The Flu.

When I got the 'flu, I was burning up yet shivering - teeth literally chattering. And crawling when having to go to the toilet - walking was too much of a struggle. The muscle pains and heaviness were insane. I didn't even notice the respiratory aspects, it was the body aches and weakness that I'll always remember. When I eventually felt improved and able to get out of the bed and actually stand, the room started spinning, the perspiration started pouring off me, and I got the pukes. Body was saying "Nope, lie back down." It was a different experience to even the worst cold. I got Covid very bad last year but I was able to get up, and walking around a bit, feeling fresh air coming in the hall window, actually helped me feel a little better. You can't do that with 'flu. It's very brutal and I can understand why it's dangerous for the elderly and immuno-compromised.

PixelCrafter

I got COVID when it arrived first and was very much the “wild” version — well before the vaccines arrived, but I literally thought I was going to die. It was horrific — chest was burning / stinging and was hard to breathe, wasn’t really coughing, but just producing big globs of mucous from my lungs, then I kept having nose bleeds and big clots were falling out of my sinuses. I was sweating and shivering and couldn’t even walk for about 2 weeks. I think it took about 6 months to feel back to normal after that. I had it three times since, twice after the vaccines and it was extremely mild. The only thing that was in common was the burning sensation.

Had the flu once in college and had to skip and repeat exams. Was really nasty.

I have blagged my way into getting vaccines ever since those experiences.

Roald Dahl

I had a cold a week or so before Christmas and was well recovered before the day itself.

We had to bring a visiting older family member to A&E on St. Stephen's Day and back again a few days later. In the intervening time all of us in the house caught what be thought was another cold. The second return to A&E ended up with admission and a positive test for covid. The rest of us did home tests and showed up as positive too.

thereiver

You can go to a chemist and get the flu vaccine

The flu vaccine is effective for months .there's a new Covid vaccine made every year

amandstu

Has anyone had their sense of smell altered from what I think was the flu?

Mine was subtly changed.

(I base that on flu being much more prevalent than Covid -which I don't think I have had yet. My Covid tests are well out of date now.Otherwise I might have tested for it .)

SineadSpears

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123011602#Comment_123011602

Im not sure if my smell was affected much but my appetite has suffered a bit.

Had the flu the week before Christmas (plus a throat infection & very sore ribs from coughing) & didn't eat for around 5days. Needed a good feed over Christmas & did eat, but everything felt like such an effort to get down.

Haven't drank as much tea/coffee since & that's unusual for me. Just not much interest.

Today was the first day back in work & lunch was the same - just meh about eating it.

Grayson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123007467#Comment_123007467

I think we need to normalise that if you have the symptoms of a cold or flu, you wear a mask.

I live in germany now and work from home, but I shudder to think of the times I've been standing on a jammed Dublin bus with people who are sniffling away.

kazamo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123006810#Comment_123006810

Not all jobs can de done remotely.

Work from home was brought in as a last resort as travel restrictions kicked in. If we didn’t have the pandemic, it would still be a novelty for the very few.

Glaceon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123005870#Comment_123005870

Now it's my turn. My throat feels like it has been scraped by razor blades and my voice is very gravelly. But it's staying in my head and I can WFH so not the end of the world. I got the flu and Covid vaccines a few weeks ago (my wife didn't), so maybe that's reducing the severity of it.

thereiver

Managers should send someone home who is obviously sick or send them to work in a room by themselves

jackboy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123011850#Comment_123011850

I find managers are often the biggest offenders.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123011688#Comment_123011688

Of course, but I was just referring to my job specifically.

Patrick2010

If anyone has a bad cough I can recommend broncostop. Couldn't get a winks sleep the other night. Took 4 doses yesterday and slept like a log last night. Had the kind of coughing fits that make you feel like throwing up.

amandstu

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123011621#Comment_123011621

Yes ,same here (smell didn't change to notice but taste ,esp coffee and tea were no longer my friend)

Testament1

Appetite is slowly starting to return for me for the first time since Stephens Day. Most symptoms have eased except the cough which is still as brutal as ever. Bottle of Codinex is gone now. BronchoStop and Benylyn did nothing for it either. Looks like reasonable sleep isn't on the cards just yet so

black & white

weighed myself this morning and I am down 6.2kg since just before Christmas. Appetite is coming back, chanced my first fry and coffee this morning and enjoyed it. Cough still there but not too bad thankfully, used the Codeinex and chemist can’t get any more so back to normal cough bottle for another couple of days. Might try a beer tonight if still feeling ok.

Hamsterchops

Breathing, lungs, sneezing, coughing, aching ribcage, blinding headache, loss of appetite, weak legs, sleep, lots of sleep + confused, feeling a bit sick. They were my symptoms anyway. Great relief when it subsides after four or five days ….

PixelCrafter

The flu vaccine is easily available. The COVID vaccine is a confusing mess and you can’t even buy it privately if you wanted to. It’s like the policy is being designed by anti vaxxers.

You can get it no issue whatsoever in the UK, France, the U.S. etc but it’s jump through hoops and have to convince a GP if you’re under 65 or whatever the constantly changing rationing and limits are here. They actually bought and disposed of vast numbers of doses last year because they made the criteria so fecking cumbersome. Money flushed down the toilet and no effort made to encourage any uptake outside the designated groups —elderly etc, so A&E was jammed as per usual.

I don’t get the policies here at all. They just seem counterintuitive, paternalistic/patronising (can’t seem to opt to access the jab if you want it) and it’s just rather stupid.

There were politicians on tv a few weeks ago asking people to get a flu and covid jab, but for most ppl you could only get one of those, unlike what’s available in the UK, France, etc and extremely unlike what’s widely available in the US, which is ironic given it has a hugely conspiracy theory believing population while Ireland is by and large extremely pragmatic about vaccines 🤷‍♂️

Larbre34

I got Influenza in the Winter of 16/17. I was pretty busy and stressed about a couple of things and was generally a bit out of form. So when I did get the Flu, it was like nothing I've ever experienced, in terms of being floored, in terms of the extreme and prolonged fever, the blinding headache, eye and ear pain, delirium, the stomach illness that kicked in, dehydration and what not.

Since then, and because I have elderly vulnerable parents, I have taken the seasonal Flu vaccine, and so when I got what appeared to be Flu again in 2022, I was pretty sorry for myself for 5 days or so, but nothing like the severity of the prior infection.

And though it absolutely does help to be healthy and rested and fit and on good quality nutrition when you encounter a virus, vaccines do blunt the severity of the illness. And thats vital in the very young, the very old and in the immunocompromised.

Those are the facts of it. If you wish to roll the dice on your health, or on your kids' health, well, good luck. I

gipi

Quick question for those of you taking Codinex - OH has a bad dose (not flu), coughing, sneezing, etc. Last time he had it, GP recommended Codinex, he took it and it helped.

Went to local pharmacy today to get some, was told it's now prescription only? It wasn't last year.

Get well soon to those still suffering

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123014219#Comment_123014219

I got both in my local McCabes pharmacy with no issue. So did my daughter.

jackboy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123015295#Comment_123015295

It's highly addictive. Many people in Ireland have been going pharmacy to pharmacy chugging back bottles of it. That's why it is getting stricter.

gipi

Thanks @jackboy , I guessed that might be the reason for tighter controls.

Hyperbollix

My elderly mother had a persistent cough for a couple of days but just put it down to a cold. Wasn't feeling especially the worst for it, until she got a weakness at the kitchen table. Obviously you fear the worst, stroke etc, but the person on 999 couldn't have been more helpful and the paramedics decided to bring in her for tests. She was discharged that evening, the only thing they could find was that she had flu. The A&E doctor told me he's seen a lot of it of late, otherwise healthy people just floored (literally) from it.

watchclocker

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123023328#Comment_123023328

Glad she's doing OK

I have had the worst cough the last few days have never had a cough like it, completely dry I sound like a sealion barking and the pain of it in my chest is incredible

But apart from a cold I don't feel like I've the flu but earlier my right arm could barely lift my spoon to eat my soup at lunch

Maybe it is the flu but without the fever I assumed not

Cherry Wood

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123023328#Comment_123023328

Was she tested for the flu? Hospitals in the UK aren't testing for covid and putting everything down as the flu. Wondering are we doing the same.

Condor24

Had a heavy cold before Christmas, I could function and get on with things but it was a wee bit of a struggle. The cough was extremely annoying at night. But during the day all I'd want to eat was a bowl of hot chicken soup (I like condensed but that's just me) and bread and butter. It's magic stuff as we know, really does help make you feel a good bit better. All good now just a slight tickly cough occasionally.

Geuze

Is there any OTC test available from pharmacies that confirms whether or not you have influenza?

RockOrBog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123023797#Comment_123023797

I was in Tenerife this time last year and I did a COVID test, the same test was for influenza and something else which I can't remember. But I've never seen them in this country

Kalimah

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123023364#Comment_123023364

I’ve had similar since December 19th- just couldn’t shake it off. Got a doctor’s appointment on Friday and am now on antibiotics and steroids for a chest infection. Haven’t been as sick in decades. I hope you’ll feel better soon.