Flu Shot Pressure?

1

During my last visit to the doctor, I was told that I needed a flu shot. I've avoided them and haven't ever had a lot of issues with the flu.

My doctor, who specializes in diabetes management told me that the elderly, infants, and people with diabetes (and a few other chronic conditions) should get a flu shot.

I understand that a very bad flu could take a lot out of a person with diabetes...and I even understand how it could force someone into ketoacidosis, but I couldn't shake the feeling that I was getting pressured into the flu shot. As if my doc had a bunch in the back she was dying to get rid of.

Anyone have any insight or feelings about this?

I told her that I had to think about the flu shot and we'd revisit the idea at my next appointment.

2

I get the same pressure. Even had the pharmacist handing me my insulin tell me their store was offering flu shots & I should get one as a diabetic. Never had a flu shot & am never going to get one. I've yet to get the flu, even when my husband gets sick from his germy students. I'm not convinced flu vaccines are safe or effective. Ever since I started taking Vit D3 & got my D levels up, I've not had as much as a sniffle with people sneezing & coughing in my face.

Good plan to say you'll think about it to avoid further discussion.

3

In our household, my daughter has gotten flu shots since she was in elementry school because she has asthma. Its a very good idea for asthmatics because they get bronchitis and pnuemonia frequently (she had pnuemonia before she was 1 month old). The dr started talking to my husband who has diabetes 2 a few yrs ago and he gets a flu shot most ever yr now. He gets colds and other infections a lot so we think its a good idea. I started getting flu shots after I was 55. Thinking it could protect my husband and daughter (all 3 of us live together now). Its a personal choice I think. If my husband gets sick enough, the dr will put him in the hospital and if it prevents one event like that, for us it saves money. My daughter has been in the hospital from an asthma attack and if it keeps that from happenings, saves us all money too because she has no insurance. Its your choice. I don't like it that people are pressured, but folks do walk around sick and spread germs when they should stay home.

4

I had the swine flu shot when I was little and became deathly ill, so avoided flu shots for years. For a few years at one job they were free, I have not had a flu shot in years and yes I am pressured yearly by my PCP and endo, but I refuse.

I did have pneumonia one year and it freaked me out, so I did get that vaccine, but that is not yearly.

5

When I said that I've heard stories of people getting sick BECAUSE of the shot, she told me that they only use "dead" vaccines at her office. It is the "live" vaccines that can make you feel kind of gross...I'm told.

6

I've had viral pneumonia twice. Bacterial pneumonia is worse & I don't believe there's a vaccine for that since vaccines are virus-based.

7

I always get them now. I had a bad flu a few years ago and it pole-axed me.

Without going into the gory details, let's just say that I was trapped in bed with only a thin sheet left to cover me (everything else was...well...soiled.) At the worst, I couldn't even lift my head or my arms for about 12-15 hours. I honestly feel lucky that I didn't die alone here with no one to care for me and no way to reach for a phone.

After that, I've come up with a flu plan (get help early!) but I also get the shots.

This is what the CDC has to say about it: "During flu epidemics, death rates among people with diabetes increase by 5% to 15%. Although people with diabetes are more likely to die with the flu, research indicates that about 50% of them did not get a flu shot."

Of course, it's a personal decision. If I had someone to watch over me I might feel differently about it.

8

Since diagnosis I always get one, but I'm a lot older than you.

9

You had a serious flu. Did you also have out-of-control glucose levels?

10

I'm sure I did, but I was too delirious to test. This was before I was on short-acting insulin, too, so I would have been powerless to do anything about hyperglycemia on my own anyway. I no-doubt belonged in a nurse's care having my fluids, glucose and insulin levels monitored -- not to mention clean bedding and someone to turn on the heat at night (that's when I couldn't move yet shivered uncontrollably for hours.) I really do think it was pure luck that I didn't die. It took me weeks to fully recover.

It was funny (in a sad-funny way), too, that after I recovered I went to my corner grocery and the clerk asked where'd I'd been for so long. I said that I'd had the flu and he got very pale and still, looked me right in the eye, leaned in and whispered, "Was it REALLY bad?" I nodded and he whispered again, "Me, too! It was the WORST." We just kind of acknowledged together for a moment that we'd had a little brush with death. He was a lot younger than me (maybe mid-thirties) and it was surreal to see this usually happy young man get little tears in the corners of his eyes and shake his head. "The worst."

I had heard of flu pandemics, read about small children in prairie dug-out houses in the 19th century being left alone with two dead parents, read about millions of young, strong adults dying during the Spanish Flu epidemic in 1918-1919, but there was always that little bit of denial in the back of my mind: "It's the flu. How bad could it be?"

Answer: Pretty freaking bad.

11

I have never viewed " it " as pressure ..my/our choice ...both hubby ( a person not with d) and I get the shot yearly ...for me as a person with a low pain threshold some tenderness in the arm . I recall having the flu prior to being diagnosed ( mid 70's ??) NO fun ...we are seniors in this household ( resp 71 and 81 ) .Also have received the pneunomia vacine shot and no reason to repeat .
Regardless.... don't forget to wash hands regularly !!

12

When I worked in the public schools, employees were offered a free flu shot every year. Some years I took it and some years I did not.One year I got the shot and came down with the flu anyway. Did not get the flu shot this year yet, and probably won't... I am not around masses of kids since I retired. I spend just 3 hours a week in a small special ed. class where I volunteer.
Still thinking about whether I want to take it or not. probably not.. No big pressure from my endo, nor from my other doctors.

God Bless,
Brunetta

13

Getting a flu shot is a little like flood insurance. If you are frail, have a compromised immune system, or if your health is brittle, then the slightest flu can really be a health risk. And we go through every day exposed to such risks. And then as JeanV mentions, there is a flu of epic proportions. I am reading (actually listening to it) a book right now in the 1918 flu "The Great Influenza." And it took out young and old. This is the 100 year flood. In my view, protecting the nation against an epidemic would require forced injection of everyone, not something we are likely to see.

The recommendations that everyone with diabetes get a flu shot is based on the idea that everyone with diabetes is in some way health compromised. If you have ever had the flu and been really incapacitated, ever had trouble with pneumonia, have any chronic organ disease, ever ended up in DKA form what seemed like some little cold, then you are at increased risk. But we have to understand, the majority of deaths from flu are in those over 65 who have much greater risk. In general, a person over 65 is 100 times more likely to die from influenza than someone < 50.

Vaccines tend to either be dead or attenuated. In the case of the flu, the shot is a dead virus and the spray may either be dead or attenuated. The vaccine works by generating an immune response, preparing and strenghtening the body against any future encounter with the virus. You should have some reaction, but in most cases it is mild and at worst a slight inconvenience. You should not get the flu.

In my case, I'm older, not really old. I'll accept it as something at a regular visit if it is offered, but I won't go out of my way. As I get older, I'll probably get it regularly and if someone in my direct household becomes at risk, I would get it to protect them. But as a single, young person I don't think there is a real strong case that just because you have D, you have to get the flu shot.

Besides, I take so few actual "sick" days off from work, I actually enjoy a good "sick" day once in a while.

14

I get a flu shot every year..I have never had a bad case of the flu. My thought is if I do get the flu I would like the odds to be in my favor.

My Endo has also given me the Pneumonia vaccine.

Although antibiotics such as penicillin were once very effective at treating pneumonia, the disease has mutated and is becoming more and more resistant to modern antibiotics. That is why it is so important to be vaccinated.

15

Yep, my endo pressures me and I always decline. I've had one flu shot my whole life and I got really, really sick about a week later with what I assume was the flu. Never got one again and I very rarely get sick. The most I get is a minor head cold about once every 2-3 years. No fever or anything, just sniffling and congestion. Therefore, I don't get the flu shot. Other than having T1D, I am very healthy. Perhaps I'm playing with fire, but my approach is (thus far) time tested.

16

My doc has made me get it the last few years and I have to say I have not been sick much at all. Not sure if it is coincidence or not. Hope you are doing well!

Lori

17

"I actually enjoy a good "sick" day once in a while." Oh wow, bsc have you ever had the flu? (just curious) I have... and I was so sick I thought I was going to die. It definitely did not fall into the category of "a good sick day" for me. I missed a week of work.

And that was 20 years ago when I was younger and in great health (except for the D). Most people that I've met in real life who don't take the flu shot have never had the flu. I'm wondering if they would feel differently if they got the flu once.

I always get the flu shot now because I don't want to relive that experience. My insurance covers it at no cost to me. Totally worth it for me.

18

I have had the flu, but never had a bad case. I've never needed more than a day off. I was sick about a month ago, I lost my voice which made everyone around me happy and I had to take a day off work. But I've never had a bad case with stomach involvement, bad fever or dehydation and certainly not the nightmares that you and others have experienced.

In my case, if I go especially for a shot, it is a visit and I owe a copay. I don't blame you for wanting a flu shot, it sounds like a prudent decision.

19

Never got a flu shot until I got the flu. It was so bad - out of work for a week, couldn't move, everything ached. So now I get a flu shot b/c I don't ever want to experience that miserableness again. However, I must say that the one time I got the flu was a couple of months before diagnosis, so I imagine my blood sugars were already sky-high and my immune system was definitely in a compromised state since I had about 4 different infections going on at the time.

20

Yes, if you've only needed one day off from work, then you either have had very mild cases or your immune system is turbo-charged.

When I had my super-bad flu, after a week of being feverish, violently ill, semi-delirious and bed-ridden, I was still as weak as a newborn kitten. I wasn't working at the time, but if I had been working I would have missed at least a week of work, depending on where the weekends fell. Heck, it took me two days just to do all the flu-related laundry!

I surmise from reading this and similar threads that a lot of people (I used to be one of them) get bad colds and think they have the flu, but until they get what I now think of as The Real Influenza (insert trademark here), they (we/I) just don't know how bad it can really be.

It was like getting food poisoning, three of the worst colds I've every had, international jet lag, coming off of forty-eight hours of overtime and a nasty champagne hang-over -- all stacked on top of each other. Bad.

When I'd recovered enough to use the phone, I called a friend to ask her to do some shopping for me. I was so utterly terrified of giving it to her that I asked her to place the grocery bags by my door and told her that I would retrieve them after she left. I didn't want her death on my conscience. It really was that bad.