Dying with Flu!

Selik

Title of thread says it all...

Only time I've been out of bed/sofa the last few days was to go out lastnight and that wasn't exactly a clever idea with hindsight. Has anyone got any tips to speed up the recovery process or remedies etc? I'm taking Benylin 4Flu tablets and drinking lots of Ribena as well as dosing on Vitamin C with Rubex. I can honestly say I haven't been this ill in years and it's depressing me as I can't go out or make use of my time off work (back on Tuesday)...

Mutz

I'm just recovering from one now

Hot whiskey + lemon and cloves stuck in.

Vicks vapo rub in boiling hot water to clear head and lungs.

Plenty of sleep mixed with lots of DVD's

Get welll soon and Happy New Year!!

billy the squid

stay indoors get a big fire going and watch lots of TV sprawled out on the couch with a big quilt over ya

lots of soup chicken is good) personally I would have tomato.

hot lemsip before bed.

but then everyone is different but the above makes me feel comfortable when Im down with the flu.

samo

I tried to carry on a few weeks back when I got the 'flu. Like that I hadnt been to the doctors in 3 years. I ended up on Penicillen because nearly collapsed trying to get into work! If you aren't improving get yourself to the doctors pronto!!

Apart from that, the Hot whiskey is a godsend - I mixed mine with freshley squeezed orange/lemon and spoonful of honey and did the trick! The doctors said that stuff like Benilyn if its a full blown flu wont do a thing, you may as well take smarties to cure it!!

Hope you get better without needing a doc though!

eth0_

You should only go to the doc if you've had the flu for a week and haven't shown signs of improvement after taking paracetamol regularly.

I was just gloating to some mates yesterday evening that I hadn't been sick once over christmas...a few hours later I got the shakes and a temperature. Grr! I'm back to work on Tuesday too, it's so annoying being stuck in bed on your holidays!

Supercell

Sleep is the only real cure, that and fruit juice if you can drink it.
Spent the last few days in bed, barly able to move at all, with stomach cramps, muscle aches all over and blinding headace and dizzyness, not pleasant.
Yesterday made it to the sofa..i thought great i can watch telly..but even looking at the bright telly made the headace worse and besides i was drifting in and out anyhow but was a distinct inmprovement on the day before when getting out of bed to pee was agony.
But today am up and about ..not 100% but almost there. All i can say is hang in there once it starts to get better it should get better really fast

Uthur

Flu shots are not only for old/infirm people by the way. Some people tend to catch flu easier than others - I caught it quite a few times. I've got the flu shot each year for the last 3 years (aften a very bad dose) and I haven't caught a darn thing since. If you are always getting it you might do the same - it is not expensive.

eirebhoy

Half my friends, my family, and half the people around my area got it in the 2 day period, including me. I never knew how bad it was. One minute your sweating and the next your shivering. I got it on Tuesday and couldn't go out New Years. I went out last night, still a bit sick, and I woke up this morning brand new, not even a hangover. I have a chest infection now though and am on antibiotics.

The Tuesday was a nightmare. Since everyone in my family had it I was left no sympathy. I couldn't get out of bed and had to wait until midnight until I actually got a painkiller. That is all I was on, Solpadine. They're grand for killing the pain but you wake up in the middle of the night when it has wore off and have to go downstairs and wait for the bloody things to disolve in the water.

Anyway, I'm just happy I'm better.

Stephen

I'm in the same boat. I get flu once or twice a year but never had it this bad. Went to the doctor on Friday and was prescribed penicillin plus panadol. Its clearing up pretty rapidly now - just left with a cough and the occasional sweat - usually when i wake up.

Drag00n79

Had the flu over New Year's '99. Never had anything like it before. I think the advice from Longfield of sleeping is the best. The speed which it hit was the thing which surprised me most. I was fine at 6pm — by 8pm I was shivering in bed. In all it took a couple of weeks to completely get over it. Ever since then I've noticed the number of people who say they've the flu when they've really just a cold. But as a lot of you here seem to know the flu is a right bitch.

Selik

Think I'm a little better now... Been in bed all day again sort of half asleep. The most horrible thing is I've been quite cold alot but I've also been sweating buckets inn a really uncomfortable way - I had to change my t-shirt this afternoon after it was practically soaked!!! Yuck I know :rolleyes:

Also still feeling really lethargic and miserable, my gaff's a total mess as I haven't the willpower or energy to do any cleaning or general tidying whatsoever! I haven't even shower since Thursday although I haven't needed to in fairness. Actually I really wouldn't mind a shower now so I think I'm gonna go and have one!

P.S. I was also boasting a week ago or so before Xmas in work how I NEVER get sick and how I haven't had so much as a cold or a sniff all year. I'm pretty much wallowing in humble pie now!

eth0_

Uthur wrote:

Flu shots are not only for old/infirm people by the way. Some people tend to catch flu easier than others - I caught it quite a few times. I've got the flu shot each year for the last 3 years (aften a very bad dose) and I haven't caught a darn thing since. If you are always getting it you might do the same - it is not expensive.

The 'flu shot doesn't stop you getting flu. Rather it builds up your resistance to 'flu so that when you catch a strain, it isn't very severe.

mike65

Stephen wrote:

I'm in the same boat. I get flu once or twice a year but never had it this bad.

Good grief thats very unusual even if you don't take a vacine every November. Maybe you are sucseptible to flu virus' and if so you should get the shot every year!

I got a brief dose (4 days of bleugh) about 4 weeks ago and that was the first time in about 20 years.

Mike.

Horsefumbler

Had a pretty bad ould dose there myself recently, worst I've ever got. I was like, dying

Supercell

Yep , most ppl claim they have the flu when they are up and about ..believe me..if you have the flu yer not going anywhere..even thinking of going out for a drink hurts
Tbh , I didnt think there is any point whatsoever in the docs giving you antibiotics ,penacillin etc..in fact thought this completly the wrong thing to do as none of these have the sllightest effect on it..only cure is rest and drink plenty of fluids..preferably vitamin rich ones..like fruit juices.
It seems to be a nasty one this year..I havent been so ill that I needed to stay in bed for almost two days solid before graduating to the sofa since i was a kid many years ago

eth0_

Why would a doctor give you antibiotics for flu? flu is a virus!

And I disagree with you about 'if you have the flu you're not going anywhere', some people will struggle into work etc because they HAVE to even if suffering from flu. My friend is a doctor and has flu the past few days and he has had to work because they're so short staffed.

mike65

Longfield your so right about pills, unfortunatly the public expect a pill if they visit the doc (after all it cost them 40-50 euro!) and doctors are'nt strong enough to say "no, just go to bed and take fluids" Also ppl say they have flu cos its sounds heroic, whereas "I missed three days cos I had a bad cold" is wimpish!

Mike.

Supercell

eth0_ wrote:

Why would a doctor give you antibiotics for flu? flu is a virus!

And I disagree with you about 'if you have the flu you're not going anywhere', some people will struggle into work etc because they HAVE to even if suffering from flu. My friend is a doctor and has flu the past few days and he has had to work because they're so short staffed.

I really feel sorry for those doc's eth0_ NOTHING and no-one would have got me out of bed at the height of it..i could'nt barely even think straight..never mind do a diagnosis on others.

Victor

Don't mix alcohol with paracetamol or other drugs, it renders the drugs useless.

p.pete

Victor wrote:

Don't mix alcohol with paracetamol or other drugs, it renders the drugs useless.

Crap, I've been adding Lemsip into my hot whiskeys

Knifey_Spoony

I thought i'd had the flu in the past but looking back they were just colds. Only realised this when i did get the flu just before xmas. Thought i was gonna die! Spent 4days in bed unable to move and barely able to breath. Its so bad isn't it. Makes you feel like total ****. I couldnt even hold a conversation or think or anything. Then got a throat infection too. It cleared up just in time 4 xmas day, but now its back again! Crept up in the space of 2hrs on new yrs eve, which has left me in bed again. My chemist reckons the drugs my doc prescribed werent strong enough the first time, but then he gave me the same ones again!?!? Dying at the mo again, although the paracetemol are doing a great job of reducing the fever etc. The worst thing is my final yr exams start on Wed!!! ( not happy at the mo ( Its so hard to study when the words are jumping around the page (probably as a result of copius amounts of paracetemol, decongestants etc)