The Flu can kill seniors,I always get a flu shot especially as I age. Type 2 23 years.Nancy
Thank you for posting this. I very much appreciate any/all efforts to put anti-vaccine/flu-shot naysayers in their place: The Dark Ages.
For those who don’t like flu shots (me, they make me sicker than I would be if I go without), there is another alternative: nasal spray. Asked my doc about it last time I was in, he was surprised I even knew about it
I just put an annual reminder on my google calendar to get my flu shot every October.
I get flu shots. I have had both the Shingles and Pneumonia vaccines. I’ll take all the help I can get.
When I do get the flu shot, I always ask whether I can have a discount for doing it myself. Sadly, the answer is always “no”. 
I got the flu once, about 45 some years ago. I hope never again. I have gotten a flu shot every year since. Also got the shingles and pneumonia vaccines and the prevnar 13 along with the hepatitis b series. No guarantees with all this but I’m trying to take care of myself.
I’ve gone into DKA twice in my 30 years with type 1; first at diagnosis and second after contracting swine flu almost 6 years ago. That flu almost killed me.
Since then I haven’t skipped a flu shot and get one every year in early October.
Those anti-vaxers can go F themselves. Sorry not sorry.
The flu shot is the only one I have gotten Irrationally Superstitious about. Believe me, I am at times fanatical about vaccine protocols.
My husband was an emergency manager for 25+ years–including working with state and federal agencies on the prevention of epidemics.
But the last time I had a flu that was The Real Thing was in 1976—quite memorable. So my (non-diabetic) sweetie is religious about the flu vaccine and I am decidedly not…I may very well regret that next flu season and I pretty much generally recommend everybody get it!..Take care!
Agreed. I’m anti flu vaccine (never hits me, or it’s extremely mild); no need to take an extra vaccine every year for it (and have them miss the strain of flu that’s the real issue). The Other Half is religious about them.
If offered the pneumonia vaccine, though, I’d take it.
Most comments here seem to ignore the findings of this study:
“people with Type 2 diabetes who had gotten the flu vaccine had a 30 percent lower risk of stroke, a 22 percent lower risk of heart failure and a 24 percent lower risk of dying from all causes.”
If I was anti-vaccine (I’m not), this study would make me think again!
If I didn’t have to have the flu shot for work reasons, I wouldn’t. I’m type 1 and I haven’t had the flu in years. Only time I really recall having it was right around the time I was diagnosed. It was the trigger that kicked my type 1 into full gear. That’s been over 30 some years…other than that I just haven’t gotten it, or if i have had something its been more like a 48 hour bug and then done. I work in health care so it’s get a flu shot, or be masked up all during flu season.
I don’t think we are ignoring it, Deborah3. I think we are saying we are willing, on the basis of past long-life-experience, to roll-the-dice and keep our fingers crossed on this one very specific instance. That includes complex life experience with studies and their various biases…
I am skeptical of statements saying that a study shows that people who did X have a certain percentage of lower risk of suffering Y than those who didn’t do X. Who did the study? How was it conducted? Where did they find the subjects who did X and who didn’t do X and how do they measure how they suffered the Y consequence? It all sounds like economic gobbledegook to me, intended to persuade people to behave in a manner that benefits the entity who will profit from the use of X behavior. The literate public (those who listen to TV commercials) has been shown to be persuaded by such statements and to behave in a manner that conforms to the seller’s expectations. The few times I’ve taken a flu shot, I’ve gotten sick. My experience has taught me to avoid the shots.
it was recently in the paper
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/07/27/flu-vaccine-has-added-benefits-for-people-with-diabetes/
Maybe you haven’t had the flu in years because your work requires that you get the flu vaccine?
Marie,
Thanks for the follow up.
Julian
No, I’ve only started getting the flu vaccine the last 2 seasons…before then it was optional if we wanted it or not. I no longer work in direct patient care, however it is an integrated health system, so they just made it across the board you have to have a flu shot, or be masked up all through flu season. I don’t want to be masked up. The only time I’ve ever really had a bad case was just right before diagnosis. I also don’t tend to get a lot of colds and upper respiratory infections either. I was reading in another topic about Type 1 and it being autoimmune that a lot of type 1’s don’t tend to get sick much. Who knows…maybe I just have crappy luck as far as the diabetes goes but managed overall to stay pretty healthy. Strangely enough its hypertension and cholesterol in my family that is major culprits. My blood pressure always runs low 100’s/70’s and my cholesterol is perfectly normal despite not eating a low fat diet. I don’t take any of the recommended just because you are diabetic you need to be on an ace and statin either. I’m not recommending people NOT get flu shots, but if it wasn’t for work now making it a requirement I for myself wouldn’t be getting one.
Eating a low-fat diet has little impact on your lipids. Eating a low-carb diet, however, does.
That should be on billboards in letters 20 feet high. When I switched to a low carb diet, my lipids plummeted. The whole dietary cholesterol shibboleth is coming under increasing fire. Long overdue.