This is the time of year in the northern hemisphere when you’ll find yourselves with many opportunities to get a flu shot. Practically every drug store, doctor’s office, or community center offers one.
Now, I know people often have strong opinions about whether to get a flu shot or not. This HealthDay story appeared in my in-box today and I just went through the short piece.
People with diabetes are more likely to be hospitalized for flu-related complications, such as pneumonia. They are also more likely to die from the flu.
Yikes! I didn’t know that last bit but I know the flu kills a lot of people, including gluco-normals, every year.
I’m leaving on a three-week vacation to the tropics next week and I’m happy I got my flu shot last month. I’ll be sharing air with 200 of my favorite fellow humans, trapped in an aluminum cylinder miles above the ocean for over five hours. Some, I’m sure, will be coughing and sharing their viruses. I don’t want to spend the first week of my vacation burdened with the flu!
I think an annual flu shot is a good health practice, but I’ve heard disagreement. Will you or won’t you?
Prolly not. The only time I’ve had flu was 2-3 years ago in May. I had the flu and the pneumonia shot in October- I was ill for a month after the shots and I still got flu. The flu shot is only 65% effective it seems, that year it was even less effective because the viruses mutated. Now my family gets them and it seems to protect me. I wash my hands a lot and I send students home if they come in sick. They know not to come in sick. Have a nice trip!
Just a note about flying and picking up viruses. I may look like an idiot, but I got sick of getting sick on vacations, so I bring a Ziploc bag of Lysol wipes on the plane and I wipe down the tray, arms, seatbelt etc. We haven’t been sick the last few trips. Touch wood
@meee - You are “allowed” to send sick students home? That would be nice. I HATE it when people come to work sick and then say how proud they are that they were able to drag themselves out of bed and make to the office before they fell over. Like say what???
An EXCELLENT idea. Airplanes are germ factories, and breathing the air is actually the lesser danger, believe it or not. The air in an airplane cabin is continually refreshed, whereas the solid surfaces have been touched and handled by innumerable people’s hands—few of which have been recently washed—and cleaned very seldom and then superficially. They are industrial germ repositories.
And the carpet is even worse. It’s had everything spilled on it, including vomit, blood, and baby pee.
But getting back to the topic at hand, I always get the flu shot. I don’t have any discernible side effects, and I like to play the percentages. In addition, Safeway’s pharmacy gives a coupon worth 10% off on the next grocery order.
As for the shot itself, I always ask if I can have a discount for doing it myself. So far they’ve always said “no”.
I also get a flu shot every year. My company gives them for free to everyone covered by our insurance including all family members on the plan. I do wait a little bit longer before getting it only so it will last longer into the next year. Those flu outbreaks in February or March, if you get it too early, it might not be a full power by than. But I guess that could happen on either end early or later.
I also must say, I have never had the flu and really don’t ever want to as it sounds brutal. And I have had sadly had a few family members die of pneumonia after the fact. Better safe!
Interesting. I hear all the time about people getting sick on planes, and know many people who get home from trips only to spend the next week sick. I never get sick on planes or trips (or in general). I often wipe down seats, arms, and table tray due to having severe food allergies and wanting to remove any residue of foods I’m allergic to, so I wonder if that’s helped protect me (though I don’t always do it).
I got the flu 40some years ago and never want to repeat that. I have gotten the flu shot every year since. And have not gotten the flu. I tried the senior shot two years in a row and had some unpleasant side effects with that so this year I went back to the regular shot. No problems with that one.
I’m teaching in a college. I tell them at the beginning not to come to class if sick and contagious. If they do and are sneezing etc and they haven’t been on meds for 2 days they go home. Most ask to leave if they come to class and start to feel ill.
Yep I’m not sure why anyone comes in if they are that ill- afraid to miss work I guess.
Good idea although I wouldn’t use Lysol because it’s toxic to your airways etc. A mask is a good idea too. Now I use air biotics which is a proboitic cleanser which produces good bacteria to kil the bad bacteria. I carry it everywhere with me.
I’ve never had the flu shot and also never had the flu. This time of the year I just wash my hands often, take my vitamins, and drink lots of water (like I do any other time of the year). Works every time. If my immune system were a bit more fragile I might consider it, but personally I’ve never found the “you have weaker immune system because you’re a diabetic” statement to hold any water.
I taught at a college for 30 years, and I always made the same announcement on the first day. I would say, “If you are ill, stay home. No one wants you to share your germs, and if someone else had been as courteous as I want you to be, you would not be sick either.” They get the message, and most of them stayed home.
I always get the flu shot. If I don’t get it, I run the risk of getting terribly sick. If I do get it, I run the risk of having a sore arm for a day. I’ll take the sore arm over the flu. Even if one gets the flu after the shot, studies show that those people have a more mild case and are able to recover more quickly. Like most diabetics, I have met my insurance deductible by the middle of February, so the flu shot in the fall is always free.
Every year. Of course, one year I didn’t, caught the flu, and had a vacation planned. I went to Paris with the flu. I wasn’t contagious at that point as I’d had it for a few days by then. Ended up a Parisian ER on that trip too. (That was due to hypoglycemia.)
Agreed, I put a message on social media to our school parents asking them to please keep sick kids home. One persons minor infection could be anothers hospital stay. Strep throat had half the school home sick for a week this past spring. They don’t send kids home unless their temp is 100+ or they’re vomiting. They actually had a team go in through the weekend and try to sanitize everything.
The last three times I have taken the flu and pneumonia shots I have gotten very sick w high fever and head pounding. I have another immune problem called iGa deficiency besides Type 1 and I am stumped on whether or not to get them. One Doc says not and the other says to. Thank you for bringing this up. I’ll be interested in other responses!
At worst, I have a sore shoulder for a couple days.
At best, it protects me and those around me from the flu (because even if I don’t get the flu, I can still be a carrier and pass it along to my family – the vaccine prevents that).
But I also understand things like the vaccine taking a few weeks to kick in (so if I get sick a couple weeks after getting the shot, I know not to blame the shot), and that even if I do get the flu, the vaccine could have prevented it from being worse.
