Flu-Like Illnesses and Their Common Symptoms

Every year when winter comes sickness levels increase and you'll notice family, friends and workmates being struck down with sniffles, sneezes, coughs and fever. Indeed, they'll invariably turn to Facebook and offer statuses melancholy with flu complaints. The news will be replete with warnings about how the elderly should hurry to their GP and get their flu jab, especially before the real cold weather hits. In short, the flu season will be upon us and an epidemic will sweep the nation.

However, though some may feel as though they have influenza, this really might not be the case at all... and flu is in fact likely to be the unlikely illness! Ultimately, there are many illnesses that can mimic the symptoms of the flu without actually being the flu virus itself. And so, to put your mind at ease, here's an overview on flu-like illnesses and what their common symptoms are.

Influenza is without a doubt a nasty illness and can be incapacitating due to how it will affect the body in general. Flu-like illnesses and influenza do indeed have a great deal of symptom crossover, and so this begs the question is there really a difference between the two? Well yes, there is; however, the common symptoms of both will generally include the following:

• an increase in body temperature leading to excessive sweating
• the body feeling very achy and even moving around can hurt
• consistent coughing, a sore throat and excessive sneezing attacks
• headaches will increase and will vary in severity.

And so, while you may not have the flu, you will definitely feel like you do and essentially your bed is your best friend and you need to rest and take on lots of liquids to assist your recovery.

Nevertheless, while a flu-like illness is likely to be the common cold or viral infection, there are many serious illnesses that can masquerade as the flu and be just as dangerous... if not more so in some cases. Some of the illnesses that display the same kind of symptoms include pneumonia, malaria, and meningitis - all of which will be deadly without treatment. Though there may be other more specific symptoms involved with these other conditions, you need to see a doctor right away if you start coughing up blood, are sensitive to lights, break out in a rash, or you get a particularly incapacitating headache that slowly worsens.

And that's the moral to take from this article. We all joke about man-flu and tease those people who complain at the slightest sign of a sniffle. But there are many dangerous conditions that start off slight, but become extremely serious. Better safe than sorry and so if you become seriously ill (or a loved one does), don't let pride get in the way and visit your GP immediately. It really could be the difference between life and death.

For more information about flu like illnesses and how to treat them, please visit http://www.patient.co.uk/health/flu-like-illness

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