Flu shot this year

Discussion in 'Your Living Room' started by Intrepid, Oct 26, 2011.

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Are you getting one?

  1. Yes

    52.5%
  2. No

    37.5%
  3. Unsure

    10.0%
  1. June-

    June- New Member

    I see it says who should get shot vs nasal but not why. Ditto the high dose shot for over 65. Why?
     
  2. Wino

    Wino Resident Honey Badger

    That I don't know. I get mine at the pediatrician's office, which is why it's mist.
     
  3. Intrepid

    Intrepid New Member

    That's correct. The vaccine cannot and does not protect against all possible strains just the one that is most likely to hit.

    That is why H1N1 took the world by surprise.
     
  4. Taximom5

    Taximom5 New Member

    What Wino said. They do try to figure out which virus strains will be prevalent in any given year, and make the vaccines accordingly.
    I think they totally do that, with nearly everything. Go to your local Walgreens or Target. All those shelves of OTC cold medications, fever reducers, acid blockers, etc--most of them are unnecessary for most conditions for which they are used. They don't cure the illness, they may even lengthen it or help spread it. People who take cold meds and fever reducers may feel well enough to go to work--but they are then spreading their viruses around, and quite possibly for a longer period of time than if they hadn't taken the fever reducer.

    People who take long-term acid blockers block the acid needed to properly absorb B12, and often end up with B12 deficiency. They also continue to eat foods that may have been causing the damage--unhealthy foods, like deep-fried spicy foods, or foods that seem healthy but are damaging to those who react, like gluten.

    That said, this doesn't mean that every single OTC medication is useless. Benadryl and other allergy meds can be very helpful. Fever reducers and analgesics can also be very important,if not overused.

    Same with prescription meds. Antibiotics have a long history of being grossly overused (as in pediatric ear infections, for example). But on the flip side, they can be life-saving.

    And to really turn things around, the same fear-mongering is used by Mercola to sell his products, which is a sad state of affairs indeed, as I believe his newsletters to contain valid information. It's a pity that he complains with total validity of the fear-mongering tactics of Big Pharm out of one side of his mouth--and then turns around and does exactly the same thing as Big Pharm.

    I'm afraid that the bottom line is that we live in a very corrupt world today, where $$ rules the majority, and even those who care (like several of my own friends, who are MDs) are cogs in a machine ruled by that pesky $.
     
  5. Taximom5

    Taximom5 New Member

    I'm not Wino--do you mind if I throw in an answer?

    The killed virus vaccines are considered to cause fewer reactions, because (since the virus is killed) the vaccine can't "give" you the flu. However, there are several problems with this. First of all, the OTHER ingredients in those vaccines, particularly the adjuvants and the preservatives, which are NOT in the live-virus FluMist, do cause some very serious side effects in a subgroup of people, and the subgroup (or groups) have not yet been identified. Second of all, the latest studies are showing that these vaccines are ineffective.

    So for seniors, this year they are quadrupling the antigen amount, in hopes that this will be more effective. But that has not yet been tested; we won't know whether it IS more effective for a few years. In the meantime, they already admit that side effects have increased with the new formulation.

    The flu mist is not usually given to seniors and very young children because it's a live virus vaccine--and as such, it can cause the flu it is supposed to prevent. These vaccine-induced flus are usually milder than flu caught the traditional way--except in people who may have conditions predisposing them to more severe problems.

    One other thing to remember with the flu mist is that after you get it, you may be shedding live virus cells for up to 3 weeks, meaning you are spreading the virus around. For most people, it's probably not a big deal, as they'd likely encounter it anyway. But for people with compromised immune systems, people on chemotherapy, young infants and children (particularly if they aren't breastfed), and the elderly, this can be a serious problem.
     
  6. Taximom5

    Taximom5 New Member

    I believe that H1N1 "took the world by surprise" because the sole blame for childrens' deaths associated with H1N1 in 2009 was placed on H1N1. Experts are now saying that co-infection MRSA was a major causative factor: http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2011/11/07/Kids-with-H1N1-and-MRSA-up-death-risk/UPI-93201320649806/

    So--MRSA is now a major problem because of antibiotic overuse. It can mean death in a previously healthy person when coupled with what is a MILD virus for most people.

    I can understand that one option would be to immunize people for the mild virus to prevent that--except for the fact that the immunizations for said virus have so many problems: they are ineffective in children and in the elderly (the two targeted groups!), they have potentially severe side effects that are neither fully recognized nor understood, and their use (in the nasal mists) can actually spread the virus.

    I wish I knew what the best answer is.

    When you think about it, nobody benefitted from the overuse of antibiotics--except the pharmaceutical industry.

    With a 59% efficacy rate, the flu shot didn't benefit very many people--except the pharmaceutical industry, which posted high profits.
     
  7. tm53

    tm53 New Member

    Got mine but then I have to.

    No side effects, hope for the same for all that choose to get it!

    BTW, just about everything I take for MM and other ailments lists dizziness as a side effect.
     
  8. June-

    June- New Member

    Had there been measles vaccines and antibiotics a hundred years ago, my father's two sisters would have survived early childhood.
     
  9. Intrepid

    Intrepid New Member

    I took TM's post to mean that antibiotics are doled out indiscriminately today. I agree. When my children were younger they were given antibiotics by the pediatrician even if they were only sneezing :D

    I feel antidepressants are handed out the same way - too easily. But that is another subject.

    Back to the flu shot. Anybody had theirs lately?
     
  10. Taximom5

    Taximom5 New Member

    What Intrepid said \/

    I'm not saying that there is no place for vaccines or antibiotics. In fact, I specifically said that antibiotics can be lifesaving.
     
  11. June-

    June- New Member

    I know, TM, I was just adding my experience.
     
  12. hollymm

    hollymm Me, 'in' a tree.

    Having both an immunity based blood disorder and taking Chemo, I don't think it'd be very smart for me to get a flu shot on purpose, however the quandary, from what I've read here, is that I may catch the flu from others who have had the shot/nasal mist but also from others who haven't had it or maybe just be in the wrong place at the wrong time! I'm screwed no matter what I do - so I don't do anything and hope for the best. Thank goodness I'm such a homebody, eh?

    My dogs are homebodies too - can you catch the flu from dogs? :D

    Shoot, I forgot my DIL and the two grandkids are living with me... now I've got even more problems :eek:
     
  13. June-

    June- New Member

    You can get strep from dogs but I don't think flu. Maybe from monkeys.
     
  14. hollymm

    hollymm Me, 'in' a tree.

    Seems like we've caught a lot of things from monkeys, eh?
     
  15. June-

    June- New Member

    Yeah. They probably cuss is out for what they get from us.
     
  16. hollymm

    hollymm Me, 'in' a tree.

  17. Taximom5

    Taximom5 New Member

    I don't think you'd get the flu from someone else's flu SHOT, because that particular shot does not use a live virus. But the flu mist--yes.

    I've read that it is possible--not likely, but possible--for bordetella pertussis to mutate to something transmissible to humans. I was wondering if it works the other way, too--can dogs get pertussis from us?

    One of my colleagues was out all last week, as she, her husband, and all 3 kids had pertussis. And yes, they had all been fully vaccinated for it.
     

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