Please, please, stop calling it the flu if it's not.

tolosenc

I had my mum in casualty earlier, some form of intestinal infection. But the number of people in the place was shocking, it was my first experience of the overloading of the health service.

But so many of the people that were there didn't need to be, according to the triage nurse. They come in, complaining of having the flu (something for which you should definitely be seen, don't get me wrong), but most merely have a simple cold, rarely a severe one according to this nurse.

So, in a bid to aid somewhat our rather underfunded and definitely ailing health service, here, my fellow boardsies, is a quick reference to differentiate between colds and the flu:

• Fever: Flu has a severe fever, lasting a 3 or 4 days. Temperatures of 39-40 degrees C (100-104 F). A fever is characteristic of the flu, ie if you don't have one, you probably don't have the flu.
• Exhaustion: Sudden severe exhaustion often accompanies the flu, leaving sufferers bedridden for 5 days to 2 weeks. Such exhaustion is not associated with a cold, but a very common symptom of the flu.
• Aches: Severe headaches and joint pain are to be expected with the flu, but if present at all with a cold, they would be mild.
• Stuffy nose/Sneezing/Sore throat: Very common with, and oftentimes characteristic of, a common cold. Occasional with a flu.
• Cough: In the case of the flu, coughing can be so severe as to cause serious internal damage to the patient, and is usually very painful and severe. Coughing with a cold, conversely, isn't quite so serious. Coughing is expected with both.
• Complications: With a cold, you're looking at ear infections or sinus congestion. With the flu - pneumonia, bronchitis, kidney failure, heart failure, death.

So, please cease the hyperbole when it comes to illness, and let the seriously ill be taken seriously when rushed to hospital. I'm not pointing fingers at anyone.

Thanks.


</rant>




**Please note: I'm not a medical professional, as such, I'll only recommend you go to your GP if in doubt. No liability is assumed on my part.

Gaspode

In before the lock. Trust me peeps, if you have flu, you dont have the energy to tell anyone about it!

hallelujah

Agreed.

I am a reformed flu prick. I went to the doctor once feeling rough telling him I had the flu. The blimin' cheek of ME telling HIM I had the flu :eek:

Without examining me, he looked at me and said 'You don't have the flu, you have a cold'. Put me right back in my box and fair play to him.

minidazzler

Basically everyone on my mams side of the Family is like this. Constantly in A&E for trivial things, or just because there GP is closed. Cant stand it!!!

javaboy

+1. I hate people who exaggerate their ailments. Am I wrong for wishing the real flu on people who are up and about with a runny nose whining about the flu? I don't think so.

Cold -> Flu :mad:
Headache -> Migraine :mad:
Cough -> Chest infection :mad:
Sore throat -> Larengitis/Tonsilitis :mad:
Indigestion/Diarrhoea/Upset stomach -> Food poisoning :mad:

Madam

Way to tell if you have flu or not (man flu excluded)! If I drop a £10 pound note at the bottom of your bed and you pick it up - you don't have the flu you have a cold:rolleyes:

Wertz

I demand antibiotics for my mild respiratory tract viral infection right this minute!

...and we wonder where hospital superbugs come from.

View Profile

People who go to the doctors or hospital for minor ailments like a common cold drive me up the wall.

Calm down, your not going to die, just drink plenty of fluids and get a good nights rest.

My GF and her family are like this. They will go to the doctor or pharmacy for very minor issues looking for medication which they don't actually need. They spend a fortune on this stuff, keeping the pharmaceutical companies happy, and fill their bodies full of chemicals. Hello people! Your body has an immune system for a reason. Let it do its job!

xOxSinéadxOx

I hate people who say they have the flu when they have a cold! how the hell are they out of bed? if you have the flu you literally can't get out of bed. and people who go to the doctor and stuff for nothing :mad: I haven't been to the doctor in years and I haven't died yet. And people who think they need antibiotics for everything are so stupid

Cheeky_gal

obl wrote: »

They come in, complaining of having the flu (something for which you should definitely be seen, don't get me wrong),

Why would someone with a flu go to the hospital? A flu is just like a cold times 2.

Sometimes I tell people I have the flu ....


When i have nothing at all . . .hehe

javaboy

Cheeky_gal wrote: »

Why would someone with a flu go to the hospital? A flu is just like a cold times 2.

Because the flu can kill maybe? And no a flu is not a cold times 2. Come back when you've had the flu.

Sangre

If you can get yourself to the GP or Hospital yourself you don't have flu.

Cheeky_gal

javaboy wrote: »

Because the flu can kill maybe? And no a flu is not a cold times 2. Come back when you've had the flu.

LOL.

BroomBurner

Sometimes you have to go to the doc though just to get that stupid sick noted because you're out of work for three days or more. Our workplace requires you to have this note in on the third day (stupid, stupid rule) regardless of whether you are well enough to get out of bed or not to bring/post it in.

Flu is worse worse worse than a cold. If you think you've had the flu and that it was just like an extra bad cold, it probably was just an extra bad cold.

I hate when people take antibiotics for a flu aswell, there is no point.

Berty

For years people with hypocondria complained of having numerous different ilness's.

2 years ago the medical community considered hypocondria to be a mental imbalance.

Meaning = The hypocondriacts were correct all along, there actually is something wrong with them.

javaboy

javaboy wrote: »

Because the flu can kill maybe? And no a flu is not a cold times 2. Come back when you've had the flu.

as a ghost?

javaboy

rarnes1 wrote: »

as a ghost?

The flu CAN kill. It doesn't always.

CreepingDeath

obl wrote: »

Please, please, stop calling it the flu if it's not.

I'm still going to call it a flu until Benylin-4-Colds is released on to the market.

javaboy

CreepingDeath wrote: »

I'm still going to call it a flu until Benylin-4-Colds is released on to the market.

I didn't think they made Benylin-4-Flu anymore. Is it not all branded Cold & Flu now?

ejmaztec

I thought that "virus" covered everything from a slight headache to multiple stab wounds in the A&E. Flu is so 90s.

lisajane

javaboy wrote: »

+1. I hate people who exaggerate their ailments. Am I wrong for wishing the real flu on people who are up and about with a runny nose whining about the flu? I don't think so.

Cold -> Flu :mad:
Headache -> Migraine :mad:
Cough -> Chest infection :mad:
Sore throat -> Larengitis/Tonsilitis :mad:
Indigestion/Diarrhoea/Upset stomach -> Food poisoning :mad:

I hate those people too. They are so annoying. What's worse are those people that tell you to go to the doctor to get the "flu" sorted.
I had a cold a few weeks back, the amount people that asked me did i have the flu. All i said, NO. Themselves looking at me, yes you do, you're sneezing, you should go to the doctor and get antibiotics.

KTRIC

I had the flu about 8 years ago and it was f*cked up. I was in bed for about 7 days, each day blurring into the next and I had really trippy dreams.

A cold is not even remotely like the Flu. Its like comparing a paper cut to being decapitated.

slimjimmc

There's no medicinal cure for the common cold. All that over the counter junk does is merely help to sooth the symptoms. Influenza (flu) is a different animal all together. According to this there have been a number of killer flu epidemics in the last century which killed millions. Puts it all in persepective doesn't it.

Savman

obl wrote: »

nurse

Pics or it didn't happen.

Dudess

It's a very Irish thing - the way a lot of Irish people are always cold, even when it's pretty mild.

Savman

KTRIC wrote: »

I had the flu about 8 years ago and it was f*cked up. I was in bed for about 7 days, each day blurring into the next and I had really trippy dreams.

People like you really shouldn't fly.

Riddle101

lol people think it's stupid that people who claim they have the flu go to the hosptal. I think it's stupid going to the hospital at all unless it's serious like you got shot or stabbed or a broken bone. But i can't stand hospitals and i'll only go if I have no other choice

slimjimmc

Yeah go in with the 'flu' and come out with MRSA

Wishbone Ash

Cheeky_gal wrote: »

A flu is just like a cold times 2

You've obviously never had influenza. :rolleyes:

Dudess

I had the flu a few years ago. The room I was renting at the time was tiny and rarely cold - a quick blast from the radiator would have it absolutely roasting. And I'm not a cold person anyway. That time though, I was shivering so much, I had to put on the heating at 4am and leave it on til about 9. Getting out of bed to go to the toilet was a task which required every bit of strength I had. Standing up straight wasn't even possible as for some reason, it brought on severe nausea.

So when someone at work says "I'm dying with the flu" they're eh... not.

Old people have to get the flu jab because a dose of it could kill them.

KTRIC

I worked in a large multi national about 5 years ago and one of the lads in a office of about 20 came in with the actual flu. The boss coped it and he was nearly sacked.

javaboy

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

You've obviously never had influenza. :rolleyes:

+1. I think we should stop all use of the word flu and insist on using the nastier "influenza". I don't think people would be as blasé about bragging about having influenza. It sounds like something you catch in a third world brothel.

jiltloop

Yeah I got the flu about 5 years ago, before that I used to say I had the flu when all I had was a cold. I don't think many people have ever had the flu or realise how bad it is. I was bedridden for nearly 2 weeks and I had feverish dreams and hallucinations. I think I went 5 days without eating simply cos I didn't have the energy to eat. Give me the sniffles any day!

~Rebel~

Have had flu properly twice in the past 2 years, praying i dont get it again. The first time wasn't as bad (though still pretty bad), but developed into bronchitis which sucked. The second time, which was April this year, I was pretty sure I was dying. Could barely leave the room for nearly 2 weeks. Couldn't sleep properly, couldn't eat, couldn't move, was in agony, feinted in the shower just from prolonged standing. Even when I was getting a bit better i walked home from the doctor (he had asked me to come back to check how i was doing after my first visit), I stopped in the shop on the way home to get some cereal as I actually felt like eating for the first time in a while. Carrying a bag which just cornflakes and milk for 5 minutes when i just collapsed on the ground and covered in a cold sweat. Couldn't continue for bout 10mins.

In Summary, Flu anally violates cold and laughs while cold cowers in the corner crying. (theres some nice alliteration)

Savman

I once flu AirCypria. Never again.

Newaglish

javaboy wrote: »

+1. I hate people who exaggerate their ailments. Am I wrong for wishing the real flu on people who are up and about with a runny nose whining about the flu? I don't think so.

Cold -> Flu :mad:
Headache -> Migraine :mad:
Cough -> Chest infection :mad:
Sore throat -> Larengitis/Tonsilitis :mad:
Indigestion/Diarrhoea/Upset stomach -> Food poisoning :mad:

Don't forget:

Nothing at all -> Back pain :mad:

javaboy

Newaglish wrote: »

Don't forget:

Nothing at all -> Back pain :mad:

Ah back pain. The perfect ailment.

Doubting Boss: You say you have a cold. Show me your snotty tissues.

Doubting Boss: You say you have a chest infection. Show me the phlegm.

Doubting Boss: You say you have diarrhoea. Let me smell your bathroom.

Doubting Boss: You say you have back pain..... I guess I'll have to take your word for it.

Galvasean

Had a cold a while back. Granted it was a fairly bad one, but people kept telling me to go to the doctors to get anti-biotics. Waste of about €70 right there when staying home and resting will do the job.
The amount of people who get over the 'flu' in a couple of days astounds me.

Dudess

Oh a bad cold can be miserable too - enough to keep you in bed for a day or two.
But the flu is like another dimension...

Galvasean

Typical phone conversation:

Me: "Wanna come out for a few pints?"
Mate: "Nah man, I've got the flu. I'll see ya tomorrow."
Me: "No you bloody well won't you cretin!"

javaboy

Dudess wrote: »

Oh a bad cold can be miserable too - enough to keep you in bed for a day or two.
But the flu influenza is like another dimension...

FYP

Stheno

Galvasean wrote: »

Had a cold a while back. Granted it was a fairly bad one, but people kept telling me to go to the doctors to get anti-biotics. Waste of about €70 right there when staying home and resting will do the job.
The amount of people who get over the 'flu' in a couple of days astounds me.

€70! Is that all?

Had a chest cold last Feb, went to the doc, (€50) he gave me a scrip, went to the chemists, told €110 for the two drugs on the prescription.

I suddenly felt better, didn't take anything, and went back to work two days later (my doctor MUST be in the pay of the drug companies)

It's the willingness to believe that you need antibioitics/drugs to get better that is fecking people up, we'll all be resistant to everything soon.
I've never had real influenza, but I have had pneumonia, and if influenza is anything like that then a cold is nothing compared to it.

kincsem

I had the flu twice - 1980 and 1996 (?). Its different gravy. You don't forget. And the last time I had the old hallucinating dreams. Unfortunately, all I saw was Excel spreadsheets endless recalculating - that's how bad the flu is.

watna

This annoys me so much too. I get migraines - I only get very bad ones once or twice a year but when I do I can't function and can only lie down in a dark room. It annoys me when people at work say they have a migraine. If you did, you wouldn't be here at all. Even a mild one means I have to be away from other people, noise and light. I can't stand around chatting about how bad my migraine is.

I've never had the proper fly but I have had tonsilitis and it is nothing like a sore throat. The second time I had it I didn't move for 4 days. I stayed in exactly the same position in bed because I didn't have the energy to move at all.

Fingers crossed I never get the proper flu. I'm not the healthiest person in the world but fly or really bad cold is something I haven' caught, despite being around people who were quite sick.

seamus

I don't recall ever having the flu. Though when I was a kid I had plenty of sicknesses, stay in bed for 3 days kind, some of them were pretty bad. I did have meningitis, but I don't remember that.

I never understood people calling headaches, migraines. Migraine itself implies a severe pain. When your headache goes away after two neurofen, it's not a migraine. I managed to get migraines a couple of years back. I still went to work. I was very unhappy. It felt like someone was putting a hot poker in the top of my head and twiddling it about. Turns out I'd changed the position of my monitor in work and whatever way I'd put it was putting some sort of strain on my neck/nerves, which was causing blinding (literally) pain in my head. Once I moved it back, the pain went away in about 24 hours.

kevpants

I had it about 10 years ago. Xmas 98.

3 weeks in bed. Didn't go to the doc until the end of the 2nd week, hate going to the doctor, I always come out with something worse than I went in with.

The experience was unreal. The weakness, the sweating, the INCREDIBLE gunk coming out of my chest/sinuses. You know when your mucus gets kinda pungent when you've a cold? Well when you've the flu it smells like a rotting corpse. Blowing your nose is enough to make you gag.

I remember the pain in my sinuses around my forehead being so intense I used to actually bellow in the middle of the night.

The doctor said if I hadn't gone to him I wouldn't have gotten better. It was spreading and at that point it had infected my chest, throat, both ears and sinuses. My sinuses were scarred by the infection and to this day a crisp cold breeze can make them ache.

Riddle101

watna wrote: »

This annoys me so much too. I get migraines - I only get very bad ones once or twice a year but when I do I can't function and can only lie down in a dark room. It annoys me when people at work say they have a migraine. If you did, you wouldn't be here at all. Even a mild one means I have to be away from other people, noise and light. I can't stand around chatting about how bad my migraine is.

I've never had the proper fly but I have had tonsilitis and it is nothing like a sore throat. The second time I had it I didn't move for 4 days. I stayed in exactly the same position in bed because I didn't have the energy to move at all.

Fingers crossed I never get the proper flu. I'm not the healthiest person in the world but fly or really bad cold is something I haven' caught, despite being around people who were quite sick.

Same with me as well, i get migraines atleast once or twice a year too and it kills me because i puke as well, so when i i'm trying to sleep i either get a sharp headache around my eye or have to go to the bathroom to get sick. Luckily enough i got prescription medication for them but i've yet to get one.

Anyway it annoys me when people claim to have migraines as well, my mam dose it all the time and i try to tell her that it's not a migraine but she won't listen

ZzubZzub

I'm doing Nursing over here, and this patient told me she reckons she has MRSA because she has the sniffles!!! A slightly runny nose and she thought she had MRSA.


It turned out she had.....
the sniffles.


She's one of the few that dont have MRSA in my ward! ITS EVERYWHERE!!
PANIC!!

Ginny

I have the worst immune system ever, I've had pneumonia twice, bronchitis a couple of times and I had a lovely month of it about 2 years ago pharangitis, laryngitis, bronchitis and an ear infection at the same time, took me 2 weeks of practiaclly consistant sleep and Horse antibiotics to clear it up.
I've had the flu once, people claiming they have flu when they have a cold is like people claiming they have the Winter Vomiting bug when they have a bit of a hangover.

Right now I'm smothered with a head cold, ears, sinuses, throat, nose all stuffed up, the shivers and sweats, the feeling sick have started and I sound like Mariella Frostrup, great stuff.

mollyoh

HOw to tell if someone has the flu is if there is 10 grand in cash downstairs and they are in bed they could not get up to get it. Or if the sexiest man in the world was waiting for you in another room you wouldnt be able to go in.......Am a nurse manager and the amount of times people ring in sick saying they have the flu is ridiculous especially when they arrive into work the next day!!! Thats why we encourage all staff to get the flu jab every winter... And to be brutally honest its always men that come in or phone in saying they have the flu when all they have is a snotty nose!!

javaboy

mollyoh wrote: »

HOw to tell if someone has the flu is if there is 10 grand in cash downstairs and they are in bed they could not get up to get it.

I've had influenza a good few times and I could definitely get up for 10 grand.

Or if the sexiest man in the world was waiting for you in another room you wouldnt be able to go in.......

I wouldn't pass up the opportunity to meet my clone because of a bout of influenza.