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Comment by WA | Hacker News Reader

Did you have the flu (influenza) or a cold? Because I had influenza once and couldn’t even walk from bed to the kitchen.

I’m asking, because in German, many people call a regular cold a flu here.

But the chance to catch real influenza is like once every 20 years or so.

What about COVID-19?

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I'm a daily runner and I had influenza in February, for the first time in 30 years. I had a high fever for a full week and could not even sit up in bed.

People tend to think any bad cold is the flu, and underestimate just how bad actual influenza is. In retrospect, the narrative of "COVID is just like a bad flu" is pretty accurate, because the actual flu is a pretty traumatic experience, and the idea of getting a worse version is terrifying.

Hah! I had that exact reaction. So many medicines are labeled like “X Cold and Flu”, like “X Stubbed Toe and Decapitation”, and people start thinking about them as similar.

No, they’re. Not. One is miserable. The other invites pleas for a quick and merciful death.

Influenza is not necessarily that bad, though it can be.

Most of the time influenza is not worse than a normal cold. You will have plenty of partial immunity via previous infections and vaccinations that takes the edge of most infections.

Same as COVID. Most of the infections are not even noticed by the ones infected. But sometimes it is/was extremely bad, if you had no previous exposure/vaccination, a large amount of bad luck and/or pre existing condition.

Also a daily runner (6.5 years) - the worst time to run is when you have a head cold. The impact from the run just pounds throughout your skull. I have run when I had influenza and Covid. Only one mile at a time, up and down my driveway, but it wasn’t pleasant. But it was really only bad for a day or two, and for the sake of the running streak, you run (jog/walk) your mile and you’re done (and you collapse back to sleep). Then, once you’re starting to feel a little better, the feeling of running just one mile (when you’re used to running 3 or more) is the hard part.

I also ended up training for a marathon while I had a mild pneumonia. I had no clue until I saw my doctor for a routine checkup.

When you have a running streak like this, you find ways to make it work. You’re often running with some kind of a knock, be it a cold, or some knee pain.

I am a runner. I had proper flu this year for the first time. I have never been that ill ever before. I could not even get upstairs to bed one night when I was at my worst.

My mothers advice on how to tell if it’s cold or flu: if someone dropped a big pile of money outside your window and you could get out of bed to retrieve it then it’s probably just a cold, if not it’s flu.

If you think you have the flu, it's a cold. If you think you're dying, it's the flu.

I had proper Flu this year, and almost exactly 4 weeks later caught COVID for the first time. Prior to these events I had a 5 year streak of being completely illness free, not a sniffle, not a head cold.

Both illnesses completely K.O.'d me. Literally 5 days straight of laying on the couch alternating between sleeping, sweating, or just groaning when I tried to move. So uncomfortable I couldn't even enjoy watching TV. I spent most of my awake time just kinda.... staring at the ceiling.

During the Flu on day 4 or 5 I was starting to feel a bit better, I was starting to care that my house was a bit of a wreck and the carpet in particular getting pretty gross (lots of dog treat crumbs). I did a half-assed job of vacuuming 2 bedrooms, the living room, and the den. Took maybe 15 minutes. That was the extent of my activity for the rest of the day, I was just wrecked. Had to sit down to catch my breath and get control of some violent shakes.

Next time I catch the flu I have to try going for a jog. It would probably put me into a coma long enough to sleep through the rest of the cold.

tip for the flu or cold: because they (viruses) get into your sinuses, and start to multiply there, not in the mouth or stomach, then would be good to put something in the sinuses to kill them. This needs to be done at the first sneeze! when there aren't yet billions of them. netipot, with cleaned water + salt is the way used for thousands of years. What is extra is to put pea size amount of cold pressed/virgin coconut oil in there (when water about 30c degrees, but not hotter) and flush with it. antiviral and antibacterial, gives nice coating also to sensitive skin inside sinuses. you'll skip the whole perioid of getting sick. works. trust me

I might have to give that a try. It's been decades since I tried a netipot.

My experience as well. The one time I had the proper flu there was absolutely no chance I would walk, let alone run, more than 10 meters inside the apartment. I was completely broken for five, six days and just a wreck the week after that. Awful memory.

Different people react differently to flu and different strains are different. I remember when I was 30 I got the flu and I had enough energy to walk to the nearest convenience store to get lunch and enough energy to do an hour of driving practice a day and the rest of the time I lay in bed. I did not have the energy to read a book. I didn’t have the motivation to turn on the radio. It was awful. Glad I haven’t had the flu since.

My flus were probably covids, I think it tends to bounce around in the population in the post covid days while loosing strength.

I have one really bad case if flu 20 years ago. Maybe I'll have to give up my streak then. It will be a bit sad, but maybe good for me that it opens up for some other way of exercise.

Different people react differently to flu and colds.

I usually don’t get any colds at all, but I catch the flu once a year and need to be in bed at least for a week. So I started vaccinating since a couple of years and have avoided it so far.

My wife on the other hand catches every cold possible but her flu is gone in a couple of days.

Said that, my doctor has always strongly advised against doing any sport during flu or immediately after due to risks of heart infection. That’s something I’m going to follow, I’m not a sports professional and I have no need to risk my hearts health.

I've had Influenza A before in my mid-30s. To be honest, I couldn't even tell I had it. I had the sniffles, went to get a COVID check, and came back Influenza A-positive.

I did my usual, ran a few miles on the treadmill, did family walks all over, etc. I just felt lethargic - like I didn't sleep well at all, but I powered through it.

I know people who were absolutely bedridden with the flu. I can 100% believe some people can almost entirely brush it off too.

> in German, many people call a regular cold a flu here.

Intersting, in France we have the "flu-ish state" (un état grippal) when you have a seriuos cold.

Flu (grippe) is a real sickness, determined by the doctor or extrapolated from the context (everything around your head it, now it's your turn).

They are very distinct, though.

I ran a couple miles on a treadmill the last time I had COVID because I was going stir crazy from lying on the couch all week. It actually gave me a bit of a boost for the rest of the day, though I returned to feeling crappy the following day.

Yes, that mistake is common in English as well.

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