“FLU” AND “FLU-LIKE SYMPTOMS”. Nick commented on my post a couple days ago about how dangerous the flu can be: “Not to be melodramatic, but whenever I read about some exotic or rare disease which can be lethal, it seems as though the symptoms are always initially described as “flu-like.”
We used to say somewhat cynically when a pitcher was reported to have “tendonitis”, that that meant that they had no idea of a diagnosis. Similarly, the frequently used “flu-like symptoms” on an injury report for players seems to be a catchall which means that they don’t know what it is.
However, it seems that “flu-like symptoms” often is the best they can do. A doctor once told me that there were only a few signals that a body could use to tell us about an illness, which was why diagnosis could be so difficult.