How many of you get flu shots

[brians2000]

I plan on getting my flu shot this Friday. I could not imagine getting the flu with my breathing problems and a bad back. The back pain is bad enough so the thought of having the flu is scary. Brian

[Kathi49]

Brian,

I don't get them for various reasons. But, plenty of people do. :)

[gambles]

I don't get them because getting to the doctor is too painful in its own right and I have to go often enough as it is. I might feel differently if I was out and about and lived a normal life.

Suzanne

[Sunshine2]

I just got mine yesterday.

[Kathi49]

Suzanne,

I HOPE you don't mind but I busted out laughing at what you wrote. Too true! No, really, the main reasons I don't get them are basically two...

One, the last two times I had one I had a bad reaction. Not sick really...just a bad reaction.

Two, NOT REALLY SURE...but since I have neurological issues anyway, I just don't want to risk more. How true all of that is or the things I have read, I don't know...but I don't want to find out either. But it is something I should be asking my Neurologist; just never talked about it before.

And, besides all that I usually hibernate. And, yes, I know...I can get the flu anyway from someone else.

I will say my mom is off and running this week to get hers because she is all for them. :)

[houghchrst]

I don't get them though I have considered it. I am an asthmatic but I rarely get sick. Usually if I do it is a minor cold and they are few and far between. Maybe once every 1 1/2 - 2 yrs do I get the flu. Besides when I told the nurse I was allergic to feathers she said I shouldn't get one LOL. Who knew.

[BrokenBladder]

I haven't gotten mine yet but I intend to. I don't have alot of contact with people but I do have two teenagers and I feel I should get it.

[Tbackpain1]

I get both the Flu shot and the pneumonia vaccines, for a number of reasons. Partly it's habit, since I would get them yearly when I worked in hospital, because the last thing I wanted was to pick up a bug from work. Partly its because the years that I missed getting them I ended up with severe pneumonia and with the T-spine issues, my coughing and breathing is a bit less effective than it should be.

My PCP supports the decision that I get them because even though I'm young and otherwise healthy, my spine problems and the issues associated with it do put me at risk. Given that I've had chronic bronchitis in the past and the bouts with other respiratory ills, I'd rather get the shots and have some degree of immunity than none at all.

Theresa

[ErinENj]

I got mine! Just to be on the safe side.

I got one last year in this really cool experiment my county did. My father is a fireman, and they had this program where first responders and their families could participate, and any family or etc the responder brought got a shot for $10, while the first responder was free. The experiment was that it was drivethru. Literally. I drove, so I drove up, filled out paperwork while waiting in line with my dad, then pulled into the county garage, stuck my arm out the window, and then since it was my first one, we had to pull over and wait a little bit to make sure I didn't get a bad reaction, and then drove home. It was really, really cool.

This year, I paid $25 for mine at a local Visiting Nurse Association rummage sale. It was really easy. The only side effect I had was that my arm hurt for a little less than a week. It's still a little tender, but it's not bad. I wanted to make sure I got it because we all are considered a high risk group due to our chronic condition. So I figured I'd rather be on the safe side. You never know. So I sucked it up and got the lovely shot in the arm and that was it. Done. And it was even more convenient because I was there working.

I get bronchitis with some regularity, at least a case a year, but I think it's because I'm a smoker (yes, I know. Please, I know. Once I figure out if I'm getting fired or not and once I get settled if I do or don't, I'm planning of trying to quit.). But I don't want to take the chance and hacking really doesn't do fantastic things for my spine. I was a girl scout for too long: Be Prepared. Girl scout motto. Words to do somethings by, not a motto persay, but words to take into consideration....

[Gymnast_Navy_Wife]

Haven't gotten mine yet--- didn't realize it was almost flu season until last week, lol. I plan on getting one next week if I can....

[Kira]

I get one every year. The one year I didn't get it, I got the flu BAAAAD... fevers up to 104 even with tylenol and motrin... coughing and coughing... just on the couch, useless, buring up, horrible muscle pain, dark urine (the last two are rhabdo symptoms for me). I got a CPK drawn during that week and it was high but not scary high... so just layed around, etc. That was before I had a doctor who too my rhabdo stuff seriously. I have a feeling that if the same thing happened with the doctor I have today, he would have me admitted to the hospital for IV D10, aggressive fever control, SpO2 monitoring, following labs closely (electrolytes, bicarb, kidney function).

Anyway, the fact that I got SOOO sick the one year I didnt' get my flu shot... that makes me realize that they may actually do quite a bit of good.

[terrapin_station]

Personally, I do not receive them. I did once awhile back and I became so sick. I have known lots of other folks who became ill as well.

I have heard that some of these vaccines contain what is known as Thimerosal which is essentially a Mercury based preservative. The reports say that it is harmless but in my opinion those reports are complete bull.

As far as I am concerned there is no such thing as a safe level of Mercury.

[Ted Hutchinson]

Those people (like me) who decide NOT to have a flu jab really do have to ensure their immune status remains high throughout the Winter.
Epidemic Influenza and vitamin D (http://www.vitamindcouncil.com/newsletter/2006-oct.shtml) and maybe be prepared by having at hand very high strength Vit d (http://www.vitamindcouncil.com/newsletter/2006-nov.shtml)

This article The antibiotic Vitamin (http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20061111/bob9.asp) has some useful references but since it was published there has been more that confirms this approach is justified.

It isn't just colds/flu that get going in the winter. So does breast cancer (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=17028983),.... prostate cancer (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=17624920) ............lung cancer (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=17207891) ........and colon cancer (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=15708515)
So even if you do decide to have a flu jab it is still sensible to take sufficient Vitamin D3 to maintain your high summer status throughout the winter.
most UK residents drop to 40nmol/L from November to March.
Each 400iu/d vitamin D3 raises status by on average 9nmol/L
To get from 40nmol/l to 137.5nmol/L (the level associated with least cancer incidence) requires nearly a hundred nmol/L increase
That is why I personally take 5000iu daily Cholecalciferol Vitamin D3.

[OriAl]

Every year.

[ErinENj]

This may sound like a dumb question, but I have a question about the shot. I got my shot a week and a day ago. I was okay, the only problem I had was that my arm hurt like no tomorrow for a few days. But for the past two or three days, I've been hacking pretty badly, which could simply be something to do with my smoking (yes, I know, but it's been a stressful few days....I may lose my job in the next two weeks....I got a written warning this week. Not good..). But tonightm I've just been feeling horrible. I'm coughing badly and my chest just feels tighter than usual. And I just feel like crap. I keep getting these flashes where it feels like my head is in an oven. I don't know if it's a fever (I haven't had a fever in something like 10 years. I can be as sick as a dog, stomach flu, bronchitis, you name it, but no fever ever. Just my usual body temp of about 95-96 degrees.) or just some new freakish thing my body is doing to me. Could it be the flu shot? Could it have gotten me sick? I haven't the slightest clue where I put the paperwork I got when I was given the shot, so I can't look it up in there.

Anyone have any ideas? Or am I just a weirdo? Could be the second one. It's entirely possible, but I know they inject an inactive version of the bug, so could the bug make me sick anyway?

[BrokenBladder]

Erin,
It's my understanding that you can actually end up with the virus onxe you get the shot. I would suggest calling the place where you got it and asking them.

[Mark N]

I know it may not be a result of the flu shot I had in the Marine, we didn't have a choice, but I was the sickest I have every been for three weeks after getting one so I don't get them any more.

Since I don't have much contact with people there isn't a good reason to have one. I could get it from my family but can protect myself from them pretty well.

[Kathi49]

Erin,

I just don't know. :( But I would call and ask.

Mark,

What you said in your last paragraph is pretty much the way I feel. And also because I tend to hibernate in the winter. But all it would take is a simple trip to the grocery store or something. :eek: But as I said, the two times I did get one (free shots from the clinic at work) I might as well say I felt very sick. But to me it felt more like a reaction of some sort. I don't get it. But I stopped getting them after that 2nd time.

Oh, and I forgot...every time my daughter or husband would come home hacking and coughing, I would Lysol everything in my house...especially the doorknobs and such. I know...crazy...but at least it kept the risk down. :)

[Ted Hutchinson]

This may sound like a dumb question, but I have a question about the shot. I got my shot a week and a day ago. I was okay, the only problem I had was that my arm hurt like no tomorrow for a few days. But for the past two or three days, I've been hacking pretty badly, which could simply be something to do with my smoking (yes, I know, but it's been a stressful few days....I may lose my job in the next two weeks....I got a written warning this week. Not good..). But tonightm I've just been feeling horrible. I'm coughing badly and my chest just feels tighter than usual. And I just feel like crap. I keep getting these flashes where it feels like my head is in an oven. I don't know if it's a fever (I haven't had a fever in something like 10 years. I can be as sick as a dog, stomach flu, bronchitis, you name it, but no fever ever. Just my usual body temp of about 95-96 degrees.) or just some new freakish thing my body is doing to me. Could it be the flu shot? Could it have gotten me sick? I haven't the slightest clue where I put the paperwork I got when I was given the shot, so I can't look it up in there.

Anyone have any ideas? Or am I just a weirdo? Could be the second one. It's entirely possible, but I know they inject an inactive version of the bug, so could the bug make me sick anyway?
Chronic stress alters the immune response to influenza virus vaccine in older adults. (http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pubmed&pubmedid=8610165) While this research used carer's of people with demetia as a model for people under stress, the same altered immune response to vaccine may occur in someone with chronic stress (long term condition) aggravated by extra tension (work related stress).