Do you remember the last time you had the flu? How did you feel?

[Breeze54]

I remember vividly at the age of 19 getting violently sick while sitting in a coffee/burger joint with my boyfriend. It was cold outside but we had walked about a mile to be alone and get a bite to eat and we were seated and handed the menu and as I was looking at it, I suddenly felt chilled but I thought it was because I had just walked in the cold and had just taken off my jacket and less than 10 minutes later, I passed out in the booth and was rushed to the hospital with a fever of 104 F !! I was out of it! Sicker than a dog should ever be and was finally released and sent home and had a high fever, to the point of delusions, so bad that my BF called my mother to come quick to my apt. to see me and take care of me. He was scared shitless and I was that ill for almost 10 days, throwing up, passing out, sweating profusely and running a very high fever constantly. Talking crazy talk all along during the fever. It was the worst, I think, that I've ever felt. I will always get a flu shot, after that horrific experience. I NEVER want to feel like that again!!

[seemunkee]

1. Yes

My wife, our six month old son and I all got it at the same time. My mother and MiL would sneak in the house, drop off food and quickly leave. It was a horrible week and the only way we made it through was because the baby was sick, we would have been too ill to take care of a healthy baby, but all he wanted to do was sleep also.

[Breeze54]

3. Oh gawd, I don't know if I could've taken care of a baby that time.

You are troopers!! I was so out of it... I think it was when the Asian Flu hit the USA the first time. I remember there was a lot of talk about it back then. I'll never forget how dehydrated I was or exhausted or so feverish and delusional. It was so frigging scary!! I'm glad you guys made it through but I didn't eat anything for the whole time, although that was sweet of your MIL to do that! It took me a while to get any appetite back and I dropped weight that whole time. Yuck! It was the worst feeling!!

[Aristus]

2. I remember it like it was three days ago.

Because it was. Meh! :hangover:

[Breeze54]

5. Oh, you poor thing, Aristus... *hug*

Oh, I hope you are starting to feel better soon!

I feel your pain. :(

:hug:

[Aristus]

8. Aw, thanks, Breeze...

:blush:

[Breeze54]

10. No need for that emoticon at all.

We all need a little hug, every once in a while, and you need one now! :hug:

[Shell Beau]

4. I had it a few years ago. My aunt coughed on me.

It was weird. We were at the hospital because my cousin was having surgery. She was totally fine when she got there. LAter in the day she was getting chills. I do remember her coughing a little. Well, she had the fle unbeknownst to all of us. I came down with it a couple of days later. It wasn't too bad. THe worst was not being able to get to a comfortable temp. With the ceiling fan on I was freezing. With it off, it felt like I was sitting on the sun. I went to the doc after 4 days of fever. Sure enough it was the flu.

I guess I think it wasn't that bad because when I had the flu before that, I also had strep throat. That brought me to my knees. And I mean literally. I remember crawling to the toilet to puke and it felt like knives in my throat. That was on Christmas too. I worked at a daycare so I got all kinds of shit.

[Breeze54]

7. Ugh!! Strep throat and the Flu at the same time?!

Strep throat will bring the biggest among us to their knee's. It totally sucks! :( Ugh!!!

But to have them both at the same time sounds pretty scary!! How awful!!

I mean, the Flu killed millions of Americans in the 1920's.

They were literally going up and down the streets collecting the dead bodies, in America!!!

[Shell Beau]

13. It was ROUGH!! And to have it on Christmas of all days.

I remember my aunt telling me I should be more appreciative while opening presents. If I had a gun at that moment, she would have been shot. I felt soooo bad that it is a miracle that I even could open presents. I was 22 at the time and had a 103 temp. I didn't know how sick I was until the next 2 days because Christmas fell on a Sat. and docs are closed on Sundays.

That is the absolute sickest I have ever been. It was rough.

[Breeze54]

15. I hope you are now getting Flu shots annually! They have kept me flu free for a very long time.

;)

And I'm glad you didn't have a weapon on you too!! :P

[yellowdogintexas]

6. like I was hit by a train. One minute you are feeling fine, the next minute you

are aching so bad your hair hurts, your temp has spiked to 103 or higher and you can't even move.

Interestingly, I have never had the throwing up with flu, just respiratory illness. I have had other stomach/intestinal events that made me really sick but not with true flu.

Colds sneak up on you, sore throat here, sniffles there, little achy spot here and there, much less fever and so on. You usually have the other symptoms before you get the fever too.

Flu slams into you like a steam roller,then you cough and sneeze later, and it takes about 10 days to be back up to where you feel like doing anything at all, and that is if you escape a secondary infection like bronchitis or pneumonia.

Flu doesn't get me as often as it does some people, my husband has had it a couple of times when I didn't even get a headache. I had flu on Christmas vacation from college in 1968 and was really sick, then did not have it again until 1980, went to the movies with my husband and we both woke up with raging fevers. Where ever we caught it, we were exposed at the same time. I was in bed for four days. Since then I have had it a couple more times .

I take a flu shot every year too. I have enough trouble with colds and allergy storms setting up nasty secondary infections in my chest, without getting flu . I started getting them when I worked for a hospital and employees had to have them. I am 60 years old and every chest cold hits me harder than the last one.

No, flu is not something to mess around with. Smart of you to get the shot

[Breeze54]

9. You coined it in this phrase... "Flu slams into you like a steam roller"

That is no doubt!!! It hit me just like that... out of nowhere!!

My boyfriend thought I was kidding when I asked him to call a taxi.

I remeber him saying that I'd be OK and we can walk it back home

around about the time until I passed out! Then he changed his tune really fast! ;)

[mitchum]

11. I have it all of the time...

Interferon and Ribavirin make a wonderful cocktail

[Breeze54]

12. I'm sorry to hear that. What are those drugs for?

:hug:

[mitchum]

14. Hep C...

of course, the hepatitis doesn't make one feel awful, but the treatment certainly does.
But it's not forever.
Also, thanks for your kind words :)

[Breeze54]

16. I know you'll beat it. Hang in there, mitchum and take your meds.

:hug: because you deserve a lot of them! ;)

[timtom]

17. It was in the days when I smoked cigarettes.

I started coughing a lot and my cigarettes had a strange metallic aftertaste. I had no idea what was happening to me.

It lasted about 14 days.

(I feel fluish. Funny, you don't look fluish.)