Cold Remission After Flu Shot?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I picked up a cold bug during the holidays when I went to a major urban area and spent time with children. All I had was a really loud, persistent wheezing dry cough with no elevated temperature and no runny nose, nasal congestion or sneezing. A couple weeks ago, I checked it out with my new doctor, and he said it was a cold rather than a flu, though I suspect it could be bronchitis which I’ve had before.

At his recommendation, I just got a flu shot for the first time in years, and I subsequently feel like a million bucks for the first time since I picked up this bug. Moreover, I’ve abruptly stopped coughing which I had been doing at least several times a minute until the flu shot. Why would my cold go into remission after I get a flu shot? Are there flu bugs that don’t involve elevated temperature?

2

Imagine you didn’t get a flu shot, and your cold improved after a couple of weeks. Would it still be interesting?

I.e., IANAD but your cold probably just got better. The fact that you ate onions the day before, or slept mostly on your left side, are probably just as irrelevant as the flu shot.

See regression fallacy.

3

I see. It was just highly coincidental that this cough that’s had a stranglehold on me for over a month went into remission within 24 hours after the shot. I’ve never heard of sleeping on the left side curing a cold so I wouldn’t give it a second thought.

4

Three to four weeks of cough is pretty typical for recovery from bronchitis. I vote for ‘unrelated to flu vaccine’.

5

“Sleeping on your left side” was just a random thing that you might have happened to do before noticing your cold got better. I’ve never heard of a flu vaccine curing a cold either, to be honest, so I’m not sure why it should seem more plausible than how you slept or what you ate.

6

I’ve never heard of sleeping on your left side as a cure for diseases. :dubious: I asked if there’s any flu bugs without elevated temperature, and maybe I had the flu after all.

7

I know. You just said that and I just explained why I mentioned it. None of the things I mentioned are likely to cure anything viral - that’s the point.

If you had flu you wouldn’t have thought it was a cold. And a flu vaccine wouldn’t make you feel better if you already had flu anyway.