Have you had your flu shot?

[boy in a kilt]

I got a flu snort.

The Guard did my annual "yes you have teeth, eyes, blood and all that" a couple of weeks ago. Part of it is bringing me up to date on my shots. After 14 years of this, I'm pretty sure I'm immune to everything except the common cold.

Anyway.

This year the medic handed me a small syringe sans needle and told me to push the plunger while inhaling. Then she handed me another and made me do it again. She assured me that was my flu shot for the year.

If the crap running down the back of my throat is any indication, my stomach won't be getting the flu this year.

[Mr. Bloom]

IMHO a healthy person who doesn't work in a hospital, with kids, or with the elderly, probably shouldn't bother to get a shot.

While I understand your perspective, I'll chime in with a business perspective. My company offers the shots and I always get them.

I think that customers would be very disappointed if they went to the bank and found it closed because all the tellers had the flu

So to me, it's not just about the actual health risk, but a fundamental issue of maintaining business continuity.

[mountainchick]

I got a flu snort.

The Guard did my annual "yes you have teeth, eyes, blood and all that" a couple of weeks ago. Part of it is bringing me up to date on my shots. After 14 years of this, I'm pretty sure I'm immune to everything except the common cold.

Anyway.

This year the medic handed me a small syringe sans needle and told me to push the plunger while inhaling. Then she handed me another and made me do it again. She assured me that was my flu shot for the year.

If the crap running down the back of my throat is any indication, my stomach won't be getting the flu this year.

I think you might have gotten the flu mist (?). The military might be turning to that now rather than the shot.

My job is actually doing research/surveillance onboard large deck Navy ships as well as surveillance at military treatment facilities (medical clinics etc) of influenza.

Wooppee for flu season, maybe now work will pick up!

[Hub]

My husband's hematologist had him take the flu and pneumonia shots a couple weeks ago- he made me get the flu shot as well . . .
They advised us to take tylenol every 6 hours for the 24 hours after we got the shots- wasn't a big problem.

I normally would think of myself as a healthy individual who did not need the shot, BUT my husband has a compromised immune system and I work with little kids in the preschool and big kids here at the University- so i really don't need to take any germs home to him.

[Tuckervill]

I'm like zen...never had the flu, never had the shot.

The last fever I had was from a tick-borne illness and was probably 7 years ago. I consider myself one of the lucky ones. Hubby has had flu shots off and on over the years, but also never had the flu. None of my kids have ever had the flu.

My youngest son didn't get vaccines until he was old enough to consent. The only one he's consented to so far is chicken pox. It was a carefully considered decision not to vaccinate him. Since he doesn't go to school, it's not an issue. I certainly wouldn't make him get a flu shot.

Karen

[HappyAnika]

I have the same opinion of flu shots as LisaS.H. I've never had a flu shot, and I've never had the flu. However, being 6 months pregnant, my OB highly recommends that I get one (at no cost, either through her or through work). I heard of a study of hospital employees in Denver, those that had a flu shot had the same occurence of getting the flu as those that did not get the shot. (I just heard of this study, from my chiro, didn't see it myself). I'm still on the fence. I realize that I'm now in the imuno compromised category, but I just don't think the benefits of getting a shot to prevent a problem I've never had outweigh the risks.

(I'm a research scientist, no contact with sick, elderly, or children. My contract is up first week of December, and then I will be home until the baby is born. I'm a fanatical hand washer and germ-a-phobe. I do my best to not touch things like door handles, public computers, and gas pumps.)

[Blueberry]

I think I'd talk to another doc. Personally, I would be worried about reacting to the flu shot, since you've not had one and don't know how your body will take it.

Just my (admittedly not in favor of the shot) 2 cents. Good luck whatever you decide and congrats

[sundial]

You would have to chase me down with the flu shot before I get one.

Each year the researchers guesstimate which strain is likely to hit and they make the vaccine accordingly.

I have never had the flu and if I do get it, I'd rather treat the early symptoms.

[grey]

I drinks me Elderberry tea, every day, in the winter. Works like a charm. No sickies.

I admit, I'm one of THOSE. I study herbology. I'm a strict vegetarian. I don't like Big Pharma. And I definitely do not want to be shot with something that contains formaldehyde, mercury and aluminum, among other things.

[salsabike]

Between having read detailed descriptions of the 1918-19 flu pandemic that killed 50-100 million people worldwide, and having a number of close friends in epidemiology whose knowledge and opinions I respect--you bet I get a flu shot. No bad reactions here.

[coyote]

That's interesting, Coyote. My mother has Lupus and gets a flu shot each year and I've been wondering whether or not it was wise. Do you have that website handy??

http://www.lupus.org/webmodules/weba...93&z=16&page=4

Down toward the bottom of the page. However, if you click on the link called Flu & Pneumonia Shots, it takes you to a page saying that Lupus folks should get the flu shot unless they react to them. The information a couple of years ago was not so pro. My SO does have a reation so she does not do the flu shot. She does get the pneumonia one and does not react.

[Tuckervill]

What about being pregnant makes one immuno-compromised? Pregnancy isn't a disease. If you eat right and exercise and rest well, there's no reason to expect to be more likely to get the flu or anything else, I think. The only thing is that some diseases could have dire consequences for the baby, I'm sure.

I think it's kind of harmful to think that pregnancy makes one more susceptible to disease if it's not true. (I don't know for sure if it is.) Not to hijack the thread, but this is an honest question.

Karen

I have the same opinion of flu shots as LisaS.H. I've never had a flu shot, and I've never had the flu. However, being 6 months pregnant, my OB highly recommends that I get one (at no cost, either through her or through work). I heard of a study of hospital employees in Denver, those that had a flu shot had the same occurence of getting the flu as those that did not get the shot. (I just heard of this study, from my chiro, didn't see it myself). I'm still on the fence. I realize that I'm now in the imuno compromised category, but I just don't think the benefits of getting a shot to prevent a problem I've never had outweigh the risks.

(I'm a research scientist, no contact with sick, elderly, or children. My contract is up first week of December, and then I will be home until the baby is born. I'm a fanatical hand washer and germ-a-phobe. I do my best to not touch things like door handles, public computers, and gas pumps.)

[mountainchick]

Interesting read if someone has time. For those who don't know a lot about influenza, it gives a little background ,etc.

Prevention and Control of Influenza

[Possegal]

actually, there are immune changes in your body when you become pregnant, it is necessary for the success of the pregnancy otherwise the body will look at the baby as 'foreign' and attack it. you have different immune pathways and the balance between them sort of shifts during pregnancy. it is why many women with MS will see a remission in the disease when they are pregnant, because of the shift in their immune system from detecting pathogens (and in an MS patient the pathogen that is being detected is the myelin on their nerves) to detecting allergens. followed by an increase in flare ups after delivery when the body shifts back toa predominantly T-1 mediated immune response.

now is that 'immune compromised', don't know if that is what it would be called., though pregnancy is decreasing your body's response to pathogens. but here is a journal article that speaks of a 'gentle immune compromise' in pregnancy. though full of science-speak, so it may not be of much help. http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol9no5/02-0660.htm

i'm not a virologist or a neonatologist, so i can't say why pregnant women (and people who come in contact with them) are always on the list a tier above healthy adults, but it could be more due to the impact that the disease would have on the fetus than on an immunity compromising.

[Flybye]

[QUOTE=Tuckervill;256972]What about being pregnant makes one immuno-compromised? Pregnancy isn't a disease. If you eat right and exercise and rest well, there's no reason to expect to be more likely to get the flu or anything else, I think. The only thing is that some diseases could have dire consequences for the baby, I'm sure.

I can attest to the fact that every time I was pregnant, which has been 13 times, just kidding, seeing if you were reading along , which really has been 3 times, I got everything in the land that came along. I was constantly sick. I even wound up with shingles (on my eye and face - ouch) during my last delivery, which is a sign that the immune system is compromised.
My $ .02