# I've never had the flu **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 11, 2004, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-never-had-the-flu/268589 "2004-10-11T05:48:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![tanookie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/48db29/32.png) [@tanookie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanookie)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2004, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-never-had-the-flu/268589/21 "2004-10-12T15:14:02Z")
I get my flu shot every year. I’m high risk so I get right at the front of the line! The flu - I’ve had it a couple of times and frankly I’d rather have pneumonia (yes I have had pneumonia - got it in the hospital after having my first kid by Csection) The flu is one of those illnesses where I slept in the bathroom on the bathrug for a few days as it was simply easier than trying to make it to the bathroom to vomit/have diarhea - I’d have slept in the tub if I could have climbed in. I didn’t eat for at least a week. Stale gingerale is your friend. Fever, chills, body aches. After a few days you really just wish you’d black out and it would be all over. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2004, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-never-had-the-flu/268589/22 "2004-10-12T20:54:09Z")
A flu medicine commercial a few years ago tried to show through pictures the relative intensities of a cold vs. the flu. I especially remember this particular image: a cold was shown as a little Tyco train puffing around a toy track, and by comparison, the flu was a giant diesel locomotive thundering around a bend. It’s like that. My boss had another way of putting it: if you’re too sick to watch television, it’s the flu. I remember when I had that bastard flu of last winter, I was alarmingly cloggy feeling in the lungs. I was afraid that if I didn’t get it up, I’d risk pneumonia, so I took hot steamy showers twice a day, breathing the steam down deep, and coughing up untold gunk. I always felt much better after doing this. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2004, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-never-had-the-flu/268589/23 "2004-10-12T22:03:17Z")
I never got the flu either, until last year. That was enough to make up for all the previous years. A temperature above 103 for a solid week. Joint aches that felt like someone had taken every one of my limbs and twisted them around. Couldn’t get out of bed. Missed a week of work and should have missed more. And then the pronouncement from my doctor. “I think you’ve developed interstitial pneuumonia from the flu. Fortunately, that responds to antibiotics.” Historical note. My father had a baby brother who died during the Spanish Influenza pandemic. And now I’ve learned that my family doctor won’t have any flu vaccine and I’m not in a high risk group to be eligible for a shot from a clinic. ---
**Author:** ![Hedda\_Rosa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hedda_rosa/32/1204_2.png) [@Hedda\_Rosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hedda_Rosa)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2004, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-never-had-the-flu/268589/24 "2004-10-12T22:32:31Z")
I’ve had the flu once, a few years ago. Worst of it was that I wasn’t at home but on an extended business trip. Luckily my now-husband was also on the trip and took great care of me. Symptoms were high fever, nausea, aches (especially headaches), chills, the poops. That $50 dollar rule is right on. I didn’t care about a damnthing. I remember just weeping and weeping from the misery of it all, but the nausea was the worst part; I’ll never forget throwing up in the bed and just not caring. It took my husband’s bodily lifting me from the bed and mopping me up…without him I woulda just wallowed in it. I finally wound up overnight at the hospital because of the dehydration and fever. Took weeks to really recover but I was able to fly home after about 8 days. I’m pregnant right now, and in spite of being in the high-risk category I’m not having any luck finding a flu shot anywhere. Twiddle ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2004, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-never-had-the-flu/268589/25 "2004-10-12T22:39:33Z")
I thought I had maybe had it when I was a kid, but when I described my symptoms to a friend yesterday, she told me it sounded bad, but not like the flu. So, I’ve never had it. I’m pretty healthy. Occasionally I get a cold (had a nasty one last winter for a couple days) but that’s pretty much it. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-never-had-the-flu/268589/26 "2004-10-13T00:07:14Z")
I’ve never had the flu either, at 24. We vaccinate partly because we can (why get the flu if you don’t have to?), to reduce loss of productivity, and because _people die_ in flu epidemics. It’s not like it’s just a runny nose. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-never-had-the-flu/268589/27 "2004-10-13T00:08:33Z")
Oh, I’ve never had a flu shot though - I’m not in an at-risk population. If I get a job at the public library I might start. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-never-had-the-flu/268589.md?page=1)