My place of employment (a large hospital) requires all employees to get the flu shot annually. There's always a lot of fuss from some folks. I've never had a problem with having one but I'm not sure I like being forced to. Look forward to other folks feedback to your post.
Everything that you said plus I remember every part of my body aching so badly all I could do was cry.
That is how my flu was...Very tired, coughing and stopped up, blood glucoses on the high side, dehydrated, and feverish. But no severe aches and pains nor nausea..I was diagnosed with the flu by my internist . I was in bed one day, off work for 3 days. Took a while for all the symptoms to leave, but I was able to go back to work when the fever ended, the respiratory isses subsided, and I had a bit more energy.
So I guess mine was a mild case, too.
God bless,
Brunetta
I don't know if it was flu or norovirus, but both my husband and I had the most awful experience. I started throwing up on a Tuesday night and almost bang on 48 hours later so was he.
My advice to him, not to be too graphic, was to hold the bucket on your lap, don't lean over.... He never listens. I heard a tremendous crash from the bathroom and I went running
"Are you all right? Did you fall?"
"NO!! Leave me alone! I'm throwing up!"
He later confessed, "Yeah, I guess I did fall, because I don't think I started out pointed in that direction."
I take the flu shot every year. I had the flu once in my life and I was seriously ill. Very high fever, very weak and knocked out for two weeks. It is not possible to get the flu from the shot. There is only a small risk due to the respoding immune system that is focusing on the vaccine for some days. The only shot I have left out was the combined shot of flu and swine flu. Due to the limited time for the development of this vaccine they had to use add-ons to amplify the immune response to need less vaccine per person. I thought that this amplification is not recommendable for T1 diabetics that already have an overactive immune system. Since the swine flu has genetic similarities to the deadly spanish flu this was still a good move for the general population in my opinion.
I had the flu almost every year as a child, and it always ended with me in the hospital for a week or two at a time, hooked up to IV until it passed. When I was about 10, my doctor recommended the flu shot and I've never considered not getting it. It's certainly kept me healthy :)
I absolutely get the flu shot every year. Between the D and asthma I can’t be afforded to be laid up for a week. I didn’t get the flu shot one year in college and I was so sick and felt like death with a 104 fever for a week. Since then I have gotten it every year and have never got the flu again. The flu is a very serious thing, especially with pre-existing issues.
I get a flu shot every year. I think it is the best protection from being sick. I haven't been sick with the flu since beginning them and it seems as if colds are less frequent and less severe. I work in human services, and it remains unknown what I am exposed to each day. For me, it is worth the risk.
Ahhhh that is why I got pneumonia, good to know.
I always get it. I work with toddlers with compromised immune systems and trachs. I am always in the direct line of fire when i'm suctioning... Right in the droplet zone. Haven't been sick with the flu yet.
Recently I've always got the shot as soon as it was available.
I'm type 1, I have a pretty active immune system (so active it tried to kill me ;-) and I've never suffered badly from either viral or, for that matter, bacterial infactions like this, but all the same they're a PITA.
I can't see any reason for not protecting myself against such a risk.
The good thing about being a diabetic is that even if you are type 1 (and therefore probably fairly immune in the first place) you still get first place in the flu-shot line. I see every reason to take advantage of that ;-)
After all, the person who really suffers if I get flu is me. Not just the normal suffering, but also the long term effects of either elevated or wildly fluctuating blood sugar. Those long term effects will never factor into the corporate bottom line, so we need to be very assertive in ensuring that we continue to get access to things like this in the US.
John Bowler jbowler@acm.org
Hiya Mike,
Every year our GP asks if we want the flu shot - we always politely answer NO.
I (a T1D) did once, under the advice of my previous GP (similar to that "pressure" you are feeling), get the flu shot and fell really ill as a result, and my husband (and our son) has never had a flu shot. The flu shot changes every year - it is not a consistent strain and "they" make a flu shot based on what "they" predict the worst flus will be that season.
Ultimately, it is your body and your decision.
Good luck :)
Bec
I don't see any reason not to get the flu shot, so I do it every year, even though I'm rarely sick.
But I always have trouble with doctors who "pressure" their patients. They are there to advise us; we are the "consumers" of the service and we can make choices about our own care. A suggestion is one thing - pressure is another. The U.S. (and perhaps other countries, I don't know) really infantilizes us by thinking we need so much oversight, and are not "qualified" to make decisions about our own medical care, etc.When I lived in Guatemala I just went into the drugstore and got whatever medication I asked for, no need for a prescription; I also could go into the lab and request any test, and the results were given to me. If I chose to take those results to my doctor to discuss, that was up to me.
Since my Type 2 diagnosis (4/2010) I have been offered and received the flu vaccine. First by my GP and now by the Endocrinologist. I avoided them until now. I don't see it a pressure - but an opportunity to make a choice about my health care practices. I wish you good health and good luck! Best, D
Same here when my husband went for his last appointment...I think they must have a surplus of them. lol
It's your body. You will get pressure though, so it's best to anticipate it and just be ready to say "no, thanks."
I didn't get flu shots either. Then there was that one year where I got the flu. It also coincided with a month-long trip to Paris, which I'd not gotten travel insurance for. Guess who went to the doctor, got diagnosed with the flu, and then flew to Paris with medication in hand? It didn't ruin my trip as I was there for a month, but it did throw me off balance health-wise for a few weeks.
I get flu shots yearly now, and it's pretty much 100% connected to coming down with the flu that winter. Depending on the year, I may or may not have a bad reaction. After last year's shot the site was painful and I had cold symptoms for a few day. This year's shot was clear sailing and I had no side effects at all.
Ultimately, it's your choice. No one can make you get a shot, so simply don't get one. Unfortunately, I don't think you'll be able to stop healthcare providers from hounding you about it.
Hi Mike. If you haven't had problems with getting the flu in the past, it's definitely your perogative to waive taking the flu shot. Just one one thing is not that you're more susceptible to getting sick because you have diabetes, it's just that you want to make sure that you and everyone with diabetes has developed and written a sick day plan with your diabetes care provider. This is moi importante for the reasons among others you stated above!! Check out the American Diabetes Association's sick day information (http://www.diabetes.org/living-with-diabetes/treatment-and-care/who-is-on-your-healthcare-team/when-youre-sick.html)if you aren't sure of the specifics. Meanwhile, take the necessary precautions to avoid getting sick - handwashing, vitamin C, 7 to 8 hours of sleep every night, etc. Have a healthy rest of the winter -- spring is around the corner!
Like diabetes or any other medical condition, issue or situation, you must take informed actions that are right for you. You must be your own advocate, no one else will do this job as effectively as you and none be fully focused on the outcomes you desire. [Clearly, designated decision makers must become your advocate when you are incapable to make informed decisions.]
At my advanced age (the hair I still have is now gray) I have no intention of submitting to a flu shot. My wife well knows my outlook and I must TRUST HER to implement my life-long refusal should she ever become my designated decision maker. Each year she gets a shot and every other year she gets flu - so much for this role model.
The assignment of nanny to the medical communities (physicians, pharmacists, therapists, D educators, et. al.) and those communities’ willingness to accept the role of designated decision maker diminishes my ability to make ALL/ANY of my life decisions whether I am conscious or not! This is just WRONG.
NEVER surrender YOUR decision making RESPONSIBILITY and ALWAYS MAKE INFORMED DECISIONS.
Is this a selfish outlook? Yes. Will it affect others, even those I love? Yes. Is this inherently wrong? No.
I cannot imagine how I survived 64.84 years of life. I use salt, pepper, Old Bay, garlic, eat hot dogs, lunch meat, Oreos, real butter, beef, pork, chicken, self-harvested fish, foul and 4-legged critters and, no doubt, most of the things that are supposedly not good for me. I rode a bike w/o helmet, played catcher w/o a cup, successfully fathered two children and occasionally and w/o passion kissed my dog on HIS wet nose.
My first 10 years of driving I did so w/o a seat belt and only recently have involuntarily exposed myself to the dangerously explosive effects of air bags.
I am alive today because of the life decisions I made. No doubt I am in some manner suffering something from some of those decisions, but that cannot account for my presbyopia, toenail fungus, ruptured cervical discs, etc. Some would suggest that I am alive in spite of my decisions, and THAT is my point.
It is my life. I was not created to be the ward of the state, the medical profession or the implementors of regulations put in place w/o my consent to assure that I live my life in conformity with others’ standards.
GLL
I've gotten a flu shot every year since I was diagnosed. I don't think I was ever pressured into getting one, but after weighing the risks, I've always wanted to be safe instead of sorry.
As a note, people in our situation are probably "pressured" to get immunizations because of the theory behind "herd immunity." I'm sure you know most vaccines are not 100% effective, so part of what protects certain diseases from spreading is the fact that most of the people in the given population are immunized, giving the disease no where to hop when going from person to person. I'm doing a terrible job of explaining it, but here's a better explaination of how it works: http://www.niaid.nih.gov/topics/pages/communityimmunity.aspx
Anyway, doctors (and the department of public health) emphasize immunizing the people who are most likely to pick up a given disease/virus etc if they come across it out in the world because our immune systems are less likely to fight it off, making us 1) sick and 2) carriers who could infect other non-healthy people or healthy people without the vaccine or for whom it did not work.
It seems to me that all or most of the comments saying they won't take the flu shot comes from younger people and all or most of the comments saying they do get the flue shot have had experience with being sick with flu or they are older. Getting a flu shot, whether you were pressured or not, is not a sign you are losing independence, not a sign that the doctor is being rude, not a sign that you are a coward about germs. It's just a flu shot, not any worse than the finger pricks and insulins shots we've taken. Yes, you can be sick for a day because you took the shot. Better than laid up in ICU with a full blown case of flu eating you alive. BTW, I was the sort of person, when younger, I'd drive without seat belts, refused flu shots and basically just ran with scissors all the time. I'm opposite today.