Flu Shots

rickwhitelaw

Barefooters
Apr 27, 2011
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Beryl Utah
Any opinions on getting a flu shot? My whole family went to the clinic to get shots yesterday. A knee jerk reaction to all of the news stories I guess. I did not get one last year or the year before and had no problems, but this year seems different. My kids are bringing home everything from school. I have been lucky and have only had one brief cold.
 
Well, I'm personally dead set against it, but I wouldn't argue with someone who feels the need.
 
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http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/05/reassessing-flu-shots-as-the-season-draws-near/

good article on effectiveness....
I've also heard that the shots are about 60% effective.....I'd rather take my chances and if I get it, my immune system will create a more effective antibody than if I were to get the shot.

Most major issues are with people who are dehydrated or already have some type of per-existing condition. Otherwise its usually just the flu.

just my .02
 
The one year I didn't get a flu-shot I was felled by the virus. For 5 days I did little other than rest/sleep in a darkened room whilst it felt as though someone was tightening a filter wrench around my head.

I did lose about 7lbs - but it's not a weight loss method I would recommend!

I'm not normally sick at all in any given year.
 
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/05/reassessing-flu-shots-as-the-season-draws-near/



Most major issues are with people who are dehydrated or already have some type of per-existing condition. Otherwise its usually just the flu.

just my .02


Yeah, but those could be your loved ones, and you could give it to them. One year, the flu went through my workplace. I alerted my whole building when they were giving them out free, and about half of my colleagues came with me. The ones who didn't... got sick. Very, very sick - most were out more than a week with it.

Except our beloved colleague who was 72. He was out for a month and almost didn't make it. He was "healthy" and incredibly active before, just old. The kicker was that the 72 year old DID get the shot - but since he was 72, it didn't work all that well.

Hope you all live!
 
I get the shot each year, because it's recommended at my workplace. However, my chief strategy is to wash my hands before touching my face and avoiding all people. If I see someone coughing, I run far, far away. Isn't that, after all, the goal of running, to get as far away from other people as quickly as possible?
 
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Flies don't cause dirty garbage cans. Keep your cans clean. Much safer and more effective.
I clean my can once a day...twice if its hot out.
 
I really would not want to take it & am well practised in resisting the pressure from work & from my GP. I opt to manage the germs with a combo of a healthy lifestyle (ermm, ok, if I'm being honest that's a bit hit & miss!), gargling twice a day with mouth wash (honestly, this made a HUGE difference to me) & loading up with appropriate supplements & using a nasal rinse at the first hint of my immune system trying to fight anything. I've gone from feeling like a had a welcome mat laid out for any passing pathogen to barely getting a sniffle since taking this approach. I do see a lot of people who seem to think the flu jab makes them invincible to all flu & even cold germs - funnily enough they tend to get ill.
Saying that, I would take the flu jab to protect others, although only if I knew I was going to be spending time with vulnerable people - sorry if I sound harsh, but in my day-to-day life I think the chance of me passing something on to someone who will be badly affected is an acceptable level of risk.
 
it won't stop you from getting sick. nothing will. i've never had one and never will. i usually get a cold a few times a year. with school placing a lot of stress on me i've been sick twice in two months. still won't take a shot for it. it's your life, you have to make your own decision.
 
Since I began to protect myself with preventive acupuncture at every change of season (traditional chinese seasons), I never came down with flu, but sometimes I do catch a cold nevertheless: runny nose, scratchy throat and some coughs for a week or so, but nothing serious.
 
I get the flu shot every year, because I'm around those who are vulnerable. The last time that I took a sick day was in 2005, and that was due to botched dental work. Once a year, I might get the sniffles and a scratchy throat for a few days, but it's never anything bad. Really, running away from people does work!
 
Only get one if you work with "at-risk" populations -such as anyone with a respiratory problem or immune system problem. Otherwise - nah.
 
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Eat your boogers, it'll keep you just as healthy. When's the last time anyone heard me complain about being sick?
 
Full disclosure: I work at pretty much the highest level of public health in my state. My son got a flu shot, and I usually do and believe in them, but was too lazy to get one this year. I am in great shape and I got it. So did my son, who got the shot. It seems to be effective this year for some but not all of the strains. The last time I got the flu was the swine flu a few years ago, and that was the last time I had not had the flu shot.

This may sound bad, and I am sorry if it is insulting, but most of the sites you find with the anti-immunization leaning are nonsense that is rejected by 99% of the medical community. I think effectiveness can be debated, but unless you have a specific allergy condition, they are safe. It's all fun and games to be "against the man" or whatever, but this nonsense war on immunizations is just that. Complete nonsense. Maybe I should say it in a nice way, but I think the spreading of lies from websites over immunizations over the warnings of medical professionals is more than negligent. If you really don't trust those doctors, I urge you to find a real doctor that you do trust and talk to them. I go to a doctor who knows me and remembers my previous injuries off the top of his head when I come in and trust him. He would not get rich off of a flu shot and was on the medical staff for one of the top football programs in college football (who pay for results), and he urged me to get one, even when I had the flu to not get the other strands. He was probably right.

If you can and have no allergies, I urge you to talk to your doctor, which should lead you to getting a flu shot. Especially those around kids or the elderly. In a crowded society such as ours, you are not just making decisions for yourself, but for the public at large as well.
 
So how many of you flu shot takers feel ill afterwards? Now I know the science, and that the virus is deactivated, can't produce any ill affects, etc but it seems to me that for whatever reason (& there are a lot of other things mixed in with the virus that maybe people could react to) a significant minority (I'm guessing, based on an unscientific sample of colleagues, about 30%) feel dreadful afterwards - last year seemed to be particularly bad, with several people taking time off sick because of it.