PLEASE GET YOUR FLU SHOT!!

Okay-there it is: the one piece of advice me, a died-in-the-wool needlephobe, would neer predict I'd be giving. This coming Monday will enter the 5th week of this perfect storm of stubborness, near recoveries and over the counter non-miracles. Or "How I Almost Made My Wife A Widow in Three Easy Weeks". Yes, I am on the road to recovery. No- I did not have a compromised immunity system.
I work with the General Public and we do pretty well controlling the vectors thru antiseptic surface cleaners, air filitration, etc. but every once in a while, you take a hit. One of my supervisors came in one day not quite on his game and he complained of slight cold symtoms. In time the other supervisor also exhibited the same. It was no surprise, I did also in due time. I work alongside my crew with high-fives, handshakes, fist bumps and the lot. We work hard, we sweat and we go home. The rest of the crew is a third to half my age and I'm sure some came to work 'under the weather', but determined and dedicated.
My story?? While it seems the rest of the crew was unscathed or merely uncomfortable, I lost a few grand in work time over three weeks and suffered thru what I thougth was A) a head cold, B) A sore throat, C) a chest cold, D) Strep Throat, E) Sinus infection, F) Bronchial Pneumonia and finally G) a two day fever induced meltdown that finally got me to the Doctor's office. I'd lost 10 lbs (6'2" 180 lbs) and they really feared damage of some sort from the high fever and extended sickness. They even tested for West Nile and Malaria.
While the holes in my head are still evident, heart and lungs are clear. I was proud to say i had quit smoking, even though it was this year and not as impressive as if I'd done when the dinosuars still roamed, I'll take it anyways. This past month has been an entire waste,with no rocket building, no designing, nothing except stumbling in the door and collapsing into bed (when I could actually get up to go in the first place) and hoping 'it will get better'. Didn't the Scots say the same thing about the English some time back??
The Moral??? Get a Flu Shot. I did not like to do this at all and prolly wouldn't have this year. My wife does each and ever year. I realized it's just not for my health, but for those around me also. There mite be some little old lady out there just one quart lower than whatever reserves i had whom this could have ruinious consequences for. I acknowledge I am a chickensticker, but I've changed my ways in experience of this. I promise I'll get a shot every year so I never inflict this on anyone else. Ironically, flu shots start next week and I have to wait a month! Do it!

I am glad you are doing better now and took time to share this.

Here on the forum there has been debate about effectiveness and safety of flu shots, with some participants suffering from lack of accurate info. Bottom line is flu shots typically protect anywhere from 60%-90% of those who are vaccinated in any given year, which is quite substantial for something that takes moments to do, is available free or at low cost, and side effect risks are minor. Flu shots are among the most studied and most beneficial health interventions in human history.

Flu shot. Just do it.

Marc

I was ill three times last year. The last time was the worst. I usually get a shot, but work schedule made it hard. The stupid thing is, I missed more work from being sick than I would have for taking the time to see the doc. I got a shot this year and have been aok. Won't be missing it again.

I am still debating about getting one this year. After the shot I got 2 years ago I experiences a mild tingling on the bottom of my feet which can be a sign of an autoimmune reaction. I skipped getting one last year due to this and I am still debating about getting one this year.

Every time I get a flu shot, I get the flu. The last one turned south real bad. I won't do it again.

I got the nasal mist version Friday. It is not that bad. If you are eligible, you get to avoid the needle.

cwbullet said:

I got the nasal mist version Friday. It is not that bad. If you are eligible, you get to avoid the needle.

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...what do you mean, "eligible"? I have walked out of immunization lines, skipped dentists, avoided needles any way possible so aerosols interest me.

It is not an aerosol. It is a small amount of fluid injected in each nostril.

There are rules: This big one is you have to 49 or younger but older than 2 years. Just go get a Flu Vaccine. They will make sure you get the right immunization.

After all the shots I got in the Navy, I very seldom get sick. My wife is always coming home sick with something, do to the fact she works in a government cube farm, and the woman in the cube next to her enjoys spreading whatever she catches at church. My wife gets mad at me 'cause I never get sick. I get Flu shots when they are free of as near to free as I can afford. I always make my wife get the shot because she is always getting sick from her co-worker.

Yep, in the Navy, we don't really have a choice. We get our shots. After 10 years in, I don't even ask what I'm getting anymore. Doc just sees me, tells me I need a shot, and I just roll my sleeve up. Once a year or so, I'll get a pretty decent cold, but I don't think I've ever had the flu.

Only once, in my life, have I given up myself to needles and that was when I had a perforated appendix...for about 6 weeks...they tell me. They were sucking things out and pumping things into me to this day I'm not sure of. I learned not to read the bottles of stuff they were pumping into me. Scary stuff.

I'm just going Japanese. In the winter they wear surgical-type masks in public. I shop at 4AM as it is, no one in the stores. I'll just hide it under scarf's that are pulled up.

It was much worse when I was driving taxi's. Rolling infectious desease carriers is what they are. In so many end-of-the-world movies taxi's are one of the main ways of spreading lethal viruses through cities and, boy, are they right

grouch said:

Every time I get a flu shot, I get the flu. The last one turned south real bad. I won't do it again.

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The flu vaccine doesn't give you the flu. Coincidence does not imply causation.

No way man, I live on the edge.

Marc_G said:

The flu vaccine doesn't give you the flu. Coincidence does not imply causation.

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most who think they got the Flu actually caught a cold. Influenza is much more severe than most of us have ever had.

I'll be getting one as soon as I can. Too many other health issues that combined with influenza could turn life threatening in a hurry.

Thanks for the reminder! Hard to believe it's already that time of year again.

Marc_G said:

The flu vaccine doesn't give you the flu. Coincidence does not imply causation.

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Your right......but, WHATEVER they shot us up with back in the US Air Force in the 80's caused me to be "Drop to my knees sick" with a horrible cold for 3-4 days.

EVERYTIME......

Since i left the military 20 years ago i've had NO SHOTS a few minor colds and, NO FLU.....I didn't appreciate my immune system getting "jacked with" for all those years.

I'm am glad your ok though fyrwrxz....

I've gotten a flu shot for the past few years because a couple of doctors and my wife insisted. I didn't get the flu but I have no idea if I would have gotten it if I didn't get the shot. However, let me say that I'm pretty sure that no one in the world has a bigger needle phobia than I do and it was nothing.

SS/EA 6BBL 71 Cuda said:

Your right......but, WHATEVER they shot us up with back in the US Air Force back in the 80's caused me to be "Drop to my knees sick" with a horrible cold for 3-4 days.

EVERYTIME......

Since i left the military 20 years ago i've had a NO SHOTS a few minor colds and, NO FLU.....I didn't appreciate my immune system getting "jacked with" for all those years.

I'm am glad your ok though fyrwrxz....

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That is usually a coincidence. Temporal relationships are not always causal in medicine.

That being said, the flu shot can occupy your immune system and make it more likely you will catch a cold. Even with this, it is better to catch the cold than die of influenza.

We go through this every year...

If you want it, get it...

I don't, I WON'T, and THAT IS *MY* RIGHT...

Do whatever you want... and I reserve the right to do the same... Don't do it just because someone "tells you to".

Later! OL JR

Sorry No flu shot here either!
I've read a couple stories of how shots for infants are causing food allergies.


JD

op:

I have absolutely no issue with needles. Good thing since I get stuck every couple of weeks. However, I never get a flu vaccine because I do not get viral illnesses as a rule. Cold or flu, I just don't get them, so I don't bother. However, the crazy thing is every time I go to the doctor they ask if I have had the shot. When I tell them no they NEVER ask me if I would like one.

Gotta love the logic...

cwbullet said:

That is usually a coincidence. Temporal relationships are not always causal in medicine.

That being said, the flu shot can occupy your immune system and make it more likely you will catch a cold. Even with this, it is better to catch the cold than die of influenza.

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I wish i could have understood the full effect of what happened but, i do know that they had too stagger the dosage timing in our squadron due too the fact that so many of our Airman suffered the same dilemma.
I do believe in the power of modern medicine, i do believe in the power of the human mind/body also....
I've always felt that one should make their own call on this one though. I like too add more Zinc and, Vitamin C to my diet at the latter part of the year, as Fall approaches.....Of course in my case, i overdress for the elements too. I work both equally indoors and, outside and have found that it seems too help me.
You are right Chuck, dying of Influenza is not a good thing.:jaw:

I havent had a flu shot in 5 years.. (Im 15)
Ive only ever had flu once and it was back when I was 13 (ooo such a long time P)
It was a mild case of B Flu so I cant say Ive ever had the experience of suffering as you had..
Hope I never will :blush:
Although I am horribly prone to getting strep throat. I was getting it roughly 12 times a year until I got my tonsils removed back when I was 11. I still get strep throat about once a year still, without tonsils...
Im also extremely prone to sinus infections as Ive got deformed sinuses. Ive pretty much got a sinus infection at least once every 2 months, those suck!

Odo said:

I havent had a flu shot in 5 years.. (Im 15)
Ive only ever had flu once and it was back when I was 13 (ooo such a long time P)
It was a mild case of B Flu so I cant say Ive ever had the experience of suffering as you had..
Hope I never will :blush:
Although I am horribly prone to getting strep throat. I was getting it roughly 12 times a year until I got my tonsils removed back when I was 11. I still get strep throat about once a year still, without tonsils...
Im also extremely prone to sinus infections as Ive got deformed sinuses. Ive pretty much got a sinus infection at least once every 2 months, those suck!

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Sounds like my wife... she's had recurrent sinus infections for decades... she finally had her tonsils out a year or two ago. She had/has tonsil stones from time to time-- hard little pebbles of "gunk" that she has to pick out of the tubes at back of her throat just above/behind the tonsils with a toothpick... they plug up the drains from the sinuses and cause fluid to back up, causing chronic sinus infections.

Poor Keira has signs of that too... she had tonsil stones when she was 2 or 3, but luckily she hasn't had much issues with it over the last few years... hopefully she's outgrowing it and hopefully it will stay that way...

Later and good luck! OL JR

Glad you are feeling better, fyrwrxz.

I've got mixed feelings about the flu shot.

Generally I do not get the flu or even severe colds. Every few years I get a bug, but usually not that bad. When I was in the corporate world, my company paid for flu shots, and I would get them. The oddest one was a drive-thru flu shot where I stayed in the car and stuck my arm out the window for the shot. Wierd. I never had any adverse reactions to the shot, but I never had much trouble with flu before or after either.

My wife's company also used to give out free flu shots, and one year the nurse who gave the shot jabbed the needle in very deep into the joint of my wife's shoulder. My wife mentioned to me how painful it was the day she got the shot. The next day she had pain and swelling in the joint that continued to get worse and worse, causing severe soulder pain. Eventually she saw her regular doctor who referred her to an orthopedic surgeon. He diagnosed a shoulder impingment and prescribed a series of cortisone injections and physical therapy. After several months of the shots, he recommended surgery. My wife was having none of that. She insisted on more cortisone shots and more PT. Eventually she got better. But since that experience, she has never gotten another flu shot.

The other event that gives me pause is the experience of my good friend's mother who got a flu shot in the 70 's and had an extremely severe neurological reaction to it. For years I never really knew the story behind why his mom was so sick during our childhood, but recently my friend told me that it began with some kind of swine flu shot. She ended up partially paralyzed for some time and basically bedridden for years. There were definitely some other health issues and psychological issues complicating the whole thing, but my friend's family feels it was the shot that triggered a cascade of bad effects that ultimately ruined their mother's life.

Anywhooo... I am not a doctor, and I do not want to turn anyone away from the flu shot, if it is appropriate for you. For myself, I feel I am reasonably healthy and young enough I will survive any normal flu. I also work at home, and I'm responsible when I get sick, so my exposure from others and to others is minimal. If there is a super scary strain that emerges and as I get older, I'll reconsider it. But for now I'm not planning on getting the shot.

billspad said:

However, let me say that I'm pretty sure that no one in the world has a bigger needle phobia than I do and it was nothing.

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...wanna bet?

JDcluster said:

Sorry No flu shot here either!
I've read a couple stories of how shots for infants are causing food allergies.


JD

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Are you an infant?

dave carver said:

...wanna bet?

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At this point I'm probably no longer the world's biggest needle phobic. A few years ago I found it necessary to have blood drawn a couple of times a year followed by a few days in a hospital (for no good reason) with an IV stuck in my arm and blood drawn daily from the other arm. That cured my phobia quickly. Needles still creep me out but they no longer have to make sure I'm sitting in such a way that I won't hit the ground if I pass out.