# Would you die three years younger if it meant never getting the cold or flue ever in your life? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 31, 2014, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-die-three-years-younger-if-it-meant-never-getting-the-cold-or-flue-ever-in-your-life/684947 "2014-03-31T00:48:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-die-three-years-younger-if-it-meant-never-getting-the-cold-or-flue-ever-in-your-life/684947/21 "2014-03-31T06:10:35Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > This is going to piss some people off but it is generally true. I seriously doubt you have influenza otherwise you wouldn’t be typing questions like this on a message board. The OP said he took tamiflu yesterday, which means a doc likely diagnosed him with it. My brother’s MIL is a doctor and I’ve always really liked what she does. When discussing these things, she talks about influenza which is the actual real ‘flu’ the one that makes you feel like you ‘got hit by a truck’ but doesn’t typically make you throw up. The other thing that people more people typically get (usually norovirus or rotavirus) she refers to as a “stomach bug”. If you come to her office complaining of stomach pains, throwing up, but “I feel much better than I did yesterday” the word “flu” won’t even come up in the conversation, she’ll only use statements like “you probably just have a stomach bug” or “there’s a stomach bug going around”. Not that it really makes a difference in the end since all we’re doing is lumping a third thing into slang word ‘flu’ but in the interest of education, I wish more people would do that. ---
**Author:** ![Carmady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f04885/32.png) [@Carmady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carmady)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-die-three-years-younger-if-it-meant-never-getting-the-cold-or-flue-ever-in-your-life/684947/22 "2014-03-31T06:17:09Z")
What if the flu was going to be a factor in my death? Being invulnerable to the flu would then increase my lifespan over what it would have been without the deal, even taking into account the lost 3 years. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-die-three-years-younger-if-it-meant-never-getting-the-cold-or-flue-ever-in-your-life/684947/23 "2014-03-31T08:55:06Z")
No. What I **would** trade 3 years for is never having a headache again. I get them so frequently, and they’re often so bad (I get migraines and something absurdly similar to cluster headaches) that they’re crippling. ---
**Author:** ![gracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@gracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gracer)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-die-three-years-younger-if-it-meant-never-getting-the-cold-or-flue-ever-in-your-life/684947/24 "2014-03-31T09:39:13Z")
Colds suck, but they’re just a part of life. You stay home drinking tea and watching the West Wing when it gets bad. There is no way I would trade that for non-existence. And anyway, I’m just too excited about the future. Hoverboards would probably be invented in just those three years, no way I’m missing that! ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-die-three-years-younger-if-it-meant-never-getting-the-cold-or-flue-ever-in-your-life/684947/25 "2014-03-31T10:01:29Z")
Nope. The only way it would ever make sense to me is if the flu immunity gave me an expected extra 3 years. Lots of people die from it each year. If the CDC is to be believed and you include pneumonia, it’s around 50k per year in the US. But that’s still only around a 1% lifetime odds, and almost certainly close to the end of life, so it’s not worth it. I don’t mind colds. I get to sleep 12 hours a day, I take enough meds to keep a nice buzz going, and I don’t have to feel bad about marathon watching some TV show. What’s not to like? ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-die-three-years-younger-if-it-meant-never-getting-the-cold-or-flue-ever-in-your-life/684947/26 "2014-03-31T10:16:03Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > No…because colds and even flus are over quickly enough. If, all told, they added up to three years of coughing, sniffly, vomiting misery, maybe. But, seriously, how many weeks of colds, total, does one experience in a lifetime? Usual estimates are 6-10 colds per year for kids and 2-4 colds a year for adults, although parents with children in school may skyrocket up to 12 colds per year **per kid** for a few years. Nasty little germ factories, they are. Most colds last about a week. [Common Cold](http://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/common_cold_overview) So you lose considerably more than 3 years of your productive life to colds now. More like 6 or 7 years - maybe 10 to 11 years if you’re a parent! You just don’t notice it, because it’s not all at once. I’d do it for colds alone, never mind influenza. But I have school aged kids. I might not do it if you asked me in another 10 years - not because I think my mortality will be looming, but because I won’t be getting colds as much. Like labor and childbirth, it’s easy to forget the misery when you’re not in the middle of it. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-die-three-years-younger-if-it-meant-never-getting-the-cold-or-flue-ever-in-your-life/684947/27 "2014-03-31T10:20:17Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Usual estimates are 6-10 colds per year for kids and 2-4 colds a year for adults, although parents with children in school may skyrocket up to 12 colds per year **per kid** for a few years. Nasty little germ factories, they are. Most colds last about a week. [Common Cold](http://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/common_cold_overview) > > So you lose considerably more than 3 years of your productive life to colds now. More like 7 or 8 years. You just don’t notice it, because it’s not all at once. > > I’d do it for colds alone, never mind influenza. But I have school aged kids. I might not do it if you asked me in another 10 years - not because I think my mortality will be looming, but because I won’t be getting colds as much. Like labor and childbirth, it’s easy to forget the misery when you’re not in the middle of it. Huh… I don’t think I’ve ever had more than 1 cold in a given year, even as a kid. Flu happens ever more rarely, like maybe once every 4-5 years. Maybe that colors my answer a bit. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-die-three-years-younger-if-it-meant-never-getting-the-cold-or-flue-ever-in-your-life/684947/28 "2014-03-31T10:51:09Z")
Not only would I say no, but I actually choose that by the medication I take. Rheumatoid arthritis doesn’t usually kill, but it can when it’s spread to the heart, like mine has, and to be honest even when they say RA can’t kill, surely the extra stresses and extra risk of falls will have a detrimental effect. So I take a medicine called methotrexate which significantly depresses my immune system. This increases my likelihood of getting colds and flu. Somehow, despite this and despite already having quite bad asthma and having had swine flu before that completely debilitated me for nine weeks - no messageboard posts till the last couple of weeks and we had to throw out the sofa I slept on because it was so soaked in sweat that it sagged - I haven’t actually had a cold at all. Still, I’m taking the choice to risk more colds and flu because I would like to stay alive. I’d like to see my daughter get old, I’d like to see the changes that come about the in the world, and I can cope with colds and the flu. They’re very unpleasant, but then you come out the other side and carry on with life. Perhaps with diminished capability for months or years with a very bad flu, but still able to do stuff. FWIW, I’m 38. Much older than you, but not in the area where life is at a premium. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-die-three-years-younger-if-it-meant-never-getting-the-cold-or-flue-ever-in-your-life/684947/29 "2014-03-31T10:51:46Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > I have to admit, sometimes I like getting sick because I don’t really get to take off work otherwise. I’d rather be sick in bed or asleep than at work some days. What Zipper said. When I get sick, I usually have one panic day where I say: I can’t get sick, too much to do!" and then a blissful two days or so when I just can’t do much at all so I can let everything drop out of my hands. Husband has no choice but to pick up the slack while I can sleep in bed all I want. And even if my husband doesn’t pick up the slack, I’m in bed so I don’t see the mess, and with any luck I’m too sick to care anyway. And then, when I get better, there’s the two days or so where I’m healthy enough to get around indoors, or read of surf the net in bed but still don’t have to go to work, and then I have the house to myself. Bliss, absolute bliss. So, okay I’ll admit it…I love getting sick. As a working mom of a toddler, it’s the only way to get some peace and quiet. The flipside of this is when my husband gets sick. Then I feel double resentment. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-die-three-years-younger-if-it-meant-never-getting-the-cold-or-flue-ever-in-your-life/684947/30 "2014-04-02T01:01:46Z")
> [@Maastricht](#): > > What Zipper said. When I get sick, I usually have one panic day where I say: I can’t get sick, too much to do!" and then a blissful two days or so when I just can’t do much at all so I can let everything drop out of my hands. > Husband has no choice but to pick up the slack while I can sleep in bed all I want. And even if my husband doesn’t pick up the slack, I’m in bed so I don’t see the mess, and with any luck I’m too sick to care anyway. > > And then, when I get better, there’s the two days or so where I’m healthy enough to get around indoors, or read of surf the net in bed but still don’t have to go to work, and then I have the house to myself. Bliss, absolute bliss. Wow. It’s been 14 years since I’ve been that sick, and before that time, it had been at least another decade or so. I’m averaging maybe 1-2 colds a year these days, including times where I have fever/chills but no head cold, and the frequency seems to be declining over time. So if I live to be 95 (I’m 60 now, or at least that’s what my driver’s license says), colds will affect a year of my life, maybe less. And only 1-2 days of each cold is really all that yucchy, so we’re talking 2-3 months of genuine misery due to colds. So I might give up 3 months in order to be done with colds and fevers and chills. But I’d think long and hard about it before I pulled the trigger on it, if there were a trigger to pull. ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-die-three-years-younger-if-it-meant-never-getting-the-cold-or-flue-ever-in-your-life/684947/31 "2014-04-02T01:11:28Z")
I voted ‘no’. I don’t think I’ve ever had the flu. I’ve had a couple of bad colds, but I’m pretty sure that’s all they were. I barely even get a mild cold, so sacrificing three years wouldn’t be worth it. Now, if you were to ask me if I’d be willing to give up three years in order never to have to wear reading glasses again, my vote would be completely different. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-die-three-years-younger-if-it-meant-never-getting-the-cold-or-flue-ever-in-your-life/684947/32 "2014-04-02T02:05:31Z")
Sure. I plan to live to 130 anyway. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-die-three-years-younger-if-it-meant-never-getting-the-cold-or-flue-ever-in-your-life/684947/33 "2014-04-02T02:18:21Z")
No. Even if I had the flu for 2 weeks every year for 50 years (I’m 36 and only had the flu \*maybe \*once), that’s still under 2 years total. ---
**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-die-three-years-younger-if-it-meant-never-getting-the-cold-or-flue-ever-in-your-life/684947/34 "2014-04-02T03:00:07Z")
No. I have a good immune system - it’s been three or four years since I was sick enough to absolutely, no-doubt-about-it stay home in bed. I agree with some of the posts upthread: sure, it may seem like a bargain _now_, but when you’re about to die and start thinking about all the things you never got to do, a runny nose may not seem so terrible. ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-die-three-years-younger-if-it-meant-never-getting-the-cold-or-flue-ever-in-your-life/684947/35 "2014-04-02T03:05:46Z")
I’ve never had flu and colds are no big deal, so that’s an easy decision. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-die-three-years-younger-if-it-meant-never-getting-the-cold-or-flue-ever-in-your-life/684947/36 "2014-04-02T03:12:22Z")
Nope. I get my flu shot and get one, maybe two colds a year, so it’s not worth it. Now, if the deal was minus three years of life for never having another allergy symptom, you’d get my keen interest. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-die-three-years-younger-if-it-meant-never-getting-the-cold-or-flue-ever-in-your-life/684947/37 "2014-04-02T03:26:49Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > I couldn’t live with the thought that I was going to get true influenza every couple of years. That stuff is serious and can kill you. Even if it doesn’t, it makes you think you are 3/4 dead already and makes you wish you could finish off the job except you can’t because you don’t have the energy. > > It is the difference between stubbing your little toe and having your whole leg slowly eaten off in a meat grinder. I wish more people understood the distinction and stopped calling bad colds the ‘flu’ when they are not. I have had the flu ONE TIME and agree with all your points (and recognize that it can kill people) … But, even while it was as bad as you describe, I was in a delusional fugue state for about 90% of the time. So the agony, while definitely, um, agonizing, has a surreal, detatched quality in my memory. Somewhat like childbirth. For me, the prospect of going through it again wouldn’t be enough to make me pick giving up three years. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-die-three-years-younger-if-it-meant-never-getting-the-cold-or-flue-ever-in-your-life/684947/38 "2014-04-02T14:07:49Z")
> [@Anonymous User](#): > > Hell, Iam willing to die _ten_ years younger as a cost if it guarantees me reaching 6’0 by the time my growth plates close. FWIW, 6’ isn’t really ‘tall’, and nor is being under 6’ really ‘short’ either. I’d put the boundaries at under 5’9" for short, and over 6’2" for “tall”. I’m six feet and a half inch tall, and I’m taller than average, but not by a particularly drastic amount. I wouldn’t give up a day of my life if it meant that I’d be 3 inches shorter or taller; it just doesn’t matter. Realistically speaking the only issue you may face being under 6’ are women who don’t want to date men shorter than they are. This just means that for the vast majority, you have to be about 5’9" or so. As for getting colds or flu… no, not giving up any lifespan for the absence of those either; colds are usually an annoyance at best, and flu, while pretty miserable, is usually only a week or two, so I can tough it out. ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-die-three-years-younger-if-it-meant-never-getting-the-cold-or-flue-ever-in-your-life/684947/39 "2014-04-02T14:16:59Z")
> [@Anonymous User](#): > > Well actually, I can understand _your_ guys’ point of view. What I \*can’t \*understand is the people who are like, “OMG, I would never give up a minute of my life for _anything_!” as if the length of your life matters _that_ much. Or maybe it’s just me that thinks that the number of years you live isn’t as important as how those years are. Having watched several loved ones fade away and die by inches . . . it’s not just you that thinks that quality of life matters as much as quantity. I didn’t vote. Because I wanted an option that said “I’d be tempted”-- although honestly, I’d want to be rid of seasonal allergies forever before I’d actually agree. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-die-three-years-younger-if-it-meant-never-getting-the-cold-or-flue-ever-in-your-life/684947/40 "2014-04-02T18:13:42Z")
I would take an extra three years even if it meant that I had to have a cold continuously for the entire span. Yeah, colds aren’t much fun, but they’re not _that_ bad. And I seem to be pretty good at avoiding the flu even without resorting to Faustian deals. After nearly 37 years, I’ve never once had one. At this rate, I might get one maybe once, in my entire lifespan. No way avoiding that is worth such a high price. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-die-three-years-younger-if-it-meant-never-getting-the-cold-or-flue-ever-in-your-life/684947.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-die-three-years-younger-if-it-meant-never-getting-the-cold-or-flue-ever-in-your-life/684947.md?page=3)