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Symptoms

Is it a cold or flu?

Flu is often confused with a bad cold, but they are in fact quite different. Both are respiratory illnesses, but they are caused by different viruses. Unlike the common cold, there are specific medicines that can attack the flu virus. Cold symptoms usually start gradually and tend to be much less severe. Typical symptoms of a cold include a stuffy or runny nose, a sore throat, sneezing and a productive cough.

Flu, on the other hand, affects the whole body and is much more serious. Flu symptoms strike suddenly and consist of a fever, body aches, dry cough, and extreme tiredness. Their effects can be debilitating. While most people can recover from a cold in two to three days, it can take two weeks or even longer for people to recover from flu.

How do I know if I have flu?

Can you tell the difference between the symptoms of flu and the common cold? To find out if your symptoms are likely to be associated with flu, use the symptoms at-a-glance table below.

SYMPTOM  COLD FLU
Fever Rare Usually present
Aches  Slight Usual, often severe
Coughing Absent or may develop hacking, productive cough  Dry, unproductive cough
Tiredness Mild Moderate-to-severe
Sudden symptoms Appear gradually Can appear suddenly (within 3-6 hours)
Chills  Uncommon Fairly common
Sneezing Common  Uncommon
Stuffy or runny nose Common  Uncommon
Sore throat Common May be present
Chest discomfort Mild-to-moderate Often severe
Headache  Uncommon Common

 

Think you have flu?

Remember it's important to act fast when you start experiencing flu symptoms! By acting as soon as possible after symptoms appear, flu can be beaten with antiviral treatments available on prescription from your doctor.

  • "I would describe flu as something that makes you feel very, very ill. You get a headache, aching bones, and are generally fed up"
  • "When I get flu symptoms I feel like a train has run over me"
  • "I felt very sick and, during the first week, I had high temperature. Flu was very different to a cold. I went back to work after two and a half weeks. Then I suffered a setback for another week"
  • "I run a guesthouse; flu would be a real pest for me. I couldn’t cook, I shouldn’t cook, and I wouldn’t cook, so I would need to get a lot of extra help in. It would cost me a lot more money. So flu’s a real problem, a right downturn"
  • "I work on my own and when I can’t work, I have to try not to infect my little children, so they avoid getting the flu as well"
  • "I feel a little numb, like I’m in another dimension. Because in general I have sore throat, headache, I feel all clogged-up. Usually a sensation like I’m floating in the air"
  • "Shivers, sweats, makes you ache. Last time I had flu I was off for two weeks"
  • "I think that I would probably be concerned that I would pass flu onto my children, who might not be able to deal with it as well as I would"
  • "Flu makes you feel like you’ve been hit over the head with a baseball bat. You don’t feel like you can get yourself out of bed as all your energy is drawn from you"
  • "I was incapable of working. It just wasn’t possible at all… and my flu dragged on for more than a week"
  • "I have no strength. It annoys me because I can do nothing, it seems like I’m wasting my time"
  • "Flu’s like being hit by a truck because you feel completely gone. There is no energy left in your body. You are suffering from high temperature. You’re sweating a lot and you feel really unwell"
  • "First of all infinite tiredness, then I feel like sleeping and don’t want to eat"
  • "I felt really miserable because my muscles and my bones were aching. Well, I can hardly describe it, I just felt really awful, absolutely miserable"
  • "It’s like there’s something huge treading on your head, like a deafening noise that destroys the eardrums"
  • "The fever was constantly rising – I immediately measured my temperature as soon as I got home. It was 41°C and it kept rising and I was wondering what’s going on. I was really scared! Everything was hurting and it all happened so fast. Flu came out of the blue"
  • "I always feel like my limbs have iron weights tied to them and I’m going to fall over any minute, a really stuffy runny nose and feel antisocial"
  • "I was totally dependent on others! I was incapable of doing anything at all"
  • "The real flu knocks you for six – you just don’t want to move or do anything. It’s not very nice"
  • "Not being able to go to work. Not being able to do the things I have to do at home and the commitments that I have day by day"