Flu 2014

[iwajabitw]

You folks enjoy that flu! Take that hit for mankind! Better you than me. See ya..

 

[Brainonska511]

No I'm not. I know that it has its purpose to those with immune deficiencies. But every year, everyone I know that gets the flu I ask if they got vaccinated. 99% did. Its a running joke of mine for the last 10yrs or so. I eat good foods, exercise, and take supplements for overall health. I work with the public all day in there homes so I am exposed to all kinds of crap.

You folks enjoy that flu! Take that hit for mankind! Better you than me. See ya..

I hope people get the flu shot instead of taking medical advice from an idiot. For some reason, you believe what you believe, despite the mountains of evidence to the contrary.

 

[Brovane]

Got the flu shot about 4-weeks ago. Took the family down to WalGreens on a Saturday morning and we all got the vacinne. Myself and the rest of my family had no issues except or two girls (9 & 10) had sore arms for about a day.

 

[who?]

I got the flu shot on Sept.22nd and was very sore for 2 or 3 days. I hope that means that my immune system is now ready for a fight.

 

[Mixolydian]

Never had a flu shot. In fact I don't know if I've ever even had the flu.

Let me know when they come up with a vaccine for the Common Cold. I'll get that.
I also hear they're working on a Norovirus vaccine.

 

[Ferzerp]

It's a trade off for me. My immune system goes a little nuts when I get the shot and I feel like crap for a week or so. Based on that, I stopped getting them. You know how fever and aches are a side effect of the vaccine? I get them pretty severely from it.

I take my chances because it's either the chance of a horrible time for a while from the flu, or the guarantee of feeling like ass for around a week.

 

[TheSlamma]

You're not one of those Texas idiots who is going to claim the flu shot causes the flu, are you? I'm guessing the lady you know was exposed to someone who has the flu, and thought, "I'll get the flu shot to protect myself." Unfortunately, the flu shot is not magic - it takes a bit of time until your immune system has learned from it and can prevent you from getting the flu. If she has the flu now, then she got the flu shot at a time when she already had the flu virus in her, but was not yet symptomatic.

If 30 million people get the flu shot, odds are a lot of those people will get the shot after they've already been exposed and just before they get symptoms. Then, they run around like idiots, claiming the flu shot gave them the flu, when that's an impossibility.

Even better.. Alabama!

 

[Red Squirrel]

I should probably go for my flu shot this year. I usually don't bother going.

And yes I would get a vaccine for the common cold in a heart beat. I don't know why they don't have one yet. Just roll it as part of the flu shot.

 

[Ferzerp]

You're not one of those Texas idiots who is going to claim the flu shot causes the flu, are you?

That probably got started because of people who react poorly to it like I do. It's certainly not the flu, but you can feel pretty bad for a while after it. I always do.

 

[TheSlamma]

That probably got started because of people who react poorly to it like I do. It's certainly not the flu, but you can feel pretty bad for a while after it. I always do.

Nothing ever gets stronger if it has to face adversity, especially an immune system

 

[Gibsons]

This is at least day 5 of the flu. Caught it from my older brother a week after we were both sick from something else that caused us to cough up similar gross stuff without knocking us out (a more mild flu?). I've been sleeping almost all day every day but I was still pretty bad today. So much for herd immunity: he had his flu shot. I hear that the nasal spray flu vaccine covered two additional strains this year. With our luck, those would probably be the strains we got.

If you were coughing up gunk, it probably wasn't the flu.

 

[who?]

I should probably go for my flu shot this year. I usually don't bother going.

And yes I would get a vaccine for the common cold in a heart beat. I don't know why they don't have one yet. Just roll it as part of the flu shot.

Maybe they can't predict cold strains as well. Or maybe colds don't kill enough people to bother with a vaccine.

 

[Gibsons]

Maybe they can't predict cold strains as well.

One problem is that there are many, many viruses that can cause a 'cold.'

Imo, cold strains and seasons etc. could still be predicted if there was funding for it. The number of very different viruses (and subtypes) would make it more difficult and expensive to do, but the tech to do it is in place. It wouldn't be cheap, and then why bother considering...

Or maybe colds don't kill enough people to bother with a vaccine.

There are some subtleties to consider here, but for the most part yes. The flipside is that basic research on virology and immune responses might be where the breakthrough on Ebola or HIV or influenza is.

 

[ussfletcher]

Why would you want to wing it and just 'handle it'? I don't understand that rationale at all that some people have. I'd rather just get the vaccine to become immunized than have to let my body fight it off 'naturally' and feel miserable.

I say that because there are other people out there that will have a harder time getting an immunization that are at a higher risk of death.

Flu vaccinations are usually in short supply and I don't like knowing that my immunization for something survivable might cost someone else their life. I am however in a higher risk category (asthma) so I don't feel too bad, but I still don't like it.

Some of us don't only think of ourselves.

 

[OverVolt]

There are some side effects to the flu shot. I saw on the news yesterday that a little girl became paralyzed after getting the flu shot. I never get the flu shot and I never really get sick. I did get a flu shot in Job Corp back in circa '99 and I got a splitting headache after having it which I now hear all these years latter is a side effect. They never said anything like that. They just asked us if we were allergic to eggs.

Its an autoimmune response. Your body picks a protein signature of the virus to attack that happens to be one present in your brain naturally. Oops.

You could get strep and your body starts attacking connective tissue, and your heart. There's not much you can do about it. Its rare. The world will kill you one day .

 

[Gibsons]

You could get strep and your body starts attacking connective tissue, and your heart. There's not much you can do about it. Its rare. The world will kill you one day .

It might have killed Mozart. wiki

 

[CZroe]

If you were coughing up gunk, it probably wasn't the flu.

Every flu I have ever had has caused me to cough up massive amounts of dead leathery crap from my mucous. First, clear with a little suspended yellow (notably stickier than the clear mucous), then yellow with suspended greenish brown (notably firmer than the yellow), then huge lumps of the strangely tough greenish brown crap.

Fever, mucous, nausea, overwhelming lethargy, shortness of breath, horrible sounds coming from my sinuses and throat, a voice box full of gunk with an unrecognizable voice (if I can talk at all), and coughing up gross colored crap from my throat and sinuses. I don't even call it a flu until that stuff forms. Pseudoephedrine usually helps clear it and helps with the extreme lethargy. That phenelephine crap does NOTHING.

I *know* what a real flu feels like. I have a crap immune system and I get it almost every year. I also have never had a flu shot even though I swore I would around 2004 after I got the Fujian strain and was practically unconscious for days. The next year there was a serious vaccine shortage and I couldn't, so "oh well."

 

[Kyle]

Every flu I have ever had has caused me to cough up massive amounts of dead leathery crap from my mucous. First, clear with a little suspended yellow (notably stickier than the clear mucous), then yellow with suspended greenish brown (notably firmer than the yellow), then huge lumps of the strangely tough greenish brown crap.

Fever, mucous, nausea, overwhelming lethargy, shortness of breath, horrible sounds coming from my sinuses and throat, a voice box full of gunk with an unrecognizable voice (if I can talk at all), and coughing up gross colored crap from my throat and sinuses. I don't even call it a flu until that stuff forms. Pseudoephedrine usually helps clear it and helps with the extreme lethargy. That phenelephine crap does NOTHING.

I *know* what a real flu feels like. I have a crap immune system and I get it almost every year. I also have never had a flu shot even though I swore I would around 2004 after I got the Fujian strain and was practically unconscious for days. The next year there was a serious vaccine shortage and I couldn't, so "oh well."

......

You get the flu every year and you don't get the flu shot the next year...you enjoy the experience?

 

[Ruptga]

This comes up every single year, and every single time I'm amazed at how many people have no fucking clue about how statistics and/or epidemiology and/or logic work(s). Perhaps one day I will finally be so pessimistic that this stops happening, but I doubt it.

 

[CZroe]

......

You get the flu every year and you don't get the flu shot the next year...you enjoy the experience?

Oh, it takes a big man to point out the contradiction in the person's words that the person himself was highlighting.

I already explained part of it: shortages deprived me some of those years. No insurance deprived me some of the others, having the flu too early convinced me not to on other years, and some were because I just didn't bother because I worked alone and can work through being sick (like this year).

My point was that coughing up disgusting stuff does not mean it isn't flu. I know the damned difference between the flu and your typical respiratory infection. To put it simply: It's rough.