The Land of TWS (aka Ian)

I am a woman but I object to the term Man Flu also. I hate any stereotypes as everyone is individual, I have seem many a woman stay off work with a cold claiming it is the flu. I think it is more about the way you were brought up than about any difference in the genders.

I am glad to hear someone with such a sensible attitude to colds and absence from work. Why wipe out the entire workforce by coming in with a really heavy cold? As you yourself know with asthma it can cause really nasty breathing problems with even a fairly mild cold, and a heavy one can bring on a life threatening astma attack in vulnerable people. I know the truth of this, my mother would be hospitalised twice a year regularly with severe and life threatening asthma attacks triggered by a cold virus turning to bronchitis.

[quote]a cold virus [b]turning to bronchitis[/b][/quote]
It's somewhat fitting that you mention that- this had never happened to me before as far as I can remember, but today, I've been confirmed by the doctor as having a marked chest infection. My asthma is pretty mild so just mild treatment is normally enough to keep me above 85% of peak flow at all times, barring a heavy cold which might bring it down to 80% on occasion. But this morning it fell as low as 60%- so chest infections can cause symptoms to spiral even in mild cases.

I read somewhere that women take more days off work ill on average than men, but regardless, your post is a good one. It's another example of everything in moderation, in this instance caution about health.

I have bit of a cold at the moment, had it for bout 1 week.

I can still work and not 100% but don't need to be off work cause of it, have a laugh and joke with some colleges bout man flu.

I have asthma also so have to be careful in case it gets on to my chest.

Real men don't catch the flu

Finally getting better after a week of feeling ill due to that chest infection!