A little Reminder from this vet Its Time to get your Flu Shot

[Monkeyman]

http://www.bellevueleader.com/site/tab3.cfm?newsid=17370673&BRD=PAG=461&dept_id=559850&rfi=6

You can read the link. How many times have you heard "I never get the flu,so why should I get a flu shot"? Well for one I want you to be able to vote LOL. The other reason is this years flu is going to be bad by all reports. So Go Get It I would miss all of your post.

[Iris]

1. I've been around here a while now, and I have to say this is one of the

nicest, most genuine threads I've ever read!

Thanks! And I'll take your advice! (Actually had flu for the first time last year and wouldn't want to go through that again.)

[acmejack]

2. Most VA clinics doing flu shots through the 17th of November...

Or so I hear. I know that is the case down this way.

[Monkeyman]

10. You have to get it early remember we are on funding from last year

[niallmac]

3. I'm going to gamble a little and wait until mid November.

Around here the flu hits hardest in early Spring. If I get the shot too early it wears
off by the time I really need it.

[trotsky]

4. Got mine just today.

After suffering thru a nasty one at the turn of the millenium, I vowed to always get a shot if possible. Anything to lessen the chance!

[catabryna]

5. I think I've already gotten one flu bug this year...

upper respiratory in nature. Fortunately, I didn't pass it along to my kid. With him just having started school after a year at home, he's already gotten a couple of common colds (I know flu shots don't prevent this) and he definitely doesn't need to get what I had. We will be getting flu shots again this year as we both came through two flu seasons unscathed after having been vaccinated. It was worth the money. We had to fight to get them in the past but, it appears we won't have to do that this year.

[eleny]

6. I don't think it was the flu

If you had the flu, you wouldn't wonder as it hits your whole body. It hammers. One minute you feel okay, next something seems to be wrong and 30 minutes later it's hell. You ache everywhere. And then you think you have to upchuck or poop or if not either of those, then you figure you're just going to die.

I've had the honest to god flu 3x. And I'm glad that it appears you didn't. I bet what you had was bad enough to struggle through. With the flu you can be sick for two weeks.

One year when I got it - Three days later, hubby came home from work midday. He walked into the bedroom, came to bed and that was it for a week. We would beg each other to please not turn over and make the mattress move even a little. One funny thing happened. When he first came home and took off his slacks to get into bed, I misunderstood. I woke up and said "Are you crazy? I can't make love NOW!" He said he was sick like me and not to worry. Oh, jeez, that was almost 30 years ago. Today it makes me laugh. :D

[catabryna]

29. Don't know...

It has taken the better part of three weeks for me to get over it, and I still have some lingering stuff. Trying to work out these creaky bones and finally did 3 weeks worth of laundry in the past two days! LOL! But, when you're sick with anything and you have a five year old... of course, you feel like you are gonna die!

[eleny]

31. Three weeks is a long haul

Whatever this is - having to face all that laundry was not fair! Be well and back in the groove soon!

[Pastiche423]

7. I've never had a flu shot

And I never will.

I have Lupus and a doc told me a long time ago, that a flu shot could either kill me or make me very sick.

Not everyone needs or should have a flu shot.

Btw, I've never had a flu, either.

[Justice Is Comin]

8. Excuse me for borrowing this thread to ask

has anybody here ever had a reaction to a small pox vaccination that made it feel like you had a basketball in your armpit?

[hedgehog]

9. The last vaccination I got was in 1972.

How in the world are you getting vaccinated now? As I remember, the vaccinations could look pretty ugly, but I never heard of swelling like that. Better call your doctor.

[ScreamingMeemie]

12. Many women (myself included) find out that initial vaccinations

they had as a child didn't "take" when they have their standard tests at the beginning of a pregnancy. I found out I was not immune to Rubella (despite having the vaccine in 75) and therefore had to be re vaccinated after my son was born.

[hedgehog]

17. I read the question to be about a recent small pox vaccination.

I can't imagine who would be getting one now. Maybe some first responders are getting them from Homeland Security? In any case, it sounds like the lymph nodes are reacting oddly and a doctor needs to appraise the situation.

[ScreamingMeemie]

23. I read it that way too.

[elocs]

16. Yeah, I was wondering that too.

I had a smallpox vaccination before I went into college in 1970.

[hedgehog]

We must be some of the last people in the general population

to have been vaccinated. None of my vaccinations ever left a scar so I have no proof of vaccination.

[elocs]

26. I had a scar for years, but I can't find it now. n/t

[catabryna]

27. Oh, I still have my smallpox vaccination scar...

as does my brother. Mine was done in 1965 and as my mother tells it (never know for certain how much exageration here) my left arm swelled up pretty badly and there were bumps under my armpit. My brother, however, didn't have the same reaction. He was vaccinated in 1967.

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

30. I can't find my scar now, born mid 60's here

no idea when I had the shot. I know one guy my age that has a concaved area in the upper arm he says the smallpox shot caused. It was noticeably pronounced. Perhaps it had gotten necrotic then healed after a dirty injection years ago?

[hedgehog]

35. I remember the smallpox vaccinations as being really yucky

If you don't mind the technical term! You actually ended up with a pock, so it makes sense that some went necrotic. My little brother could never be vaccinated because he had severe eczema so whenever one of us other kids had a fresh vaccination we had to be careful to keep it covered lest he be exposed.

[Justice Is Comin]

18. The one I'm referring to was in 1966.

Had to get it in the Air Force. That's when I got that reaction. There was no visible difference looking at my arm, but it felt like I had a basketball right under my armpit.

Nobody will ever give me another one of them, I don't care how much smallpox vaccine drops out of the sky from terrorists.

[hedgehog]

19. It doesn't sound like you will ever need one.

I'd say your immune system really went whole hog to identify this virus and will be raring to go should you ever get exposed again. Did you get the drop and scratch method or receive it from an air gun?

[Justice Is Comin]

25. I think I got one of each.

I definitely remember getting shot by the gun for something. And I definitely remember getting the scratch with a pin.

My first reaction with the scratching, I thought how can something so silly be protection for anything. I was laughing about it.

And then I got the basketball. It hurt like hell for a week or more.

And you know the ironic thing? I worked in the medical dispensary lol.

[hedgehog]

11. I usually get mine and my kids' in August or early September

This year my family doctor is going nuts because he still hasn't received his vaccines yet. It seems the vaccine makers sold a lot of the vaccines to department stores and drug stores for clinics. Did you know that the doctor doesn't make a profit on your flu shot but that the big box store holding a clinic does?

[haymark]

13. Got mine yesterday

Tody I am sick, chills and achey.

[hedgehog]

20. I think that reaction shows your immune system is really kicking in

Believe me, it's still better than the real influenza. One time I had it and it was a year before I was entirely healthy again.

On edit: My grandmother went through the Spanish flu and lost several friends. She always got her shot even though she always got the symptoms you describe.

[catabryna]

28. My great-grandmother died from Spanish flu...

just 3 weeks after giving birth to my great-uncles (twins). I take this stuff kinda seriously. I never did until I had an immune compromised husband caused by Hodgkin's Disease and chemo. He died a couple of years ago because he got a virus that turned into pneumonia. I worry less about myself and my kid than I do for those whose bodies can't handle it.

[EFerrari]

32. Welcome to DU, haymark. Hope you feel better soon.

[Raine]

14. Never had one

and never had the flu either. I don't trust that crude being pumped into a person, I heard of lots of people getting sicker from the shot.

[Homer Wells]

15. Got mine today.

Was at the Opthalmology Clinic at the Johnson VA Medical Center in northern WV, and a nurse came to me, offering me the shot right then and there. Folks at our local center really do care!
:toast: :patriot:

[Monkeyman]

33. Staff does not Nicholson

[elocs]

21. I can appreciate the advice.

I have never had a flu shot and do not intend to get one. I can remember in 1976 when they told everybody to get a swine flu shot. That didn't work out well.

[hedgehog]

24. It's funny, I didn't get a flu shot then and wouldn't get a flu shot

until I had a bad case of the flu the month before my oldest was born. He was a very depressed, sleepy baby and took an entire month to really start eating and gaining weight. Later I had four little kids get the flu. They were pretty miserable but one morning they all woke up with bright red eyes! It scared me to death. After my second son was diagnosed with asthma, we all got our flu shots faithfully each year.

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

22. I never get the flu shot, but it is nice

of you to remind those on here that do. My Mom got the shot 2 weeks ago, woke up the next day and proceeded to vomit and have diarrhea for 5 days. She had just finished Chemo and Radiation treatments, perhaps that had something to do w/ it. Oncology Doc ordered it tho. :shrug:

[hedgehog]

34. Thanks for the reminder

I called my doctor today and he finally has his vaccine. I went over with my two girls who are still home and we all got our shots. My 15 year old didn't even flinch. Not like the old days when several of us had to hold her down! She knew she had to get her shot, she just couldn't control her panic when she was 5 years old!The funny thing is, she never cried or had any trouble afterward. It was just the thought of the needle that used to get to her!