Does the flu shot really work?

[Tulessa]

Kensie stay strong and if you have any weird feelings of something isn't right, or you have shortness of breath or any underlying conditions, please just keep a very good eye on your symptoms. You may start to feel better and then get slammed like I did; several times.
I hope you are better soon. It made my hypoglycemia rear it's ugly head....I'm still having issues from being that sick. I have the shakes sometimes even in the night; and have to eat popsicles. That's working for now, and as soon as I am back to 100% it's off to a BUNCH of Dr's for lots of tests. I dont wanna, but I have to. Freaking flu....hated it. I also have to see an Atty which makes it so much worse.

Glucose tablets work great on hypoglycemia! I keep a bottle in my bedroom, and one in my purse. They are $1.99 for a bottle. Please get you a bottle and keep it with you!

 

[nycgrl]

Everyone I know who gets the flu shot end up sick for days, though they usually still swear by it. My best friend is a doctor in the PICU ( she is required to get one) but told me they're not worth it. So, yeah, never got one. Can't say i've ever been too sick either.. Cold maybe once a year, but that's it.

 

[killarney rose]

Well the difference for me was

Without flu shot.
Two weeks and one day of nausea, dirareah, aching, fever, weakness, in bed, afraid I was going to die. Ended up spending the last two days in the ER on an IV and dehydrated. They wanted to admit me, but BC/BS wouldn't authorize it, I wasnt sick enough.(eye roll)took me a month to get over it.

With Flu shot.

Nausea and diareah, but less severe than the first time. Spent a week in my recliner feeling miserable, and about a week getting back to normal.yeah, I'll keep getting a flu shot.

 

[LinasK]

Now that it's April, I was just thinking to myself the other day- I'm so glad we've all had our flu shots and have protection going into the next month!!!

 

[WiscoMom]

Is it ok to tag a comment onto an old-ish thread? Newbie here. First post.

I don't get the flu shot. I got it once--about 10 years ago--and that was the only one I've ever had. Our family stays healthy in other ways: whole foods (cooking from actual food ingredients, from scratch--no convenience foods, including bread, unless it's an emergency or we're eating out, which is rare!), local raw honey, plenty of sunshine, plenty of sleep, lots of water, and chiropractic. We brush our teeth and see our dentist regularly (the mouth is the gateway of illness!), and we take vitamins as needed. We almost never use antibiotics, so our bodies are able to heal well on the rare occasions that we need them.

So...it's pretty easy for us to remain healthy.

Allergies are another story. We have lots of yellow pine pollen that flies through the air around here, and it causes some running of the nose and itching of the eyes--but no flu!

 

[killarney rose]

Welcome to WS wiscomom!

I have to say, DH and I do pretty much the same things that you do in order to stay healthy. However, for some reason the flu hits me hard and doesn't like to let me go. I am rarely sick, have no health problems, take no RX meds.....but since that time I had the flu and was so sick.....I'll do whatever I can in order to avoid it! It was terrible!

 

[LinasK]

Welcome to WS wiscomom!

I have to say, DH and I do pretty much the same things that you do in order to stay healthy. However, for some reason the flu hits me hard and doesn't like to let me go. I am rarely sick, have no health problems, take no RX meds.....but since that time I had the flu and was so sick.....I'll do whatever I can in order to avoid it! It was terrible!

I agree with you. It's all well and fine to live a healthy lifestyle, but it's no protection from the flu. When you get exposed by someone else who has it, you will still get it if you haven't had the shot. Been there, done that, I never want to experience it again- I will always get the flu shot!!!

 

[Tulessa]

Do they make a vaccine for the Noro virus? I just recovered from that, and dropped 12 pounds in 9 days. I have had the bad flu, German measles, mumps and chicken pox. But I have NEVER been that sick in my life, as I was here recently.

 

[Tulessa]

That's one vaccine, I would beg for!

 

[digndoodle]

I have had 2 flu shots in my entire life....1st one was fine....then when they started the ones for the H1N1, they insisted at my doctor's office I get one since I do have Asthma and a minor heart condition.......took a good day or so and I began to feel so sick followed with a fever, later all the other goodies followed.....on the 3rd day I went back to the doctor's office because by then I had lost my voice entirely, could barely whisper.....I had never one time gave the flu shot a thought because the other one had never bothered me...they started me on Rocef...sent me home but to go back in 3 days for another, by that time I was so weak I could barely get to the bathroom and walk back to my bed, light headed, weak and was so out of breath I surely thought I was going to smother to death, upon return to the doctors they demanded I go to the hospital, but I begged them to let me return home due to me having my Mom in my home that was totally bedridden...it was another big shot of rocef and this time they started steriods, I was up 2 nights straight in a row with absolutely no sleep because I am very sensitive to steriods.....this went on and off for about 2 weeks, the end result was on the 4th week I began to feel some better and gained some strength..but it took me over 6 weeks to fully get my voice back and to feel normal again......A friend of mine told me that she would put money down that I was allergic to something in that shot or had a bad bad reaction...Call mine fear I guess, but never again as long as I live will I let them inject me with a flu shot.............I don't think they are bad necessarily and I know they help many people but that is one time I feel I almost left this earth and my doctors confirmed they had done all they knew to do and they said they looked at each other and said "now it is up to the man upstairs what her outcome will be".....Just a bad bad experience for me

 

[Arnie M]

Because of the deadly SARS outbreak around 2003 immunization became popular.

The problem is these deadly strains mutate on their own so how can a person be immunized against something that does not exist yet ?

In Canada starting around 2004 we had lots of people receive flue shots on a regular basis and records were kept on the numbers of flue cases reported by hospitals

The year with the lowest number of flue cases was when nobody got the flue shot .... the vaccine was tainted and the whole batch had been thrown out ..

Vaccine providers love the revenue , it is between 1.5 and 2.0 billion a year for our small population ,

 

[billiejo]

Age 61 never had a flu shot and never had the flu.
I don't remember ever even having a cold.
Never had a head ache or a yeast infection either.
However I do have 4 mental diagnoses.....
Guess you can't have everything!

 

[dr dona]

They work in 50-60%..the shot is a killed vaccine--you cannot get the flu from the shot. The nasal vaccine is much more effective--there are age restrictions and asthmatics can't have the nasal vaccine. I am old, asthmatic and have immune deficiencies--I get the vaccine. 3 years ago I still contracted Influenza A but had a much milder case due to the vaccine. If I didn't get immunized influenza could probably kill me,

 

[Jmoose]

They work in 50-60%..the shot is a killed vaccine--you cannot get the flu from the shot. The nasal vaccine is much more effective--there are age restrictions and asthmatics can't have the nasal vaccine. I am old, asthmatic and have immune deficiencies--I get the vaccine. 3 years ago I still contracted Influenza A but had a much milder case due to the vaccine. If I didn't get immunized influenza could probably kill me,

How do you know you are getting a milder case because of the flu shot-how do you know how sick you'd be? I am not being a smartass-I am curious about this

 

[killarney rose]

How do you know you are getting a milder case because of the flu shot-how do you know how sick you'd be? I am not being a smartass-I am curious about this

Did you read up thread about my experiences with the flu when I didnt have the shot compared to when I did? Not a scientific study, but proof my flu was milder with the shot.

 

[LinasK]

Did you read up thread about my experiences with the flu when I didnt have the shot compared to when I did? Not a scientific study, but proof my flu was milder with the shot.

Mine too, I've been through it both ways, was far sicker without the shot!

 

[LinasK]

Kids who died from flu last season: Most skipped vaccine

Maggie Fox NBC News

57 minutes ago
Half of Americans are still failing to get vaccinated against influenza, even though it kills thousands every year, health experts said Thursday. But they've got plenty of scare stories to help persuade people — think perfectly healthy 8-year-old boys dying in the intensive care unit, or pregnant women gasping for breath as they deliver premature babies.

Flu killed more than 100 kids last season, and 90 percent of them had not been vaccinated, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.
But there’s progress: now, 90 percent of doctors and nurses have been vaccinated against the virus, which protects them and their patients from flu. Policies requiring vaccination as a condition of employment have helped get the numbers this high.
Only a third of young and middle-aged adults have been vaccinated, and that was a big mistake last year, says Dr. William Schaffner of Vanderbilt University. “Flu hit young and middle-aged adults hard last year and just over 100 children died,” he told a briefing sponsored by the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases. “There is simply no reason to take the risk.”
Everyone over the age of 6 months should get vaccinated against flu every year, the CDC says. This year, 150 million doses will be available.
“Influenza vaccines are safe, plentiful and we have more vaccine options than ever before—at least one is right for everyone,” Schaffner said. “People should not wait to get vaccinated if their first choice is not available." Among the vaccine options are the traditional flu shot, a nasal spray vaccine, an intradermal vaccine given with a much smaller needle, a high-dose vaccine for people age 65 and older and an egg-free vaccine.” more at link: http://www.today.com/parents/kids-who-died-flu-last-season-most-skipped-vaccine-1D80157067

 

[Arnie M]

I have never had a flu shot and have not had the flu for over 20 years now

What does that prove .... ?? ..... Nothing !!!

And if I got the flu shot every one of those 20 years and did not get the flu it still proves nothing !!!

That is called "anecdotal evidence" ... (non-scientific observations or studies, which do not provide proof )

Like said in my earlier post , one year Health Canada rejected the vaccine because it was tainted , a manufacturing error or something , nobody got the flu shot and there were less emergency room flu visits than in the previous years

That doesn't prove anything either , but it should make us a bit suspicious of how beneficial the flu shot really is

When a person gets a specific strain of flu , he is forever immunized against getting it again , that is how nature works

It is the new deadly flu strains that are a concern , they pop up every year , but there is no vaccine against them , because nobody can know what the deadly strain will be ahead of time.

Hard to say what is the best decision

 

[brogue]

The vaccination is prepared by the type and prevalence of flu(s) which hit China in the season proceeding America's season.
Keep in mind 1500 people in China died from "infectious diseases" in September 2014. Wonder why we never heard about that? It is a lot of people after all.

 

[Arnie M]

The vaccination is prepared by the type and prevalence of flu(s) which hit China in the season proceeding America's season.
Keep in mind 1500 people in China died from "infectious diseases" in September 2014. Wonder why we never heard about that? It is a lot of people after all.

You are correct ..... and the reason many of those super-flu strains originate from China is because not everybody has refrigeration like we do here

So the farmer brings live chickens to the market square , people buy them live and take them home live , and only when they are ready to eat them do they slaughter them

What happens is that a person with a "normal" flu will infect a live bird , the virus in the bird will mutate to a super-flu , which is then transmitted back to humans and an outbreak occurs. That is why they call it "bird flu"

Thousands of people from China travel the world so in a matter of days it is on our doorstep.