r/flu

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 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 .

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.

Hi! I went to the hospital today and was diagnosed with Flu B. I’ve been feeling unwell since last Thursday, and yesterday I felt so bad that I couldn’t sleep, which is why I decided to go in today.

The doctor gave me only two days of rest, but my symptoms (body aches, headache, etc.) feel quite severe. I’m not sure if I’m being overly sensitive, but I’m wondering whether that amount of rest is typically considered sufficient—especially since I work with people of all ages.

I will take my medication and rest as advised, but I’m concerned it may not be enough. I’d really appreciate your thoughts on this.

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.

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.

38F

55k

173cm

Overall healthy. No meds.

10 days ago I had the flu (fever, headaches, runny nose, cough) that lasted 6 days. Today, day 10 after the first symptoms, I had routine bloodwork done and RBC came back low (3740000), hemoglobin borderline low at 12. Normal WBC and platalets. Could the virus have affected RBC?

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?

I’ve been testing positive for flu B for 16 days now. My symptoms improved for the first week and then plateaued and have stayed the same for the last 10ish days. Luckily my symptoms are not severe. I have no respiratory symptoms or fever. Just a headache, generally feeling sick and gross, and bad fatigue. I’m very confused as to why this is happening. I’m not immunocompromised and I got my flu shot this year. I just want to get back to my normal life :(

My husband and five-month-old baby tested positive for Flu B yesterday; they're on day 5. Neither had been vaccinated. At urgent care, the doctor encouraged my husband to have me book a telehealth appointment and get Tamiflu.

My symptoms started early this morning - sore throat (razor blade feeling), cough that kept me up, chills, horrific headache, body pain in my joints and muscles. Temp is slightly elevated. However, my rapid Flu A/B test was negative. I did receive the Flu vaccine in the fall.
Urgent care prescribed me Tamiflu and said I have 72 hours from symptom onset to take it.

Here's my question: If I'm testing negative, but feeling positive, would you take the Tamiflu??

Recently I’ve been seeing a number of people dealing with persistent brain fog after recovering from flu.

Common symptoms include:
• mental cloudiness
• difficulty focusing
• low energy

What’s interesting is that many of them don’t have any structural issues — labs often come back normal.

From a Chinese medicine perspective, this pattern is often described as:

“clear yang not rising, turbid yin not descending”

In simpler terms:
→ the brain isn’t getting enough “clear” energy
→ while inflammation or metabolic byproducts may be interfering

So instead of treating it purely as a neurological issue, the focus is often on:
• improving digestion
• clearing what we call “dampness”
• restoring overall energy flow

I’ve seen people gradually return to normal over a few weeks once this balance is restored.

Curious if others here have experienced something similar after illness?

I haven't been tested for the flu but I'm sure that what I have is more than a "regular" cold or respiratory virus.

Timeline:

- Tuesday: sore throat, muscles aching, feeling unwell but still working

- Tuesday - Wednesday night: fever

- Wednesday: in bed, coughing, heavy headaches, congested nose, exhausted

- Thursday: in bed, same as Wednesday

- Friday: in bed, same as days before

- Saturday: in bed, same as days before and sinuses are also congested now

I feel terrible, completely exhausted and I don't even have the energy to walk to the toilet. It's been a long time ago a virus hit me like this and I suffer from (health) anxiety and have a very hard time, physically and mentally. Is this still normal for a flu / respiratory virus?

I'm resting and hydrating but there's no improvement at all. I feel terrible. Please help :).