The flu shot does not prevent all strains of the f... - Page 7

CareBears · ‎08-30-2015

Because of my "Health" issues my doctors' insist that I get the flu shot each and every year, and it never fails, I end up getting sick for about 3-4 days with flu like symptoms right after getting the shot, but yet they still insist, I guess 3-4 days days is better then "What If"?

ChynnaBlue · ‎05-22-2012

No, it never has. It's still worth getting. I almost always get a flu shot, but this year I forgot. I got sick the week before Christmas. I was about to fly out of state for the holidays and my asthma was really bad, so I went to urgent care and they noticed I had a fever of 102.7. (I had no idea I had a fever at all. It had been in the 70s here and the temp suddenly dropped to 26 degrees the night I got sick, so I thought I was shivering and just couldn't get warm because of the extreme temperature drop.) Because I went to the doctor within 24 hours of the onset, they tested me for the flu and did a chest x-ray for pneumonia. The flu test came back positive, so they got me on Tamiflu, which you need to start within 24 hours of the symptoms starting. The doctor told me to take it immediately, before I even drove home from the pharmacy. I bought the Tamiflu and some whole milk and took it out in the parking lot.

I haven't had the flu since the 1990s, where it made me sick for a week and took nearly a month before I felt 100%. The Tamiflu doesn't reverse the flu, but it protects unaffected cells and prevents them from getting the virus, shortening the duration and the decreasing the severity. I felt quite a bit better the next day and the day after that I was MUCH better with no sign of fever and I just felt a little run down. I was able to get on my plane.

That Tamiflu stuff is a miracle. If you get flu-like symptoms in the flu season, get to the doctor immediately in case it is the flu and they can get you on the stuff in time.

Next year I will make sure I get the flu vaccine.

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Annabellethecat66 · ‎03-12-2010

None of you know me (well a few email me) but most don't. But...I'm the weird lady that will talk to you while you're in line waiting for something or at the Drs, etc. I mention this to enforce the fact that I talk to everyone and you would not believe how many people have told me after they've gotten the flu shot that they ran a fever and/or got sick. It varies at how much they got sick but I'd say about 90% of the people who have gotten the flu shot have at least run an uncomfortable fever and had to 'take it easy' for a day or so.

I normally get the shot every single year. I have something wrong with me where I have very little immunity. I probably should get the flu shot but so far my Dr has not recommended it this year. I will be speaking with him in a few days and will ask him again. Drs. still recommend it and tell people they won't get sick but I just know about the people I talk to.

I'm sure the fever and being uncomfortable isn't close to as bad as how you'd feel if you got the flu so one really needs to weigh the difference. Each person is different and if you were raised in my family you learned to learn and understand your OWN BODY and how it reacts to things. If you normally get the flu (or some version of it) you might want to get the shot. I'm not telling anyone to get it and like I said, the people I talk to had some (varied) reactions, but ..... also...like I said, it didn't sound at all what the flu must be like. It seems like this version of the flu must be really bad.

The thing I have going for me is that I'm not around people much and because of my immunity problem I use a lot of hand sanitizers, wash my hands a lot and don't touch my eyes or nose. I suggest others do the same and maybe we can all avoid getting sick these days as it seems to me people don't have the sense to stay home when they're sick. They think they're so NEEDED they must go to work and go shopping when they're sick, doing none of us a favor! Ugh!

My daughter has 4 children. I call them little petri dishes (especially the 4 year old). They've passed 'stuff' back and forth for about 2 months. I love my family but they know Grandma will visit when that "well window" appears and I can give hugs. Ha!

QueenDanceALot · ‎04-18-2013

@Annabellethecat66 wrote:
None of you know me (well a few email me) but most don't. But...I'm the weird lady that will talk to you while you're in line waiting for something or at the Drs, etc. I mention this to enforce the fact that I talk to everyone and you would not believe how many people have told me after they've gotten the flu shot that they ran a fever and/or got sick. It varies at how much they got sick but I'd say about 90% of the people who have gotten the flu shot have at least run an uncomfortable fever and had to 'take it easy' for a day or so.

I normally get the shot every single year. I have something wrong with me where I have very little immunity. I probably should get the flu shot but so far my Dr has not recommended it this year. I will be speaking with him in a few days and will ask him again. Drs. still recommend it and tell people they won't get sick but I just know about the people I talk to.

I'm sure the fever and being uncomfortable isn't close to as bad as how you'd feel if you got the flu so one really needs to weigh the difference. Each person is different and if you were raised in my family you learned to learn and understand your OWN BODY and how it reacts to things. If you normally get the flu (or some version of it) you might want to get the shot. I'm not telling anyone to get it and like I said, the people I talk to had some (varied) reactions, but ..... also...like I said, it didn't sound at all what the flu must be like. It seems like this version of the flu must be really bad.

The thing I have going for me is that I'm not around people much and because of my immunity problem I use a lot of hand sanitizers, wash my hands a lot and don't touch my eyes or nose. I suggest others do the same and maybe we can all avoid getting sick these days as it seems to me people don't have the sense to stay home when they're sick. They think they're so NEEDED they must go to work and go shopping when they're sick, doing none of us a favor! Ugh!

My daughter has 4 children. I call them little petri dishes (especially the 4 year old). They've passed 'stuff' back and forth for about 2 months. I love my family but they know Grandma will visit when that "well window" appears and I can give hugs. Ha!

I really wish people would stay home when they're sick, too, but the reality is that many people cannot take off from work when they get sick or they don't get paid. Unfortunate but that's just how it is. And some people have to go grocery shopping when they're sick because, well, they still have to eat and they may not have someone to send to the store for them.

I wasn't happy when I went to 2 Christmas celebrations and there were sick people there, just coughing and hacking and obviously sick. One guy was even irrigating his sinuses over the kitchen sink with company standing around (I KNOW, right?). And there's a woman I know who regulary gets a respiratory infection this time of year (couple times a year, actually) and sees it as a badge of toughness that she doesn't stay home. She could but she won't. And then she insists that she's not contagious. Oy.

We can't control those around us. We can't make them stay home when they're sick. And sometimes we have to be out among others when WE are sick.

JustJazzmom · ‎03-09-2010

I hope this works -- link has a table comparing a cold vs. flu symptoms.

http://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/cold-guide/flu-cold-symptoms#1

☼The best place to seek God is in a garden. You can dig for him there. GBShaw☼

Moonchilde · ‎05-23-2010

@CareBears wrote:
Because of my "Health" issues my doctors' insist that I get the flu shot each and every year, and it never fails, I end up getting sick for about 3-4 days with flu like symptoms right after getting the shot, but yet they still insist, I guess 3-4 days days is better then "What If"?

Many people "get sick" after vaccines. It's a *reaction* to the vaccine in the sense that you've just been given something that's "foreign" to your body and your body is *already*, upon injection, starting to produce antibodies against it.

A sore red arm, some "coming down with something" vague malaise and tiredness, and similar "cold/virus" symptoms are just physical reactions to the vaccine. They are mild compared to either an actual flu, or even many actual colds.

The last time I had the flu - I think it was in the early-mid 90s - I was off work for an entire month. Walking across the room made me exhausted. I couldn't drive, or grocery shop. It was scary, and I was 20+ years younger then. However much a flu shot might annoy or inconvenience me (they usually haven't, much) for several days, it's a price I gladly pay.

Life without Mexican food is no life at all

Kachina624 · ‎03-10-2010

The medicos say it's impossible to get sick from the flu vaccine because it contains no live, active virus. I think it's the power of suggestion. Somebody decides he/she got sick from the shot so she tells someone else who tells someone else, etc., etc. I've never had the slightest reaction. I don't even get a sore arm.

New Mexico☀️Land Of Enchantment

JustJazzmom · ‎03-09-2010

Before I get a flu shot, I ask the NP if anyone has reported any untoward symptoms and usually I get a nothing reported.

Usually a flu shot brings some warmth to the injection site or some localized tenderness. A person may feel slightly achy or tiredness within 8-24 hours but it does go away in another 24-48 hours.

If a person does get the flu post injection, it means they were exposed before the shot to the actual flu. As @Kachina624 mentioned, the virus is dead in the flu shot, not a live virus.

So if you do experience some achiness after a flu shot, consider that the real flu gives you flat out on the floor, I don't want to move anything achiness!

If you care or know anyone who is respiratory compromised in some way, getting the flu shot protects that person, especially if you are out and about running errands and being exposed to many people.

☼The best place to seek God is in a garden. You can dig for him there. GBShaw☼

skuggles · ‎11-20-2013

@Kachina624 wrote:
The medicos say it's impossible to get sick from the flu vaccine because it contains no live, active virus. I think it's the power of suggestion. Somebody decides he/she got sick from the shot so she tells someone else who tells someone else, etc., etc. I've never had the slightest reaction. I don't even get a sore arm.

I think its just ignorance. They haven't received any education on the flu shot for whatever reason. There's plenty of information out there everywhere.

Toppers3 · ‎10-25-2016

@Noel7 wrote:
Years ago, I had the London Flu and the Hong Kong Flu, at different times, of course. That's what they called them.

Once you've had something like that, you never forget what the real flu feels like and you don't mistake other viruses for the flu.

I remember that Hong Kong Flu, @Noel7.

That was so very dreadful.

I was young when that hit my whole family. We were all wiped out by it, but I remember being so sick with it, along with both of my parents, and my sister, too.

I remember being so ill that I could hardly move.

The last time that I had a flu virus, it hit me so fast.

I was really ill within a matter of hours. I had a really bad headache, and body aches and a fever and chills and couldn't breathe normally.

I ended up paging our doctor when my breathing started to change for the worst, and he sent me off to the ER.

I needed to have a breathing treatment there, and also needed to get an inhaler, and I was already on antibiotics for another infection, when I had developed a secondary infection in my lungs.

I was quite sick for a week, and then it took weeks for my lingering cough and weakness to go away, and before I started to feel better again.