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Old 10-09-2007, 03:37 PM   #9
Kitsune
still eats dirt
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Tampa, FL
Posts: 3,031
Quote:
Originally Posted by glatt View Post
I don't think I've ever had the flu. Some years I get the shot, and some years I don't. Maybe it works, maybe not.
I've had it once in my life and I don't get the shots. I've heard a lot of people say they get the flu every year unless they get the shot, but I can only guess that these people seem to think they've got the flu when it is really nothing more than a bad cold.

Hint: unless you have a temp above 103F, are sick for a full week, are rendered completely immobile by the illness and cannot leave bed, and start thinking you'd prefer death by day three then you probably don't have the flu.

I remember the chills of a 104F fever (arms shook so much I couldn't write legibly) and can tell you that there is a reason you "catch a cold" versus "having the flu". It is misery like no other and fully deserves the title.

My old roommate, who has never actually caught the illness, used to complain several times a year that he had the flu when he only saw a peak fever of 101F. He'd walk around achy, sniffling, whining that he was too sick to go to work. Lucky bastard.

If you do catch it, I found it was better to let the damn thing run its course: burrito up in piles of blankets, take hot baths, drink warm beverages. Let the fever soar and burn it off -- you'll suffer many fewer days than someone who keeps their fever down with medication.
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