

For the last 4 days I’ve had flu symptoms - they’ve got really bad yesterday and today and I’ve been confined to bed. Fever (though not super high - 38/39), aches, coughing, sneezing, headache, plus nausea that was a constant even beforehand due to first trimester. DH has the same symptoms (bar nausea!)

I had a covid test yesterday and it came back negative. It does feel mightily like covid sounds, to me. I had the flu jab in October.

Is this something I should be worried about? Is there anything I should do? This is my first pregnancy and I feel very blindsided and unprepared for being really quite ill so early on.

Thank you very much in advance

DX

Help?

Has your dh had a covid test? I would do another one, just to be sure. Order a home test.

You could speak to your gp for reassurance, you'll need to speak to them to get signed off work anyway.
Don't take ibuprofen. Get lots of rest. They can prescribe something for the nausea.

(I'm 29 weeks with covid right now, you sound much more ill than I've been. Poor you).

He has - we both came up negative. That’s why I haven’t had another - seems unlikely they’d both be false? Still feel utterly shite, DH seems to be recovering.

Thank you for your kind advice :) my doctor seems adamantly against anti nausea tablets...hoping it’ll go away at the end of first trimester.... texted doctor (normal where I am) and she said all the same things as you and that it would pass as I’ve had flu jab and have covid negative certificate...

Poor you having covid at 29 weeks! I hope you’re ok

I had the same last week , felt really fluey covid test came back negative, apparently.you can still get the flu just not as bad ,but I'd defo ring for advice if your still unwell x

there is no flu around at present. Maybe a couple of cases of rsv. The false negative rate is high especially if you dont do it at the right moment. Highest positive rate around day 4 of symptoms and.then drop off. Flu reservoirs normally originate from Southern Hemisphere but there is limited population movement at this point.

Poor you! Just get lots of rest, plenty of fluids and paracetamol (not ibuprofen) ❤ I've come down with a cold today too and it's making me worry as I'm only 5 weeks along. No temp or anything as bad as yours just a sore throat and sneezing a lot so I reckon mine is just due to the cold weather. Hope you feel better soon x

@tikha

there is no flu around at present. Maybe a couple of cases of rsv. The false negative rate is high especially if you dont do it at the right moment. Highest positive rate around day 4 of symptoms and.then drop off. Flu reservoirs normally originate from Southern Hemisphere but there is limited population movement at this point.

I’m in the Southern Hemisphere :)

Thanks @EllieRosesMammy and @Funmum2020 - I hope you both feel better. It seems to be mostly gone - so three day build up, five days feeling full on rotten, then hopefully not long to recover. Will see how I feel tomorrow at work (wfh)...

I didn’t realise you could still get flu despite the jab - pah!

So yeah the social distancing etc reduced rates in Australia. I mean it goes both ways. I don't know about the epidemiology in Southern hemisphere. This was just an England specific observation.

Pretty sure Flu didn’t just disappear because of COVID.

If you are worried test again, if not I’d just treat it like the common flu

www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-flu-and-covid-19-surveillance-reports as i said only have uk info. Lot of rhinovirus (common cold) around but flu rates almost zero which is good news i guess

I'm glad you're feeling better.

I'm so cross that your doctor refused you re anti nausea tablets. This happened to me in my first pregnancy. I was so miserable. A few weeks later another doctor prescribed them to me. This time round, I've got my gp to prescribe to me straight away. They make such a difference. Why suffer when there's medication available?

They’re quite funny here about taking ANY medication in first trimester. My GP originally told me no paracetamol...

Can I ask what you took? And I may just be able to get it over the counter here (most drugs available over counter)

Sorry you don't feel well OP.

It's important to keep your temperature down, especially in the first trimester. Paracetamol is considered safe to take in pregnancy and will help with a fever.

@DeusEx it was cyclazine, in both my pregnancies.

Great, thank you!