Flu season once again: to vaccinate or not?

[rida]

I just got in the mail the invitation to give the flu shots (both H1N1 and the usual flu) for my girls.

I've never got the flu shot for myself nor given it to my girls in the past, not out of a refusal for all type of vaccinations, but mostly because as we do not have any particular health issue nor suffered from horrible cases of the flu, I never really saw the need. (Actually, we rarely get it, even when

But since the arrival of N1H1, and for the first time this year, I'm wondering if it would not be better to have them vaccinated.

So, what's your take on the flu shots?

 

[sb2009]

I have the girls get them every fall, well the regular flu. They both just got the mist today.

Now, one year they were out of the dose for my youngest and she got the flu a few weeks later, she was so incredibly sick. She's thin and tall and it seemed like the life had been sucked out of her. It scared me.

Me, it's half and half. I have to go to a diff dr and i'm far more cavelier about my own health than the kids. Plus, if thier friends and classmates have as careless hygiene as they do, ew.

 

[ecstaticsub]

This year the H1N1 vaccine is part of the season's regular flu shot. I always get the flu shot and I usually have my children get it, too.

 

[CurlyKat]

I've only ever gotten the flu mist once because it was part of a mandatory set I needed for work. That was also the one year in memory that I've ever gotten the flu.

Don't get me wrong, I'm by no means anti vaccine (as a current epidemiology student I definitely understand the necessity). I just personally won't be getting this one since I don't get the flu, even if I'm around others with it.

 

[rida]

Thank you for your answers!

I know that anecdotal data have no meaning, but in the 10 years I've had kids, among the people around us, the family that always gets the flu each year (all of them) is the one that always gets the flu shot too. And our kids used to go to school together.

So I'm weary of attacking our immune system with the virus, when every year we manage to fight it off on our own or only get a mild version anyway.

 

[Soumis]

I get vaccinated, but then again, I work in a hospital, and I'm very pro-vaccine. If you're a healthy adult or child and you're not around those most susceptible I think it's 50/50 whether to get it or not. If you're around the sick, very old, or very young frequently I would recommend it. I'd obviously more than recommend it if you are immunosuppressed or in another susceptible bracket (including pregnant women).

 

[graceanne]

The only time my mom has ever had the flu, in her entire life, was after getting the flu vaccine.

We don't do the flu vaccine.

And I won't - my immune system is compromised and the flu vaccine will give me the flu. And the flu will give me pneumonia.

 

[Lizzie_Borden]

I always get it, because I deal with the great unwashed public on a day to day basis, and I'm scared of a bad flu messing with my asthma and rendering me unable to breathe.

I haven't had the flu since. My grandmother on the other hand never ceases to tell me how she got both and then got the flu and thought she was dying.

The thing with fluvax though is that it only vaccinates against what the producers have determined to be the 3 or 4 most common strains that year. If you get something else, you're a bit stuffed.

 

[cromsgirl]

I don't get the vaccine because I am not in a high risk group and I haven't had the flu since the mid '80's. I would like to correct some misconceptions. The injectable flu vaccine is made with a killed virus and CANNOT give you the flu. You can have a reaction to something else in the vaccine or, like previously mentioned, you can catch a strain not in the vaccine. From what I understand the nasal form of the vaccine is a modified live vaccine and can produce illness. My father got one of the first flu vaccines in the early '90's and it put him in bed for 3 months. That wasn't the flu, that was a horrible reaction to a vaccine.

 

[intothewoods]

Well, I don't see a downside to getting them for us, so we do get them. We don't stay illness-free during the season, but we don't get the flu. Whatever things come up tend to resolve themselves in a couple of days (knock on wood!).

If you and your kids haven't been getting the flu without it though, then I don't know. How old are your kids rida? The younger ones seem much more ... germy.

 

[Bandit58]

The only time my mom has ever had the flu, in her entire life, was after getting the flu vaccine.

We don't do the flu vaccine.

And I won't - my immune system is compromised and the flu vaccine will give me the flu. And the flu will give me pneumonia.

Both Sir and I get the flu shot every year, He because He has a chronic illness and me because if I get sick I'm not going to be of much use in the caring stakes. He has also had the pneumonia shot which protects Him for at least the next 5 years.

His immune system is down also, and He often has coughs and snuffles. But He's never so bad that He has to take to His bed. We're just coming into spring/summer here and I got through the winter without so much as a cough or sniffle.

 

[Miss Diva]

No flu shot for me ever and i take the bus and metro to work. I wash my hands frequently.

 

[snowy ciara]

No flu shot for me, since I react so badly to them. I get really bad aches from any vaccination. It's not the flu, I'm not anti-vaccine, it's just a really common side effect. I can't remember the whole long explanation from my Dr, but basically, some of the chemicals generated by the "action" of the vaccine are prostoglastins. The prostoglastins can build up in the muscle tissue and cause the muscle aches. (They also help cause the body aches associated with PMS.) Because my immune system is fucked up, the reaction is magnified. Because I have Crohn's, I can't take anything for the aches and pains. Or rather I can, but it's pretty pointless. I can't digest them properly so they don't work very well.

Before I was sick with this, I worked with kids so I got my flu shots every fall without fail. But right now the side effects are worse for me than the flu so my Dr. told me to pass on it. I didn't argue very hard.

 

[YourCaptor]

Once their was a world not too long ago in which vaccines did not exist, and everyone knew a person or two who had died from such simple things as the common cold.

Young kids and ill husbands probably qualify as good reasons to get shots.

 

[rida]

Well, I don't see a downside to getting them for us, so we do get them. We don't stay illness-free during the season, but we don't get the flu. Whatever things come up tend to resolve themselves in a couple of days (knock on wood!).

If you and your kids haven't been getting the flu without it though, then I don't know. How old are your kids rida? The younger ones seem much more ... germy.

Younger one is 2nd grade, older one is 6th grade.
I ride the subway and they have been spending time with a lot of kids since they were new born babies. I think because of that we all have pretty good antibodies against normal cold and flu.

I know the argument about making winter ailment be milder and last shorter.
It is just that even without, we have not had major problems. Older one got the flu early spring but it was so mild that if it wasn't because they were in the middle of still testing everybody for H1N1, we would have not guessed. Still none of us got it from her, not even her sister, sharing the room.

I don't know, it is just that I'm always wary of fixing things that are not broken. On the other hand, with the babysitter pregnant and I cannot count on her to look after the kids if they are sick.

Still debating in my head ... LOL

 

[FurryFury]

My family tends to get sick when given the shot. So we don't get them anymore.

Each year the pediatrician sends me a post card that I should get my son vaccinated because of his "asthma" which he hasn't had since we began homeschooling eight years ago. We ignore it.
I admit that if something happened, if my child died, I'd, feel guilty and be devastated.

FF

 

[VelvetSin]

I used to get the flu every year but was still anti-vaccine because I hate needles, until I got a horrible case of the flu about five years ago. While normally a healthy person, it knocked my on my backside so badly I was out of work for two weeks and hospitalized for a day so I could receive constant IV fluids. Every year since, I've gotten a flu shot. I keep thinking if I could get that sick as a reasonably healthy person, how bad would it have been if a child or elderly person had caught that same strain? I'm around kids quite a bit due to family, and I don't want to be the reason any of them gets hospitalized or put in weeks-long state of misery because I didn't want to inconvenience myself with a short stop at the doctor's office.

The flu shot does not keep you from getting the flu, it makes it less likely because it gives some immunity to the strains included. There are different strains that surface each year though, so if that particular strain wasn't included in the vaccine, there's no immunity to it. But if exposed to the strains that are in there, you're highly unlikely to catch it. If you do catch the flu anyway, the vaccine gives your body exposure so it knows better how to fight it, so you won't get as sick as you otherwise would if unprotected. Most insurances cover flu vaccine 100% so the only justifiable reason I see in not getting it is if someone has Guillan-Barre Syndrome.

I got the shot last year and still caught the flu, but it was so minor the only reason I knew it wasn't a common cold was a brief fever. The whole time, I kept remembering my last "real" case of the flu, and was so happy I'd gotten the shot.

It also takes something like two weeks for your body to process it, so if someone gets sick within that first few weeks, it's far more likely they were exposed to something with an incubation period than got sick from the shot itself.

As for getting sick from the shot, it's impossible. It's dead virus. The nasal mist is live virus, so that can get you sick. With the flu shot, at worst it'll give a minor case of sniffles while the body mimics the response. From that minor reaction though, think of how bad it would be if exposed to the real live thing.

 

[graceanne]

Both Sir and I get the flu shot every year, He because He has a chronic illness and me because if I get sick I'm not going to be of much use in the caring stakes. He has also had the pneumonia shot which protects Him for at least the next 5 years.

His immune system is down also, and He often has coughs and snuffles. But He's never so bad that He has to take to His bed. We're just coming into spring/summer here and I got through the winter without so much as a cough or sniffle.

I've never had the flu shot, and I've never had the flu. The only person I've ever known to get the flu was my mom, that time she got the flu shot.

 

[FloggingMolly]

Here, healthy adults aren't even offered the flu shot, and I'd guess you'd have to push hard to convince the doctors you needed it. I've never had one, but I've also never had flu either. I don't feel strongly for or against it, though would probably have our kids vaccinated if we had any.

 

[brioche]

I get the flu shot every year because I have asthma, anemia and teach kids. When I go to the doctor I get the shot whether I want it or not. This year, my asthma, which was dormant, has come back so I'm definitely going to make sure I get it.

Yeah, the first year I got the shot I got the flu, but I haven't since. Except for H1N1, and I got that before the vaccine was available, even for high risk groups. Our school was an "Outbreak" school and was given extra funds to sterilize everything, like washing lockers and stuff daily. At one point there were 5 kids in my class.

Unfortunately I was away for that point, but I was still only 2/3 full for about a month. And the kids out changed.

 

[BiaTcHiNFiRe]

We got the Flu season here just now. I've never get vacinated and my kids either, but next year we will I think. We are all sick and it sucks. My 3yo daughter figthing it for nearly 2 weeks now and not really feelin better yet either. She got fever, real bad cold and choking cough that makes her throw up. Same with me. It just SUCKS!

First my older daughter get it, the same evening the young one, 2 days after me and yesterday my mom lol. It's like lager of lazars here atm. I am quite pissed off cuz I got lots of things to do, but miss the energy to do so, so I spend most of the days in my bed now. Sore, snotty, choking, teary, with fever. Haven't feel this crap for a quite while. Not what I had planed for this week! sigh

Oh well such is life I guess. Just hope it will fuck off soon as I should give birth in 2 weeks and can't really imagine do so with no energy in me and with a fever. I've just put the wee one to bed, stuffed with meds to get her ride of the fever and hope she can get some sleep tonight. What pisses me off even more than the fever atm is the breathing problems I got. I had breathing problems the whole pregnancy, it sucked. Now with the stuffed nose it double sucks! Think I'll see my doc again tomorrow and hopefuly get some better meds as those I am using not really helping yet + I think my throat shouldn't be this sore during the Flu. Really hope I am not getting the bloody quinsy!

I was just checking the Flu vaccine prices and it's not that expansive as I thought it might be. Next year we will get vaccinated. The kids for sure! Hate when they feel crap and theres not much you can do to make them feel better, well except for LOTS of hugs.

 

[catalina_francisco]

Ugh, my doctor advised I should have it with my growing list of health issues, so I did. Not sure I want to do it again. A couple of weeks after I hadthe shot, I caught the flu and it stayed, and stayed, and now nearly 3 months later, I am still fighting the cough and have had 2 relapses. Usually I get a cold around February, and it is mild and goes with some increased doses of Vitamin C...nothing is helping this time.

Catalina

 

[Sir_Winston54]

One more nice thing about VA medical care - they offer flu vaccination to me every year (and the pneumonia vaccine when appropriate) since they feel I'm in a relatively high-risk category (over 50 when they started it, over 60 now, cardio-compromised, pneumo-compromised {smoker with chronic bronchitis}). I've had the flu only once in all that time (this past Christmas trip), and that was a 24-hour variety that I got from members of the extended family, not the more serious Type A or Type B or H1N1. That experience, with its vomiting and severe gastric/digestive distress, was in and of itself misery enough to make me determined to continue getting the vaccination each time they offer it to me (I think it's good for two years now, yay!).

I'm generally in favor of vaccinations on the whole, though. I've seen too many people suffering from illnesses and diseases they need not have suffered through had they gotten/accepted appropriate vaccinations for where they lived/were going/travelled.

 

[Lizzie_Borden]

I get the flu shot every year because I have asthma, anemia and teach kids.

I have asthma too, and man a reception desk. Our clients attend haphazardly, but somehow ALWAYS manage to when they are sick.

I have a bucket of antibacterial wipes and I get the flu shot and I just hope I don't get cooties.

 

[Kikori]

Haven't had one in years, probably won't for another decade.