Flushots...........Money for nothing?

[Tmy]

I dont recall ever havinga flu shot. I only remember havingthe flu just once. yet every year theres the big hoopla over getting your flu shot, and then they run out of shots and so on.

Is this all a big scam. Do you really need/want the flu shot.

[Luke T.]

The one year I didn't get the flu shot, I got the flu and ended up in the hospital with an IV bag stuck in my arm. The nurse said, "We get people here all the time who think they have the flu who don't really have it. You have the flu."

I waited until I was near death to go to the hospital. I was far from home, in a hotel, and refused to believe I could be that sick. Almost killed me.

Thanks for reminding me. I need to get one. And my wife, too. We have three babies. Can't take the chance of one of us getting the flu and passing it to the kids. Infants can be killed by the flu much more easily.

[Luke T.]

There were more people killed by the influenza epidemic of 1919 than in all of WWI.

[Tmy]

CONSPIRICY!!!! All those years of flu shots waekend your sysytem so when you skiped a year, it nearly killed you. YOU'RE A FLU SHOT ADDICT!!!

Well they wont get me. FIGHT THE POWER!

[dissonance]

I didn't get the flu shot last year.

I wound up in bed for a week hoping to die, and it took about 3 weeks to fully recover. The flu sucks.

I'll be getting the shot for sure when they do the free clinic on campus next week. I don't want to go through that again, and if the shot can reduce the chances of getting the flu, I'm getting the shot.

[Luke T.]

I seem to recall a swine flu scare during the Carter administration that turned out to be much ado about nothing. My memory is vague.

I don't know if my system is weakened. First, by getting the flu shot my system should actually be building up immunities. Second, I think the flu mutates every so often, so I don't know how it all works out for those who get the shots and those who don't.

It's only ten bucks. Well worth it. I gladly pay ten bucks to avoid feeling like that again.

[Tmy]

Originally posted by Luke T.

It's only ten bucks. Well worth it. I gladly pay ten bucks to avoid feeling like that again.

Many a crack addict have said the same thing. Your putting posion in your body. Plus I sure the govt tosses in some sort of mind control drug. How'do you GW Bush got so many votes!

WHo here would get an anthrax vaccine?? Not me.

[dissonance]

Originally posted by Luke T.
Second, I think the flu mutates every so often, so I don't know how it all works out for those who get the shots and those who don't.


According to the posters they have up all over campus, it reduces your chances of getting the ful by 60-70%. The reason has something to do with 'them' (whoever is in charge of this whole flu shot business) predicting which particular influenza strains are going to be predominate in your area during the flu season, and tailoring the vaccine to those strains. If they get it wrong and a different strain takes off, then the shot won't help you. If you travel a lot and pick up a different strain from some other place, the shot won't help you.

That's the info I've picked up through posters and public health ads, anyway.

I'm debating joining the Canadian Flu Spray Study (http://www.fluspray.ca/English.htm), in the interest of helping science, blah blah blah, but I haven't decided yet.

[Tony]

Ive never had a flu shot, and have never had the flu.

[Luke T.]

Originally posted by Tmy


Many a crack addict have said the same thing. Your putting posion in your body. Plus I sure the govt tosses in some sort of mind control drug. How'do you GW Bush got so many votes!

Flouride in the flu shots. That's how!

WHo here would get an anthrax vaccine?? Not me.

Actually, I did get the anthrax shots. It is a series of shots over a long period of time. I was in the military at the time. We had no choice. Those who refused were court-martialed/discharged.

Somehow, I was going to tie this into abortion rights and what you can do with your own body, but I think we have enough silliness in this topic already. :D

[Luke T.]

Originally posted by dissonance


According to the posters they have up all over campus, it reduces your chances of getting the ful by 60-70%. The reason has something to do with 'them' (whoever is in charge of this whole flu shot business) predicting which particular influenza strains are going to be predominate in your area during the flu season, and tailoring the vaccine to those strains. If they get it wrong and a different strain takes off, then the shot won't help you. If you travel a lot and pick up a different strain from some other place, the shot won't help you.

That's the info I've picked up through posters and public health ads, anyway.



Hmmm. So maybe that is what got me. I lived on the East Coast my whole life. Then the second I travel to the West Coast for the first time in my life, BANG!!!!, I got the flu....

[Bluegill]

I used to work for a public health office that held big 'ol flu shot clinics each year. I got flu shots then, but I haven't since. I should, though.

I only had the flu once (before I'd ever gotten a flu shot). I felt pretty bad for about a week, and one of those days I was in bed thinking--and almost hoping--that I was going to die.

Not only is a flu shot a good thing to get for yourself, but it can help prevent you from spreading it to others. Do you spend time around the elderly, or someone who has a compromised immune system, or other serious health problems? If you get the flu and spread it to them, it could kill them.

[aerocontrols]

I've never had a flu shot, or the flu.

Not scared of the shot, or needles, just can't be bothered.

[MoeFaux]

I've never had a flu shot. I don't understand what the big deal is. Maybe I just don't have enough information.

[KelvinG]

I've never gotten a flu shot, and last year I was hit with the flu and it was absolutely horrible. I thought I was going to die at one point. In fact, I would have had to get better to die.
I'm thinking of getting a flu shot this year. The thought of going through anything like I did last year scares me.

[Fidelio]

I got my first flu shot this year. I'm gettin' too old to deal with a week with one foot in the grave and four more recovering. It felt kinda like a cheat as it hurt less than any shot I've ever had. For twenty bucks I expect noise and pain.

By the way my maternal grandfather died in the Pandemic of 1919. I have his obit around here somewhere it contains the phrase "The angel of death has again visited our community..."

I think he was around 35.

[tamiO]

Originally posted by Luke T.
Actually, I did get the anthrax shots. It is a series of shots over a long period of time. I was in the military at the time. We had no choice. Those who refused were court-martialed/discharged.



That just seems wrong. This is America, our soldiers should just get excused from the military if they do not want shots.

[tamiO]

My Aunt Esper went and got her flu shot and wound up in the hospital a few days later. Seems she already had the flu and the shot kicked it up a notch.

Is there any way to test for the flu before you get the shot? It makes me scared to get the shot. I had a bad case of the flu 6 weeks ago and it is still hanging around. Do I have the flu? I don't know.

[Prospero]

They say not to get the shot if you've felt sick at any time for the week or two prior. However, the chance of already having the flu is one you have to take. That's why it's best to get it early in the season. Then you're less likely to have been exposed to it yet and thus less likely to have an adverse reaction should you be in the incubation stage.

People have mentioned the flu scare during WWI. It was the Spanish Influenza (US propaganda engines at work) and it killed more people than all the wars of the 20th century combined in less than a year. I can't remember if that statistic includes the Holocaust or not. Regardless, it's a fun sociological tidbit. It was by far the worst pandemic to ever hit the earth (made previous plagues look like a bad run of the chicken pox), yet the majority of people are clueless about it. It's a really neat example of collective amnesia. It was so unpleasant that history texts just didn't mention it because, well, the Great Depression really wasn't a time to be musing over so many millions dying from a disease that likely originated from a giant heap of burning pig feces in Kansas.

Oh, and I recommend everyone get a flu shot. :D

[Jon_in_london]

Most people dont think of Flu as a lethal disease, however, as mentioned above the 'Spanish' flu killed millions in 1918-1919. In addition, it was the flu that almost wiped out entire aboriginal populations when introduced by europeans for the first time.

Influenza does mutate and sometimes you get a bad one thats a real killer.

Normally you wont die of flu if you are young and healthy and fit.

The people most at risk are the very young, the very old, and the very sick.

I have never had a flu shot but probably will do if I ever get to 65.

[Flame]

Like with any other illness, but maybe more so, your immune system is lowered because it's busy fighting a war with the virus... This leaves you wide open to secondary infections.

Normally the flu won't kill a young fit healthy person, but a secondary infection on top of it might!

Toni