I has the flu jab this year... and still had flu. Or if it wasn't flu it was the worse cold I've ever had. Wiped me out for 3 1/2 weeks and in still not right.
I've lost nearly a month of Fred Whitton training to this ****er and I'm still coughing like a beast!
So that’s my point … you have probably had the flu virus way more often, it’s just that your bodies immune system knocked it out before you got the full symptoms….
Your bodies immune system 'knocking it out' before you get the symptoms is the definition of NOT getting the flu. Very STW of you to be pedantic about what the term 'having the flu' means though. Well done :-).
It’s not a matter of not getting symptoms, but their severity.
I’ve occasionally (I can remember two times in 30 years) had a severe fever and aches/headache come on very quickly (within an hour or two) and leave me unable to do more than crawl into bed with paracetamol. But then I was up and about the next day, albeit weak and tired for several more. It may not be “proper” enough flu for some of you but it’s nothing like any reasonable description of a cold - no runny nose, sneezes etc that I also get a couple of times a year.
Why do you think it was the flu?
Flu:Makes you feel exhausted and too unwell to carry on as normal
A heavy cold will make you feel like this on day one, but you quickly start to feel better. Great advice, NHS!
You haven’t got flu if your typing on a web forum
Flu is a serious illnesss that will out you off work for a couple of weeks at lest and in bed unable to do anything for many days to weeks.
Its another one of those " if you think you have had flu you haven't. when you have flu you will know"
40 years in healthcare. I have never had flu, I have never seen anyone with flu ( although my dad did get it this year and was hospitalised despite the flu jab)
Get the jab if you are a high risk group - then the disadvantages are outweighed by the benefits but remember the jab is not anything like 100% effective. I am not in a high risk group, I do not look after high risk groups. I will not have the jab
Your bodies immune system ‘knocking it out’ before you get the symptoms is the definition of NOT getting the flu. Very STW of you to be pedantic about what the term ‘having the flu’ means though. Well done :-).
That's not quite what I said ... reread... I said FULL symptoms...
Like theCaptain say's ... I've had something ...
Why do you think it was the flu?
Because that is what the rest of the people I was sharing air with had (or perhaps even thought they had or were told they had)
Development of symptoms is not just a question of having the virus as much as how far the virus takes hold and how fast and agressively your immune system responds. That is the whole point of the vaccinations that your immune system is trained to identify and respond quickly to that specific strain.
You might have a room of 20 people all exposed .. and some will show virtually no symptoms, others will show cold like symptoms and others will show flu like symptoms... however almost everyone, including those nearly asymptomatic are carrying and spreading the virus.
Equally someone can get one strain of flu and be relatively unaffected because their immune system identifies it quickly and quickly responds whereas another strain might knock them out for 2 weeks (or even kill them).
There is nothing special about the flu virus in this regard other than it's ability to mutate into new strains.
Flu is a serious illnesss that will out you off work for a couple of weeks at lest and in bed unable to do anything for many days to weeks.
Its another one of those ” if you think you have had flu you haven’t. when you have flu you will know”
Not for a certain strain of STWer. These guys just get a sore throat and slight sniffle for 24hrs. But it definitely was the flu. Not just a cold, oh, no,
Well, I think I’ve had flu, because I know! (And everything I’ve read about symptoms etc says flu not cold). Anyway, why are people so keen to downgrade flu to a cold? What’s it to them? Jeez.
Because the symptoms match and other people around me had the same symptoms for a longer time. What other illnesses are there that cause flu symptoms for a day? I’m not exaggerating about their severity, it just passed quickly. NHS web pages say usually 2-7 days so there's plenty of variation. I've always tended to get over illnesses quickly, colds rarely bother me much (but feel very different).
Had the same symptoms for more like a week a couple of years ago, yes that was worse but it was the same symptoms just a bit more severe.
Well, I think I’ve had flu, because I know! (And everything I’ve read about symptoms etc says flu not cold). Anyway, why are people so keen to downgrade flu to a cold? What’s it to them? Jeez.
From your description, yes, it might be the flu. The STW heros saying they just continue as normal (with minor cold like symptoms) with the Flu are the delusional ones :-).
Anyway, why are people so keen to downgrade flu to a cold?
Because flu is a serious thing that can kill you. As has been said above, if you have had flu you know it. You can not move out of bed for multiple days, you loose weight, you think you are literally going to die. It takes weeks to get over it.
What other illnesses are there that cause flu symptoms for a day?
they call it influenza-LIKE illness for a reason
You can not move out of bed for multiple days, you loose weight, you think you are literally going to die. It takes weeks to get over it
That's really not the case in all people. Particularly now that sensitive testing is available, some folk with relatively low-grade illness turn out to have flu. In many circumstances they'd previously probably have been assumed not to have flu when diagnosis was clinical.
On average influenza infected 18% of unvaccinated people each winter. Up to three-quarters of infections were asymptomatic and about a quarter of infections had PCR-confirmed disease. 17% of people with PCR-confirmed disease had medically attended illness. These data did not vary significantly when comparing pandemic with seasonal influenza. People infected with the 2009 pandemic strain had markedly less severe symptoms than those infected with seasonal H3N2
( http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanres/article/PIIS2213-2600%2814%2970034-7/fulltext )
Hey don't go spoiling their macho posturing with actual evidence and data. Multiple web sites talk of the major symptoms usually lasting about 2-7 days so it's not like there is any hard rule out there.
Does '..less severe symptoms' = slight sniffle and carrying on as normal? Or that they are stuck in bed for 2 days rather than 6?
What other illnesses are there that cause flu symptoms for a day?
Hmm! What other illnesses have viral symptoms? Well I’m sure you can work it out,
angeldust
Subscriber
Does ‘..less severe symptoms’ = slight sniffle and carrying on as normal? Or that they are stuck in bed for 2 days rather than 6?
Not sure; what do we think "asymptomatic" means ?
(it's one of the stronger arguments for vaccination - that apparently healthy individuals can be shedding virus and circulating in a community that includes much more susceptible people)
Hey don’t go spoiling their macho posturing with actual evidence and data. Multiple web sites talk of the major symptoms usually lasting about 2-7 days so it’s not like there is any hard rule out there.
Surely the 'macho posturing' is coming from those who think they survive having the flu with little more than a sniffle and a lemsip, while carrying on as normal? Repeating what has been said above multiple times, if you have the flu you'll be in bed for at least a couple of days (and possibly much worse).
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It’s not a matter of not getting symptoms, but their severity.
I’ve occasionally (I can remember two times in 30 years) had a severe fever and aches/headache come on very quickly (within an hour or two) and leave me unable to do more than crawl into bed with paracetamol. But then I was up and about the next day, albeit weak and tired for several more. It may not be “proper” enough flu for some of you but it’s nothing like any reasonable description of a cold – no runny nose, sneezes etc that I also get a couple of times a year.
Much more likely to be a bad cold than the flu.
You all seem to be missing the point that there are many different strains of Influenza, some of which are serious, some are not:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenza
Surely the ‘macho posturing’ is coming from those who think they survive having the flu with little more than a sniffle and a lemsip, while carrying on as normal?
So the 75% of people or do you not count The Lancet as as good a source as the NHS website?
On average influenza infected 18% of unvaccinated people each winter. Up to three-quarters of infections were asymptomatic
Angeldust, a bad cold that causes a significant fever but clears up pretty much overnight without affecting my nose and throat at any point is a wondrous thing indeed. might as well have said it was chicken pox or scarlet fever. I know a bad cold can cause symptoms beyond a runny nose but it's called rhinovirus for a reason.
A sniffle, yes I'd assume a cold, despite the evidence that a mild case of flu may well manifest in that way also. But since flu is a reasonably common winter disease, with major symptoms of aches, fever and fatigue, then of course it's reasonable to assume that is what caused the aches, fever and fatigue on the rare (decadal) occasions when I get them. Why would it not be?