Flu shots

[Violet]

Originally Posted by amber

..but if i've never gotten the flu before, maybe i'll be lucky...
Amber

Hopefully you will be, Amber. Start washing your hands! I get kind of nuts in public restrooms. My daughter touches NOTHING. I do it all. And after my hands are washed, I use a paper towel to touch everything, even to turn the water off. and I get my paper towel BEFORE I wash my hands. And door knobs/handles? NEVER touch them with my bear hands. Yuck.

I just got my flu shot last night. I have mild asthma. This is only the 2nd year I got it. I considered not getting it and letting someone with more serious problems get it, but two years ago I got the flu twice (Really bad), three sinus infections and had bronchitis twice. Granted, that was the year I was diagnosed w/asthma and my first winter back up north, but I do NOT want to go through that again. Last year, with the shot, nothing. And I had always been very healthy before that.

I was talking to my sister last night, and she got a flu shot, too, but she has no chronic conditions. But she is an RN in an ICU unit. So maybe that's why?

Amber, stop smoking! Wrinkles, discolored teeth, lung disease, increased risk for osteoporosis...etc, etc. My mom is a walking billboard for not smoking. Lecture over...

Carol

[DrummerDeanna]

Wow - I didn't know the flu could be such an ass kicker. I think I also thought it was just an intense cold or something....

I do know there are some people who actually need the flu shot - here in New York State Blue Cross apparently just decided it would cover the FluMist nasal flu shot spray (it normally does not cover that) so I think that may help...

my mom and her husband got a flu shot - she's a mess health wise - horrid immune system and her husband is older and diabetic...so they actually needed one....but yeah - there are perfectly healthy people STILL getting shots - I think that's pretty selfish....it's all over the news to forego one and let the high risk folks have one....

Anyway - All Things Considered, Talk of the Nation - all these shows are on Flu news overkill....I was just sick of hearing about it.

[DeeGeMe]

Flu Mist is an option but it contains the live virus and can't be used if you're over 49, if you have a chronic illness/compromised immune system (like me), so that cuts out a lot of folks who need it but can't take it. Also, since Flu Mist is so much more expensive than the regular flu vaccine, it is usually not paid for by insurance (glad to hear that BC/BS in NY is) and since it wasn't a huge, runaway hit last year, the manufacturer didn't produce as many doses of it this year as they did last.

[DrummerDeanna]

Originally Posted by DeeGeMe

Flu Mist is an option but it contains the live virus and can't be used if you're over 49, if you have a chronic illness/compromised immune system (like me), so that cuts out a lot of folks who need it but can't take it. Also, since Flu Mist is so much more expensive than the regular flu vaccine, it is usually not paid for by insurance (glad to hear that BC/BS in NY is) and since it wasn't a huge, runaway hit last year, the manufacturer didn't produce as many doses of it this year as they did last.

Interesting...I did not know that...but again - none of it really applies to me as I've never gotten a flu shot nor was I planning to anytime in the near future...

I remember about a week before Chyron pulled the vaccines I was reporting about how there was going to be plenty of flu vaccine to go around this year - more than needed in fact....then this happened...crazy.

[Bella Figura]

Originally Posted by wondergirl9847

I'm sick of hearing about the flu too. I mean, it's not like it's friggin' leprosy or something. It's the flu, people. You get fever, you have a headache, you throw up, you get better.

Geez.

ETA: I didn't mean that rant against people who really NEED the shot, I mean, the paranoid people who are healthy.

over 30,000 people in the US die of influenza each year. In the last true worldwide epidemic in 1918, close to 1 million people died in the US, 20 million worldwide...

being healthy and young can help you recover and avoid death but a particularly strong strain can kill anyone...

everyone is more vulnerable this year because of the lack of vaccine...less people vaccinated means more people exposed to and/or spreading the influenza virus. so if you're young and healthy, this year may be the first time you actually get influenza not just a bad cold...

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/influenza/

http://history1900s.about.com/gi/dyn...virus%2Fuda%2F

[amber]

Originally Posted by Violet

Hopefully you will be, Amber. Start washing your hands! I get kind of nuts in public restrooms. My daughter touches NOTHING. I do it all. And after my hands are washed, I use a paper towel to touch everything, even to turn the water off. and I get my paper towel BEFORE I wash my hands. And door knobs/handles? NEVER touch them with my bear hands. Yuck.

I just got my flu shot last night. I have mild asthma. This is only the 2nd year I got it. I considered not getting it and letting someone with more serious problems get it, but two years ago I got the flu twice (Really bad), three sinus infections and had bronchitis twice. Granted, that was the year I was diagnosed w/asthma and my first winter back up north, but I do NOT want to go through that again. Last year, with the shot, nothing. And I had always been very healthy before that.

I was talking to my sister last night, and she got a flu shot, too, but she has no chronic conditions. But she is an RN in an ICU unit. So maybe that's why?

Amber, stop smoking! Wrinkles, discolored teeth, lung disease, increased risk for osteoporosis...etc, etc. My mom is a walking billboard for not smoking. Lecture over...

Carol

I'm trying to stop! mainly so i can exercise at a higher level, and so i don't look like a hag...soon, soon!
As far as washing hands, probably a good idea. But I think germs just float around everywhere, I don't think there are more amounts of flu and cold germs in a public restroom. there might be other "grosser" germs, but...I probably encounter most germs on BART, or busses, i would think...I can't really live my life washing my hands all the time, or being afraid of germs. I mean, it's just not in me to devote much thought to that.
Thanks for the lecture, I need it!!

[Vianna]

I always get a flu shot. I've had flu, more than once. I have bad sinus problems and flu always leaves me with a bad sinus infection. I work with children and they will come to school sick no matter how many times we send messages home saying please don't send your child to school sick. So I am majorly po'ed about the situation. Today I read in the paper there's plenty of vaccine for the Congress members! How about that?