Community Chat

[chrystaltree]

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@Dusty1 wrote:

How do you judge if it is milder & shorter duration than it would have been without the shot?

Isn't that like using an anti aging product? Maybe it works. Maybe it doesn't. You can't really compare unless you use it on one side of your face as you age & see if one side looks younger after 10-20-30 years.

I have had the flu that was really awful. I have had flu that is mild & I go on in a day or so.

Schools are closed here because so many teachers & students have the flu.

I wonder how many of them had the flu shot?

If think if you every truly had the flu, you wouldn't ask that question.  Influenza is nothing like a cold, it totally incompacitates you with a high fever, serious body aches, loss of appetite, weakness, a cough that sometimes leads to pneumonia. Flu symptoms last about 7 days but the cough can last for  couple of weeks and the weakness or just feeling ill can Las t for a couple of weeks.  So, yes.  If you are diagnosed with the flu and you had a flu shot; you KNOW that the symptoms are mild when your symptoms are more like a cold and you are back on your feet and and recovered in 3 days.  I get it.  You are one of those who don't get the flu shot and nothing anyone says about the benefits will ever change your mind.  

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[dex]

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@chrystaltree wrote:

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@Dusty1 wrote:

How do you judge if it is milder & shorter duration than it would have been without the shot?

Isn't that like using an anti aging product? Maybe it works. Maybe it doesn't. You can't really compare unless you use it on one side of your face as you age & see if one side looks younger after 10-20-30 years.

I have had the flu that was really awful. I have had flu that is mild & I go on in a day or so.

Schools are closed here because so many teachers & students have the flu.

I wonder how many of them had the flu shot?

If think if you every truly had the flu, you wouldn't ask that question.  Influenza is nothing like a cold, it totally incompacitates you with a high fever, serious body aches, loss of appetite, weakness, a cough that sometimes leads to pneumonia. Flu symptoms last about 7 days but the cough can last for  couple of weeks and the weakness or just feeling ill can Las t for a couple of weeks.  So, yes.  If you are diagnosed with the flu and you had a flu shot; you KNOW that the symptoms are mild when your symptoms are more like a cold and you are back on your feet and and recovered in 3 days.  I get it.  You are one of those who don't get the flu shot and nothing anyone says about the benefits will ever change your mind.  

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You are so right.I had the flu last year and honestly I was so sick that I didn’t care about anything.I didn’t even get out of bed for a week but just slept...couldn’t eat.My dh was really worried because I never stayed in bed when sick or slept night and day in my life.

[Imaoldhippie]

Getting any kind of immunization does NOT prevent you from getting the illness, but a milder case.  So what you are experiencing is a mild case of the flu and your immunization worked.  Hope you feel better soon.

[SunSprite]

@chrystaltree   YES. You hit the nail on the head. Because it was just two years ago when I had the flu, I can compare it to how it is hitting me this year and it is NOT the same effect. 

The only thing I'm not sure of is it because the vaccine is a better match, or is it because I had two shots (one being the over 65 one). Since I have no way of knowing for sure I think I will just do the double shot thing from now on. It sure as heck beats how I felt in March of 2018. 

Also, I work for a hospital organization, on the non-clinical side. The entire employee population is required to be vaccinated for the flu, unless you have a medical/religious reason that you cannot. I have always received a flu vaccine, even back in 2018. 

But after testing positive yesterday I am fully aware of the difference in severity between now and 2018. I am a strong advocate for the flu vaccine, because when they get it right.....well obviously it helps. Something went right this year. 

Thanks to all for the well wishes! I'll be ok, just a lousy patient and really don't like being sick and isolated 

[2blonde]

@SunSprite   I'm sad for you getting the flu, but happy that it's a milder case, and I hope you feel better very soon.

The last time I had the flu was well over 20 years ago, but I remember it well.  I live alone, and even though I was too sick to eat, I couldn't stand up long enough to get any food anyway.  You definitely know you don't have some other virus when you have the full blown flu. 

Since then, my employer has offered free flu shots on campus every year, and I have gotten them, although many others don't.  I've been getting the 65+ dose the last couple years, and the worst I got from the higher dose was a very sore arm.

I couple weeks ago, I totally felt the early signs of the flu, and was mortifed because I have asthma, and have had many bouts of bronchitis over the years.  I prayed my shot would give my body the strength to fight it off, and when I woke up the next day I was fine!  Thank God!

[Pecky]

I have never gotten the flu shot and this year for some reason I did. I thought I was coming down with a cold but I had symptoms that I had never experienced before.  My cough was really loose and I heard funny noises in my chest. The worst sore throat I had ever had.  It felt like I was swallowing needles when trying to drink water.  Fever 102.  After three days of feeling horrible my DH took me to the doctors.  He says to me"you are very sick" I really got scared.  It was pneumonia that I had. That was last week and with the antibiotics he gave me I am feeling much better.  Still have a cough but nothing like before.  I also still feel tired. It was quite scary.

[Nightowlz]

IMO no business has the right to tell anyone they have to have the flu shot. They work on the shot for the strain they think it will be. Have they ever got that right? I don't know because I don't take the shot. Everything today revolves around MONEY.

If you take the flu shot for over 65 I would tell my employer I already had my flu shot & am not taking that one.

I don't even know why they came out with the shot for over 65. I have read these flu shots don't work after a certain age???

I doubt your flu was not as bad because you had the flu shot. IMO the flu that was going around here this year was mild so you cannot go by that. I know several people that had it including me. It started with body aches & headache next a sore throat with it moving to my chest with coughing. I never went to the doctor as there is nothing they can do. I took aspirin, Zand zinc lemon lozenges, extra vitamin c & lots of OJ.

[Krimpette]

I would never NOT get the flu shot.  Many, many, many years back, I had the Hong Kong flu.  Sickest I have ever been.  Don't want to go through that again...ever.

[beckyb1012]

I am 58 and have never had the flu shot.  Got the flu at the age of 8, 17, and 48.  Hopefully more years ahead flu free.

[Alison Wonderland]

That's a known thing with the flu vaccine. You may still get the flu the vaccine was for or a variant, but it may be less severe because of the vaccine. 

If you get the flu, with or without a vaccine, you can also see the doctor for a test and the flu medications. One of them requires you start the medication within 24 hours of the onset of symptoms and the other 48 hours. The last time I had the flu was in 2017. I went to an urgent care clinic with a fever of 102.8 and the doctor tested me and told me to get the medication and take it in the parking lot of the drugstore, don't even wait to get home. I did. That day I felt so miserable I don't even remember the rest of the day.

The next day I had no fever at all and felt tired, but otherwise had very few symptoms. I saw my dad that day and he questioned whether or not I had even had the flu. Even after I told him they tested me and the test came back positive, he was still skeptical because I seemed to have no symptoms at all. That stuff is as close to a miracle drug as I've ever seen.