I've never had flu

I have had flu several times and my goodness it is so debilitating. My mother died when I had flu and as the eldest sibling in this country I was expected to organise everything. I could barely hold my head up let alone think rationally.
I get cross with people who claim to have the flu when in all probability they have a cold, there is a world of difference.

I had it once in the late 70's, I've never felt so ill, I remember crawling down the hall to use the bathroom. I ended up in hospital with pleurisy.

I seem to get the 'flu most years and we are not talking man 'flu. This is full blown flat out in bed, aching from head to foot feeling as though I am going to die. I have even had it twice in one Winter.

This happens to me with or without having the jab so I do not think there is any hard and fast rule. I totally agree with the £5 note in the garden. It also leaves me washed out for several weeks after that my friend who was a nurse said is called a malaise!

I’ve never had flu and I don’t know anyone who has. I know people who say they have it when they just have a cold.

Had a flu jab once about a decade ago but never since.
Hope the universe hasn’t been saving it up to give me the big one.

I didnt give it to my household

But have been around other peoples flus and not had it

Like others, I had Asian flu in 1956 as a school girl and was too ill to even contemplate a first date with a boy I had had my eye on for months, and then again in 1985; both times I was confined to bed for days, and the second time was off work for thee weeks and far from fit for weeks after. As several of you have noted, nothing else compares! And I don’t get colds either. (May we’ll regret that statement.)

I don’t know that I have had flu or not I ve had plenty of what people call flu Achy bones shivers temperature etc but I ve never had the type where people can’t move for days and are really wiped out for weeks So my answer really is i don’t know
If I have or not

I had it as a teenager in the late 60’s and then again three years ago. Having had four children, I’ve had my fair share of bad colds over the years but this was way worse. I spent most of one week in bed, which is a really rare thing for me, and it was three weeks before I could step outside the front door again. I was too young for the free flu vaccine the following winter so I gladly paid for it in Boots.

As others seem to have experienced, no one else in the house got it. I was seriously concerned my four week old granddaughter would catch it but no one else succumbed. Maybe it’s because I socially isolated before it was a thing!

I don’t have the flu jab. You need a different on each year. Also for some reason it does not give much protection to any one over a certain age - to do with our antibodies I believe.

I had it once in the early 1980’s.Just after Christmas

I was very ill and my GP came out to me several times.It was Easter before I was fully recovered.

I always have the flu jab,doubt I would recover now if I was ever that ill again.

I think this is why a lot of people took a while to realise the severity of covid-19. I know lots of people who claim to have flu, when they are off work for a couple of days with what is obviously a heavy cold.

Then for the first days of the outbreak the virus was compared with flu, and people thought it would be like the cold they thought was flu.

In answer to the question - yes, once, and it was horrific. There was no comparison to a cold, which can be really unpleasant in itself.

I used to breezily say I'd had flu until I really got flu

My word, what a nightmare that was

I'd rather give birth and have root canal treatment simultaneously

I never got flu until I got it..
First time ever a few years ago: couldnt eat or even sit up for two weeks. Couldnt work full time for 3 months after as it left me totally wiped out.

But I never had it before that. Not having had it yet means nothing really

Sorry to repost. None of my posts were showing earlier ?

Had Asian flu in 1950, but have all vaccinations going. A friend had 'flu a couple of years ago, having steadfastly refused vaccination. Last autumn, she was first in the queue for her jab! Not a nice illness and convalescence is so slow...

I've never had it, I don't think my parents ever had it and my children and grandchildren haven't either!
I do have a flu jab though, don't want to tempt fate!

Who knows? I’ve only had it once, about 20 years ago and it knocked my stuffing right out for at least 3 weeks. I was working in a front line job with the public at the time, many of whom thought nothing of coughing and sneezing at you, so I didn’t have to wonder where I caught it.
Nobody else in the family caught it from me, though.

I do agree with timetogo - anyone who wonders whether they’ve got a bad cold or the flu, just has a bad cold!

I had the flu once about 30 years ago.
I came on on Christmes night as fast as turning a light switch on.
I couldn`t get out of bed without going dizzy and had to drag myself to the toilet.
Iv`e never felt so ill and it really makes me cross when people say they have the flu and are walking around, i tell them they have a heavy cold as you wouldn`t be stood there.
Strangly it tends to be mostly men shock horror.

I have never had the flu either,and rarely get a cold, my daughter always gets everything going, she wonders why i don't
Never get the stomach bugs either, very strange
Hope i haven't jinxed myself now
Although i did get a strange thing in February,and wondered if it was a mild dose of covid 19, just felt very tired and lethargic

I only get it after the 'flu jab---every Christmas for the past 3 years now ! Not so much as a cold throughout the year, just a low resistance at the end of the year. Weird.

I had the flu in 1985 and became extremely ill with it. I have had it since, but in a much milder form (although still very debilitating). I'm surprised sometimes by people who tell me they've got/had the flu, but have still been able to get out of bed and do things - even when I had what I think of as a mild case of flu I have been unable to get out of bed other than to drag myself to the loo.

My husband has flu every year but as he continues with work and hobbies it is safe to say it’s man flu ?
I’ve had it twice. Once mildly when young and once in Dec 2009. The latter was swine flu and was horrendous. I was on a work course, I think my immune system was down due to staying in hotels, stress etc. I was so cold I had to sit in the classroom with about 3 layers of clothes plus coat, gloves, hat, scarf etc! And was still cold! No idea how I drove home but literally crawled into bed and stayed there for a good few days.
Litmus test is “if there was £5 on front doorstep would you get up to get it?” If no, you have flu! For me, if there had been £1million I still couldn’t have got out of bed. Proper flu is horrendous!

It's a horrible illness. I get the jab every year.

If you think you've got the flu then you haven't. You know when you've got the flu and usually begin to think you're dying.

Had a dose of flu a few years ago and completely lost my sense of taste and smell. It was awful - the world becomes quite a strange place when you can't smell anything or taste your food. Luckily for me, over the course of the years those senses have returned - they mostly don't - but not as sharp as they were. I would never want to catch it again, so I have the flu jab every year now.

Also never had it, worst I've experienced are some heavy head colds, but I know they are not to be confused with flu, although many claim flu is what they have with a heavy cold. Anyone will tell you that you can't get out of bed, if that is what you are actually suffering from.