Do you get the flu shot?

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I keep going back and forth on whether I should get a flu shot every year. My parents never had me get one when I was a kid (they weren't anti-vaxxers or anything...they still had me get all of the normal childhood vaccines, but I guess never thought the flu one was that important) and all my years as an adult, I still haven't ever had one. I also have never had the flu before, except for possibly one time when I was in high school (I felt like crap, but still didn't get sick enough to have to go to the doctor/hospital, so I never officially got confirmation that it was the flu). So part of me thinks that I don't really need the shot because my immune system must be pretty strong, but I also get so scared every year when I see the news stories about perfectly healthy young people dying from the flu. But then, I've also read terrifying stories of people dying after they got the shot. No, obviously it doesn't happen often so the risk is probably miniscule. I just got really traumatized after reading a news story about a healthy 19 year old who just suddenly died days after getting a flu shot. But they actually couldn't prove the flu shot is what caused his death, since his family declined to perform an autopsy (which I admit is weird... wouldn't you want to know exactly what happened to your child?). There was also a case where a 7 year old girl died of myocarditis not long after getting the shot (myocarditis is when your immune system attacks your heart muscle in response to a virus in your body...so her body could have reacted negatively to the shot, or maybe she just happened to have already caught some virus right before she got the shot. Again, I'll admit they couldn't actually prove that the shot was what killed her).

I feel like I should just get the shot, even if I never get the flu, because obviously it's good to be protected anyway. But again, part of me is traumatized by those two stories and I just can't shake the (probably irrational) fear that I'll have an adverse reaction to the shot and die. This is why I just wish my parents had had me get one when I was a kid. Then I would at least know that I've had one before and my body didn't react badly. I keep trying to make myself get one every year, but I've always ended up chickening out, because I know I'll be too scared to go to sleep that night in fear that I'll just die in my sleep. But then, a few months later, when everyone is getting the flu and people are dying, I kick myself for not getting the shot and then start worrying that I'll just die from the actual flu instead. But at least it makes me be very diligent about washing my hands, wiping down all the surfaces in my house, taking my vitamins every day, and avoiding contact with sick people. And again, I've managed to not catch it for about the past 10 years (that is, if that one time in high school was even actually the flu). I even survived two flu seasons while working in an elementary school and never got it from the kids.

What's your opinion on the flu shot? Do you get it? I've seen lots of opinions, ranging from "you absolutely need to get it, and if you don't, you're a terrible selfish person, because you could still be carrying the virus and spreading it even if you aren't having symptoms" to "the flu shot is full of poison and big pharma is just trying to kill us all". And everything in between.

You can see if there's much flu activity in your area here:

https://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/usmap.htm

That might influence your decision.

Yes, I get the flu shot. I've never had an adverse reaction to immunizations so I don't feel like the risk outweighs the benefits. I'm also heavily pro-vaccine though.

Yes I get the flu shot every year. At 22 I have literally no immune system so the flu can be nearly deadly for me so it isn't worth the risk...

Until I was about age 50 I never got the flu or the flu shot. I remember the 1968 flu outbreak hitting so hard that only 5 people out of my fifth grade class of 25 were well enough to attend school at one point. I was one of those 5 not affected.

About 10 years ago my employer paid for everybody to get one and I had a bad reaction becoming very faint within a half-hour of the shot and feeling lousy for a day or two. For the next few years, I did not get the shot. In 2015 I had a half tongue replacement operation followed by radiation and chemo. That changed things in 2 fundamental ways. It made my immune system weaker and hurt my swallowing ability meaning being all congested will affect me more. I have gotten the flu shot every year since with no ill effects. I will get it this year before the month is out. It does bother me that it is often so ineffective.

I am inclined to recommend that you get the flu shot this year. This is because you are afraid to get the shot and it will help you get over that fear. Also this year is suppose to be especially brutal. [That is based on the prevalence of flu in Australia which is 6 months ahead of those in the northern hemisphere.]

In my case I am 71 years old and have seen many flu seasons. There was a time in my life where I would get the flu in the fall and my body would not recover for 3 months. I would still function but I would be miserable the whole time. It would eventually work its way down into my lungs and at night when I coughed I would see stars and my lungs would rattle (Bronchitis). This went on for over a decade.

I decided to get the flu shot annually after this period but I found the shots to be very ineffective. I would still come down with the flu. So in the end I decided it wasn't worth it.

For the past decade I rarely get the flu and if I do it generally last a couple hours and then its over.

I attribute this to 2 reasons.

First, I had bariatric surgery and lost 120 pounds. I was obese and putting my body into the normal range also restored my immune system.

Second, I began experimenting with essential oils. I developed a formula, primarily for my grandkids, that I named "Superman". It has around 25 essential oils in the formula and works very well. I use it also. If I feel a cold coming on I put a dab on my wrist and rub my wrist together and within 2 hours, the flu is gone.

Yeas, I've been getting the flu shot every year for a few years now. And I haven't any really bad reactions to it.

I won't be surprised if anti-vaxxers start murdering other adults for being pro-vax.

There is probably one more variable that I hadn't taken into consideration, that is room humidity. For the past couple decades I have been controlling the humidity at work and at home during the winter months. I would take a spray bottle of water into the office and when it became really dry, I would spray the air around my desk a few times to bring the humidity levels up a little. At home since we used wood heat which can make the house very dry, we took steps to increase the humidity level.

I hadn't really though about this until I just read an article that my daughter sent me this morning.

Harvard Medical School graduate and lecturer, Stephanie Taylor, is something of an Indiana Jones of medicine. “Anything that seems scary, I say I need to learn more about that,” she explained in a recent interview. While practicing pediatric oncology at a major teaching hospital, Taylor wondered why so many of her young patients came down with infections and the flu, despite the hospital’s herculean efforts at prevention. Her hunch: the design and infrastructure of the building contributed somehow.

She and colleagues studied 370 patients in one unit of a hospital to try to isolate the factors associated with patient infections. They tested and retested 8 million data points controlling for every variable they could think of to explain the likelihood of infection. Was it hand hygiene, fragility of the patients, or room cleaning procedures? Taylor thought it might have something to do with the number of visitors to the patient’s room.

While all those factors had modest influence, one factor stood out above them all, and it shocked the research team. The one factor most associated with infection was (drum roll): dry air. At low relative humidity, indoor air was strongly associated with higher infection rates. “When we dry the air out, droplets and skin flakes carrying viruses and bacteria are launched into the air, traveling far and over long periods of time. The microbes that survive this launching tend to be the ones that cause healthcare-associated infections,” said Taylor. “Even worse, in addition to this increased exposure to infectious particles, the dry air also harms our natural immune barriers which protect us from infections."

Since that study was published, there is now more research in peer-reviewed literature observing a link between dry air and viral infections, such as the flu, colds and measles, as well as many bacterial infections, and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is funding more research. Taylor finds one of the most interesting studies from a team at the Mayo Clinic, which humidified half of the classrooms in a preschool and left the other half alone over three months during the winter. Influenza-related absenteeism in the humidified classrooms was two-thirds lower than in the standard classrooms—a dramatic difference. Taylor says this study is important because its design included a control group: the half of classrooms without humidity-related intervention.

According to her research, and subsequent studies in the medical literature, the “sweet spot” for indoor air is between 40% and 60% relative humidity. An instrument called a hygrometer, available for about $10, will measure it. Every hospital, school, and home should have them, according to Taylor, along with a humidifier to adjust room hydration to the sweet spot.

Source: This Inexpensive Action Lowers Hospital Infections And Protects Against Flu Season

just got one

I always debate about whether I should bother getting one or not. I have a strong immune system and have never gotten the flu either way (unless the virus I got a few years ago that made every joint in my body hurt was a type of flu). I got the shot every year while I was at college because the health center offered it to students for free at a walk-in clinic but don't recall ever getting the shot before then.

I just saw an image of a display of Vitaminwater claiming it is an alternative to flu vaccines by boosting your immunity. It attempted to be funny by saying there will be less snotty tissues if you drink it, and that "Flu shots are so last year".

I heard there's at least a third of the recommended daily intake of sugar in Bullcrapwater, so insulin shots are definitely gonna be so NOT last year.

I stopped getting the flu shot, I got rashes & got swelled up. I never got the flu, I always wash my hands & I’m careful of what I touch when I’m out, I have hand sanitizer in my purse & when I cross the street & there is a button for the stop light, I touch it with the front of my hand or pressed it with my sleeve.

It’s crazy, because people call in sick to their jobs so they can take a a day off or spend time with their kids & when they really sick, they come to work. Once when I was getting my hair done, a lady took my credit card, she was sick, she was sneezing so much & coughing, I didn’t want to touch my card.

I get a flu shot every year.