Flu jabs

[Fruitandnutcase]

Does anyone not have a flu jab? I’ve never ever had one and I don’t want one - I’ve also never had flu but I’m beginning to get freaked out by people on other groups I use who do and who are panicking in case they get missed out. Am I the only person who doesn’t?

[greygoose]

Well, I don't. And, never have. What's more, I would be very surprised if I ever did! I won't ever play Russian Roulette, either.

[Fruitandnutcase in reply to greygoose]

That’s how I feel too but so many people I know and on other HU sites are clamouring for them.

[greygoose in reply to Fruitandnutcase]

Well, we're all different, with different points of view.

[Woolly67]

Never had one, never will have one, only once did my husband take one after dr advised, it made him quite ill !

[Lora7again]

I haven't had the flu jab for years and rarely catch the flu. However I was very ill in January which I think might have been covid because I ended up being given a course of steroids by my local hospital. Even after being so ill I have no intention of having the flu jab. My husband who is 65 has been offered a free flu jab but he has declined because he knows it doesn't actually protect from all the strains. I think if you are elderly or have a lung condition like my Dad who has COPD it is advisable to have it. At the moment I don't think need to have it but I may change my mind in the future.

[helvella Administrator]

I had flu jabs from 1966 through to at least 1973, then a few since.

Never knowingly had any issues.

Never caught flu.

However, I have had flu at least once, possibly two or three times in total. Always well away from flu jabs.

Statistically meaningless - genuinely anecdotal!

[Fruitandnutcase]

I had flu years ago when I turned 40. Apart from feeling incredibly ill I was quite glad in a way because it was milestone I was happy to miss. No fuss, no banners nothing. I didn’t have to speak to anyone or get birthday wishes etc. It suited me fine.

Nothing wrong with anecdotal - especially if it’s genuinely anecdotal 😉

[Lora7again in reply to Fruitandnutcase]

When my daughter was small I had the flu and could hardly get out of bed so I had to lie on the sofa while she toddled about making a right mess. I had no one to help me look after her and my husband refused to take time off work for "just the flu". This was just before Christmas but luckily by Christmas eve I felt a lot better. My husband then comes home from work feeling dreadful and tells me he has to go to bed because he has the flu. He then tells me he didn't realise how ill I was and would have taken time off to help if he had known. On Christmas day he was still in bed moaning about how ill he felt and didn't even eat his Christmas dinner. I know I shouldn't have but I did think to myself that he deserved it after not wanting to help out when I was struggling to look after a small toddler.

[Fruitandnutcase in reply to Lora7again]

Exactly. My husband is exactly the same - somehow his complaints are much worse than mine and I’m expected to be super sympathetic. Trouble is I’m naturally sympathetic and it’s hard not to be but I do hate that when I’ve got something wrong it’s just something in the passing rather than a big deal.

[Lora7again in reply to Fruitandnutcase]

I am sympathetic when he is really ill which is rare in his case but as he said it was "just the flu" lol When he broke his elbow back in June I was very concerned and showed him a lot of sympathy and help. I even helped him bathe which was not a pleasant experience and I had to wear my rubber gloves 😉

[Fruitandnutcase in reply to Lora7again]

I was a regular Florence Nightingale when my other half had his replacement hip a couple of years ago. His care was second to none 😂

I wasn’t so sympathetic when I used to tell him he needed to do something about it and he said there was nothing wrong with him! Honestly, he could hardly walk, I was really fed up with him at that point. It’s the very minor things that drive me mad - like catching a fingernail - that’s a big deal to him for some reason, I just quietly fix mine when that happens.

[Lora7again in reply to Fruitandnutcase]

I don't think I could be a nurse to be honest but I did help look after my best friend when she was dying from a brain tumour. I don't regret helping her but I think the stress of it all set off my thyroid disease. I do have a lot of admiration for carers and realise how important they are to people they are looking after.

[Hillwoman]

I'm not quite old enough to be offered one automatically, but if I happen to come into contact with medical services during flu season, they almost always look at my pre-existing conditions and press me to have one. I haven't taken them up on the offer so far, and it's vanishingly unlikely I ever will.

I have had real flu at least four times; they were awful experiences and recovery took months. I'm largely housebound, so it's an easy policy to self-isolate every autumn and winter - as long as my husband remembers his hand hygiene routine when he arrives home from work!

I've experienced significant reactions to almost every vaccine I've ever had, even tetanus boosters. But the travel vaccines I had in the late 1970s prior to a trip around north Africa and the Middle East precipitated the life-changing ill-health that affects me to this day. Those vaccines were contraindicated in anyone with, or at risk of developing, autoimmune illness. My GP at the time was well aware of my family history, but he didn't warn me about adverse reactions.

My grandmother lived into her late 90s, but during the last 15 years of her life she received several flu jabs without her informed consent. She developed flu very quickly after each one, and was 'lucky' to survive it each time. I use scare quotes, because each bout of flu left her with an ever more severe short-term memory problem. It greatly affected the ability of this otherwise fit, supremely independent and well-travelled woman - still travelling across continents by herself at 91 - to live her life as she wanted. Given her age, it was so easy for her GP to dismiss the memory loss as age-related.

[Hillwoman in reply to Hillwoman]

P.S. My 23andMe results, when processed through Promethease, flagged up a genetic susceptibility to flu. The flip side of that coin is a heightened resistance to norovirus. When I went on the trip I mentioned above, I was almost the only one in my group of students to avoid what everyone else insisted must be dysentery!

[Fruitandnutcase in reply to Hillwoman]

Appalling of your GP not to mention the contraindications that applied to you and appalling of your grandmother’s GP too. So much is put down to. ‘It’s to be expected at your age’.

You must have been overjoyed not to get the ‘dysentry’ bug.

[Cornish_las]

Ive never had one always been offered because of my ashma but no id rather just get the flu if it happens and deal with it. I am really not a fan and also they now give it to kids my 8 year old hasnt had it and womt have it this year but i have to fight my case with her dad and his family who say she should have it but i want her body to be able to fight off things without the need of a vaccination

[MichelleHarris]

I have not ever had the flu jab but working in the NHS I was put under great pressure in three different trusts to have one and in the end I had to lie and say I’d had one elsewhere.

Trusts gets money for flu jabs.

I have never had the flu and its my body but apparently not my right to say no x

[Lora7again in reply to MichelleHarris]

Do they? When I worked for them we would have the jab every year because we were told we could endanger sick patients if we passed on the flu to them. I actually had the flu after having the jab so it didn't stop me from getting the flu.

[MichelleHarris in reply to Lora7again]

Yes they get paid per head x

[fuchsia-pink]

I'm not anti-jab on principle but haven't had one and won't - mostly because I don't seem to get ill very often and think a restricted resource should be better used than on me. I don't think I have ever had flu. I remember the last time I had a bad cold (ie more than a sniffle, had to take a day off work) - it was the day the statue of Saddam Hussein got pulled down ...

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

I don't have the flu jab and I'm in the older age group, have COPD and other conditions which probably they recommend it for. Don't intend to have it either.

[penny in reply to SeasideSusie]

thorax.bmj.com/content/74/4...

I’m sure that you know about the importance of vitamin D.

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to penny]

penny

Oh yes - imagine nodding Churchill dog - my level is very good, had it tested a couple of weeks ago

[Marz]

Had Asian Flu in 1957 and never had the flu jab.

Recently read that having the jab will increase you your chances of having a positive PCR test and exacerbate SARS-C symptoms. Sorry - no links ...

Also nasty ingredients were allegedly removed - they are still there in a small amount that does not have to be declared on the tin !

[tattybogle]

Never had one , don't want one. I'd rather let my immune system do it on it's own , the way nature intended. If i die of flu , so be it.

The fact that it is already somewhat confused about what to kill, and has decided to nobble my thyroid does not make me think it's a good idea to mess about with it further.

So if anyone is worried about there being none left they can have my dose and welcome to it.

[Fruitandnutcase in reply to tattybogle]

Mine is available too 😉

[Zephyrbear]

The only time I had the flu jab I ended up with the flu which ruined Christmas for me one year... never again!

Apparently, the flu jab is always playing catch-up. It will offer protection to last year’s flu strain but fails to take into account the mutation of this year’s strain and whilst it may offer some protection to its nastier effects, it will not stop you catching it.

[Angel_of_the_North]

I've never had one (as, in the old days when they used to do allergy testing before giving it, I was always allergic) and I've never had flu. But no way to know if not having flu has anything to do with having or not having the jab. it might be worth it if you are younger as it works best (though not very effectively - cochrane.org/CD001269/ARI_v... - from 2016) on younger people. It is possible that having it might more you more likely to catch respiratory viruses that aren't included in the jab, but, again, no way to know for sure. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

I prefer to keep a good vit D level and carry out handwashing etc in the flu season. But really you have to make up your own mind. I also use a salt pipe as suggested by Dr Myhill.

[Miffie]

I have had it and mercifully have not had flu or the dreadful chest infections which wiped me out and required more medication than I liked since the first flu jab. Coin cidence I am sure.

I have had flu previously and it was very debilitating it took months to get over on each occasion.

My husband had the same strain as me once, came home from working a night shift feeling unwell, kicked me out of bed, I cooked from him, carried up drinks and paracetamol for him. He felt better after four days , was shocked I wasn’t well enough to east and suggested that was all I needed. The trouble was he then spent the days layin down on the settee so no more feet up for me. My GP gave me antibiotics and ten days bed rest with the threat of hospital if I did my comply, house visits to check up,on me.

We are all different and I think the flu jab is a personal choice.

[penny]

sciencedaily.com/releases/2...

I don’t have the ‘flu. jab and don’t want one, much to OH’s consternation. I do, however, take 8,000iu of vitamin D in the winter and 4,000iu at all other times.

[jupiterconjunct]

Haven’t had a flu jab for about six years and nor will I ever have another. I don’t trust what goes in them. I have copd but I have being ok since I stopped smoking ten years ago.

[Lora7again]

I have just heard that they are going to roll out a Covid-19 vaccination next month starting with the most vulnerable people. I am worried how it might affect people who have autoimmune diseases and I would be wary about having it anyway until I have been tested to see if I have the antibodies.

[helvella Administrator in reply to Lora7again]

In the UK?

You got any definite information?

[Lora7again in reply to helvella]

I have heard from a doctor I know that they are to get ready for a mass vaccination. I presume this will only happen if they have a vaccine.

[helvella Administrator in reply to Lora7again]

Bizarre if they have none.

[Lora7again in reply to helvella]

I know but that is what they have been told so we will have to wait and see

[Noodlee in reply to Lora7again]

I think they’re just getting ready so there isn’t a delay in roll out as soon as one is fully tested and approved.

[humanbean]

I don't get flu jabs, and I hope I never have to.

I think I've had flu once, but I'm not really sure. But although it was unpleasant I still don't want to have a vaccination for it.

I'm also terrified of a Covid-19 vaccine coming out and being made mandatory. In years gone by the previous record for a vaccine coming out was for mumps. It took four years. I simply have no faith in pharma companies who rake in lots of profits for vaccines and are not held liable for when they go wrong.

[Noodlee]

I have it every year, it’s fine. It’s not 100% effective because there is more than one flu strain and they mutate. It also helps protect people like my husband who have no immune system while they’re on chemo.

[Fruitandnutcase]

Definitely don’t fancy the covid one when it’s finally rushed out.

Although saying that did they not produce a vaccine for Ebola fairly quickly and it didn’t appear to kill people off. It may have been based on something that was already in use.

Ah, I’ve just looked this up and it looks like the Ebola one was quite a while in the making.

statnews.com/2020/01/07/ins...