I got my flu shot this morning

[Flea]

Public health at its finest, I'd say.

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica] It was at one of my city's largest facilities, a baseball stadium, and it was very well organized. I was greeted by a long reception line of boy scouts giving directions and light crowd control. Nursing students administered the shots for class credit.

I had the option of getting a non-thimerosal shot, and happily it came without the H1N1. My only complaint was when I rolled up my sleeve. A supervisor scurried off and came back a minute later - "I brought you a smaller needle because you have a pretty small bicep." Talk about a wounded ego. :wah: I didn't even get a Spongebob Squarepants band-aid!

It's good to see a happy businesslike crowd. Everything was very efficient, and they had different shot stations that seemed to be organized by insurance carrier. And of course, I got it for free as a Medicare recipient. So I guess I can go out and get a whole box of cartoon band-aids.

So what about everyone else? Flu shots seem to be a little controversial; I've heard some argue that it only makes one sick. And of course there's the whole H1N1 dimension to it this year. Some years I get it and some years I don't. I decided that since I'm traveling across the country soon I'd rather not spend half the time there snuffling in bed.
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[Bill Mattocks]

The first year of my previous life as a road warrior, I got sick a lot. I imagine it was because I was being exposed to just about everything going on everywhere around the country. Then I pretty much stopped getting sick at all. No idea why, perhaps I was building up a lot of immunities to everything. I still don't get sick much, and I've been away from travel for a living for over 5 years now.

As to getting sick, I got really tired of doctors assuring me I would not get sick from flu shots. It's a dead virus, it can't make you sick. Yeah, OK, fine. I still got sick. I don't care what anyone says, I got sick.

In the military, I had no choice. Get the shot, get sick for three days. How that was better than having the flu, I do not know.

But I do know that I'm not in the military anymore, and I'll never get a flu shot again. Never.

 

[grydth]

My daughters and I got the seasonal flu vaccination as soon as we could, which was in September. I get very sick when I have the flu and didn't want that to happen.

Despite all the self congratulation from the government, H1N1 is still not available here..... except for some heath providers...... some of whom are suing as they don't want to be forced to have it.

 

[bluekey88]

My job provides the flu shot every year. it's really important when you work around as many sick, snotty, runny kids as we do. Every once in a while I'll get a bit of a cold after the shot....but nothing near as bad as full-on botu of flu. This year, no reaction. We're waiting to see if we get H1N1 vaccines...not sure if or when (although our population is higher risk for it).

Peace,
Erik

 

[Dirty Dog]

You cannot get the flu from the flu vaccine. It's occassionaly a killed virus (generally irradiated with UV light),but more often it is a synthetic copy of the protein sheath around the actual virus. This is enough to trigger the immune response and provide immunity. Does that mean you cannot get the flu? No. There are some 1500+ strains of flu virus, and the vaccine protects against the two or three that are expected to be the most common and the most severe. Vaccinating against all would require a shot the size of a Buick, and for some reason people won't let us inject that into them. Did you get the flu? Maybe. Was it from the vaccine? Not a chance.

The nasal H1N1 vaccine, however, is a live virus. The idea is to expose you to a super tiny amount which triggers the immune response. This does have a very slight chance of causing the infection if your immune system is not up to the challenge. You are many times more likely to contract H1N1 from community contact than you are from the vaccine.

As a Road Warrior, you're exposed to multiple strains of the same bug. In the ED, we expect new hires to be sick all the time for about the first year. After that, your immune system starts to chase pit bulls down the street.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

You cannot get the flu from the flu vaccine. It's occassionaly a killed virus (generally irradiated with UV light),but more often it is a synthetic copy of the protein sheath around the actual virus. This is enough to trigger the immune response and provide immunity. Does that mean you cannot get the flu? No. There are some 1500+ strains of flu virus, and the vaccine protects against the two or three that are expected to be the most common and the most severe. Vaccinating against all would require a shot the size of a Buick, and for some reason people won't let us inject that into them. Did you get the flu? Maybe. Was it from the vaccine? Not a chance.

The nasal H1N1 vaccine, however, is a live virus. The idea is to expose you to a super tiny amount which triggers the immune response. This does have a very slight chance of causing the infection if your immune system is not up to the challenge. You are many times more likely to contract H1N1 from community contact than you are from the vaccine.

As a Road Warrior, you're exposed to multiple strains of the same bug. In the ED, we expect new hires to be sick all the time for about the first year. After that, your immune system starts to chase pit bulls down the street.

In the end, whether I 'got the flu' from the shot or not, I got sick for three days every time I got a flu shot. Year after year. I really don't care what it's called, it's no different to me from having the flu anyway. Don't get the shot, get the flu and be sick for three days. Get the shot, get something that somehow isn't the flu but acts like it, get sick for three days. Net difference to me? Zippo.

No flu shot. Not now, not ever.

 

[Stac3y]

I wish the H1N1 shot was more available. Texas (at least my part of it) has very little, and I'm now recovering from the !@#$%^! thing, as is my high risk (asthmatic) 9 year old. It's sucked up all my available leave at work (right before the holidays). Grrr! AND I have a state tournament in 3 weeks, but I still feel too lousy to work out. Double grrrr!

 

[dancingalone]

I get the flu shot annually as does my wife and son. We may come down with a case of the common cold from time to time, but we've never had a case of the full-blown influenza since we've started doing this.

In the past when I've been diagnosed with the flu, I was sick for a lot longer than 3 days. It's worth it to me to get it, and medical professionals do recommend it for most people. That's good enough for me.

 

[sfs982000]

The first year of my previous life as a road warrior, I got sick a lot. I imagine it was because I was being exposed to just about everything going on everywhere around the country. Then I pretty much stopped getting sick at all. No idea why, perhaps I was building up a lot of immunities to everything. I still don't get sick much, and I've been away from travel for a living for over 5 years now.

As to getting sick, I got really tired of doctors assuring me I would not get sick from flu shots. It's a dead virus, it can't make you sick. Yeah, OK, fine. I still got sick. I don't care what anyone says, I got sick.

In the military, I had no choice. Get the shot, get sick for three days. How that was better than having the flu, I do not know.

But I do know that I'm not in the military anymore, and I'll never get a flu shot again. Never.

Amen brother, I can totally relate. I never used to get sick at all and after I joined the military and was forced to get the flu shot annually, now I get every little sniffle, cold and flu that comes around (and before anyone asks this was even before I had kids in the house)

 

[SensibleManiac]

The first year of my previous life as a road warrior, I got sick a lot. I imagine it was because I was being exposed to just about everything going on everywhere around the country. Then I pretty much stopped getting sick at all. No idea why, perhaps I was building up a lot of immunities to everything. I still don't get sick much, and I've been away from travel for a living for over 5 years now.

As to getting sick, I got really tired of doctors assuring me I would not get sick from flu shots. It's a dead virus, it can't make you sick. Yeah, OK, fine. I still got sick. I don't care what anyone says, I got sick.

In the military, I had no choice. Get the shot, get sick for three days. How that was better than having the flu, I do not know.

But I do know that I'm not in the military anymore, and I'll never get a flu shot again. Never.

Based on all the research I've done you're post totally makes sense.
I completely agree with you, the vaccine is worthless.
We should take care of our health and immune system instead.

 

[Gordon Nore]

I got both the seasonal and H1N1 vaccinations yesterday, Saturday. This marks the end of the third week of H1N1 vaccinations in Toronto. Until now, H1N1 was only available to high risk patients, and shots were administered by public health authorities at various sites around the city.

The docs have the vaccine now, and I suspect the roll out should go pretty smoothly. My doctor and his partners are running extended hours in the evenings and on the weekends. Since I got both shots, I don't know if any side effects are related to one, the other, or a combination of the two.

Apart from some stiffness, the two shots knocked me out and I slept for about twelve hours. I'm glad I got it. The one year I missed the seasonal flu shot years back, I just about the sickest I've been in a very long time. With a long flu season ahead, and me working with lots of small children, I'm glad I got it.

 

[Gordon Nore]

As to getting sick, I got really tired of doctors assuring me I would not get sick from flu shots. It's a dead virus, it can't make you sick. Yeah, OK, fine. I still got sick. I don't care what anyone says, I got sick.

Strange claim for the docs to be making. One can indeed get sick. I have a friend who had a bad reaction to the shot one year, and new gets his seasonal shots in two halves.

 

[jks9199]

I can think of two ways you can get sick off the flu shot. The first is a simple allergic reaction to the medium it's grown in. The second is that, even if it is a dead virus, your body ramps up to fight it... so maybe you're not "technically" sick -- but you've got the symptoms anyway. At that point, I think saying it didn't make you sick is kind of like getting a little bit pregnant...

 

[grydth]

For so many of us, this discussion is totally irrelevant.

It doesn't matter what the shot does or does not do when you can't get one. First my family got the swine flu. I have some letters from a woman during the 1918 epidemic, writing how terrible it was.... how odd, I thought, that I was taking care of my daughter 90 years to the day that one letter was written.

Then it hit my workplace, whole sections sick at one time. But none of us died.

We have only the virus to thank for our survival.... had it mutated as it did in 1918, my family and most people I know would be in the ground right now.

It is said that the vaccine may be available here. Next month.

If Bush were still President, it would be news.

 

[teekin]

I think is a "Modified Live" vaccine so yah you can still feel like hell after getting the shot but if you are in high risk or have kids I would think it's a small price to pay (in Canada). I've been inocculated for everything under the sun due to where I work and I still get sick. If the flu mutates even the tiniest bit ( and it WILL) you can still get a bit sick but perhaps not as sick as you will still have partial immunity. If it mutates in a significant way, than we all may be paddling up the Ganges with a teaspoon.
lori

 

[Bruno@MT]

I get the flu shot at work. No h1n1 yet though. The supply is still going to high risk and people in jobs like police, medical personell, etc.
I used to feel a bit under the weather in the week after the shot, but not any more in recent years.

I once did get the flu though. And not a tiny bit either. This happened at a time when my body had had enough of the months of stress and exhaustion caused by how I lived at the time. My immune system was shot, and I was really sick.

From then on I changed 2 things: I started listening to my body (still do) and I got a yearly flu shot. I don't know if the flu shot helps a lot or not, but it doesn't hurt me either. I do know that ever since I started paying attention to what my body was telling me, I don't often get sick anymore. And when I do it's not that bad.

 

[Ken Morgan]

My son and I both got our seasonal and our H1N1 shots yesterday. (A friend of mine, her 80 year old father calls it the hini shot) No problems, but then like an idiot I went to the gym and worked on arms and shoulders, oh and then 2 hours of iaido last night ….needless to say my shoulders are a wee bit tender right now.