Don't Get Stuck! Reflections on the Flu Vaccine

[Misanthrope 0]

When my sister and I were in grammar school I often wondered why we didn?t come down with the flu every year like our classmates. We did, after all, attend the same classes, sing in the same cathedral, and play recess in the same field. Admittingly I found ways to escape throwing balls back and forth but I was stuck in the same stuffy rooms with the other prisoners, privy to the same germs. I actually felt we were missing out on something. A right of passage if you will. Our classmates, you see, were allowed to stay home for having acquired this terrible virus. How, I wondered, could I go about catching this wondrous thing called the ?flu? so I too would be given free passage from school for a week or two. Oh, to be free of that place for an entire week! But my sister and I never did acquire the flu. Years later, and still flu free, I reflect on the wisdom of our mother who never allowed us to get stuck by any nasty vaccine ? especially an influenza vaccine. The other kids parents were not so enlightened. They got stuck. Guess what? They came down with the flu. Nowadays, It seems the vaccine continues to bring about the very illness it professes to keep at bay. I personally don?t know anyone suffering from the flu that didn?t also get stuck with a flu vaccine, or was infected by a flu nasal-spray recipient who sneezed all over him or her. What has your experience been with flu viruses? Did you get sick after getting stuck, and spread it to others? Do you think flu vaccines are counter-productive? Or do you think they are a necessary evil?

[rpgsearcherz 5]

I missed my flu shot this year (haven't gotten the chance to get it yet) and I had the flu. Along with this two of my three siblings, plus my mother also had the flu this year. None of us had our shots.This is the first year we've gotten it though. Every other year we got our shots on time.So your theory I feel is false. But then again I only know what happened to us.

[Misanthrope 0]

I missed my flu shot this year (haven't gotten the chance to get it yet) and I had the flu.

Sorry to hear the family and you came down with the flu this year. With the advent of the nasal spray and the number of people getting stuck with a very virulent, contagious strain, I guess I shouldn't be too surprised. You may want to keep some powdered Vitamin C on hand to prevent future contamination. Nasal irrigation with salt water is also beneficial when you feel you may have been exposed.
My older sister is now getting flu shots every year and as a result she now gets sick with the flu, where before she did not. She'll call me out of the blue and say she's been off work for a week feeling sick. Then I say, "oh, did you get a flu shot?" As you can probably imagine, the answer is a very embarrassed, "yes." It would be interesting to see (unbiased) statistics on this matter.

[sheepdog 10]

Interesting topic, especially during a time when the government is bombarding us with information about all the various strains of flu out there trying to kill us. I have wondered myself about the true needs of all these vaccinations, etc. Having a good working knowledge of the immune system as it relates to canines, and I susupect is greatly simular in humans, I question the need for yearly flu shots and suspect that there may well be some underlying cause for the push to inoculate on a yearly basis. In general, the bodies own immune system builds it's defences when one is exposed to the virus. Those defence mechinisims go to work wether the viruses are those in the shot or that are picked up threw exposure to other infected humans. There is no scientific research that proves that once they are established, these antibioties leave the system in the space of a year. Actually, there is much evidence to the contrary, as in the case to tetnus. Now it is recomended that you only need a tetnus shot once every 10 years or so. I personally do not now, or have I ever had a flu shot of the human variety. One year however, I did get innoculated with a bit of kennel cough vaccine, I was attempting to adminsiter it to a pup, the puppy jerked away and the syringe went somersaulting threw the air and stuck in my chest. Oddly enough, I made it threw that winter without a single sniffle or sick day of any kind. I really don't get sick all that often. If I do, it's usually a cold or bronchial related ailment. Don't know if I've ever even had the flu, I may have but since I'm not likely to go to the doctor, I have no idea for sure what I have. I honestly have been afraid to get the flu shots. I do know that reactions to any vaccine are possible. While they may be uncommon, I would hate to be that one in a million that did have the reaction and croaked over a flu shot. Since it isn't a big problem with getting sick for me, I have chosen to take a pass on the vaccination.

[rpgsearcherz 5]

Well the problem with the flu is that right now there's two strains. Only one of which most people can get vaccinated for. The Swine Flu, although they are making it seem like a horrible disease, is actually no worse than the normal flu. In fact, according to studies it's not even as strong.The reason it was such a big deal is because there were no vaccinations for the Swine Flu yet, and as of right now they are way behind on getting them out. Therefore the issue isn't due to getting the shot, it's due to the number of people who haven't yet.Along with this, the flu is a live virus. It won't affect everyone the same. Everyone's body creates different antibodies for various things based on your immune system. So someone may get sick, another may feel drowsy, another may feel perfectly fine.

[networker 0]

I've often wondered what this is about the swine flu. Yes, it apparantly appears tobe no worse than any other kind of flu, which means this whole swine flu thing is just anotherexcuse for the media to sensationalize something again, and get people buying magazines and such.There's money in sensationalism.Myself, I never get sick it seems, knock on wood. I never have any shots either.I don't mean to sound crass by saying the reason I don't get the flu is becauseI don't believe in it, but I can't think of any other excuse, or maybe it's the humor I feel from seeing idiot hypochondriacs walking through the subwaywearing medical masks.These people appear to be scared of their own shadow.Maybe that has something to do with it.

[anwiii 17]

ever since my mother has been taking those shots, she has always encouraged me to take them. but why? i wasn't one to get very sick at all. when i would get sick every few years, it's be bad. in general though, i just don't get the flu so why on gods earth would i ever inject myself with the flu just so i wont get it? that's stupid. maybe when i'm 60, i may need it as my immune system wont be as tough as it is today but i am not going to change what is already working for meand i have no idea why your sister, who never gets the flu, decided to inject herself with it. now she gets the flu? not just one year....but more than one year? you mean she hasn't figured it out yet?

[Baniboy 3]

Are we talking about normal flu here or some kind of mutant virus thing? If we're talking about common cold, then WTF?! You get vaccinations for those? That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. We don't get those here in nordic countries. That's just a waste of time and money. You know what vaccinating for useless things causes? They freaking become immune to it. There are also many viruses that cause the common cold, you can't vaccinate for them all. A little pressure on the immune system is not bad once in a while. I don't usually get sick, maybe a small throat infection or something, but when I do get sick, I get really, really sick.

 

If you're talking about influenza on the other hand, it's understandable.

[networker 0]

Myself, I never get sick it seems, knock on wood.

You know something? Right after posting this I came down with a bad case of the flu or something.
I'm almost over it now though. I have a few sniffles. It was horrible though. Headache, dry scratchy raw throat,
runny nose, hacking cough, fever. Tons of phlegm to cough up.
This is the first I've been sick in a few years. I wonder if it's the Swine Flu?
I'm almost better now though.

[Misanthrope 0]

A family friend of mine was sick as a dog (sorry about the pun Sheepdog -couldn't resist:) just a week ago. Curious about she fell ill I grilled her and her other half for details, thinking in the back of my mind the flu somehow played a part. Seems her husband joined some club a couple years ago and has become more and more active of late. Not long ago he went to one of his meetings and noticed that one of the members was hacking throughout. He asked the member, knowing what the answer was, if he had gone and gotten his flu shot and the member answered in the affirmative. As soon as he got home, "Tim" mixed up a disturbingly large dose of garlic and Vitamin C and tossed it down the hatch. She asked and he told her what had transpired at the meeting:The new guy, "John", was a cowboy all his life until recently when he sold his large ranch and moved in to town to retire with his wife. John isn't educated at all in any way most people would know and hasn't developed a healthy distrust for his government or their "FDA licensed medical professionals". He is a veteran of the U.S. Army and served in Vietnam where he was awarded all kinds of medals including the purple heart. I'm sure most people would consider him some kind of hero but Tim, who has no purple heart but did serve in the military, now just considers him an illiterate germ incubator. After taking two steps back after asking the first question, he inquired of John which inoculation he'd been pricked with and John, with a wide grin answered, "I didn't ask".Every alarm bell in his head told him to panic and run the other direction and ask no more questions, but, being civil, Tim excused himself and went to the washroom to attempt to sterilize his hands, but to no avail. He brought it home with him that night and my friend didn't take the necessary measures he did when she should have and began to come down with flu symptoms herself. The next day, after catching "John's Disease", she called me, hysterical, and when she'd told me what happened, I advised her to begin a regimen of high dose powdered "C" (dissolved in water), garlic, and cayenne pepper -enough to quell a charging herd of elephants- and it stopped the progression of symptoms in its tracks. It still took a good week for all the symptoms to disappear entirely, along with about $20 worth of powered "C" while her husband never got sick because he countered the attack the same night he come in to contact with John, and continued the powdered "C" treatment for a couple days after.. My point is, it's not necessary to take the shot to catch the flu, but it's pretty much guaranteed you'll catch the flu, and pass it on to others, when you take the shot. On a side note, at the next meeting, one of the other members who'd been privy to "John's Disease" had indeed come down with it and passed it on to his wife and son.It might be worth noting that, according to the CDC and other health agencies, the flu strain used in the vaccine being pricked into unsuspecting trusting souls this autumn in North America isn't the same strain as that being spread through its normal, non-inoculation, mode. Chances are if you get the shot, you'll get that strain and still get the other strain as well. The flu virus mutates so frequently (and unpredictably) the vaccine manufactures often can't get a product out the door and in your arm in time to fight their target before it mutates -making the vaccine completely ineffective for its intended purpose, but still infecting the population with that strain. A lose-lose proposition if you ask me.