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And have you or have you not contracted the influenza??? :waiting:






:hmm: I'm really hoping your answer will be in the 'Not' category, 'cuz I'm trying to convince myself & Kelly that I shouldn't take one this year - after being sick twice this flu season. And having my first-ever flu shot last October. :angry:
 
I cant remember the last time I had the flu. Colds yeah, but no, no flu.



Not even swine.
 
Well, technically it's not proven until we are all dead. And then, in the world of science, even that isn't 100 percent proof.

I've never had a real flu, but my doctor here insists on giving me the shot each year just in case. Since I don't suffer any side-effects I take it, but wouldn't worry if I didn't.
 
Officially, I have to take a flu shot every year as well. But haven't done that for a few years now, because if I took it then I would get so sick, but now I haven't had a serious flu for quite a few years now :up:
 
FACT


Carlos is a wussy.




Oh, and I haven't had a flu shot either, overrated paranoia. Only people who can risk death from a simple flu should take it.

Which doesn't mean I haven't had the flu. I had, couple of weeks ago. :shrug: Been sick for a week but still worked and went to uni, nothin' much.
 
I used to get the flu shot every year, because my asthma used to be very bad. Every year, I'd end up getting the damn flu anyway. The year I decided not to get the shot? I was healthy, and have been ever since. Moral of the story? Never get those damn shots.
 
I might go for the Nose spray vacination.....

But a shot? No way...I'm a big baby. I feel terrible when I take my kid to the Dr. and I'm like "Shots...eh..they're no big deal.." Meanwhile I'm all: :faint:
 
Have never had one, and, despite all the other things that ail me, I rarely if ever get a cold or cough, let alone the flu.

Now of course I'll get malaria.
 
I got my first one ever last October, right after I started working for the DOC because - well, I work in a prison & there're always lots of prison cooties floating around that you wouldn't really want to catch.

Anyway, first ever flu shot last fall - sick twice before April. :angry: The first time was so bad & my cough so awful that I was out of work for a week & it took me 2 1/2 weeks to get my voice back. Second round was at the end of March - same symptoms, but a weaker bug. I was only out of work 2 days for that one.

So maybe I got sick because I work in an old building with air ducts that would likely give an air quality control tech vivid nightmares; or maybe, just maybe...the friggin' flu shot made me sick! :madwife: :lol:

Either way, I need to make a decision fast. Shots are being administered at our unit on Oct 7th. :huh:
 
Never got the shot or spray and don't tend to do so. Even though I catch everything in the book and I've been sick for a couple of weeks, I am not getting it. i even asked my doc and she said "It's not worth it". So I'm no getting it. If it was a life and death thing yeah maybe.

Now last I had the flu was when I was 16 I got it so bad I was in the hospital for a couple of weeks and almost died. BUT that still doesn't make me get the shot or spray and I haven't gotten it since.
 
I figure it makes no sense to make myself sick deliberately just to avoid the chance of getting sick. If and when I do get sick, I'm fairly confident my body will fight it off and then it won't happen again, if it's a virus. Far as I understand it viruses have strains and you never get the same strain twice if your body beats it the first time, so wouldn't it be better to let your body do the work? Just the way I see it, anyways. Could be wrong I guess.
 
It's basically right, and that's also why vaccines are rather aimed at risk-groups, i.e. people where it's not so certain their body will be able to fight off the virus itself. Or asthmatics, where a flu can make the disease even worse. But of course, that is only good when you can deal with the vaccine itself. People that get sick from it shouldn't get a shot either.
Then, of course, you have the problem that any flu vaccine is no fail proof. Each year you get a flu shot against a certain strain of virus. But then you are only save from this particular strain. So you still can catch the flu if the strain of virus that enters your body differs from what you are vaccinated against. It's pretty much a lottery.

Making yourself sick deliberately is pretty much nonsense. Even for a healthy person it's not recommendable to get the flu.
 
My doctor says we are overprescribing antibiotics, even. To the point where our population could be decimated by a seriously antibiotic resistant strain of some killer cold or something. Couple times I've gone to him because when I do get sick I'm a fucking crybaby and he's said "come back in a week, if you haven't beaten it yourself by then, I'll give you something". The odd thing is that my old doctor, who stopped practicing some years ago, would prescribe shit at the slightest cough and I would get sick all the time, it seemed. Now I rarely get sick. I like this new guy. :up:
 
Yes, it's sometimes tough to keep the balance. And since people like to tend to the extremes sometimes there are some who happily catch every disease but cringe at the slightest thought of taking a pill, and others who take all kinds of antibiotics even before they get sick. We need to be careful not to overdose on antibiotics. Another danger is the antibiotics used in the farming industry. Sometimes a pound of meat consists of so many different kinds of antibiotics that you wonder how much meat is left.
Bill Bryson has an interesting chapter on that in his book A Short History of Nearly Everything, where the danger of such strains which are practically resistant to anything known to us are discussed.
 
I wonder at how many people get colds but think/say they have the flu because it's much more dramatic?

all of the above people?

when you have a flu shot you will often get a mild cold .

Going to work/uni with a bad cold/flu is irresponsible, STAY HOME .

Had my flu shot every year for the last 4 years, never got sick .
Antibacterial hand gel / good hygiene are your friends. :heart:
 
I wonder at how many people get colds but think/say they have the flu because it's much more dramatic?
:lol: i know! me, i just say i have whatever the doctor tells me. most of the times when i'm sick it's just a sinus infection. no big deal. :shrug: the most recent time i got sick though she told me i had pneumonia. oh well, i'm getting better, life goes on. this is only the third "serious" illness i've had in my life (flu when i was a kid, mono in high school, and then this) so i'm doing well i think.

and i agree with gabe, there are way too many people who get overprescribed antibiotics. the word antibiotic alone kinda tells you it's for bacteria, not viruses! the flu, colds, things like that you just have to let them go away naturally. of course cough syrup and sinus meds are a help, but antibiotics are useless and like you said, just increase your resistance to them. this way, when you actually get a bacterial infection, you need some ridiculously strong antibiotics despite not having a really serious illness.
 
I think flu shots are unnecessary except for people with a compromised immune system. The vaccine itself changes each year, based on some sort of *prediction* of viruses. But people can still get the flu after getting a flu shot because how likely do you think it is that you will only be exposed to the 3 strains included in vaccine? Influenza keeps mutating and new strains are created all the time. Technically, if you've had the flu before, and get it again, you aren't experiencing the same flu from before, it is just a different strain of the virus. As someone with a strong and healthy immune system who isn't at risk of dying from the flu, I just don't see the point in subjecting myself to a vaccination against 3 strains of virus when there are loads of different strains out there.

The truth is, frequent hand washing can inactivate any strain, and is much more effective than the vaccine.
 
i'm probably going to become a pin cushion in the next month or so with all of the stuff i need before my us visa interview. it includes a flu shot, wonderful! i'm not afraid of needles, but it's not like i enjoy it!
 
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