Social media contractor Courtney Sit says her bout of flu came on very quickly. Photo / Supplied
It started off with a migraine one evening. The next day Courtney Sit was bedridden with a fever and no energy or appetite.
Her bout of the flu has lasted almost two weeks and she's only just started feeling better.
"There was one point where I just started crying because I had no energy to do anything," she said.
It is the first time the 25-year-old has had the flu since she was 8 and she can't remember it being this bad.
Read more: NZ virus experts sound alert for a tough flu season
Ms Sit, of Remuera, first started feeling ill after Russell Peters' comedy gig at Vector Arena on Wednesday, March 13.
"It hit me really quickly, I'm not really sure why. But I started feeling really sick."
The next morning she felt horrible and had a feeling it was the flu. But she also had stomach aches.
A couple of days later Ms Sit went to the doctor and was prescribed TamiFlu, double-strength Nurofen and an inhaler. It turned out she'd been wheezing without knowing it which caused pain in her diaphragm even though she's not asthmatic.
Her doctor told her to eat what she could and to take the medication with food, but the most she's been able to manage is a spoonful of yoghurt each time she needs to take medication.
Ms Sit, a social media contractor, thinks she's lost about 4 or 5kg since being sick.
"I just looked in the mirror and I just look really sick. My Mum said she thinks my face looks thinner, it's yuck."
She's also been sleeping about 16 hours a day because she has no energy to do anything else, but she quickly grew bored of doing nothing other than watching TV and dozing.
To help pass the time, she started live-tweeting her experience of the flu.
Four days after becoming ill, Ms Sit tweeted: "There are times when I feel like eating but then I know I'll take one look at food and change my mind. I'll take it when I have to with meds."
And one week in, she tweeted: "Forehead warm ... Feet cold ... Under the duvet. What is this madness?"
Ms Sit is hoping that by tomorrow, two weeks after first getting the flu and the longest it's meant to hang around for, that her symptoms will have cleared up.
Live chat
Do you have concerns about flu season? Dr Sue Huang, Head of WHO National Influenza Centre, Institute of Environmental Science & Research, will be answering your questions in a live chat on nzherald.co.nz from midday.
Questions
Send your questions to online-editor@nzherald.co.nz.
Armed police were part of the operation that targeted Flaxmere, Camberley, and Pandora.