Got Your Flu Shot Yet...?

[CBulla]

Glad I could provide some information Don! I run a theory of never telling another what to do, only providing information for them to make an educated decision.

 

[GQMedic]

Bro, You had the flu? Ok, that settles it, I'm gunna get my flu shot!

PhotoTJ once bubbled...
...I have already had the flu this year. Seems like every year, I get the flu, am sick for a week, and a week later hear about flu shot being offered. Actually, I'm starting to think that that's how they decide to give flu shots. :doctor: "Oh, did you hear? TJ has the flu, the season must be starting, we can give the shots now."

Oh, well.

 

[bwerb]

when I hear people compair a shot for polio and smallpox with the flu vaccine. Polio and smallpox were very specifically targeted and yes, due to the vaccinations, have been eliminated (more or less). I have no problem with specifically constructing vaccinations for targeted viruses but...influenza...apples to oranges.

No way, this is a total crapshoot. You have basically a "best guess" as to what "might" be coming down the pipe. No thanks, I'll take my chances with my own immune system. My wife did infant newborn immunization studies for years, I have a real issue with some of the misinformation the "anti-immunization" zealots throw around concerning these shots but I just don't believe that the flu shot is in any way truly targeted for what you will be exposed to. You are likely going to feel crappy if you get the shot and crappy if you get the flu. If I don't get the shot and don't get the flu...I can feel fine.

 

[SueMermaid]

My company makes FluMist, the new intranasal vaccine. They offered it to us, gratis. Did I take it? Nooooo. Did I get the flu already? Heck yeah.
It was two weeks of fevery, sneezy, achey, hacking misery.

I will not make the same mistake next year. The flu sucks!

 

[cobaltbabe]

I don't put drugs into my body unless it is a last ditch effort. I agree with bwerb that I will allow my bodies immune system to do what it is designed to do. I have not had the flu in over 5 years.

 

[DandyDon]

GQMedic once bubbled...
Bro, You had the flu? Ok, that settles it, I'm gunna get my flu shot!

I've been on Cozumel for the last week, but read in a paper today on the last plane {I know, can't believe anything in the paper} but there seems to be a one bad strain and severe threats of two others already killing people. Looks like it's going to be a bad year, something like the pandemic we had in 1968.

True, smallpox and polio were different, and the vaccines for them were specific, and - true, the vaccination I got for flu this year is based on the best guess, but I'm glad I have some acquired resistance based on the genetic similarities of the strain I'm vaccinated for and the strains we're currently threatened with.

And true - otherwise healthy people under 50 are not as likely to become serously ill as us older ldguy: people. But it looks like there's still going be some rough times for people who decide against the shots. And those who take the high sounding stand of "I don't put drugs into my body unless it is a last ditch effort," may well not get it, or if they do - not suffer too much, with the real damage being that they'll expose us more vulnerable people more and more.

So, I guess I'll thank you younger ones who do get the shot, so I won't be exposed as much.

don

 

[DandyDon]

It's not so much us OVER 50 ldguy: people who are so much at risk, but more so - children, who haven't been exposed to various strains over the years. While some of my acquired resistance - from past exposures and vaccines - has worn off, many of them have little to work with at all. Therefore, kids are getting hit hard.

When I mentioned to the 30 year old in my office that a flu shot was a good idea, she wasn't interested. When I mentioned that if she got it, I knew she'd still come to work, and expose me; she was not bothered. But when I explained that if she got a flu shot, her children would be safer, then she got interested. Alas, now the vaccine is difficult to find.

Suba Friends, Please - if you come down with the flu, or even think maybe you're getting it, get to a doctor. I forgot to get a shot last year, got the flu, and my physician offered me an effective treatment. He agreed that I might get over it as fast without the treatment, as I had it a while before I gave in and went to see him, but I took it anyway. I had a Cozumel trip approaching.

This year's strain is more dangerous, so please seek treatment early!! If you're going to take risks, travel to exotic place, dive your hearts out, then walk under coconut trees. :tree:

don

 

[divebomb]

It's very serious this year. I've gotten one every year for the past 10. A long time ago, when the virus in the shot was live, some people did get sick with the flu. Now you cannot.

I think some people getting the shot are already coming down with something and they associate the illness they were already getting with the timing of the shot.

For the price of early spring diving trips, I'll take my chances with a shot any day. Of course a simple cold can flush a trip down the toilet too.

Beck

 

[CBulla]

They're out of shots now...

 

[DandyDon]

CBulla once bubbled...
They're out of shots now...

Some places are, and some have supplies. The Dallas newspaper reported good supplies there, and if one calls around, more may be found. It'd be a shame to let stocks go unused because people who wanted them couldn't find them...

Now, the treatments after infection I referrenced earlier here are not miracle cures. I would think that they're worth trying, as bad as flu is this year (we've lost a few kids in Texas), but vaccinations are a much safer bet.

don