Flu Shots

[ebrunt]

Definitely need to get it this weekend when I go home. If not then, the weekend after, or very soon. I had the flu a few years ago and I don't want to experience that hell again, so I need it.

[sdecaro558]

I never much saw the reason for getting one.  The only times I generally get the flu are when I get the shot!

[ljrjess69]

i have never gotten a flu shot..not yet ..

[surveysmillenium]

Allright People!! I finally get a chance to talk about this since this is an anonymous board. I am a healthcare professional. Unemployed because I won't let the hospital administrators or insurance companies put me in a position were I might hurt a patient with their absurd demands to treat patients like we are herding cattle. They call me inefficient and I call me cautious and an extreme perfectionist. I do not believe in the flu shot for everyone. Sorry CDC. I do, however, believe in vaccines like tetanus, diphteria, and pertussis, varicella zoster, Mumps, Measles, Rubella...etc. I especially believe in the pneumococcal vaccine for folks over the age of 65. Let me explain how the flu shot is manufactured. It is a guess. They guess which strains are going to be circulating in a particular flu season (From about August-March), and they prepare the vaccine according to a GUESS. The CDC has their little disclaimer that the virus is inactived in the injection form and yada yada so it can't make you sick, but I have had my own patients develop symptoms within 24-48 hours of being injected. Now, it is entirely possible that in August they picked up a cold from somewhere and coincidentally are now sick after getting the flu shot. I saw many of these so called coincidences. Also, the symptoms are generally mild but people consider the flu any kind of congestion or general "icky" feeling. The real flu is high temperatures, chills, nausea, possibly vomiting, diarrhea, and congestion, and it can lead to the person being more susceptible to other organisms. Patients do die from the flu. Getting a normal reaction of a "minor cold" is not what concerns me. What concerns me is Guillain Barre: a devastating neurological disease. All vaccines carry a small risk for this, but the flu vaccine is more strongly associated with this GB syndrome than other vaccines. Why take that risk for a GUESS? Now, when is it appropriate to take that risk:

1. If you have asthma or COPD. You will be in trouble if you get the flu when battling these diseases
2. You are HIV positive or have cancer
3. You are pregnant
4. You are very old or very young
5. People who are morbidly obese
6. You have any condition that if you were to get the flu, you most likely will die.

Healthy humans from 6 years to 64 years should not be taking an unnecessary risk with a vaccine made through guesswork. Instead, as soon as you have the symptoms of the flu, go get seen by a physician so you can get Tamiflu.

[vickysue]

I have had my flu shot already. Hubby gets his this week. He is a sub. teacher at mid and high school. Has already come home with a bad cold. So it is better to safe then sorry. He catches things so easiely. And since has prostate cancer and is on a wait and see list, he has too get the shots. So far his cancer has not progressed. Thank God.

[Keely222]

I've only ever had one flu shot in my life. I actually lived in England until 1 months ago and it's not such a big deal over there, it's more something for the elderly and those working in close contact with vulnerable people like nurses etc. The ad's on TV here in the US almost promote hysteria about the flu, or pretty much anything medical, it's a bit of a culture shock in that respect. I try to keep the drugs and things I take to a minimum if possible.

[tdecet]

I didnt get mine this year.  Not sure if I will be, normally I get one every year.

[Acsucess]

I can't stand flu shots. Getting the shot isn't the problem, its waking up the next morning feeling like you got hit by a bus the day before. The lady warned me that i might be a little achy the next day, but it was a whole lot more than just a little achy. My neck, my wrist, my ankles, my back, it was just all bad.

[Azanne07]

getting mine on the 6th

[alaskakaren]

I didn't feel well for about a week after my flu shot last week...this year I might skip it.  I have asthma so I am someone recommended to get this shot.

[queenofnines]

Considering all the bad ingredients in the flu vaccines (and other vaccines), the KNOWN and REPORTED Adverse Reactions, I'd rather take a chance and get the flu naturally and then become immune to that strain the way nature intended to give us permanent immunity.

It must suck to live your life as a conspiracy theorist and in so much fear. We owe millions of lives to vaccines, and when people stop getting them, we see a resurgence in illnesses that should NOT be a problem in modern society.

[jtrask]

Think I'll get mine Fri - remember several years ago when they didn't have enough vaccine & a lot of people couldn't get one. 

[Phx0808]

I got a flu shot once.... It worked. I got the flu a week later.

[lguzman1]

I want one, but I keep on forgetting to tell my doctor when I go. 

[whittneylooney]

I'm pregnant so I had to get one.