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Okay, I gotta ask
Jun. 24th, 2012 07:17 pmI'm not trying to be backhandedly snarky or anything here, I'm just curious: in you guys' experience, is nausea/vomiting a common symptom of having a cold or influenza-type illness?
Because this is something I have run across many times in fanfic (in several fandoms; it's not a single-fandom thing) and it often makes me a bit confused because this is so very, very not my experience. I'm not trying to single anyone out specifically, because this is REALLY COMMON, so common that in fanfic it's practically an iconic cold/flu symptom along with the stuffy head, fever, etc. And I have never had that happen, not even once. The two just don't go together for me. I do often feel a little nauseated on the first couple days of a cold, but it's just because my whole body feels off and I don't really want to eat, not a "bathroom! now!" kind of thing. Or, the one time I had flu, I was sort of "eh, don't really wanna" about eating the whole time, but again, not super nauseated, it's just that I was running a high fever and pretty weak, and felt so all-over bleh that I wasn't really inclined to eat.
I can't figure out if it's a typical h/c-tropish "exaggerating the symptoms" thing (that is, people in fanfic don't ever just get mild fevers, they get HORRENDOUS FEVERS that make them hallucinate, faint and have to go to the hospital -- so naturally if you have a cold, you have to have ALL THE SYMPTOMS even if they aren't generally cold symptoms), or if people are confusing flu with stomach flu because of the similar name, or if this is a common cold/flu symptom I just don't get.
(If this post is grossing anyone out, let me know and I can put it under a cut if you like. I didn't think a cut would be necessary, though, since there's nothing really graphic in it ...)
Because this is something I have run across many times in fanfic (in several fandoms; it's not a single-fandom thing) and it often makes me a bit confused because this is so very, very not my experience. I'm not trying to single anyone out specifically, because this is REALLY COMMON, so common that in fanfic it's practically an iconic cold/flu symptom along with the stuffy head, fever, etc. And I have never had that happen, not even once. The two just don't go together for me. I do often feel a little nauseated on the first couple days of a cold, but it's just because my whole body feels off and I don't really want to eat, not a "bathroom! now!" kind of thing. Or, the one time I had flu, I was sort of "eh, don't really wanna" about eating the whole time, but again, not super nauseated, it's just that I was running a high fever and pretty weak, and felt so all-over bleh that I wasn't really inclined to eat.
I can't figure out if it's a typical h/c-tropish "exaggerating the symptoms" thing (that is, people in fanfic don't ever just get mild fevers, they get HORRENDOUS FEVERS that make them hallucinate, faint and have to go to the hospital -- so naturally if you have a cold, you have to have ALL THE SYMPTOMS even if they aren't generally cold symptoms), or if people are confusing flu with stomach flu because of the similar name, or if this is a common cold/flu symptom I just don't get.
(If this post is grossing anyone out, let me know and I can put it under a cut if you like. I didn't think a cut would be necessary, though, since there's nothing really graphic in it ...)