r/flu

I have had the flu. Never like this.

Day 1 and 2. Sore throat. Bad, but not the worst ever.

Day 3. 102 fever with cough and blocked sinuses. I'm nasal flushing 4x a day. The results are grotesque. I think I saw that green guy from the mucinex commercials wave at me on his way down the drain. I'm so tired.

Day 4 and 5. All those symptoms but I also crapped my pants. The diarrhea. Oh my god the diarrhea. The gas. Just non stop farting and shitting. I have to bend over to get the gas out, but the sinus pressure is insane, and every fart has me terrified I will fill the diaper I am now wearing. I am now an adult sized baby. I contemplate the ER, but don't have enough diapers or pants.

Day 6 and 7. Immodium saved me. Doc says it's probably the flu. What the hell kind of flu is this? My fever persists at 101. My guts scream and inflate whenever I eat anything. I can't smell anything. Tiger balm smells like nothing at all. My brain is mashed potatoes after being slow cooked for a week. My sinuses are bloated.

On top of all that, I have a 6 month old I'm terrified will contract this ungodly plague.

Is this in line with anyone's experience? I feel crazy. This doesn't feel like the flu. Maybe I just got lucky before.

Hi,

Generally fit and healthy 41M knocked sideways by what has been initially diagnosed as upost-viral syndrome and it's a real struggle mentally and physically - any share experience would be great to hear.

Started with weak leg feelings but evolved over last 2/3 months to daily joint pain/clicking, adrenaline surges (hot flushes, sweating, HR etc) which wakes me p every 3 hours, deep stomach ache, head pressure, dizzyness, and most scary recently - prickly sensations/zaps largely on legs/groin area, but can be neck and back, it's almost like my muscles at rest are rock hard (likely from months of stress) and that's playing up the nerves. Also feels like it's making me want to pee more often - nerve messing?

Very non-linear. Bloods are ok bar high IgA. No active infection etc. No arthritis. awaiting further tests.

Any similar stories appreciated. I hate that this is open-ended and

Over the last week I’ve had intense headaches, body aches, sore neck, a lingering dry cough, and on and off night sweats/ chills. I originally thought I had allergies or something but I never get seasonal allergies.. could this be the flu? Is it going around California right now ? I feel like I got hit by a truck lol

I had influenza A March 20th-April 10th was around the time my symptoms stopped and I was able to finally get back to working out and doing normal without coughing my brains out. Fast forward to this past Thursday evening, I’m sick again…symptoms slightly different. This time I had a stuffy nose, sore throat, dizzy(very weird), and horrible can’t-catch-my-breath cough. I’m on day five and most of my symptoms have gone away, but the weakness, slight dizziness(especially after laying down), and my cough is very persistent. My job I am around a lot of nonverbal adults and they get sick and can’t tell us. We had a few with RSV, so I’m suspecting I probably have that vs the flu again, but maybe not. How can I boost my immune system? I’ve gotten sick FIVE times in 2026 so far. So pretty much each month I’ve had something. I take 50 mg of elderberry with zinc, but I don’t think it’s enough.

I had the flu April 25th. I had fever, chills, minor sore throat, cough with mucus, body aches, diarrhea, headache that didn’t last long, fatigue, anxiety, no appetite once my fever went away and this weird depressed feeling. Never felt depressed before at all.

Just for more details, I got the flu from a coworker. My coworker had all the same symptoms expect he didn’t feel the anxiety/depression. He also lost 18 lbs. I’m not sure how much weight I lost but I know I lost weight by the way my clothes fits me.

My appetite was gone once my fever ended which is 18 days ago from today. I was forcing myself to eat. I kept hydrated the whole time and also was taking vitamins. My appetite hasn’t really came back. The other day 5/11 and 5/12 I ate without much force. I ate a whole cheese burger then 5/12 I ate pasta. That was all I ate those days though. Then the following days till now feels like I’m not hungry I’m forcing myself to take bites of food. I just don’t feel hungry or a desire to eat. My stomach does growl but I just don’t feel hungry. In the morning I do have slight diarrhea sorry TMI but I’m trying to be as detailed as possible but it’s not watery like before but it’s not solid. It comes out like diarrhea but looks solid ish. This is not every morning and I have also had solid stool. If that makes sense. Other than that I feel fine no other symptoms. Everything is gone. I do still have anxiety and I feel like it’s getting worse and worse the more I don’t eat because I’m stressing about not being able to eat. The anxiety part is worse when I know it’s time to try to eat, I get really worked up. I know that part is a me thing though.

Is this a normal thing for the flu going around right now?

Last December myself and my wife were knocked off our feet for 2 weeks with either Flu or Covid. My wife fully recovered from it but I had a chronic cough for weeks and my Sinuses are still producing mucus now in mid May. I have had 2 courses of Antibiotics, Doxycillin and Amoxycillin, 3 different types of nasal steroid sprays and a course of Carbocistine pills. My cough is much better now but I still have good and bad days coughing. Im using a nasal rinse bottle 2 times per day for my sinuses and every mornig I flush green mucus out, not loads but it's there. I have had a chest X Ray and a CT Scan which showed my chest was clear but it did pick up a small Hiatus Hernia. I do cough up small amounts of mucus throughout the day and when I lie down I can hear rattling on my chest as I breathe, not all the time but often. I'm 63 and I have rarely had colds all my life and always got rid of them quickly. Im posting to ask if anyone else has had a lingering cough and sinus issues over 5 months after Flu or Covid and if so, how long before it cleared up.

Many thanks.

So I got really sick with the flu or so I thought , headache , running nose , blocked nose , cough and sore throat I had it for a week and it got better.

The headache was the worst and then the damn nose was so blocked I couldn't breathe at all ! It left me foggy and I didn't show a fever but only Motrin helped relieve the headache.

And then it got worse. My one ear , throat started feeling intense pressure and my stomach started having intense stomach upset as well.

Went to urgent care, and they prescribed something to release the pressure in the ear .every 12 hours. And a pill for my stomach as well and some antibiotics.

He said I didn't test positive for flu, covid or rsv so he doesn't know what exactly I have and thinks it must be an upper respiratory virus of sorts that got me good and it might be two back to back viruses that did this to me.

As soon as the meds start wearing off , I get the pressure back in my ear and now it's shifted to two ears.

It's been 2 weeks since I am recovering from this flu and this bullshit ear, throat pressure that is so uncomfortable I can't sleep unless I take the medicine.

I don't know what else to do other than go back to the doctor again and ask for more steroids for my ear pressure and throat pressure that seems to block my breathing and give me anxiousness.

I am so afraid, they are not going to help me out.

Booking an appt with a E and T doc as soon as possible.

I have never had a flu this bad to the point my ears and throat are having pressure so bad

And my stomach has been extra bloated than usual too.

And I am worried ....

Has anyone faced this issue before ?

seems lately a lot of folks have the exact same symptoms that covid positive people have,but tested and came up negative..whats going on?

Hi, just looking for some reassurance or similar experiences.

I’ve been feeling unwell today and earlier my temperature showed 38°C once, but every other time I’ve checked it’s been normal (around 37.5–37.6°C).

My main concern is my heart rate — even when I’m lying down and resting, it’s been around 115–125 bpm and doesn’t really drop below 100. When I stand up, it spikes higher and I feel quite foggy, dazed abit. Struggling to be up as I just feel run down

I’ve been resting all day and drinking fluids. Urinating a lot because of it ,No chest pain or breathing issues, just feel generally weak and off.

Has anyone else had this when ill? Is it normal for heart rate to stay this high even at rest?

Would really appreciate hearing others’ experiences

I started having symptoms on Sunday. Very high fever 102-103 for two days with throat pain. After that the fever intensity has reduced. But it is persisting even after 3 days . Fever is in the range of 99 - 100.5 . It comes down when medicine is taken but comes again. Anyone else with a similar experience?

I (23f) got the flu I believe while at work this past Friday (age care worker) from one of my customers who unfortunately was not honest. It seems to be a light weight flu in the sense that I had a blocked nose for 2 days and very slight cough before it got better. However, I experienced such horrible muscle aches and a lot of what I believe is phlegm and mucus in my chest and lungs. My throat feels weird in the sense that it feels hollow??? I’ve also been getting random sharp pain in my back and left breast. Every doctor I’ve been to from yesterday till today (3 in total) has brushed it aside. I’ve come back negative for COVID/influenza and have been told it’s just your average flu.

I have had a flu since the 22nd of April got meds and it got better but not fully gone last week I started to notice a tight heavy feeling in my chest then the dull ache started and now I have random sharp pains when I take deep breaths. For the past couple of days I have experienced some bubbling sensation in my chest but I am not coughing😭😭😭 does anyone know what is going on?

How do you return to work when you’re coughing as if you’re about to cough out all your organs? It would be a disturbance and probably scaring coworkers that I am a walking spreader which I probably am. How long do people take off work for the flu?

It started with my mom having a hang out with a friend. She was sick for a week and seemed to be healing fine. She cooked us a meal and sometimes later I heard my brother complaining of body ache, then he was having sweat fever. Last Monday, I had a little cough and continued on Tuesday, but Tuesday night I started having chills. It went on until Thursday afternoon. I had seen the doctor that morning and confirmed I had flu b; and started taking oseltamivir. Since then I have been coughing like I will vomit out my organs. Friday was bad cause I realized I had a cranker sore on the right side of my throat, making everything worst. It got pretty bad once midnight hit. I had coughed myself into a gag and vomit. It was torture if I didn’t do these heavy cough. Really. I thought on Saturday night, taking some promethazine dm would stop the cough and would make my throat feel better since I was whistling with my cough at evening but no, it made it harder for me to do these heavy cough. It was such a torture so I suck on lozenges until the drowsiness kicked in harder and I dropped asleep after I finished off the lozenges, of course. I coughed all Sunday even with lozenges and did my gag cough after midnight.

Ugh. How do you stop this cough? I’m like this but I still had to go to the ER last Thursday cause my mom had an allergic reaction. Yup 5 hrs in the ER.

I haven’t been able to smell or taste for three months after I got the flu . I got a Covid test it said I don’t have it . Is there any suggestions you guys have? I’m almost getting depressed because it’s been so long . It has never lasted this long for me .

Last week, I had an insanely bad cough. It almost felt like I had bronchitis, but things mellowed out and I felt somewhat normal.

Yesterday, I had an incredibly bad cough again and I thought it was just my allergies or a dry cough I was developing. Didn’t think I was sick as I had no fever or body aches. I went to a coworkers house for a dinner party where there were about 10 people there. I took some Delsyum to suppress my cough and it somewhat helped.

Once I got home from the dinner party around midnight, that’s when things really started turning for a change. My body started aching, I kept coughing and it felt like knives were in the back of my throat. Body was definitely warm with a fever.

I slept in until like 3pm today because I just couldn’t move or get up. I’ve had Covid before and it kinda felt like tha so I went to get a test that supported Covid/Flu and tested positive for Influenza A.

I contacted my boss and told him I tested positive and he’s only exempting a PTO for Monday, but from reading everyone else’s experiences it definitely will last for longer than a day. Now I also feel super bad for my coworkers who were at the dinner with me, I hope I didn’t pass anything to them.

Not sure what more to expect. What medicine should I take? I have Delsyum, NyQuil but that’s about it.

Anyone know at all why I could still be positive and symptomatic with flu b after 25 days. For the most part my symptoms have been nausea, stomach aches, chills, mild headache, very mild cough, and very mild congestion. My symptoms come and go and mostly have just been the GI symptoms and chills. I’ve really barely had any respiratory symptoms. When I first got sick it really just seemed like I had a stomach bug. I’m relatively healthy and got my flu vaccine. I have literally no idea at all why this won’t go away. There have been at least 3-4 times where I have felt 80-90% back to normal and then all the sudden in a day or two felt really sick again. I’m luckily not the completely bed ridden kind of sick. I can manage short grocery trips, preparing quick meals like a sandwich, play video games, and other things that require mild physical or mental effort. I went to the doctor a couple days ago and she didn’t seem too concerned and said people can be positive for the flu for up to a month. Legit just wondering if anyone has any ideas at all why this could be happening. My current theory is I must have or had something else along with the flu at the beginning like food poisoning or a mild stomach bug. But yeah I’m at a loss and just want some hope that I’ll feel better soon cause I’m going crazy. Any suggestions on what to do would be helpful.

This week I have been coughing a bit, and yesterday my symptoms were the worst: cough, runny nose, and sweats. I have been taking medication and staying home to rest. I decided to take a COVID test just to rule that out, and the test also included a Flu A/B test. It came back positive for Flu B, and my graduation is tomorrow. All of my relatives came to see me walk, but I would hate to get others sick. My friends are saying I should still attend since I haven’t had a fever, but, again, I would hate to get others sick. What is best I do?

Symptoms started Tuesday morning; body aches, chills, fever, headache.
Wednesday was okay enough to work, but still didn’t feel great.
Thursday felt like absolute garbage again and went to Urgent Care where they did a strep and covid test.
Today they called back and said I tested positive for the flu and prescribed theraflu.

I thought they only prescribed that within 24-48 hours? Nonetheless I’m glad I got it prescribed.

I will say I am feeling a lot better today, actually able to get out of bed and eat small meals. Hopefully the worst of it has passed.