Flu Shot Poll

[Gemini]

How many of you get a flu shot every year? I have never had the flu, to the best of my knowledge, and at 52, am not inclined to ever get a flu shot.

I am never sick any more since going gluten-free so don't see the point. I am surprised by the number of people who think it a crime if you don't get a flu shot.

Ditto for the pneumonia vaccine. I have never had it so why would I get a vaccine if I am in the low risk group?

I am curious to see what others have to say about it.

[pricklypear1971]

Well, I never got them till I started getting sick all the time. Got on thyroid meds and stopped getting sick.

That said, the one year I did get it, I got pneumonia. I'm sure it wasn't the cause but it didn't stop whatever flu got me that lead to the pneumonia.

Anyway, I react to so many things I just don't do it.

I've read re: hypothyroid patients you generally do very well with them or very bad. Since I'm hypo and I don't generally get the flu since I started meds I haven't pursued it. I get about 25% of the flu (meaning I get sick about once every 4 years with genuine flu).

[sreese68]

My husband has chronic bronchitis, so the kids and I get the flu shot each year to protect him. He got the pneumonia one. And we both got the adult pertussis shot a few years ago since outbreaks happen here from time to time. If my husband didn't have issues, I'm not sure we'd get them

[Gemini]

Well, I never got them till I started getting sick all the time. Got on thyroid meds and stopped getting sick.

That said, the one year I did get it, I got pneumonia. I'm sure it wasn't the cause but it didn't stop whatever flu got me that lead to the pneumonia.

Anyway, I react to so many things I just don't do it.

I've read re: hypothyroid patients you generally do very well with them or very bad. Since I'm hypo and I don't generally get the flu since I started meds I haven't pursued it. I get about 25% of the flu (meaning I get sick about once every 4 years with genuine flu).

That's interesting as I have Hashi's thyroid disease also and never heard about this before. I have not had any vaccines or anything since before I was diagnosed 6 years ago so it's been awhile. I am not against all vaccines or shots for certain illnesses but do not run out and get them all when I feel it's an individual based issue. I am a little wary of having a problem with them so think carefully about it before I do.

The last shot I got was a tetanus booster and it went horribly. Granted, my arms were malnourished skinny at the time and the nurse hit a nerve in my arm that nearly knocked me off the table. I could not raise my arm level with my shoulder for 6 weeks after that. When I went back to have them look at it, I knew what the problem was but they tried to tell me I had carpal tunnel....which I knew was BS. I never went back to that doctor again and now am a little nervous about shots....don't trust the medical profession all that much. My arms are normal size now but I still don't see the need for shots when I never get the flu or illnesses like it. Honestly, besides some rare glutenings, I am never sick any more.

[ravenwoodglass]

Nope, not getting one, never took one and never will. I haven't even had a cold since I was diagnosed even when I worked in the school system around all the sniveling coughing and hacking kids.

Interestingly was always sick with a cold or flu and I had chronic bronchitis from the time I was a child and asthma as an adult, always blamed on first my Mom's smoking and then mine. Both disappeared gluten free even though I still smoke.

[bartfull]

I'm 57, and I've never had the flu. I wash my hands a lot, and never touch my face or food until I do. I too used to be sick all the time when I was young. Bronchitis at least twice a year, pneumonia about seven times during my life, croup as a child, and just a touch of asthma. (And yes, I still smoke )

As an adult though, I hardly ever even catch a cold. I think I went through a three year stretch one time where I never got even a slight case of the sniffles.

I'm not a big fan of the medical profession either. One time an elderly lady came into my store and told me she had just taken her eighty-something year old husband to the doctor for the first time in his life. My immediate response was, "That's why he has lived so long!"

[love2travel]

Though I have received the flu vaccine a few times I still get sick. Last year I had bronchitis that turned into pneumonia that caused so much coughing that many of my intercostal muscles tore away from my ribs. Not good when I have severe back pain to begin with. The pain was (and still is) unimaginable. Perhaps now that I am gluten free I will not get sick this winter. I sure hope so - the coughing hurts me so badly.

[Skylark]

My asthma is still a mess and flu means a nasty round of bronchitis. I get mine!

[Jestgar]

I have asthma, and I got the flu once, in my 20's. It was horrible and terrifying, and I do not want to repeat the experience. I get the shot.

[kareng]

I don't want to jinx myself! I might or might not get one!

[GlutenFreeManna]

Every time I have gotten the flu shot I have been VERY sick from it. The years when I didn't get it I wasn't as sick. I still got colds every year but they were not as severe. Plenty of people have told me that you can't get sick from the shot and it just means you were already exposed to the flu before the shot had a chance to work. I don't believe them. Besides, the flu shot is just a guess about which strain is going to be big that year anyway. They are often wrong in their predictions and the shot helps very few people those years. I'll take my chances.

[lovegrov]

Always get it. I had the flu 25 years ago I hope never to have it again.

richard

[Jestgar]

Plenty of people have told me that you can't get sick from the shot and it just means you were already exposed to the flu before the shot had a chance to work.

This isn't technically correct. You can't get the flu, from the flu shot, but it is designed to stimulate your immune system, so it's likely that you'll feel ill for a few days after a few shot. How long you feel ill depends on your own personal body chemistry.

If you weren't sick to the point of hospitalization, or being close to the point of hospitalization, then it's unlikely you've had "the flu". It's not a mild illness, and it (or rather, it's sequelae), kills people.

[GlutenFreeManna]

This isn't technically correct. You can't get the flu, from the flu shot, but it is designed to stimulate your immune system, so it's likely that you'll feel ill for a few days after a few shot. How long you feel ill depends on your own personal body chemistry.

If you weren't sick to the point of hospitalization, or being close to the point of hospitalization, then it's unlikely you've had "the flu". It's not a mild illness, and it (or rather, it's sequelae), kills people.

The last two times I had the flu shot I was sick enough I had to go to the ER. I had very high fevers that did not go down with my limit of tylenol, dehydration because I could not keep liquids down, terrible body aches, swelling of the tissues on the back of my head...I most definately had serious flu-like symptoms after getting the flu shot. I wasn't "hosptalized" in these cases but had to spend a good deal of time in the ER recieving fluids and waiting for my fever to go down. It was not mild by any means. I'll take the milder colds without a flu shot over the sickness that comes only when I get the flu shot anyday. Everyone's different of course, but my body cannot handle the flu shot.

[Jestgar]

The last two times I had the flu shot I was sick enough I had to go to the ER. I had very high fevers that did not go down with my limit of tylenol, dehydration because I could not keep liquids down, terrible body aches, swelling of the tissues on the back of my head...I most definately had serious flu-like symptoms after getting the flu shot. I wasn't "hosptalized" in these cases but had to spend a good deal of time in the ER recieving fluids and waiting for my fever to go down. It was not mild by any means. I'll take the milder colds without a flu shot over the sickness that comes only when I get the flu shot anyday. Everyone's different of course, but my body cannot handle the flu shot.

Yeah, that's bad. I don't suppose any of the ER personnel thought to type you to see 1) if it were an actual strain of flu, and 2) if it were a strain of flu in the vaccine you had just received. That sort of info would be worth knowing (for them, you probably just want to know how long it will take to go away, and how to keep it from happening again).

[oceangirl]

Though I don't get colds as often as I used to, if I get the flu (which I've had twice in the past 7 years), I get bronchitis and then pneumonia which is very difficult to shake.

I'm not a big fan of vaccines but many have allowed us to live the mostly disease-free lives the Baby Boom generation has enjoyed. (We haven't had to fret polio or diptheria for instance...)

Last year was a pneumonia year following the dreaded swine flu so I AM getting a flu shot this year. I do know, due to scientific "guessing" at which type is circulating, that it's a "shot in the dark" (ha, ha) but... there it is!

lisa

[GlutenFreeManna]

Yeah, that's bad. I don't suppose any of the ER personnel thought to type you to see 1) if it were an actual strain of flu, and 2) if it were a strain of flu in the vaccine you had just received. That sort of info would be worth knowing (for them, you probably just want to know how long it will take to go away, and how to keep it from happening again).

No, of course they didn't test what strain it was. The ER is where I was told 1) it's probably the flu. 2) it could NOT have been caused by the flu shot and I must have been exposed just prior to getting the shot or the flu was a different strain than what was in the shot that year.

In the years prior to the two years in a row I was in the ER I had flu-like symptoms (after getting the flu shot) that ended up becoming brochitis or pnuemonia because I didn't go to the dr or ER when I had the fever. So after that I decided not to mess around and to go to the ER. Then the next year I was a broke/super busy grad student I just didn't get the flu shot (didn't put a lot of thought into it I just didn't have time). Maybe it's all coincidence but I didn't get sick that year. So the next year when I realized that looking back I didn't get sick the one year I skipped the shot I decided to just keep skipping it and see what happens. It's been six years since I got one and I have not had the flu. I had one case of brochitius and pnuemonia last year after a bad glutening. I'm not super anti-vaccine (I get my tentnus shots and other things for traveling to foreign countries and I don't get sick from those shots) but I'm not going to get the flu shot anymore. If I ever have kids I'll be one of those parents that spreads out their vaccine schedules as much as possible and only does the most serious ones/required ones.

[pricklypear1971]

Though I don't get colds as often as I used to, if I get the flu (which I've had twice in the past 7 years), I get bronchitis and then pneumonia which is very difficult to shake.

I'm not a big fan of vaccines but many have allowed us to live the mostly disease-free lives the Baby Boom generation has enjoyed. (We haven't had to fret polio or diptheria for instance...)

Last year was a pneumonia year following the dreaded swine flu so I AM getting a flu shot this year. I do know, due to scientific "guessing" at which type is circulating, that it's a "shot in the dark" (ha, ha) but... there it is!

lisa

Interesting. I've noticed since I got on thyroid meds when I get sick with something like the flu it's milder than everyone else around me. I'm also the last one to get it. I had the "regular" flu and then swine flu...both were milder than everyone around me. I can't believe the difference thyroid meds made for me.

Before thyroid meds I got sick at the drop of a hat. I had the flu 3 consecutive Christmases. That sucked.

[shadowicewolf]

i got one last year. Got the flu a month later really bad that started this whole mess :anger:

[Jestgar]

No, of course they didn't test what strain it was. The ER is where I was told 1) it's probably the flu. 2) it could NOT have been caused by the flu shot and I must have been exposed just prior to getting the shot or the flu was a different strain than what was in the shot that year.

Sorry. They shouldn't make that many assumptions about your health.

If I had had the same experiences as you, I wouldn't get the shots anymore either. I get a low grade fever, a few chills/body aches, and a headache for a couple days. That's it.

[mushroom]

Put me in the flu shot column. High risk with COPD and a suppressed immune system - it's a no-brainer for me. Pneumonia would probably kill me.

[Roda]

I get the flu shot. I work in a hospital and x-ray patients all night long that are coughing, have nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. I also don't want to take it home and expose my kids. They usually get the flu shot also, but I forgot it last year. I took oldest to the doctor last season thinking he had strep and nope, he tested positive for the flu on the nasal swab. I was told my youngest son probably had it too. So I won't be forgetting this year. Hubby won't take the shot, but I'm working on him for this year. So far he has been plagued by three different gastrointestinal bugs since June. He has been getting everything around this year.

[love2travel]

Put me in the flu shot column. High risk with COPD and a suppressed immune system - it's a no-brainer for me. Pneumonia would probably kill me.

Pneumonia nearly did me in last winter. It was absolutely dreadful. I still cringe when I think about it.

[bartfull]

I wonder of it could be some kind of allergic reation to something the vaccine is made with.

Here is a list of some of theinactive ingredients, but they vary from company to company:

According to the FDA, the inactive ingredients in the flu vaccine are egg protein, formaldehyde, sodium deoxycholate and thimerosal. Two of these inactive ingredients have been suspected of causing adverse reactions.

Read more: Open Original Shared Link

[ECUmom3]

I used to be a Registered Nurse and I have only had the flu once- as a child. Due to my jobs, I had built up immunities, so never got sick as an adult (I'm now 50). Several years ago (pre-Celiac diagnosis) I went to work at a Health Department, which required that I get the flu vaccine. I didn't want it, but had no choice. I had always been taught that you could not get sick from a flu vaccine, but I did, and I know many others who have as well. I had a mild case of the flu for several days. The only way I would ever get one again is if my immunity system became compromised. But that's just me. If I were prone to getting the flu I would feel differently!

I think it's a personal decision. If you are prone to these types of illnesses or have a compromised immunity system, I would highly consider getting one. If not, weigh the pros and cons.