[DasIch]

Don't mistake the flu for a cold. A cold is an inconvenience, the flu kills between a few thousand to tens of thousands of people, depending on which strain is currently dominant, every season in the US alone. You don't have to be particularly old or young for it to kill you either, quite a few otherwise perfectly healthy adults also manage to get to be unlucky.

[quantumhobbit]

This. DO NOT FUCK WITH THE FLU. Seriously it can be so much worse than you think.

My wife is a surgeon and works with legitimately sick people every day. The result of which is she typically has no sympathy for me when I get sick. As in "Can you please make less noise when you are vomiting. I'm trying to sleep here". No sympathy, except when I got the flu. I've never seen her that worried, because she knew from experience that the flu can kill you.

Parent almost certainly had a cold if it was gone in 24hrs.

[brianwawok]

Many different strains of flu. A healthy adult would be expected to have a smaller reaction.

[quantumhobbit]

Depends on the strain. Some strains affect healthy adults worse than the sick. A fit 20 year old can have worse time than a sickly child or elderly person.

Look up cytokines storms. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cytokine_storm

A strong immune system can be a liability. When I was nearly hospitalized with the flu, I was in my late twenties and in the best shape of my life. Which is why I must repeat myself, DO NOT FUCK WITH THE FLU.