what’s wrong with flu a?

[u/greiisp]

So last week, I started having a fever, headaches, and fatigue, and it turned out I had Flu A. I haven’t been to school in over a week because I swear I have no idea what’s wrong with my body anymore. The fever and other symptoms have gone away, but I’ve been dealing with this horrible anxiety that just won’t go away no matter what I do.

I constantly feel like I’m about to take a really important exam or go through the most nerve-wracking situation of my life. It’s like my body is stuck in a constant state of nervousness, and I can’t relax. Does anyone else feel this way?

My brother-in-law, who also had the flu, told me he felt the exact same way, super anxious and on edge, and that he still hasn’t fully recovered from that feeling even though he had the flu two weeks ago.
Another thing is that whenever I try to fall asleep, I can’t seem to focus on actually falling asleep. It’s almost like I have multiple people in my head thinking for me, or like my brain is trying to process a million different thoughts at once. I genuinely don’t know how to explain it. Please, someone tell me you understand what I’m talking about because I feel like I’m going crazy.

[u/PhrygianSounds]

Idk if it’s the same thing but this happened to me after I got covid in 2022, and although it’s better now it hasn’t ever fully gone away. It will most likely pass but could take a few more weeks maybe months

[u/greiisp → u/PhrygianSounds]

Something similar happened to me once when I had pneumonia. I was taking some medication that made me feel really awful, almost the same way I’m feeling right now, although maybe a little less intense. But I eventually got through it. Honestly, I’m posting here because hearing other people’s experiences and knowing I’m not alone makes me feel a little better. It’s kind of funny how comforting it can be to know that someone else understands exactly what you’re going through.

[u/informedcitizen4321]

Anxiety after flu lingering is normal. Your nervous system went on full alert to fight the flu. My best advice is to allow yourself grace to recover and look to reduce your anxious thoughts and not try to problem solve your way out of it. The quickest way to recover is to simply rest and let your body heal. You will probably feel on edge for several more days, which can also interrupt sleep, which can also add to your feelings of nervousness.

If you can, look for an over the counter sleep aid to help get some sleep while you recover. Take it easy during the day, no strenuous exercise but just get outside and walk in the sun for 15-20 minutes. No caffeine, eat bland and small meals, watch TV or do something to take your mind off your body.

You'll find that recovering from a hypersensitive nervous system will take time and can be non-linear, as in youll see gradual improvement over the coming days and then maybe have a bad day that feels like you're back to square one. The important thing is to be ok with not being ok, and keep anxious thoughts as low as possible. It will get better, stay positive and take it easy as you can.

[u/greiisp → u/informedcitizen4321]

Hi, thank you so much! I’m honestly trying my best to do all of these things. It’s really hard to stop focusing on my anxiety and my thoughts because I struggle a lot with health anxiety, so it’s definitely not easy.
But I’ve been trying to go on walks, stay off my phone at night, and drink valerian and lemon balm tea before bed, which has actually been helping me feel pretty sleepy. The only problem is that, for now, I can only seem to fall asleep on the couch.
Thank you so much for your kind words. They genuinely made me feel a lot better, and I really appreciate it.

[u/informedcitizen4321 → u/greiisp]

No problem. One thing I found recently that helped is there are Olly "goodbye stress" chews that have GABA, L-Theanine, and lemon balm supplement. During my latest episode, I took one of those and I felt a remarkable change in my nerves being calmer. It only lasts a few hours, but even that partial relief can help a ton to distract from the health anxiety cycle that occurs.

It's ok to struggle with health anxiety, I had to learn though that most of my worst sicknesses and worst feeling seasons of life were due to my own anxious thoughts, you tend to be your own worst enemy in these situations. It's not easy, far from it, to learn to control and move past. But it is possible, and understanding it is key. Sleeping on the couch is perfect, any sleep will help you. Get cozy, wrap yourself in a blanket, and let worry melt away, you'll be better soon enough.

[u/informedcitizen4321 → u/informedcitizen4321]

I also read your other post. The sleep terror awakening is specifically something I had, and have been dealing with off and on for 5 years. The heart racing, high BP, low sleep anxiety cycle is all too familiar. I just had another episode of this two weeks ago. But recovery is quicker as I've figured out that its completely tied to anxious thoughts and feelings. The more I focused on my symptoms, the worse off I got, the more sleep proved difficult. Your brain is trying to protect yourself from a "threat" that doesn't exist. The cycle I had to break was learning not to engage with symptoms. Heart pumping hard? Uncomfortable, but fine. Heart racing? Uncomfortable, but fine. Nerves rattled? Uncomfortable, but fine. Not sleeping well? Uncomfortable, but fine. It took a lot of effort, but convincing myself I'm fine even when I'm not helped to lower anxious thoughts feeding into the hypersensitive nervous system.

Being scared of sleep was my very first initial episode 5 years ago. I think I went 5 nights sleeping only 2 hours total. I convinced myself that falling asleep was somehow dangerous. It made everything worse. If you get bad, a doctor can write a prescription for hydroxyzine which helps sleep and anxiety. That generally helped me get back to having some sleep, though I struggled longer with the thoughts because I didn't understand what was going on. I tried a lot of things, and really it was an anxiety spiral that I didn't understand.

The good news is it'll never be worse than this. Once you understand how your anxiety and fear feeds these feelings, the better you can manage and control them and know that its ok. Sometimes you can't help but get into these ruts, but you have everything you need to get out and return to normal. The only bad part is it does take some mental work and it can be very exhausting for a time.

Best of luck recovering and moving past, it's been just a short time for you so I have hope you will recover in short order, also because you're young. There is always help if you need it, don't be afraid to talk to a doctor about what you're gong through, they should be able to understand some of it and help you with meds if you need a crutch.

[u/Best_Inflation4051]

I think it’s residual nerve inflammation. Try anti inflammatory diet, cleanse, ibuprofen etc

[u/Gold_Confusion_5311]

Echoing the commenter above. It’s inflammation, likely neuroinflammation. Going through the same thing after catching covid 2 months ago. Wouldn’t be able to tell you how long until you feel better. It’s been months for me but it’s not nearly as bad as it was 2 weeks after recovering.

[u/Equivalent-Force-191]

I am in the same boat! I'm super anxious, and it feels like I'm about to have a heart attack or anxiety attack (I've never had a heart attack, but I have had an anxiety attack before, and it sucks). I'm having chest pain, backaches, sharp pains all over, and bad ear pain. Nurse said there's no ear infection, but it feels terrible.

I went to the gym yesterday and burned 500 calories. It felt great after...nut today I'm feeling super weak and like if I exercise hard, I'm going to end up doing something bad to myself.

[u/itsmari__]

Oh my goodness, YES!!! I tested positive for Influenza A on October 6th and the first five days were absolutely brutal. Crazy fevers, horrible body aches, headaches, you name it. Just when I thought I was getting better, I started experiencing the worst shortness of breath.
I literally can’t even walk around a store without feeling like I just ran two miles. I’ve been to the ER FOUR times, had CT scans, bloodwork, EKGs, chest X-rays and EVERYTHING keeps coming back normal.
I also keep getting this weird, sharp pain on the left side of my chest, around where my heart is, which obviously makes my anxiety even worse. And what’s frustrating is that every time I look up these symptoms, google tells me to go straight to the ER but every time I go, they tell me everything looks fine. 😭
I was super active before this. I loved running and working ou and now even basic activities leave me breathless. My family keeps telling me it’s anxiety but I genuinely feel like I can’t breathe, which then triggers even more anxiety.
Reading this makes me feel so much less alone because I’ve genuinely felt like I’m going crazy. I don’t know what it is about this flu, but I’ve never experienced anything like it. I’m just praying we all feel normal again soon!