There's a flu epidemic here as in the UK. But I reckon a lot of us tend to declare that we have flu when it's a heavy cold. Would love to hear from the more medically qualified.
Seems to me that when you really have the flu, you bloody know it. Last time I can be sure I had it was in around 1984. I felt so bad, i could hardly get out of bed to have a piss. Last week on R4 I heard a doctor suggest a simple test. get someone to leave a tenner on the floor in your gaff. If, when you find it, you pick it up, you've got a cold . If you feel so bad, you really cannot be bothered, that's the flu.
Have you noticed how footballers always have the flu, never a cold? I reckon that's because it doesn't sound good : "Naby Sarr misses out because he's got a cold", people would be giving him pelters, even though most of us wouldn't want to play with a cold.
Then there is the question of the flu "vaccine". here it is virtually forced on you. It's free in my health package. But I heard that it doesn't prevent you getting it at all. It simply reduces your symptoms by about 24 hours in total. (which might admittedly be crucial for an older person in poor general health). Is that true? Bit of a pharma racket, if so, no?
I'm going to pay a heavy price for this, I know. I have to jump on the plane to London on Friday, and a plane is a great place in which to pick up any virus going. But would be interested to learn more, especially from the medically qualified.
@ShootersHillGuru ,
@Cardinal Sin 
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I went to see the quack who said 'you've got flu', "but Ive had flu before and it was never like this". He replied 'no, you've had a cold before'.
When you've got flu you know about it. However man flu is the king of flu's and should never be underestimated, the only cure is to lie on the sofa and watch sport!
Tell me thats the truth brothers.
Some people can be carrying the flu virus and only show mild or even zero symptoms. But they can still infect other people. Which is why GPs ask people who think they have the flu to stay away from the surgery unless it is a medical emergency.
I get a flu jab and actually got a strong cold recently, wasn't bed ridden although i was in bed alot with it. Surely these should be prevented by the flu jab?
Hopefully you dont end up catching anything on the way over would be ironic after this post
Us Brits have a slightly odd mentality in that you get some who boast about "I've never taken a sick day in x years". Well done. Some people get sick some don't. One person might suffer worse from the same illness than another. What I can't stand is sick people coming in to work spreading their diseases making the whole place sick, my own back of the fag packet analysis says that costs businesses far more than people taking sick days when they actually need them.
Pisses me off when I hear people casually say I’ve had the flu. No. You’ve had a cold.
other than that an early night with a whiskey/honey/lemsip all mixed into one kicks the shit out of most colds.
Only time I don't work or exercise is if I have any dreaded gastroenteritis type bugs. It's not worth spray painting my office with vomit and the shits, spreading the bugs because I'm too stubborn to allow myself to have a day off when it's really clearly best for both me and my colleagues.
They can have a cold though... They're just a minor inconvenience.
In fact that's one of the things that really pisses me off, when people work and they're clearly very sick with something thats making them vom, or shit up the toilet doors etc...
Don't bring that into the office you selfish scrote.
I heard, and have no idea if it's true, that the flu jab only reduces the chances of getting flu by about 60%, but hopefully immunises against the worst strains.
That’s how the definition has been explained to me.
Ive had flu once... and I was tripping balls like id be taking acid
http://metro.co.uk/2018/01/05/flu-jab-targeting-wrong-strain-health-officials-reveal-7205455/
I've never had flu. Had some very heavy colds, but not flu