To Flu Shot or Not??

CareBearnurse · Dec 18, 2008

I've had the flu shot every year for the past 15 years. Never made be sick. When I was in high school in 1968 I got the Asian flu. Thought I was, and wished I would die. I't no fun.

Multicollinearity, BSN, RN · Dec 18, 2008

Get the flu shot. Protect the rest of the herd (which includes your sick, immunocompromised patients) as well as yourself.
Smart people often confuse correlation with causation, hence the erroneous belief that they got stick from a dead virus. Flu shots come out during flu season, which is also cold-got-the-icks season. The shot to prevent the former does not cause the latter.
:)

Well said!

CmdrodriguezUSNRN · Dec 18, 2008

:up: Get The Flu Shot:

As a Navy Nurse I have had all kinds of shots, I think that I am covered for every thing. I take a flu shot every year and have been doing so for the past 10 years. Never got sick from the shot, I did get the flu one winter but it was very mild. My friends who didn't get the flu shot and had the flu it was bad for them. Thousands of members in the Armed Forces get the shot and do not get the flu. those who do get sick are more likely allergic to eggs or some other substance in the injection its self. Good luck whatever choice you make.

CmdrodriguezUSNRN

lavendarwolf · Dec 19, 2008

First let me say that my response wasn't specifically directed at you and I apologize if it felt that way. I just hit the quick reply and it was an honest mistake. I did however want to get "in" on the conversation. I believe I said one in 4 boys have autism and you are correct...I did type that incorrectly. What I meant to say was. 1 in 94 boys have autism and no I am not misinformed. You can read the statistic yourself at the most credible autism site currently on the web. http://www.autismspeaks.org/whatisit/facts.php. Also,,as I said, I do not criticize those who feel that vaccines are neccessary or the ones who don't. I do however believe that WE ALL are trying to find out what is best and as long as we all keep doing so, the world is going to get better eh? Again I apologize if you took any offense to my earlier post.

pinewind · Dec 19, 2008

I never used to get the flu vaccine...I always thought that I didn't really need it....how bad could the flu be anyway? Not much worse than a bad cold right? Then, I actually did get a real live full blown case of influenza and was never so sick in my life! Not wanting to have to go through that again I have gotten an annual flu vaccine ever since, for my own protection and for the protection of the already compromised patients that I care for. After having experienced an actual case of influenza firsthand, I realize that often what people call "the flu" just isn't. I can also more readilyu understand how the elderly or otherwise compromised could suffer serious consequences as a result of "the flu". The influenza vaccine is not a live vaccine, there is no way you could actually contract the illness itself from the vaccine. My personal experience has been that I have never suffered any more serious side efffect from the vaccine than a slight soreness at the injection site. Personally in our field, I feel it is well worth it for our own protection from what we are exposed to , and for the protection of the patients that we care for. Influenza is a serious illness!

lavendarwolf · Dec 19, 2008

Sorry if I rubbed anyone the wrong way...I will stay out of it! HAHAHAHA! I am going to get my hep-b and t-dap next week anyway so I guess I need say no more.

CountyRat · Dec 19, 2008

df-lpn wrote: "i have taken the flu shot once and still ended up getting the flu later that winter."

the flu vaccine does not make you "flu proof," it protects you from what epidemiologists think will be the 3 or 4 most dangerous strains. i am sorry that you were sick, but that is not evidence that the vaccine did not protect you from more dangerous strains.

i have't taken the shot again. i rearly get resp infections and the one i do get is usally bronchitis. and that is only once every few years.

i am very happy to hear that you seldom get respiratory infections, however, that is not evidence that you will be resistant in the future. the fact that the respiratory infections that you have suffered were from bronchitus is not evidence that you are immune to influenza, or that you can not carry it to your patients.

"if you are prone to resp infections then i say get the shot."

this not good advice. no one is immune from influenza. the fact that someone has not suffered sever disease in the past, is not evidence that they will not in the future. everyone is healthy, until they are not.

"as others have stated, the cons are: body/muscle/joint aches, there are thousands of diff types of flu bugs (and the little critters are mutating as i type)"

yes, the little buggers do mutate quickly. that is exactly why not having suffered influenza in the past is not evidence that you will not get it in the future. also, there are a little over 200 strains of influenza, not thousands.

"you may still get the flu"

yes, you might. vaccines are not magic potions. however, the facts are that the poulation of people who get annual flu shots suffer fewer bouts with this disease, and tend to have less severe courses if they do get the flu, than the population of people who do not get the vaccine. the odds favor the vaccinated.

"and the vacine is usually made up from last seasons flu."

no, it is not. each year epidemiologists analyze what strains are becoming prominent around the world and within north america, determine which are most virulent, and craft that year's vaccine to target those.

"cons: if you do get the flu, the shot should help with severity and duration. but the best con i think is that the more shots you have had the higher your immunity becomes."

please explain how these are cons? (and, by the way, having more shots does not result in cumulative immunity. that is why we get the vaccine annually, regardless of how many times we have had it in the past.)

be well, my friends.

sjt9721, BSN, RN · Dec 19, 2008

Sorry if I rubbed anyone the wrong way...I will stay out of it! HAHAHAHA! I am going to get my hep-b and t-dap next week anyway so I guess I need say no more.

Enjoy the TDap. While I loathe getting stuck, I've never reacted or fell ill after any vaccinations. Then I had the TDap last year... :eek:

Sure my arm was a little sore...I always get 'em in my dominant arm so I can "work it out". We were just starting my friend's wedding shower, and BAM! Excuse me ladies, I think I'll just sit here on the couch for 2 hours! I have NEVER been so tired...didn't feel "sick"...just TIRED. Then I also had swollen axillary nodes for 2-3 days as well.

And then I was fine. :) I have a little one at home, so it was worth not bringing home any yucky pertussis germs to her.

lamazeteacher · Dec 19, 2008

I recommend that you discuss the office "nurses" advice with the doctor, who needs to know what they're saying to his/her patients.

The chances that those "nurses" have their degree in nursing are probably negligible. They are not in a position to disavow it; and can do much harm if they say to vulnerable patients of advanced age, or those who have chronic disease, or are caregivers who could transmit the "flu" virus if they are not protected themselves, what they told you.

I've taken a "flu" shot every year for at least the past dozen years, and have never become ill from it. The most common reaction (unless a person is allergic to eggs, in which the vaccine is grown), is a sore arm at the site of the injection. The arm will not be as sore if it is exercised to enhance blood flow and absorption.

As an Infection Control Nurse for many years, I've researched the literature regarding all aspects of that vaccine. It contains attenuated viruses, which means it is not a living, disease causing organism. If people who received the vaccine have been exposed to the "flu" (probably not of the same viral origin as that in the "shot"), before they get vaccinated for the current, most virulent type known for that year, they can get sick from the one to which they were exposed before.

Slightly lowered "resistance" caused whenever the immune system is taxed, can make recipients of "flu" vaccine more ill than they otherwise might have been, from the less virulent strain of microorganism. Also, they're fighting two of them......... Over the past few decades there has been much research regarding the benefits/risks of vaccination against the "flu", and the benefits far outweigh the risks. Look up the statistical studies on the National Institute for Health (NIH) website, and you will be reassured.

lavendarwolf · Dec 19, 2008

yes. We definitely do not want to put the little ones at risk. I am not looking forward to the "injec-shawn!" Ha! But I know that is necessary for clinical's.

AtomicWoman · Dec 19, 2008

I remember the adverse reactions from Swine Flu vaccine during the late 70's or early 80's ? not sure exactly when, but do know that a great majority of people who received that vaccine became neurologically impaired on a permanent basis due to the vaccine being tainted.

A great majority of people became neurologically impaired??? Can we please stick to the facts here, as we are people of science, right? I am assuming the referernce is to the cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome that received so much press after the swine-flu vaccine in 1976. Let's see, there were something more than 50 cases reported, which amounted to less than 1 more case per 100,000 population receiving the vaccine than would have been expected if the vaccine had not been given. Unusual and potentially worrisome? Yes. Worthy of further investigation and possibly caution in the future? Yes. "A great majority?" Hardly.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7224614?dopt=Abstract

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol12no01/05-1007.htm

AtomicWoman · Dec 19, 2008

I have never read any history books or heard stories of anyone who had all these new diseases that we have now.

If you read history, you will find that people died from an amazing array of diseases that we don't even think about. Bubonic plague wiped out approximately 25% of the population of Europe (I'll get the citation of anyone wants it). Polio killed and permanently disabled thousands in this US alone. Read any 18th century literature and see how prevalent TB was. I don't think we can correlate disease incidence with the use (or not) of vaccines.