$*@%!! flu shot!

Ok, about 11 or 12 years ago I decided to get a flu shot since work was paying for it. The next day I had the biggest, baddest case of the flu evar. I swore off the flu shot for good. Fast forward 11 or 12 years. Once again work is paying for it but I swore if off. Well, some lady at work said that if you get the flu after the shot it's just a big coinkidink. Then I figure maybe if I get the shot I'll be less likely to bring something home to my kids so I get the shot yesterday. Last night I get a nasty case of the flu, technicolor yawn, reenactment of the bathroom scene from Dumb and Dumber every 20 minutes and now I feel like I've been hit by a truck.
I mean it this time, no more flu shots for me. My wife did some research and while it's rare some people do get the flu from the shot.

Same thing happens to me. I believe it happens to a lot of my friends and family members as well. Get the the flu shot? Be prepared to be down about a week...

I never get sick off the shot. Good thing because were I work you pretty much have to get it or you have to wear a mask.

I really don't think you are going to come down with the flu 24 hours after a shot. I'm not a doctor, I just wish I was.

I haven't gotten a flu shot in years and haven't gotten the flu. The last time I got a shot I came down with the flu in a couple of days. Sucks big time.

Never had a flu shot. Don't intend to. I figure man survived for hundreds of years before we all went around doing stupid E36 M3 and injecting diseases into ourselves. I took my chances with the bird flu, r2d2 flu, and SARS and came out fine. I don't suspect that will change.

In reply to mndsm:

In 1900, the average life expectancy in America was 47, and at the time that was considered quite an achievement.

what you have to understand is you CANNOT get influenza from the flu shot... it is IMPOSSIBLE .... it's a DEAD virus + and this is the biggy ... influenza is a pneumonia (i.e. a lung disease ) not a stomach ailment... common colds and various stomach viruses are often referred to as the flu... neither of which will kill you... (just feels like it sometimes influenza can/will depending on your ability to fight it off.... the shot is a guess each year as to which "flu" will be "the one" that yr ... but even if they miss their guess it still helps you fight off the virus if you are unlucky enough to come in contact with the virus

Haven't had a flu shot in years. Haven't had the flu since.

WB is right. Flu shots can't give you the flu.

But if you skip the flu shot, you are more likely to get the flu, and thus more likely to give it to an old lady or an immune system compromised child and kill them. That would make me feel bad.

It is like paying taxes. It kind of works better if everyone does it.

Oh but I'M DIFFERENT!! I get the flu from dead viruses

You're probably allergic to something in the shot. I know if you have an Egg allergy you can get nauseous/very stomach virus like sick. I'm pretty sure there is probably other stuff in their that can give you similar reactions.

wbjones wrote: what you have to understand is you CANNOT get influenza from the flu shot... it is IMPOSSIBLE .... it's a DEAD virus + and this is the biggy ... influenza is a pneumonia (i.e. a lung disease ) not a stomach ailment... common colds and various stomach viruses are often referred to as the flu... neither of which will kill you... (just feels like it sometimes ) influenza can/will depending on your ability to fight it off.... the shot is a guess each year as to which "flu" will be "the one" that yr ... but even if they miss they're guess it still helps you fight off the virus if you are unlucky enough to come in contact with the virus

Not always...last years h1n1 vaccine was LIVE.

nocones wrote: Oh but I'M DIFFERENT!! I get the flu from dead viruses You're probably allergic to something in the shot. I know if you have an Egg allergy you can get nauseous/very stomach virus like sick. I'm pretty sure there is probably other stuff in their that can give you similar reactions.

That is probably the case. Being in the military we have to get one every year, never had an issue in the last 15 years.

get it every year and seem to get less colds and other ailments . coincedence??? The first year i felt down for about 24hrs and then was back to full strength.

Sorry, I have to throw in some comments here since I did the whole MD thing. The flu shot is an "inactivated" virus. The nasal spray is a live attenuated virus meaning it is weakened. So you can get the "flu" but not from the shot. You can get low grade fever, soreness, etc...If you really get the flu the day after the shot, you probably had it before the shot. You can get flu despite getting the shot, but it is usually a milder case. Influenza is not a pneumonia either. If you get pneumonia after the flu it is usually a Staph pneumonia and can be dangerous. This year's vaccine will protect against H1N1 and the other projected subtypes. Sorry to wax poetic, but while I may not know e36M3 about cars, I do know medicine

The way i see it, I only get the flu every 3-5 years, and it only sucks for a couple days. Going to the doctor's office and getting a shot is annoying enough to choose the occasional flu. Besides, i'm an active male in my 20's, I shouldn't have any serious lasting problems with any virus averted by that shot. I'll take a meningitus vaccine, but screw the flu shot.

Never had the shot, never got the flu, not gonna start till work requires it. And I turned down a free shot the other day.

I can't make you get a flu shot, but you might want to look at the stats from H1N1 last year, which seemed to kill young, healthy people at a higher rate than old, less healthy people. Granted, dying from the flu is rare, but it ain't nonexistent either.

While you're at it, research healthy people who got a flu shot and suffered severe, and sometimes life-changing illness from the vaccine itself. There aren't many, but there are some.

f86sabjf wrote: get it every year and seem to get less colds and other ailments . coincedence??? The first year i felt down for about 24hrs and then was back to full strength.

And I don't get sinus infections or colds anymore since I was in grade school and forced to get the shot?

Correlation does not equal causation.

Never had a flu shot, don't plan to.

It's the flu fer chrissakes, you won't die from it unless you're stupid or Jim Henson.

If you do get the shot, get the ANTI-flu shot.

Shawn

Grtechguy wrote: Not always...last years h1n1 vaccine was LIVE.

this yrs isn't... or so they said at the VA....

cardiacdog wrote: Sorry, I have to throw in some comments here since I did the whole MD thing. The flu shot is an "inactivated" virus. The nasal spray is a live attenuated virus meaning it is weakened. So you can get the "flu" but not from the shot. You can get low grade fever, soreness, etc...If you really get the flu the day after the shot, you probably had it before the shot. You can get flu despite getting the shot, but it is usually a milder case. Influenza is not a pneumonia either. If you get pneumonia after the flu it is usually a Staph pneumonia and can be dangerous. This year's vaccine will protect against H1N1 and the other projected subtypes. Sorry to wax poetic, but while I may not know e36M3 about cars, I do know medicine

if I'm wrong about the pneumonia then I apologize .. but my Dad is (was) a bacteriologist (microbiologists) and his explanation was that pneumonia had come into general usage (ala Plexiglas...) and it's old time definition was any lung infection with the pointed names of viral / bacterial pneumonia being what is now commonly referred to as "pneumonia"....

don't mind being corrected... and you are right ... and I was referring to the shot not the spray

Trans_Maro wrote: Never had a flu shot, don't plan to. It's the flu fer chrissakes, you won't die from it unless you're stupid or Jim Henson. If you do get the shot, get the ANTI-flu shot. Shawn

death rate is down (from the flu) this from : http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/influenza/general/news/jun1208deaths-br.html

A total of 56,247 deaths were attributed to flu and pneumonia in 2006, a rate of 18.8 deaths per 100,000 population, according to the CDC report.

Trans_Maro wrote: It's the flu fer chrissakes, you won't die from it unless you're stupid or Jim Henson.

And now we have wrong sounding muppets.