Busting Flu Vaccine Myths and Misconceptions

[Amused]

Originally posted by: sygyzy


Thanks fellas. In short, if you are sick, it's probably not the flu.

Does not change the fact that the spread of the flu virus kills tens of thousands and puts hundreds of thousands in the hospital every year.

Everyone should get the shot.

 

[KMFJD]

Not sticking a needle into me, no thank you.

 

[eakers]

Once upon a time I had the flu shot
I got hives on my legs so big I couldn't walk. The doctors kept telling me to take ibuprofin. It persisted for almost a month then they gave me steriods which cleared it up in 2 days.

Never had a flu shot since.

 

[sao123]

Originally posted by: eakers
Once upon a time I had the flu shot
I got hives on my legs so big I couldn't walk. The doctors kept telling me to take ibuprofin. It persisted for almost a month then they gave me steriods which cleared it up in 2 days.

Never had a flu shot since.

some vaccines do produce an allergic responce.

 

[jdini76]

Shoe Shoe Retarded Flu!

 

[moshquerade]

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: sao123

Originally posted by: sygyzy
Here's another misconception - Most of the time when you are sick, you have a cold, NOT the flu. The flu, or influenza, often is a hospital trip worthy infection. I always get a laugh when people ask me "I heard you were sick. What do you have? A cold?" No s#$#$ it's a cold. If it was a flu, I wouldn't be here.

Most often a upper sinus infection or fall allergies are mistaken for the common cold. This is a bacteria infection and is treatable with antibiotics.

People often refer to an illness with vomiting as the flu... This sickness is usually gastroenteritis as a result of an stomach / intestine virus. Influenza is actually an infection of the respiratory system, and rarely involes vomiting.

And a great many "stomach flus" are, in reality, mild food poisoning.

or just bad gas.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: moshquerade

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: sao123

Originally posted by: sygyzy
Here's another misconception - Most of the time when you are sick, you have a cold, NOT the flu. The flu, or influenza, often is a hospital trip worthy infection. I always get a laugh when people ask me "I heard you were sick. What do you have? A cold?" No s#$#$ it's a cold. If it was a flu, I wouldn't be here.

Most often a upper sinus infection or fall allergies are mistaken for the common cold. This is a bacteria infection and is treatable with antibiotics.

People often refer to an illness with vomiting as the flu... This sickness is usually gastroenteritis as a result of an stomach / intestine virus. Influenza is actually an infection of the respiratory system, and rarely involes vomiting.

And a great many "stomach flus" are, in reality, mild food poisoning.

or just bad gas.

Well, if you have the runs and are throwing up at the same time, chances are it's more than just "bad gas."

 

[Bateluer]

I have to get the flu shot every year, whether I want to or not. No big issue, eventually, I'll have immunities to most flu virus variants. May take several decades though.

I usually get flu like symptons lasting for 2 to 4 days after getting the flu shot, but they are mild compared to the real thing.

Also, I can't take the nasal spray version. It messes with my allergies, just give me the needle.

 

[Red Dawn]

If you work in close proximity to others, are around School Aged children, belong to a gym, etc it's a good idea to get a Flu Shot. I'm in two of those groups that I mentioned and I've had the Flu the last two years and each time I was sick for 2 weeks and it took me another 2 weeks to get back 100%. This year I'm getting a shot. Being sick for 4 or 5 days is bearable, 2 weeks or more is fscked up.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: waggy
i used to get it. but every time i have gotten the flu shot i ended up sick. When i don't get it i am fine.

Same here. Had flu twice, each time about a week or less after getting a flu shot. Only had flu shot twice.

too much of a coincidence there. I will never get a flu shot again because it gave me the flu.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: waggy
i used to get it. but every time i have gotten the flu shot i ended up sick. When i don't get it i am fine.

Same here. Had flu twice, each time about a week or less after getting a flu shot. Only had flu shot twice.

too much of a coincidence there. I will never get a flu shot again because it gave me the flu.

The ignorance is amazing. It is a physical impossibility to get the flu from the flu shot.

 

[sao123]

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: waggy
i used to get it. but every time i have gotten the flu shot i ended up sick. When i don't get it i am fine.

Same here. Had flu twice, each time about a week or less after getting a flu shot. Only had flu shot twice.

too much of a coincidence there. I will never get a flu shot again because it gave me the flu.

The ignorance is amazing. It is a physical impossibility to get the flu from the flu shot.

Indeed, it is imposible to get the flu from a lu vaccine... however it is not abnormal to have flu-like symptoms from the shot... as these are merely part of the body's immuno responce.

 

[Gibsons]

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: waggy
i used to get it. but every time i have gotten the flu shot i ended up sick. When i don't get it i am fine.

Same here. Had flu twice, each time about a week or less after getting a flu shot. Only had flu shot twice.

too much of a coincidence there. I will never get a flu shot again because it gave me the flu.

The ignorance is amazing. It is a physical impossibility to get the flu from the flu shot.

Probably confusing flu-like symptoms with the actual flu.

 

[AbAbber2k]

Never had a flu shot, and pretty sure I've never had the flu. Not gonna start getting immunized now. Also, just because you've been immunized doesn't mean you can't transmit the virus between people. It's not like the virus dies the moment it touches your skins or clothes.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: Gibsons
Probably confusing flu-like symptoms with the actual flu.

So being extremely weak (unable to get out of bed), bodyaches, uncontrollable high temperature, shakes, hot and cold spells for a week straight or more isn't the flu?

It was the flu. And it was DIRECTLY coorelated to getting the shot.

Now possibly the vaccine weakened my immune system and wasn't able to fight the bug as it may have already been doing.

Eitherway it was not fun to be that sick for that long. I will never get a vaccination.

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: waggy
i used to get it. but every time i have gotten the flu shot i ended up sick. When i don't get it i am fine.

Same here. Had flu twice, each time about a week or less after getting a flu shot. Only had flu shot twice.

too much of a coincidence there. I will never get a flu shot again because it gave me the flu.

The ignorance is amazing. It is a physical impossibility to get the flu from the flu shot.

not saying i got the flu from the shot. but every year i get the flu shot (got it 3 years in a row) i have got the flu. I do not know if it is that the flu shot does not work on me or what. but it seems every time i get the shot i get the flu.

last 2 years i have not got the shot and have been fine. while i get colds i have not got the flu.

 

[Gibsons]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: Gibsons
Probably confusing flu-like symptoms with the actual flu.

So being extremely weak (unable to get out of bed), bodyaches, uncontrollable high temperature, shakes, hot and cold spells for a week straight or more isn't the flu?

Not necessarily. You're missing at least one key symptom.

Production of interferons and other cytokines by immune cells (mostly T cells) can cause all of the above symptoms, even in the absence of a viral infection.

It was the flu. And it was DIRECTLY coorelated to getting the shot.

You don't know that. How was it diagnosed, and by whom? There are several viruses that can cause flu-like symptoms (in fact, most of them do - virology lectures get redundant with "fever headache, malaise" coming up for every single one of them), influenza virus is just one of them. And correlation, no matter how direct, isn't causation.

Now possibly the vaccine weakened my immune system and wasn't able to fight the bug as it may have already been doing.

I teach immunology and I'm unable to understand how a vaccine can in any way weaken your immune system. I can certainly understand how it might make you feel sick.

Eitherway it was not fun to be that sick for that long. I will never get a vaccination.

It's a free country. I usually don't get them either because I usually get the flu-like symptoms in a pretty bad way. But it's not an influenza infection that causes it.

 

[sao123]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: Gibsons
Probably confusing flu-like symptoms with the actual flu.

So being extremely weak (unable to get out of bed), bodyaches, uncontrollable high temperature, shakes, hot and cold spells for a week straight or more isn't the flu?

It was the flu. And it was DIRECTLY coorelated to getting the shot.

Now possibly the vaccine weakened my immune system and wasn't able to fight the bug as it may have already been doing.

Eitherway it was not fun to be that sick for that long. I will never get a vaccination.

Those are symptoms of an immuno responce to a blood borne irritant. NOT THE FLU.
Your body raises its own temperature as a way to combat percieved invaders. (higher temperatures can kill off bacteria, while your cells survive)
Being extremely weak is a by product of an active immune system, they take up some energy, so your other cells have less.
Shakes, hot & cold spells are the result of continued abnormal body temperatures.

You were never contageous, you never had the flu.
You had all these symptoms without having a single flu virus in your system.
You can get these same symptoms from any shot, IV, puncture wound, or anything which directly injects an irritant into the bloodstream.
You had an immuno responce to having the flu vaccine injection, this is the desired goal of a flu vaccine.

 

[potato28]

Last time I got the flu shot I went to hospital. Never gotten it again(shot or the flu).

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: lokiju
I've never taken it and am not going to start either.

Humans have made it this far without it.

Well sure, but we also made it pretty far without doctors, cars, or iPods.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

sign me up


<---- shaking head at all the psychosomatic anti-flushot garbage stories

 

[jagec]

I don't get it, not because of any weird beliefs as to its effectiveness, but because I have always enjoyed excellent health thanks to a very strong immune system, and it's a waste of money in my case

 

[DrPizza]

Every year, I hear the same idiots remarking that "every time I get the shot, I end up with the flu." It's interesting how once people make a connection like that, a lot of other people reflect on some poor memory and come to the same conclusion. I usually just remark to them that "wow, it must be a huge conspiracy to get people sick. Either that, or you should do a research study and publish it in the New England Journal of Medicine. You must know a lot more than the doctors. I'm so glad you're implying that the shot causes the flu. I never realized!"

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: DrPizza
Every year, I hear the same idiots remarking that "every time I get the shot, I end up with the flu." It's interesting how once people make a connection like that, a lot of other people reflect on some poor memory and come to the same conclusion. I usually just remark to them that "wow, it must be a huge conspiracy to get people sick. Either that, or you should do a research study and publish it in the New England Journal of Medicine. You must know a lot more than the doctors. I'm so glad you're implying that the shot causes the flu. I never realized!"

Every time I got the shot I got the flu. That is enough for me.

Only time I got the flu was when I got the shot. That is enough for me.

 

[Legend]

I don't get sick.