Got the Flu Shot

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Well, I got my Flu Shot on Friday. I hurt so bad! Have been in bed most of the day. What do you all think?

I feel like crying I feel so bad. I really thought it was all in my head and then my husband tells me how awful I look(just want I wanted to hear).

my family and I have got the flu shot for 5 years my children 8 and ten were the few left in school last year when the flu was going around . Where I work if you do not get the flu shot you don't work I work in a retirement home. my husband missed one year He was so sick he was first in line for the flu shots the next year. You can not get sick from the flu shot if you do get the flu during the season the symptoms are mild and shorter duration then without

OntRPN:p

Gary, the association with Giullian Barre was only with the swine flu shots in 1976, and the theory has since been debunked. There is an excellant book out there that goes into this and how it happened called appropriately "Flu".

Also realize that the world is ripe for a flu pandemic. The virus that causes the flu is an incredibly malable virus, it changes constantly. It also passes between animals and humans fairly easily. The flu pandemic in 1918 can be traced back to 1916 to begin with and by 1918 it had changed just enough to be particularly virulent. More people died of influenza in that year than died in WWI. And unlike other flu viruses in the past, it was the young and healthy that died. Many died within three days of originally falling ill. There were thousands of children who were left orphaned by the pandemic.

Many people also associate flu with stomach and gastrointestial illness, flu is actually a severe resp. illness and seldom do gastrointestinal problems go with it. In this country the vast majority of deaths are not from flu itself it is from bacterial pneumonia's that take advantage of a weakened immune state. This is the first year that the CDC is recommending the vaccine for children that are not immune compromised.

Pandemic's occur approximately every 10 to 12 years, and we have not seen one for over 15 years now, most epidemilogists believe we are particularly ripe for one now. I encourage all healthcare workers to get flu shots. Not all will of course, but I do believe it is a very good idea.

Like many other medical things, it is used UNTIL it proves harmful. The flu shot contains formaldhyde and alumunim. The flu shot HAS been linked to Gulliane-Barr and some reports suggests links with long term use of flu shots and demenia....particuarlly Altzheimer's.

I have always gotten the shot until I took a Epidemiology course this year and listened to a presentation regarding the flu shot. I then did some research of my own and WILL NOT take it now.

I personally feel if you are a HEALTHY person, you do not need the flu shot. They are guessing what virus to use anyway....and while it offers some protection......there are certainly no guarantees.

My personal CHOICE IS NO SHOT.

Thanks for all the info. I knew the shot would not make me sick, I just felt so dang ill.

Yes there is alot of "bugs" going around where I live and work.

Had the Flu a few years ago and I do not want it again, if I had not had the shot then I can not begin to think how sick I would have been!

fund in order to pay the victims of vaccine complications if there are no such complications? Furthermore, how is it that this fund has paid out hundreds of millions of dollars if their were no injuries? Even the CDC estimates that less than ten percent of actuals complications to vaccines are ever actually reported to the National Adverse Vaccine Reporting Center despite such reporting being madatory by law.

Now I'm not going to argue that the benefits of vaccination don't outweigh the risks (even if this was my opinion mainstream science clearly favors the opposing viewpoint). However, to denie even THE EXISTENCE of such risks is being misinformed at best, and willful ignorence at worst. I'll wager you any amount of money that if you call or write the manufacturer of the vaccine that you took and ask them for a statement in writing that their product is risk free that you will instead receive a warning list of possible adverse reactions and contraindications. That's why vaccines should only be given after true INFORMED CONSENT without the threat of job loss for noncompliance.

I don't see where anyone is denying possable side effects from the injection. That's why the patient is screened. I haven't seen any misinformation delivered here. There will always be controversy about vaccines. And to the best of my knowledge except for the pediatrics, the federal gov't does not require consent for the vaccine. At least not in in-house patients. This has been the same controversy for as long as I can remember. I take the vaccine....but then I actually had influenza. I was young and off work for a week and the fatigue that followed lasted for 2 more weeks. Been there, done that and I'll take my shot!

a live virus vaccine and therefore cannot make you ill." My post was in responce to that and other posts which eithe didn't acknowledge possible negative side effects, or down played them to the point of insignificance. Keep in mind certain that certain autoimmune side effects which MAY be associated with vaccination often take years to develop and demonstrating a causal link is extremely difficult if not next to impossible. In addition, there is concern among some about vaccine contamination with virus, virion, prion, and nano-bacterialogical agents. Our understanding of these pathogens (or potential pathogens as the case may be) and indeed of the immune system itself is still rudimentary.

Of course many medications that are prescribed have demonstrated adverse side effects. However, the difference of course is that with vaccination a healthy individual is being "treated" for a condition he/she may never develop or if he/she does develop the condition it is difficut to predict the degree of severity with which they would suffer from the disease. Thus, questions with regard to the Hippocratic oaths primary statement to "first do no harm" are brought very much into focus.

I will continue to bet a flu shot now and in the future. In 83 my employer would not give me shot as I was pregnant- I could find no contraindications but they were adamant. It really sucked to have the flu and labor! My husband had it too and on the video one can hear us both hacking and see the dark circles around our eyes. Last year I got vaccinated as usual. In March I was so Ill I ended up in the ER thinking I had pnuemonia- It was the flu- I have never been that sick as an adult. And I dont want to be again if there is any prevention bring it on!

Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

I always get a flu shot -- not because I would be at some great risk if I got the flu -- but to reduce the thousands of deaths that occur each year because of it. I think of the elderly people I see in the grocery store, the immuno-suppressed people who can't afford to get it, etc. Because relatively "healthy" individuals refuse to get it, the virus is spread widely throughout the community -- and eventually reaches someone who dies from it.

In 1918, a particularly virulent strain killed millions of people -- more peoplel than all of World War I. All over America, families and towns were decimated by it. I don't want to see something like that (even on a smaller scale) happen again because healthy people like me didn't want to be bothered to stop the virus from spreading.

llg

Consider that a flew shot doesn't necessarily prevent someone from contracting the flew EVEN if they are exposed the particular antigen/serotype that the vaccine is designed to combat. Thus, even a very successful vaccine (which is normally defined as around a 90 to 95% efficacy rate) will not protect everyone exposed. Furthermore, every year strains present themselves to which the vaccine offers little or no protection. That is because health professions can only protect against a very finite number of serotypes within a given vaccine, they therefore must make PROJECTIONS based on outbreaks (generally in the Far East). Some of these projections are correct, and like all such things some are wrong. If the 1918 "superflu" antigen were to reemerge (or one equally deadly) it is likely that this antigen/serotype WOULD NOT be anticipated. IF, it were that would be a special case for consideration under THOSE circumstances.

In addition, consider that even when the flu shot is effective against the serotype to which you are exposed AND is effective in your case, the exposed individual might very well still be capable of SPREADING the disease while their body is engaged in an immunological battle against the pathogen (although addmitedly less so than someone who developed a full blown case of the disease).

Consider also if we are going to place a moral onus upon NOT taking the flu shot with the argument that we are a greater risk to succeptible individuals WHERE that argument can easily lead. There is good scientific evidence that such diverse elements of lifestyle such as sleeping habits, nutrition, smoking and exercise can all have PROFOUND impacts upon our immune systems (and hence our ability of fight off or be succeptible to full blown influenza). Thus, if we are to morally denigrate those who CHOOSE not to have the shot, in order to be logically consistent we must also point a finger at those who get too little sleep, eat improperly, smoke, drink too much alcohol, and fail to exercise sufficiently (or take any supplement shown to enhance the immune system). This is because all of these negative lifestyle choices can demonstrably weaken ones immune system making them more likely to develop disease (the flu included) and hence be a carrier for the pathogen. Indeed, using such a rationale one could argue for "immunological assays" of people wishing to work with at risk individuals, and the subsequent exclusion of those with genetically weak (or otherwise) immune systems. That is because those with weakened immune systems are more likely to catch and susequently spread disease causing organisms.

Are you really sure that you want to go down that road?

I got my flu shot last month, no sequelae whatsoever. Someone raised the spectre of Aluminium/Alzheimers supposed link.

In the UK, up until approximately the 1950's, coal miners were supplied with "Mcalpines powder" which was inhaled prior to starting a shift to prevent silicosis from subsequent coal dust inhalation. This powder was powdered Aluminium, and coal miners' incidence of Alzheimers is no higher than that of the general population.

Since repeated minor trauma to the brain can induce Alzheimer type symptoms, such as in boxing, I would suggest that the most likely way to get Alzheimers from Aluminium is to be struck repeatedly over the head with a baseball bat!

me" I can hear the voice of my statistics professor screaming within my head "personal antedotal stories are point estimates and cannot be used to determine, causation, correlation or much else in a scientific sense." Now I happen to think he was wrong sometimes a personal experience CAN LEAD to great break throughs (Consider that Fleming discovered penicillan in large part due to a mistake in leaving out a petri dish inadvertently when leaving his lab for a few days). However, the fact that you didn't (or did for that matter) get sick after having a flu shot proves only that YOU didn't suffer any deliterious consequences (and even there only in the short term because who's to say that you might not develop an autoimmune disorder ten years from now such as MS or Parkinson's that is indeed linked to a vaccination you had much earlier in life!)

+ Add a Comment