speacock
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Post by speacock on Oct 7, 2015 15:00:21 GMT -8
I can skip a lot of things since I had them as a child (whooping cough, chicken pox, measles, scarlet fever, mumps, many intestinal bacterial things, etc). If it was going around I caught it.
Starting with military immunizations for every place in the world, I still get all that are appropriate and especially for foreign travel. Because of my physician's mothering, I get all updates for pneumonia and shingles and 'lock jaw' as well as annual flu shot. Those now missing include the really nasty smallpox inoculation with its scab and scar and the easy one for polio. As best I remember only the one for the plague was a problem. Well, except for the time I got 7 all in one arm at once before being sent someplace nasty. They convinced me I didn't want them all in a butt cheek and I'd at least have one good arm.
I haven't had a viral cold in over a decade -- since we noticed it. It probably correlated with quitting smoking many years ago. Just not something you miss including upper respiratory problems.
We have always kept up to speed with our kids shots. Hopefully they won't pass on much to another human. Nether of their families have had what the shots were for.
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rebeccad
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Post by rebeccad on Oct 7, 2015 15:02:18 GMT -8
I had the flu once over Christmas holidays, and was down for an entire week. Since then, I've made it a point to get one every year. I work in an open office environment. And at that you were lucky. See my earlier post about it. I lost most of a month. One of my thoughts for not getting one was that apparently they're not a guarantee of protection anyhow as there are various strains of the virus and the vaccination can't cover all of them. I think the 'latest greatest' vaccination here now covers up to 4 strains of the virus. If a different one materialises you're out of luck. This is to some degree true. But the vaccine is always closely enough related that studies show that vaccinated people who get the flu anyway are on average less sick than non-vaccinated people. I kind of like to let my immune sytem earn its keep if possible and so far so good! Actually, that's how vaccines work. They teach your immune system what the bug is and how to react, so when you are exposed it can do its thing.
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rebeccad
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Post by rebeccad on Oct 7, 2015 15:06:18 GMT -8
Vaccines by their nature are designed to familiarize the body with a certain bacteria or virus through various means without actually infecting the body with that pathogen. This is typically accomplished with an inactive or dead culture of the pathogen, by substituting a similar but less serious pathogen (as was the original vaccine where cow pox was used to vaccinate against small pox), or with specific proteins from the pathogen that alone won't cause infection, but will still stimulate the desired bodily response.
So knowing this, you might expect the body to respond to the vaccine exactly how it would to the real deal, just without the potential for serious complications some of these pathogens create. That is not strictly true. An attenuated virus vaccine can give you a mild case of the illness. A killed vaccine, no. If you get the flu shot, it's a killed vaccine. I believe the nasal version is not. Most people who think they got sick from the shot got sick from the doctor's office, as I noted. I wash hands with soap and water as soon as I'm done at the MD's, before I leave the building.
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speacock
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Post by speacock on Oct 7, 2015 15:15:37 GMT -8
Nasty places - hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, day care, schools. Lots of people there are sick and some will be sicker. If the recent measles scare at Disneyland didn't get people's attention, it should have. It turned out to have all the attributes of a significant problem - only attenuated. It was like a model of the real thing and showed what happens if the herd is not safe. Since then California has required immunizations if a child is to be dropped off in front of a school.
I belong to a large all male chorus that competes internationally. A bunch of AAA personalities with lots of manly hugging, shaking hands, back slapping and hours of close contact on risers. We are starting the flu season with fist bumps and air high fives until spring. Shots aren't mandatory and neither is good health. It is just expected. A run of flu would devastate competition chances.
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Post by ecocentric on Oct 7, 2015 19:01:01 GMT -8
I do some years, but haven't the last couple. I was sick from something for a couple of weeks, so I'll get one this year.
I don't know the cost of the vaccine for shingles, but a friend of mine lost the sight in one eye from it, and gets terrible outbreaks that I wouldn't want.
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davesenesac
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Post by davesenesac on Oct 7, 2015 19:32:28 GMT -8
Had shingles 2 years ago. Very unpleasant so vaccine highly recommended. Was just after I'd recovered from a bad head cold virus and thought was the cold weakened my immune system allowed the shingles virus to emerge. I had not even had a head cold for several years. When anyone has chicken pox as a child the virus will hide dormant about nerve cells for several decades. After age 55 it may emerge for as yet unknown reasons. The localized rash that occurs can be in any area of the body. My mother had a bad case on her head. For me it was on the right thigh and groin that caused severe lower back pain for about 3 days. Took several weeks for it to go away and missed a week of work. Well actually it never goes away and I think it already started to re-emerge at least once briefly before going back to sleep.
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texasbb
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Post by texasbb on Oct 7, 2015 20:11:04 GMT -8
Nope. I would if I felt the need, but I'm not inclined to take unnatural steps unless the downside is pretty likely and pretty bad. Maybe it will be when I'm old and decrepit. Our medical and nutritional specialists and their policy mouthpieces have done a lot of damage through the years promoting mindless universal application of unnatural interventions. I need to be convinced the need outweighs the risk first. Proliferated antibiotics have given us resistant bacteria. Low-fat diets gave us 20 years of blood sugar spikes and now a Type II diabetes epidemic. Don't eat eggs! --> no, wait, do. The list goes on and on and who knows what's next.
Without flu shots, we'll get how many flus in a lifetime? I dunno, but in 55 years I've had it once that I know of, maybe twice. So my immune system is adapted to those two. With flu shots, my system would be adapted to 50+ of them. Is that a good thing? I don't know and I doubt the pros do either.
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Post by High Sierra Fan on Oct 7, 2015 21:44:26 GMT -8
The downside is death for tens of thousands of Americans most every year.
"CDC estimates that from the 1976-1977 season to the 2006-2007 flu season, flu-associated deaths ranged from a low of about 3,000 to a high of about 49,000 people. Death certificate data and weekly influenza virus surveillance information was used to estimate how many flu-related deaths occurred among people whose underlying cause of death was listed as respiratory or circulatory disease on their death certificate."
The variability is due to different years having more lethal or less lethal strains predominate.
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beef
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Post by beef on Oct 8, 2015 1:32:06 GMT -8
I get it. Wife is a doc, 4 year old in pre-k, and I work with sick people...all of which adds up to bad news. One thing I've noticed at least about the Midwestern dialect (or maybe it's a generational thing) is that people generally mean stomach flu when they just say flu. Of course, that's not what the flu vaccine prevents. Often, when people say that they haven't had the flu, they're mistaken.
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texasbb
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Post by texasbb on Oct 8, 2015 5:57:29 GMT -8
The downside is death for tens of thousands of Americans most every year. I hear ya, but the vast majority of those deaths are people who were already unhealthy or otherwise feeble before they got the flu. The flu itself kills a very, very small number of people. If the elderly and unhealthy get the shot, they and society are (probably) better off. But pushing these shots, which are often notoriously ineffective anyway and have several known risks plus the as-yet unknown ones I alluded to, on the entire healthy population? It's something between unnecessary and foolhardy, IMHO. Except for the drug companies--they make a killing, so to speak. Eat healthy, get regular outdoor (vitamin D) exercise, and be more afraid of Big Gulps than the flu.
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johnnyray
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Post by johnnyray on Oct 8, 2015 6:14:34 GMT -8
Sometime I get a flu shot and sometimes not, seems like I've been getting the flu regardless the last few years and I blame my 2 coworkers who smoke like chimneys and are always the first to get sick and bring it to work and make everyone else sick.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2015 6:48:43 GMT -8
I have not gotten a flu shot yet. And I have not been sick for lack of one. But none of that is because of any strong opinions about the topic. I really don't have any.
I don't recall the shots being recommended for everyone, and I don't seem to have ever been in the most at-risk categories where the shots were recommended — even with the "swine flu" (H1N1) of 2009, as I recall. In some years, in my area, there have simply not been enough doses available for everyone.
I live alone in a rural area with no close neighbors. But I see and communicate with a lot of people every week, though I'm rarely in "close contact" or need to shake anyone's hand. And I do practice the recommended habits of personal hygiene that tend to lessen the chances of infection.
But, maybe I've just been lucky. Such is life. It's something to consider.
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rebeccad
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Post by rebeccad on Oct 8, 2015 7:06:38 GMT -8
The flu kills mostly the already sick or old, except when it doesn't. Both the 1918 epidemic and the much more recent H1N1 virus seemed to prefer taking down the young and healthy. Food for thought.
Travis--under your circs, I probably wouldn't bother, either, unless it starts going around your town big time (I'm assuming some kind of town where you do things like buy groceries).
My kids aren't little anymore, so that part is out of the picture, but I work with the public. Add that to several nasty experiences of the virus, and it starts to look like a no-brainer for me. texasbb is right on one thing: not every person needs the vaccine. But it probably helps most of us. And don't forget--while most of us can get flu and recover just fine, some of the most vulnerable people can't get the vaccine because of compromised immune systems. So if you associate AT ALL with such people, be considerate. It's partly about herd immunity.
I will say one thing for flu, compared to a cold: it comes on fast and you feel way too crappy to do anything, so you are less likely to try to "soldier on" than with a cold!
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tigger
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Post by tigger on Oct 8, 2015 7:17:20 GMT -8
The main reason I am going to be getting the flu shot regularly is because I have kids. When all the kids move out, I won't be nearly as concerned. My kids bring home a new bug on almost every other week from the day school starts. I hate school flu season.
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speacock
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Post by speacock on Oct 8, 2015 11:06:25 GMT -8
Around $125 for Shingles. For those that have had a viral outbreak, it is cheap at any price. 100 years ago it was, I guess, mostly around the belt line. The horror story of the time was that if it completely encircled the waist, you would die. Or more likely wished you would. Check out if susceptible or at higher risk because of you and your parent's health history. This thread maybe is not so much as do you get flu shots, but are you up to date on all of your immunizations? I'd guess that if somebody is not up on their flu shots they don't think about the other things (immunizations, blood pressure,sugar levels, seat belts, etc.) that really are 'good' for us - maybe not just for you. Interesting statistics on one communicable disease (Whooping Cough) comparing immunization deferrals and increase in number of cases (by local population). One does NOT get pertussis if vaccinated. There are similar studies on all preventable immunizations. Herd immunizations means essentially all (95+ %) need to be immunized. That allows the small percent who can not participate to be 'covered'. Its called being civilized. www.motherjones.com/environment/2014/02/vaccine-exemptions-states-pertussis-map
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