# Flu Shot



## sss3 (Jul 15, 2007)

Since news is saying this years flu is particularly bad, H1N1 strain, how do you feel about getting a shot? I haven't had the flu in years. Have never had a flu shot. Asking, because I really don't want to be that sick.


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## SageLady (Jun 10, 2008)

I have Lupus so my doctor has always insisted I get the flu shot, which I do.... If you already have any kind of chronic health problem the flu can really knock you down, sometimes causing serious complications....


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## TxGypsy (Nov 23, 2006)

Only flu shot I ever took made me horribly sick for several weeks. I do not take the flu shot.

I do try not to go where there are a lot of other people during the flu season. I become an obsessive hand washer. I make sure and stay well hydrated.


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## farmrbrown (Jun 25, 2012)

I can tell you this.
I've HAD the H1N1 flu several years ago, my wife had the H1N1 flu shot a few years ago.
We are both recovering from this year's flu and and it will knock you on your back for days, and you only get the worst symptoms AFTER the fever breaks.
The best that medical science has to offer, still ain't good enough.


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## po boy (Jul 12, 2010)

My last one was about 1975.
No problems in the last 38 yrs.


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## thesedays (Feb 25, 2011)

I got one at the county health department, and to my surprise, I didn't have to pay for it, either! They filed my insurance right then and there.


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## mrs whodunit (Feb 3, 2012)

I would rather take my chances with the flu then get the shot.


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## paradox (Nov 19, 2012)

I used to have a boss who insisted we get shots. I got sick within a week of the shot, every single time. Since I quit that job I have not had the shot, nor the flu. So I don't get them.

I know the doctors and health gurus will tell you it is impossible to get sick from the shot, but I do. No other shots have ever bothered me.


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## where I want to (Oct 28, 2008)

I get the shot every year- I have not had the flu in decades. I have also retired, gained weight, have not been struck by lightening, had my taxes go up, not had a car accident, have let my hair grow long, and have less income in those same decades. 
Hmm.... So that means the flu shot make you stop work, get fatter, avoid lightning strikes, raise your taxes, drive better, grow hair and lose money.
I know, I know, no correlation. Which is what everyone has with a once a year shot with difference effectiveness, variable exposure and states of stress and general health. So I go with the stats that says it helps but does not prevent the flu in all cases. There is not enough information to judge individually. 
If you say that getting the shot makes you feel unwell, then it makes you feel unwell. That is something you can know. And no one else can.


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## RubyRed (Sep 24, 2011)

mrs whodunit said:


> I would rather take my chances with the flu then get the shot.


Exactly!! The key is to keep your immune system strong. My elderberry tincture is an awesome replacement of flu shots. 

http://simplehomemade.net/3-ways-to-use-elderberries-to-beat-the-flu-this-winter/


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## Nyxchik (Aug 14, 2012)

I too rely on elderberry (syrup and/or tincture) instead of the flu shot to keep me healthy during cold and flu season. But I might make a different decision if I had certain chronic health condition/s- I hope not but who knows. I know folks who swear by them, and others who get sick every time they get them. I think it's a very individualized decision that only you can make for yourself, depending on your overall health, experience with flu, past flu shots, typical exposure, etc. ~nyx


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## Guest (Jan 2, 2014)

If you don't go out in public much and when you do, don't touch stuff and then put your hands to your face, you'll not have much problem. Worst place for contagion is going to be anywhere crowded, especially with sick people.


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## majik (Feb 23, 2005)

I get a flu shot every year, and have for as long as they have been available. Two people in my household have immune system diseases and I do not want to bring home illness to them. I have never had a reaction to the shot and I have not had the flu since I started taking the shot. Remember that the "flu" is a respiratory illness that can lead to pneumonia and serious distress. H1N1 is especially difficult to deal with as it affects otherwise healthy people as seriously as the old, young, or infirm. If you have to be in public at all, count on being exposed. 

I'll add that I also try and stay healthy, eating and sleeping well as additional preventative measures.


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## Belfrybat (Feb 21, 2003)

I had the flu so bad in 2008, I almost died. Now I get the flu shot each year. There's a strain going around here right now that apparently the flu shot either missed, or it's a variant of one that is only partially protected. Several of my friends have had it and those who had a flu shot have less severe symptoms, but it's still a nasty bug.


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## Bret (Oct 3, 2003)

I had to have a compelling reason. Daughter said that I had to get one to keep seeing the grandkids. I took it for the team.


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## V-NH (Jan 1, 2014)

I always get a flu shot. I haven't had the flu since I started getting the shot. Last time I had the flu, I think I threw up something like two dozen times. I decided I never want to experience that again


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## sss3 (Jul 15, 2007)

Had flu shot today. Don't want to be that sick. To me, every sick day is a wasted day of life.


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## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

Good article

http://www.doublexscience.org/setting-record-straight-debunking-25-myths-flu-vaccine/


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## DryHeat (Nov 11, 2010)

First, let me say that after looking at some of the decent studies done on the subject, I do think there's an actual immune system enhancement from regular dosing with elderberry tincture and I do in fact keep a very potent commercial concentrate on hand and use it regularly at least some flu seasons. I also acknowledge that in particular egg allergies can make it dangerous and impossible for a few people to have the usual flu shot, and that some additional folks likely have an unusually intense and immediate immune response to the dead virus antigens in the vaccine, leading to the reports, simply not factual though, that "The shot gave me the flu."

That said, it also appears to me that this season's ramp-up with a number of fatalities in otherwise healthy teens and young adults looks to be starting in areas that may have a "culture" of denying the value of vaccinations in general... poorly educated, frankly, sections of the southeast... Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, Missouri. I don't think that's so much a climate or seasonal correlation, I think it likely those are areas that aren't anywhere close to having achieved decent "herd immunity" levels of vaccination (plus recent actual H1N1 infections giving immunity to the strain circulating right now with its frequent severe effects). It's not enough to inhibit the spread of the infections to have 30% or 40% of a population immunized, it needs to be 70% or more, in which case the mostly irresponsible or misinformed people who refuse to get the annual shot will often slide by, taking advantage, in effect, of so many other people's decisions to have the shot.

Ever see some 40-50 year old waddling around morbidly obese, weighing 400 lbs, but packing away huge meals still and volunteering, "See, what's so bad about eating a lot, I've never had a heart attack or developed diabetes?" I react to anyone commenting they don't get the flu shot and never get the flu in about the same way, except that they'll be directly threatening people around them with disease when they do get exposed and sick, where the obese person might have to have a heart attack while driving to injure other folks in a similarily direct fashion.


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## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

DryHeat said:


> I also acknowledge that in particular egg allergies can make it dangerous and impossible for a few people to have the usual flu shot....


*Flu Shot and Egg Allergies*

People with egg allergy are not at any additional risk of having a reaction when given the flu vaccine even though the vaccine may contain some amount of egg protein. Fortunately, the latest research shows that even in individuals with confirmed egg allergy, flu vaccines may be administered without any special precautions. Most reactions to flu vaccines are not due to egg-allergy.
The benefits of the flu vaccination far outweigh any risk. As with any vaccine, all personnel and facilities administering flu shots should have procedures in place for the rare instance of anaphylaxis, a severe life-threatening allergic reaction. If you have questions or concerns, contact your allergist.

http://www.acaai.org/allergist/allergies/Types/drug-allergy/Pages/flu-shots-egg-allergy.aspx

Also, for those who just don't believe the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, Flublok (flu vaccine) is made entirely without egg.


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## topofmountain (Nov 1, 2013)

My wife & I don't do flu shots. I don't trust what else might be in these shots. I think there is a chance that these shots can be experiments to test or infect us. Wasn't it last year that some of what I just said came to the for front?
Anything that is given to the mass of people for basically FREE doesn't fly with me.
We keep plenty of natural herbs etc to fight anything we might get as far as flu & colds.
When I talk to doctors I know personally & their not taking them I'll pass.


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## ameliejo (Jan 6, 2014)

The flu shot should be administered vary early in the season. It takes 2-3 weeks to build immunities and you are more susceptible to getting sick in those weeks, as the shot lowers your immune system. Many people get the shot in the middle of flu season, contract the flu and them tell everyone that the shot gave them the flu.
My daughter and I got the shot in early October, when the mercury/preservative free version was available. I'm glad we did because this year people are getting H1N1, which the shot helps protect against.


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## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

ameliejo said:


> The flu shot should be administered vary early in the season. It takes 2-3 weeks to build immunities and you are more susceptible to getting sick in those weeks, as the shot lowers your immune system. Many people get the shot in the middle of flu season, contract the flu and them tell everyone that the shot gave them the flu.
> My daughter and I got the shot in early October, when the mercury/preservative free version was available. I'm glad we did because this year people are getting H1N1, which the shot helps protect against.


The shot DOES NOT lower the immune system for two weeks or any other period of time.

You can still get the preservative free version.


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## ameliejo (Jan 6, 2014)

This is what my doctor told me.


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## MichaelZ (May 21, 2013)

The one year I got the shot, I was never so sick in my life. Colds, sinus infections, and strep. Never again!

My "flu shot" consists of 12 ounces of orange juice each day combined with a multivitamin and two Calcium-Vitamin D's. Since I started this daily routine I hardly even get a cold.


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## haley1 (Aug 15, 2012)

i thought this was the alternative medicine forum?


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

I'm healthy and I get a flu shot every fall. I used to get the flu but can't remember when I had it last.

I also got the shingles shot and will be adding the pneumonia shot in a few years.

Vaccines work and save a lot of lives. If they weren't available a lot more people would die each year.


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## romysbaskets (Aug 29, 2009)

This is one of those choices we can all make individually based on our own health and how we feel about it. An opinion is just that, formulated on your own life experience and those you know and love. I am an alternative medicine gal by sheer life experience for the most part unless a serious health concern dictates otherwise, I will continue to be. Over the course of my younger years, eating my Grandparents home grown foods, including meats, fruits, dairy and canned items... The years I had perfect attendance at schools with attendance awards..(just what that means is beyond me, awards for not getting sick and missing school...LOL...)? Then later I was a young woman with perfect attendance at my jobs.... I will first gladly admit to being 50 years old, and I have never had a flu shot. I have a strong immune system and I have hardly ever gotten the flu. I avoid most colds and issues my family in very close proximity suffer with and yes..... I am around the same extended family now where I am that is including my sister in law who is 57, her hubby in his 60's and her adult kids who are from 16 into their thirties plus the three day care children she watches...gosh they call got sick and all of them have their flu shots...they have been sick 5 times including 2 flu bugs and three times bad colds I guess, while I have been here and I have been sick...zero times? I am not at risk with my current good health in thinking I must have a flu shot. My Mother in Law got flu shots for several years, and got sick right after them each time. Then she stopped getting the shots and I kid you not, she never got the flu again! I read the article that there was a link provided for, she is a medical journalist not a physician, again supporting her article from things she has read else where and she uses her limited being pregnant at the time of her shot as experience.... Ok I have had four children and now have two Grandchildren... They decide themselves about flu shots..some took them, some didn't. They all four got sick in the past few months with the flu....mmmm. I would rather rely on my own life experience of those close to me in deciding about whether or not to have them stick a needle in my arm for something I don't feel is necessary for me. Have the shot if you feel the need or have serious health concerns and feel you should. Those of us that don't want the shot, have our own reasons and that is good enough for me.  

Oh the washing of hands and wiping down the handle on the shopping carts is a must. You can avoid outright exposure also by avoiding highly populated places, busy stores and the obvious movie theaters during flu season.


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## ameliejo (Jan 6, 2014)

romysbaskets said:


> This is one of those choices we can all make individually based on our own health and how we feel about it. An opinion is just that, formulated on your own life experience and those you know and love. I am an alternative medicine gal by sheer life experience for the most part unless a serious health concern dictates otherwise, I will continue to be. Over the course of my younger years, eating my Grandparents home grown foods, including meats, fruits, dairy and canned items... The years I had perfect attendance at schools with attendance awards..(just what that means is beyond me, awards for not getting sick and missing school...LOL...)? Then later I was a young woman with perfect attendance at my jobs.... I will first gladly admit to being 50 years old, and I have never had a flu shot. I have a strong immune system and I have hardly ever gotten the flu. I avoid most colds and issues my family in very close proximity suffer with and yes..... I am around the same extended family now where I am that is including my sister in law who is 57, her hubby in his 60's and her adult kids who are from 16 into their thirties plus the three day care children she watches...gosh they call got sick and all of them have their flu shots...they have been sick 5 times including 2 flu bugs and three times bad colds I guess, while I have been here and I have been sick...zero times? I am not at risk with my current good health in thinking I must have a flu shot. My Mother in Law got flu shots for several years, and got sick right after them each time. Then she stopped getting the shots and I kid you not, she never got the flu again! I read the article that there was a link provided for, she is a medical journalist not a physician, again supporting her article from things she has read else where and she uses her limited being pregnant at the time of her shot as experience.... Ok I have had four children and now have two Grandchildren... They decide themselves about flu shots..some took them, some didn't. They all four got sick in the past few months with the flu....mmmm. I would rather rely on my own life experience of those close to me in deciding about whether or not to have them stick a needle in my arm for something I don't feel is necessary for me. Have the shot if you feel the need or have serious health concerns and feel you should. Those of us that don't want the shot, have our own reasons and that is good enough for me.
> 
> 
> 
> Oh the washing of hands and wiping down the handle on the shopping carts is a must. You can avoid outright exposure also by avoiding highly populated places, busy stores and the obvious movie theaters during flu season.



Unfortunately, you can't avoid you child's elementary school! No matter how much you teach your kid about keeping clean, there's always that kid with a perpetual snotty nose!


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

The flu shot does NOT give you the flu. If a person wants to skip the shot that's their business but they shouldn't do it because of myths. Flu kills something like 30,000 Americans each year. That makes it a serious disease.

I can't think of a more natural way to fight disease than triggering a person's immune system to fight an invading disease organism which is what a vaccine does.


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## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

My mom had the vaccine (the trivalent one for older folks) back in the fall and she developed a cough and "cold" the week after Christmas. Started Friday and she went to Urgent Care to get a scrip for cough medicine so she could sleep on Saturday. She tested positive for Type A flu. On Sunday she was feeling better and by Monday it was almost completely gone. 

No vaccine is 100 percent effective (nor any medicine or remedy) but if you do get the flu, the vaccine has already helped your body mount a defense and usually the flu is much less severe. As in my mother's case. My sister lives with her and was also vaccinated and didn't catch it.


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## haley1 (Aug 15, 2012)

http://www.naturalnews.com/042159_flu_shot_vaccine_myths_influenza.html

other way of looking at it


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## Vash (Jan 19, 2014)

Recently had a friend that died from Flu. He had other health issues, however. I think the stats will show that more people die from NOT getting vaccinated then the reverse. Have not heard of any alternative remedies for Flu prevention or treatment.


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## Shrek (May 1, 2002)

I went to the infectious disease petri dish my G.P. calls a waiting room and office for my physical two weeks ago and during our 15 minutes he tried to peddle one of the $20 flu shots he ensured me that my insurance would cover (even though the times he gave me one I ended up paying for it because my insurance didn't) and I reminded him that the two years he gave me a flu shot since 1995, both years they worked and I got the flu so good I urped the hip pockets of my blue jeans up during the following week as my buns caved in with all the urping.

When I told him I had read in press releases from California and Texas medical universities that the H1N1 2009 vintage had most likely already mutated and weren't in the current vaccination he kept trying to peddle it until I said no way , no how and I don't like needles and my 15 minutes with him ran out.

When I got home and GF and I went to have dinner at my mother's, she told us that she thinks they are pushing the shots so hard because most folks suspect the main flu threat has mutated rendering the existing mix less effective and the docs offices have too many on hand and want to unload them at profit before they have to write them off as a loss.

BTW after 2 weeks from walking into his petri dish office I still haven't gotten any flu and just make sure I eat extra citrus and garlic as I do every cold and flu season.


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## DryHeat (Nov 11, 2010)

What follows below are links to, followed by quotes from, news stories from across North America from the past FIVE DAYS only relating to this season's severe H1N1 illnesses. These below are only the ones specifically mentioning whether severe and fatal cases had been vaccinated. There were many, many additional stories following localized situations with general advice to get the shot but that didn't cite for sure whether patients being discussed had had it, although I saw *zero* stories of people saying someone had been vaccinated this year and wound up in ICU or dead anyway, other than as one of a small percent who may have been elderly and/or had other risk factors.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/health/os-central-florida-flu-shot-supply-20140126,0,2936613.story


> In the recent Orange County deaths, a 54-year-old woman died Tuesday, according to her husband, and a child died Wednesday, <snip> Neither of the patients had received a flu vaccine.


http://www.fresnobee.com/2014/01/25/3733168/h1n1-taking-over-flu-season.html?


> H1N1 is the flu virus that since December has killed at least 95 people statewide and more than 20 in the central San Joaquin Valley.
> The ferocity of the virus has made this the most severe flu season in five years <snip>
> of those with known vaccine records, 80% of those who died were unvaccinated this flu season,


http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/artic...1?Title=Turning-to-last-resort-cure#gsc.tab=0


> Robert Moore of Tuscaloosa was kept alive by machines in the intensive care unit for part of November and all of December - his diagnosis: severe pneumonia and the H1N1 flu. <snip>
> Robert was in good health before his diagnosis. The 46-year-old was the heavy equipment lead man at Thompson Tractor in Tuscaloosa, and he worked out three times a week.
> He likely would have died had it not been for a machine normally used for heart and lung transplant patients: the ECMO machine. The ECMO, also known as the extracorporeal membrane oxygenation machine, has recently been used for patients with extreme flu and pneumonia. In the past year, about 15 flu patients have been treated by the ECMO machine at UAB.
> None of them had the flu shot, said Dr. Enrique Diaz


http://www.thestarphoenix.com/health/taking+incredible+toll/9429201/story.html


> The number of people who have died after contracting influenza this year in Saskatchewan has now exceeded the number who died in the 2009 pandemic. <snip>
> Werker said none of the 16 people who have died were vaccinated and about 88 per cent of those who have been hospitalized were also not vaccinated.


http://www.thv11.com/news/article/295722/2/Arkansas-health-official-Deaths-from-flu-could-top-50-


> Arkansas is at the peak of a flu season that has already killed 25 people in the state, but could see the number of flu-related deaths double in the coming weeks, the state's epidemiologist warned lawmakers on Friday. <snip> State health officials have said the flu this year has hit many of those not normally considered the most vulnerable. The average age of those who have died in the state from the flu is 49 <snip> None of them appeared to have been vaccinated against the flu


http://www.wsmv.com/story/24542376/woman-recovering-after-34-days-on-ventilator-for-flu-pneumonia



> Bryant had the H1N1 strain of influenza combined with pneumonia, and she was hospitalized for 34 days, with much of that time spent on a ventilator.
> Her father says he wants to save other parents from this experience.
> "For $20, get a flu shot," said Bryant's father, John Gross. "It's the cheapest $20 you'll ever spend."


http://www.sacbee.com/2014/01/24/6099036/h1n1-flu-virus-behind-2009-pandemic.html?


> Sacramento County officials Friday reported a rise in flu fatalities to 17, as California public health officials announced a doubling of statewide flu deaths to 45 â with the vast majority of the victims not vaccinated against the flu.


http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2014/01/after_flu-related_death_one_ge.html?


> FLINT, MI -- Margy Holbook, 93, of said her son was a healthy father of three. Then he got the flu.
> Now, following the Flint native's death after a bout with the H1N1 flu, Holbrook and her family are asking people to get their flu shots.


http://www.khou.com/news/health/Las...ogy-key-to-saving-flu-patients-241807741.html?


> What doctors say people haven't learned yet is the importance of a flu shot.
> The vast majority of the most serious cases treated at Children's this year were not vaccinated. Most of the adults who have died from influenza in North Texas this year, according to county health authorities, have not been vaccinated against influenza.


http://www.tennessean.com/article/20140124/NEWS01/301240051/1969/NEWS?&nclick_check=1



> Nineteen people have now died from flu complications in Middle Tennessee - a figure that surpasses the number of area residents who perished in the 2009-10 global pandemic, according to hospital data.
> In the eight-county area that Vanderbilt University tracks, most of the deaths have been among 41- to 64-year-olds. The predominant strain circulating this year, H1N1, first emerged during the pandemic and typically hits people in the prime of life. Patrick Sass, 46, was one of those. He died Tuesday at Vanderbilt University Medical Center from complications of H1N1, according to his son, Chris Sass.
> âHe hadnât had a flu shot, and he wasnât going to the doctor,â Chris Sass said. âWhen he finally went in, it had just gotten too far.â
> <snip>Even if someone still gets the flu, the vaccine can blunt the impact, he said. âYou are less likely to get the complication of pneumonia,â Schaffner said. âYou are less likely to be hospitalized. And you are less likely to die.â


http://www.dentonrc.com/local-news/local-news-headlines/20140123-denton-county-sees-fifth-flu-death.ece



> A Lewisville man in his 40s has become the fifth Denton County person to die from the flu, health department officials reported late Thursday.The man was not vaccinated


http://fox4kc.com/2014/01/23/woman-gives-birth-while-in-a-coma-fighting-h1n1-flu/



> OVERLAND PARK, Kan. - A motherâs weak, trembling hand touched her baby for the first time on Thursday.
> "I think the only reason Iâve made it as far as I have as quickly as I have is because of him,â said Abby Unruh of Osawatomie.
> Unruh is still in the intensive care unit of Overland Park Regional Medical Center. Her baby boy, Douglas, was visiting from the neonatal intensive care unit. Unruh, age 19, became ill in late December <snip>Abby Unruh had not had a flu shot. She and her family encourage others to get one


http://www.wate.com/story/24534134/knoxville-father-loses-battle-with-h1n1-and-double-pneumonia


> *Knoxville father loses battle with H1N1 and double pneumonia *
> 
> KNOXVILLE (WATE) - The Ridge Community Church told 6 News that member John Monday, who had been battling H1N1 and double pneumonia, passed away Thursday afternoon after taking a turn for the worse. Monday had been at Parkwest Medical Center in critical condition on a ventilator. <snip> Monday's wife Julie said this year the family didn't get flu shots. The entire family came down with the flu earlier this month.


http://www.wftv.com/news/news/local/family-says-orlando-woman-died-flu/ncyyH/?


> ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. - A 54-year-old Orange County woman has died from the H1N1 flu, according to family members who spoke to WFTV. Mindy Lamb died Tuesday just days after her birthday from complications of the H1N1 virus, according to family members. They said she had been hospitalized for two weeks prior to her death.Mindy's husband, Rob Lamb, said he's devastated and wants to urge others to get a flu shot. "She'd want you to know to get that shot. Such a simple thing can save your life,â Rob told Eyewitness News reporter Karla Ray. âI lost my soul mate. Weâve been together 35 years.â


http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/deadly-bugs-dont-just-attack-other-people/article16462745/



> Monday night, the doctor told us: âHe should recover.â Should. Never have I so hated the conditional tense.<snip>
> The definitive diagnosis came Wednesday night: H1N1. âYour son wasnât vaccinated?â
> We lowered our heads. Guilty as charged.
> Yes, we had read about the flu in the paper, we had heard about it on TV. We got vaccinated in 2009. We told ourselves that would protect us.
> ...


http://www.fresnobee.com/2014/01/22/3726620/four-new-flu-related-deaths-in.html


> Fresno County health officials said Wednesday that four more people have died of flu-related complications, making this virus the most deadly in five years. <snip> The deaths reported Wednesday bring to 20 the number of people who have died in the central San Joaquin Valley so far this flu season. <snip> This year's flu vaccine provides protection against H1N1 and H3 strains, but most of the patients who died apparently had not gotten flu shots, Prado said.


http://www.mercurynews.com/san-mate...000/bay-area-flu-related-death-toll-climbs-29


> Nine new flu-related deaths were confirmed across the Bay Area on Wednesday, bringing the number of fatal cases to 29 as the onset of peak flu season loomed over the region. <snip>State officials said that a large majority of the fatal flu victims were unvaccinated or had underlying conditions that put them at increased risk and that most of the victims succumbed to the H1N1 virus, otherwise known as swine flu.


http://lufkindailynews.com/news/community/article_b608df32-81f5-11e3-b5b4-001a4bcf887a.html



> While a Lufkin doctor, diagnosed with H1N1, remains in a medically induced coma at Methodist Hospital in Houston, his 19-year-old daughter is furiously working to spread word of the familyâs needs and to encourage the public to get a flu vaccination. Rebecca Gill, whose father is Dr. Christopher Gill, a cardiologist at the Heart Institute of East Texas, said the experience for her family which included her mother, Mariela, also being hospitalized with the flu and subsequently suffering a heart attack, began the day after Christmas. <snip> Looking back, Gill said, she would make one big change in the events that led to this family crisis. âGet a flu shot,â she said. âMy dad did not have one. None of us did. It hit him harder than it did anyone else. There is a flu epidemic going on and people should know that people are dying from it. What it did to my dad is what it does to everyone who gets H1N1. The hospital here has a waiting list for beds for people who have it. If you have not had a flu shot, go get one.â


http://www.norwalkreflector.com/article/4052591



> Health officials say the best protection from the flu, even H1N1, is still a flu shot. At least one local man wishes his friend and colleague had heeded that advice earlier this year. Lt. Nick Magoteaux of the Phillipsburg Fire Department in northeast Montgomery County said fellow firefighter, Art Springer, was recently admitted to Sycamore Medical Center suffering from pneumonia caused by an H1N1 infection.
> His condition was so severe that Springer, 46, was medically induced into a coma and is still in critical but stable condition in the hospitalâs intensive care unit, Magoteaux said.
> âArt is not the kind of guy who gets a flu shot, but hopefully this will change his mind for years to come,â Magoteaux said.


http://www.nbcmontana.com/lifestyle/health/Woman-with-flu-battles-for-her-life/24052104


> Chris and Leslie Creekmore have shared a married life for three and a half years. Earlier this month they shared symptoms of the flu: Aches, nausea, fever. He has fully recovered. She is on a ventilator, fighting for her life. Leslie Creekmore, 29, was 20 weeks pregnant when she was admitted to a hospital in Fort Smith, Ark., on Jan. 11 because she was experiencing shortness of breath, her husband said. Her condition worsened; that night she was transferred to the intensive care unit. She was put on a ventilator on Jan. 13. An emergency flight took her to Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis on Jan. 14 where she remains on a ventilator, reported CNN affiliate KSDK. The couple's baby did not survive. Creekmore spontaneously miscarried on Jan. 16, her husband said. <snip> "She's being cared for, and her status is still very, very tenuous," Gray-Swain said earlier Tuesday. "If she had had the flu vaccine, she probably wouldn't be here in this state." <snip>
> 
> Chris Creekmore said he and his wife had researched tips for healthy pregnancies, and they had come across a recommendation to avoid the flu vaccine in the first trimester of pregnancy. He said he asked his wife's OB-GYN in Arkansas in October about the matter, and the doctor told them he was wary of giving flu shots during the first trimester. "I for one don't count it as a screw-up on his end or anything like that," Chris Creekmore said of the doctor who advised delaying the flu shot. The couple did not know that this guidance runs counter to federal health recommendations.
> Any pregnant woman should get a flu shot to protect against serious complications as soon as the yearly vaccine becomes available in her area, advises the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services website flu.gov.


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## Joshie (Dec 8, 2008)

haley1 said:


> http://www.naturalnews.com/042159_flu_shot_vaccine_myths_influenza.html
> 
> other way of looking at it


Natural News is biased. I would never, ever trust anything from that site. I am skeptical of any site whose source of income is hawking things. That is just the tip of the iceberg of my concerns about naturalnews. 

Mike Adams, the owner, is a conspiracy theorist. He defends Andrew Wakefield, a guy who wrote a fraudulent article linking autism and vaccines. He thinks mammograms cause cancer. He also defends Scientology.

Adams is an AIDS denialist and has conspiracy about various mass shootings. He thinks that the US government was involved with 9/11. He is also a birther. Many scientists call Natural News the #1 anti- science site.

The flu shot isn't designed to prevent colds, stomach flu, strep or sinus infections. It is designed to prevent/lessen the symptoms of influenza and influenza only. 

A recent study showed a correlation between the flu shot and a reduced risk of heart disease. They say one is most beneficial for those who have severe heart disease. They think it has something to do with inflammation. When one gets influenza one gets inflammation and inflammation is related to heart disease. 

If you have a family member who gets really ill from the flu you will probably better see the importance of prevention. The flu nearly killed DD. She had to relearn how to walk after she recovered. If I heard correctly, one of the 'Sister Wives' children nearly died from kidney failure secondary to the flu. 

For me and mine, we get the shot!


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## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

Shrek said:


> I went to the infectious disease petri dish my G.P. calls a waiting room and office for my physical two weeks ago and during our 15 minutes he tried to peddle one of the $20 flu shots he ensured me that my insurance would cover (even though the times he gave me one I ended up paying for it because my insurance didn't) and I reminded him that the two years he gave me a flu shot since 1995, both years they worked and I got the flu so good I urped the hip pockets of my blue jeans up during the following week as my buns caved in with all the urping.
> 
> When I told him I had read in press releases from California and Texas medical universities that the H1N1 2009 vintage had most likely already mutated and weren't in the current vaccination he kept trying to peddle it until I said no way , no how and I don't like needles and my 15 minutes with him ran out.
> 
> ...


Cute story but not based in any facts and influenza doesn't make adults "urp".


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## Joshie (Dec 8, 2008)

Shrek said:


> ...I reminded him that the two years he gave me a flu shot since 1995, both years they worked and I got the flu so good I urped the hip pockets of my blue jeans up during the following week as my buns caved in with all the urping.


The flu shot isn't designed to protect against what we generally call the flu. When I first heard about the flu shot I thought it offered protection against the stomach flu; it does not. 

The flu shot protects against influenze, a respiratory illness. Most people don't get the flu shot, vaccination or not. That isn't the point. It limit the number of people who get the flu, which reduces the number of people who die.


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## haley1 (Aug 15, 2012)

Thought this was alternative health area of forum, not promote government/big pharmacy area


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## Joshie (Dec 8, 2008)

haley1 said:


> Thought this was alternative health area of forum, not promote government/big pharmacy area


I think it is OK to discuss both medical and alternative treatments. IMO the government has nudged it's way into medical care by saying what they will pay for regardless of what your physician thinks is best. Pharmecutical companies are a big and important part of our health delivery. I think we also need to acknowledge that alternative health companies are also big business. They have the added benefit of not having to adhere to stringent governmental regulations.


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## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

haley1 said:


> Thought this was alternative health area of forum, not promote government/big pharmacy area


How about just promoting the facts?


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## haley1 (Aug 15, 2012)

LisaInN.Idaho said:


> How about just promoting the facts?


who's facts? kind of funny when a lot of people don't belive anything the gov says untill it come to vaccines then they take it hook, line and sinker


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## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

haley1 said:


> who's facts? kind of funny when a lot of people don't belive anything the gov says untill it come to vaccines then they take it hook, line and sinker


such as? I believe people I actually know including a virologist and immunologist.


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## MichaelZ (May 21, 2013)

Sounds like the flu going around this year is more dangerous than previous years? Typically the very young, old, or with health conditions are always at risk. 

I had the stomach flue last week for a day and a half. One pretty bad night but was up and around by the next evening. Not too much of a temp nor any respiratory problems. Just a little bit of a wacky stomach for 5 days or so. But what I am reading on this thread sounds a bit scary. And in that one night, my "invincible status" quickly melted away!


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## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

MichaelZ said:


> Sounds like the flu going around this year is more dangerous than previous years? Typically the very young, old, or with health conditions are always at risk.
> 
> I had the stomach flue last week for a day and a half. One pretty bad night but was up and around by the next evening. Not too much of a temp nor any respiratory problems. Just a little bit of a wacky stomach for 5 days or so. But what I am reading on this thread sounds a bit scary. And in that one night, my "invincible status" quickly melted away!



Stomach "flu" is not the flu, just a misnomer. The flu (short for influenza) is a viral respiratory illness, not a stomach or intestinal illness.


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## Irish Pixie (May 14, 2002)

MichaelZ said:


> Sounds like the flu going around this year is more dangerous than previous years? Typically the very young, old, or with health conditions are always at risk.
> 
> I had the stomach flue last week for a day and a half. One pretty bad night but was up and around by the next evening. Not too much of a temp nor any respiratory problems. Just a little bit of a wacky stomach for 5 days or so. But what I am reading on this thread sounds a bit scary. And in that one night, my "invincible status" quickly melted away!


Stomach bugs are usually due to some type of norovirus or food poisoning. 

As LisaInN.Idaho said, influenza is always respiratory.


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## MichaelZ (May 21, 2013)

Interesting. Learn something everyday! My wife had a similar stomach disorder just a day prior. Guess it was norovirus. Don't think it was food poisoning, although I think I have gotten that in the past.


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## sparkysarah (Dec 4, 2007)

Children can vomit with influenza. Adults don't. This is what I have learned with my family.


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## PricklyThistle (Feb 6, 2014)

I use elderberry and it never fails. Not only never fails as a flu prevention but can clear up just about any infection practically overnight. I don't do doctors so I have had to learn how to treat myself for many things others would call me "crazy" for not seeing a doctor for. My personal opinion is you can't do better than God and what He made.

Be informed of what you're putting in your body before you make the decision at least -
_
"The antigen contains: thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative used in the manufacturing of multidose vaccines, sodium chloride, disodium hydrogen phosphate, potassium dihydrogen phosphate, potassium chloride and water. As mentioned, there are traces of egg protein, and also of formaldehyde, sodium deoxycholate and sucrose." source -http://allergicliving.com/index.php/2010/07/02/h1n1-swine-flu-vaccine-ingredients/_

One of those ingredients, potassium chloride, is also used in surgeries to stop the heart and lethal injection cocktails for the same reason.

_"Some cardiac surgery procedures cannot be carried out on the beating heart. For these procedures, the surgical team will bypass the heart with a heart-lung machine and inject potassium chloride into the heart muscle to stop the heartbeat.

The lethal effects of potassium chloride overdoses have led to its use in lethal injection, as the third of a three-drug combination." - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potassium_chloride#Uses_

Shouldn't we be asking ourselves about the safety of this chemical for those who have heart issues? Not to mention the other nasty things on that list.


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## DryHeat (Nov 11, 2010)

From the FDA ( http://www.fda.gov/biologicsbloodvaccines/vaccines/questionsaboutvaccines/ucm186102.htm#main ), one dose of the flu vaccine contains 20 MICROgrams of potassium chloride. A one-liter bag of Normosol IV fluid for treating dehydration contains 37 MILLIgrams (read off an unopened bag I happen to have in storage). You would have to have over a THOUSAND flu shots with usual content to receive as much KCl as a hospital would run routinely into your body to treat mild dehydration or a bit of blood loss. I'm sure you'd have to have many injections of the flu shot volume even if manufacturing had somehow gone nuts and produced pure KCl in the injection ampoules to approach what is used for lethal injections. That's just a pretty far reach for trying to find something to worry about. Your link above, also, is from 3 1/2 years ago and discusses the Canadian version of the emergency pandemic vaccine, although the US seasonal formulations are pretty similar. Trimerosal, the mercury-based preservative, is present only in multi-dose vials, meaning it's judged a good idea when one dose after another has to be drawn from the same container. Single-dose vaccines are also available, none of them have the preservative, just specify that's what you want and it should be available.

Here's another recent link detailing the effects of all the ill-conceived nonsense supporting the idea of not bothering with flu shots: http://www.sacbee.com/2014/02/14/6158887/now-at-243-california-flu-deaths.html



> Before Bunning came down with influenza, her husband had shaken it off. Her father-in-law was the first to catch the virus, around Christmas Day, and was hospitalized with double pneumonia. He pulled through.
> But on New Yearâs Eve, Lesley Bunning, who had no underlying health issues, took a punch from the powerful H1N1 virus.
> âDuring the night, I heard her lungs rattling,â Bernard Bunning said. âSo at 4 in the morning, I had to carry her to the car.â
> The couple was at their second home, in Nevada, and drove to see a personal doctor in Sacramento. She was put on inhalers and strong antibiotics. A day later, Lesley Bunning was in the hospital, and about to be sent home, when she was overwhelmed with nausea and vomiting.
> ...


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## PricklyThistle (Feb 6, 2014)

Potassium chloride is just used as an example. There is also fomaldahyde and a host of other chemicals. I'm of the logic that no amount of poison is just fine for the body and we also should consider the accumulative effects of being injected with these ingredients numerous times throughout one's life. 

I don't really comprehend the notion of looking to the FDA for guidance. I'm not sure I have any reasonable motivation to believe them. Potassium chloride is also used as a salt substitute. Oddly enough it's often recommended by doctors to those with heart/circulatory issues.


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## DryHeat (Nov 11, 2010)

Well, if you used KCl as an example, it should stand up to a logical examination for hazards in the amounts in the vaccine, and it surely doesn't. Check how much is present, and necessary for nutrition, in common foods: http://www.livestrong.com/article/126973-foods-potassium-chloride/ BTW, you drink too much WATER, H2O, and it also becomes in effect a poison. Too much can kill you, and has done so.


> Potassium is a mineral and an electrolyte. In the body, potassium is responsible for maintaining cell membrane potential and is used as a cofactor for enzymes. Potassium is an essential nutrient we get from the food we eat. It typically comes in the form of potassium chloride.
> *Fruits*
> 
> The Linus Pauling Institute reports that fruits and vegetables are our primary sources of potassium chloride. A diet high in fruits and vegetables is a diet high in potassium. Fruits high in potassium chloride include bananas, prunes, oranges, raisins, apricots, dates, honeydew melon, cherries, coconut, grapes, grapefruit, pears, mandarin oranges, strawberries, kiwi fruit, nectarines, apples, figs, guava, mangoes, papaya, pomegranate, tangelo and watermelon.


And, I don't comprehend the ease with which people post to denigrate the idea of flu shots, given they are contributing to needless hundreds of deaths and thousands of ICU hospitalizations in the US this season alone by people who have gone unvaccinated, often doing so due to various unsupported chatter about there being safety risks. There have been a host of news reports nationwide the last couple of months with the common thread being people not thinking they needed the shot *mostly* (statistical again) being the ones winding up deathly ill if not actually dead, supplemented by observations that folks who have had the shot but still get ill aren't becoming nearly as sick as are the unvaccinated.

Now, there ARE some occasional problems with vaccines. It's been shown there was an odd but very real increase in narcolepsy among some younger European populations (primarily in Finland) who received the 2009 pandemic vaccine given there. But to me, the greater good, even in that case, is to tradeoff an extra 100 (treatable) cases of narcolepsy for the benefit of likely thousands of hospitalizations and outright deaths prevented. Science is statistics and rational, controlled observations examined with logic and measurements.


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## PricklyThistle (Feb 6, 2014)

Is injection of polysorbate 80, formadahyde, octoxynol 10 and squalene safe too? I haven't met a singe one of the "experts" who call this safe. Don't know their names, don't know how much they are motivated by money, success, peer recognition or government pressure but if they're like most of the rest of humanity, probably there is enough bias to make a thinking person not scramble after them like sheep.

"Science" is an abstract, it's not a person, it's not a "someone" to trust. It's an ideal and people too often assume that those who work if fields which are thought to uphold this ideal, actually do. We don't sit at home with our lab kits and test their results, do we? Science hasn't spoken on this matter, people have. How many people in this world do you trust with your life?

I don't get the flu and not only have I never had a flu shot but it's been 14 years since I've seen a physician of any sort. by their own statistics, doctors are the third leading cause of death in the U.S., not the flu. - http://www.medicalmalpractice123.info/

I don't believe in a "greater good", where casualties are considered fine if somehow the benefit to the greater numbers can be construed as supportive of it. That's the sort of ideology that precedes tyrannies and genocide.

There have been numerous injuries and fatalities in the United States due to vaccines, but that's not making it to the evening news much. - http://www.hrsa.gov/vaccinecompensation/statisticsreports.html


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## Vash (Jan 19, 2014)

PricklyThistle said:


> I don't get the flu and not only have I never had a flu shot but it's been 14 years since I've seen a physician of any sort. by their own statistics, doctors are the third leading cause of death in the U.S., *not the flu.* - http://www.medicalmalpractice123.info/


Um...Just out of curiosity...is it possible...just saying...that maybe FLU isn't a huge cause of death... because people now have access to vaccines? :hammer:

I would also like to see the statistics on how many people are killed in the US each year due to malpractice involving the FLU vaccine (not other vaccines).


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