I just got mine monday. I didn’t used to get one, but have the last 4 years or so. My doc seems to think that due to all the ops I have had my immune system may be compromised. My arm hurts (still) where they poked me. Most shots don’t do that, so I guess it has something to do with the flu shot.
Will you/did you get one?
Did your arm get as sore as mine?
Yep, I got one. I just moved to a much more extreme climate than I’ve ever lived in (we get scary real winters here), and I also work with the public. Combine those and I figured my body had enough to deal with without chancing The Flu on top of it all, which I’ve never had but don’t want either.
Oh, and my arm was a bit sore the next day, but otherwise no noticeable effects.
whiterabbit, you’ve never had the flu?!!? How is that even possible? I feel like I get it every year. I just got a memo at work about free flu shots for employees. I’ve never had one. Is it going to make me sick? I’m in my early 20s with no outstanding health/immune problems so I feel like I shouldn’t do it. On the other hand, I get the flu a lot.
I’ve about had it with our occupational health program. Between the yearly on-site physical, two annual TB tests, yearly Q Fever, Hepatitis, and Varicella titer, I just don’t think I can make myself go over there and do one more thing. They did give me a copy of my lab work and I have the results (negative) of my syphilis test on my refrigerator.
You work in a hospital?
I think I’ll get my flu shot today, as well as my TB test. Might as well get it over with.
No and no. I have always had a very healthy immune system and have never gotten the flu. EXCEPT for the one year my partner at the time got his flu shot. He insisted that I get one too, so I did. We both ended up with the flu a week later. Worst case imaginable. We could not go further than 20 steps from the toilet, both running 104 degree fevers, hallucinating, hurting, we thought we were dying! I have never since gotten a shot and pretty much never plan to – and have never gotten the flu since.
My husband gets his shot every year – the one year he missed the shot, sure enough, he got the flu. Guess it depends on how healthy you are, and how much risk you care to take. With my past experience, I think I might be better off without the shot.
I’m taking my daughter in next week for it - former micropreemie with lung issues, so it’s worth it for her. She’s got pneumonia right now, and her doctor wants to wait until she’s feeling better before giving her the flu shot.
I’ve never had influenza (stomach “flu”, sure, but not the respiratory illness that the vaccine is for), and the second time I got a flu shot, my arm swelled up like one of those inflatable swim wings things, and my temperature spiked up to 103 and stayed there for two days, so I declared that enough of an adverse reaction to never get it again.
I’ve never had it and I don’t think most of the people around me have either. And I don’t think most get the flu shot.
I haven’t and won’t get the shot; I usually get maybe one or two colds during the winter but nothing serious. I’m not exposed to that many people in general.
Some years ago at work we trialled paying for staff to get free flu shots at one of our offices. The reduction in sick leave due to flu that winter, at that office only, was so great that now everyone at work can get a free jab every year. I compiled the stats for the initial trial and have had the injection every year since and have never copped a bad flu since.
There are people at work who refuse the offer due to anecdotes like Litoris tells, unfortunately it is hard to convince them that the flu shot they received had nothing to do with the virus they came down with, although it is the truth. Most flu shots only protect you from 3 or 4 of the worst strains around not all of them.
Nope. I had my first flu shot when I was in the Army back in the mid-1970s. I’d never had the flu before that, but the shot made me sicker than a dog. I swore I’d never get another one. Two years ago, my wife finally nagged me into getting one with the argument, “It’s different now – they’ve developed new vaccines.” Yeah, new, more virulent vaccines. Put me in bed for three days.
My choice is either no flu shot and gamble that I won’t catch the bug from someone else – a wager I’ve won every year of my life except the two when I got flu shots – or get the shot and guarantee three days of absolute misery. Hmmm, let me think about that.
I have never had the flu either. I see no point in getting a flu shot–I don’t work in a health care profession and I don’t have any of the medical conditions that would indicate I should get one. Plus I so rarely get sick with anything, I can’t see the point.
Of course this year I will get the flu since I’ve posted I never get it.
I’ve never had the flu, and I’ve never gotten a flu shot. I have this vague superstitious feeling that if I ever get a flu shot it will break my lucky streak. It’s dumb, really, because my employer offers them for free.
My asthmatic son always gets a shot. My husband always gets a shot, and he got the flu last year anyway.
And the shot takes a couple of weeks to become effective; if you’ve already been exposed, it’s too late. Of course, many self-diagnosed cases of the flu are really “stomach flu” or That Awful Cold That Goes Around every winter. I’ve only had flu twice in my life & prefer to reduce my chances of repeating the experience. Free shots at work–& I haven’t cried over a shot for many years.
There was a reaction to the first flu shot I ever got–a fever that was gone the next morning. Alas, later shots have failed to produce symptoms that might allow me to leave work early. A co-worker on the elevator complained that her arm hurt when she pushed on it. I restrained myself from saying “then, don’t push on it!”
I will. I’m high risk (moderate to severe asthma) of complications if I do get the flu. I had it when I was 9 (1969, I believe there was a pandemic that year) and it laid me low for over a week as I recall. I had the flu or something VERY like it about 9 years ago despite getting the shot (a lot of people who got the shot got the flu that year anyway) and I remember one day in particular where death was beginning to look like a really good idea. Not to mention: the kids were young (4 and 1), and home with a nanny, but of course since I was there they wanted nothing to do with the nanny and were all over me (contagion not an issue, I’d caught it from them) so I couldn’t even suffer in peace.
Typo Knig and Dweezil have already had theirs; I’ll get mine at work next week. Moon Unit has had bad reactions the couple of times she’s gotten them (behavioral; may be coincidence / timing / unrelated of course) that have us on the edge about whether she’ll get one. We may get her Flumist this year if we can find it (the ped doesn’t carry it) to see if that works better for her. She’s also higher risk (asthma; as a 34-week preemie w/ resp. issues that was no surprise) so really needs the protection.
Now, the truth is that I am actually a high-rick person. I was extremely pre-mature, with lung problems at birth. I don’t have asthma, but I do have a lot of other respiratory issues that are supposed to put me at a higher risk for pneumonia/flu. Until I had sinus surgery a few years back (2002), I would get a sinus infection to rival the flu every year, but I have never gotten the flu despite being around others who had it. I donno, perhaps I do get the flu but it is mild in my system?
While the timing of the flu shot vs me getting the flu pretty much rules out the idea that the shot caused the flu (it was a week later that we both came down with symptoms), I just don’t like putting more drugs in my system (un-recreationally, anyway) than I need to – since the vaccine did not keep me from getting the flu…meh. I actually recommend other people to get the shot – but I know my system and am fairly confident.
With so many people doing free flu shots, it almost seems counter-intuitive to not get it, but, again based on my personal experience, I choose not to do so. By the same token, the 3 wrecks my father was involved in, he wasn’t wearing a seatbelt. In each incidence, had he been wearing a seatbelt, he would have been killed, but instead walked away unscathed. He chose not to wear a seatbelt based on his experience. Choice, it’s what makes us human, right?
No. I don’t get the flu. When both my parents came down with the flu and were sick as dogs, laying in bed and absolutely miserable, I still didn’t come down with it. I see no need to go out and get a shot.
Just got one. Only because my company sponsored it, brought in the nice nurses, and set them up in an office very very close to mine. Otherwise, I’m too lazy to bother (five years since my last physical).
Pleased to report no side effects, no adverse reaction, absolutely no . . . wait a minute . . . what’s this? . . . aaaargh. . . !
“I’ve never had the flu” is a lousy reason not to get the shot. I’ve never had tetanus or hepatitis, but I’ve had shots for those.
True influenza is something most people will get only a few times in their lifetimes, so it isn’t unusual for a twentysomething to have never had it. I’ve had it twice (I have to stop working around so many sick people) and I’ll never miss the shot again, even if I stop seeing patients.
That isn’t to say a healthy young adult really needs to get one, but the downsides are pretty slim.
I don’t want to get a flu shot because I sort of enjoy being sick and staying home from work. 
As long as vomiting’s not involved, I can deal with the other symptoms. Body aches are fun. It gives me a reason to feel sorry for myself and stay in bed.
No. I am pretty healthy and don’t work outside the home. Mr. K and I haven’t been sick in decades. I’d just as soon save the flu shots for people in higher-risk groups than me. My dad, my mildly asthmatic son, keeblers and geezers all have a bigger risk to their overall health than I do.
Are they predicting a shortage of shots this year?
Nope, never get flu shots or the flu. I’ll get an occasional cold infection, but other than that remain relatively healthy. I haven’t had any vaccinations since my last tetanus shot years ago.