Flu shots / Good or Bad for you?

I have gotten the flu shot for the last several years without any problems.

But like you I have heard the horror stories about some who have gotten sick after getting them.

 

If you have no major immune system problems and aren't an asthmatic, it's better to NOT get the flu shot. Most people don't get the flu and, if you're of good health and not super young or super old, you'll fight it fine and build up your immune system.

 

I get a flu shot EVERY year now after I got my first one in the Army and it did make me sick, LOL. I was in darn good shape...doesn't matter how old you are or how healthy you are, a good flu can lay you low for sure. Nowadays I never feel anything from the flu shot and if I STILL get the flu, my body fights is off really fast now...instead of 3 days, it MIGHT last a day. Well worth $20, and as long as you aren't allergic to eggs you should have no bad effects at all.

 

Flu vaccine is an inactivated vaccine, meaning that it contains killed influenza virus. The killed influenza virus is injected into muscles and stimulates the immune system to produce an immune response (antibodies) to the influenza virus. When the virus enters a person who has been vaccinated, the antibodies attack and kill the virus and prevent infection. (The nasal spray vaccine is a live attenuated virus - live, but greatly weakened, and only used in healthy people ages 5-49. It can be used in children 2-5, but only if they are healthy and have no respiratory problems.)

The vaccine is generally effective against the influenza virus within two weeks of the injection. The vaccine is only effective against the strains of the virus that match the vaccine. So, if you happen to pick up a different strain of influenza virus, you will probably get sick. The flu vaccine will not prevent colds and other respiratory illnesses, such as pnemonia, which can also be viral. The World Health Organization decides which strains of flu virus are mostly likely to spread in any year, so the vaccine changes every year. I have no idea how they decide this.

I get a flu shot every year, even though I am a healthy individual, because at the present time, I am in healthcare. And I work in an office, then do home care on the weekends. So, I am around people who "can't afford" to get sick, so they come into work coughing and hacking, and I go to see sick people in their homes. Once I start driving, I will probably still get a flu shot, since I imagine I will still be around people. I have had a strain of the flu one time (actual influenza) and it laid me low for a couple of weeks. I can usually bounce back from a cold or run-of-the-mill upper respiratory virus in a couple of days.

Influenza can include any or all of these symptoms: fever, muscle aches, headache, lack of energy, dry cough, sore throat, and possibly runny nose. The fever and body aches can last 3-5 days and the cough and lack of energy may last for 2 or more weeks. Influenza can be difficult to diagnose based on clinical symptoms alone. I think most physicians can do a rapid flu test in the office, and get the results in about 30 minutes with relatively good accuracy. That will give him an idea of what he/she may be treating.