My employer is (finally) offering us free flu shots. As it happens, I'm currently roughing my way through a common cold (no fever, but runny nose, coughing, etc.). The flu shots are tomorrow morning. Should I get the shot anyway? I poked through the CDC web site, among others, and couldn't find any definitive answer to the question. Thoughts?

Quote:
Thoughts?

I just asked my sister (surgeon, finally employed) and she said it's fine, just be forewarned that flu shots can sometimes cause flu like symptoms, and the chances of you feeling sick for the first day or the day after are probably slightly greater because of the cold. It's not something to really worry about unless you've reacted this way to the flu shot before (I do not do well with them).

Please, for the love of God, wash your hands, arms, and face completely, in the nearest restroom to the place the shots are getting administered, and try not to touch your face or sneeze between the time you wash and the time you get the shot. Then leave the area quickly.

This will help prevent all those OTHER customers from catching your cold. Remember that colds are mostly spread via the hands, and the surfaces your hands come in contact with.

I mean, wouldn't it suck to sit down to get a flu shot, and the next day come down with a miserable cold?

Is it normal for fit healthy people in the US to get flu shots every year ? (that is the impression I have gathered)

Over here in the UK the only people that tend to get flu shots are already vulnerable to disease in some way.

Is flu more common in the US ? I have had flu only once in my life and I can't remember anyone I know actually having flu in recent years (a whole bunch have claimed to had flu, but from my exposure to real flu I know you aren't back at work after three days, they just had colds).

I think the US is more paranoid about flu. Perhaps wanting to avoid getting it, or to avoid the multiday "death warmed over" feeling. I guess if you get it once (and feel that bad from it) you want to tkae precautions.

I personally do not get flu shots. I asked my doctor about it a few years back, and his recommendation was to only get it if you are: in a high risk group (very young or old or with existing medical problems), caring full time for someone at high risk or exposed to lots of high risk people at work (medical, education, etc.). So, I have not gotten any flu shots and I personally do not recommend it for those reasons.

This year is the first in decades that my father got his flu shot (he had to get it for other health reasons). Guess what! He got the flu

This year my firm offered free flu shots to all the UK staff (7000 of us I guess) I was going to as I have two fast plague vectors (children under 5) but in the end I couldn't be bothered and haven't got ill yet. The guy across the partition has been coughing all day though, so I may be in trouble...

Quote:

Over here in the UK the only people that tend to get flu shots are already vulnerable to disease in some way.

My GP sends me a letter every year urging me, for the love of [insert deity], to immediately get a flu shot. This on the basis of my technically having asthma, although in reality it was only ever an allergy-triggered thing and in the last few years has diminished to almost non-existence. I have never taken the offer up, both because it always seems to be available at a time I'm not, and because a doctor friend of mine has warned that the side effects are frequently worst than what it's supposed to prevent.

Quote:
I can't remember anyone I know actually having flu in recent years

The last time I had flu was about a year ago, and I've only really had it perhaps three times in my life. Once was at college, where I completely lost three days of memory due to delerium, once was about 10 years ago where I spent one night wrapped in two duvets huddled over a convection heater in a room which was at about 45 degrees C, shivering and feeling like I was freezing to death.

The recent one was classic symptoms: Woke up feeling a little under the weather, 6 hours later I couldn't get out of bed on a bet. Shivering, fever (both types, reminiscent of Homer Simpson - Hot! Cold! AHH! Hot!! etc), coughing at least one lung up, aches and pains to the point of agony, and so on. When you have flu for real you are left in no doubt that previous attempts were mere colds.

Mind you, when I gave it to my brother he really made a meal out of it. It nearly turned into pneumonia. Showoff

pca

You've got a cold!

The problem is that in the US, the colloquialism "stomach flu" is common. It's intended to describe any of various forms of gastroenteritis. These have absolutely nothing to do with influenza, which is a resperatory infection, as you seem well aware. I don't think there's anyone who's not had a bad bout of gastroenteritis, and I'm sure none who have ever want it again. I think many fewer people get influenza in the US than is generally thought due to this common misconception. As such, I think people are thinking they're getting treated for gastroenteritis and line up in droves. If they realized how uncommon the flu is (which is not all that uncommon, but much more so than they think), they'd not bother getting one.

As for me, I get flu-like symptoms from the flu shot, so I don't get one. To me, if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it's a duck, so I avoid them to avoid getting the flu. At the same time, I'm pretty sure it's not a live-virus vaccine. I'm almost positive that it's dead, so there really is no chance of actually contracting the flu, but it sure does feel like it.

Edit: It seems that that new nasal mist vaccine is a live virus, but the injectables are not.

Right, the shots are killed-virus. As a psychologist who works in schools (we, and teachers, should get hazardous-duty pay, as everything going around goes through the schools...) I fall into one of the exposure categories and always get one. I haven't had a serious bout of flu for 20 years since graduate school, when I didn't get one--nor, fortunately, have I ever had any more adverse reaction than a sore arm. Anyone with kids in school might want to consider it too....the darlings are germ factories. Per the cold, I know they won't give me allergy shots if I have one, but I'm not sure of the reasoning, other than that it gives your immune system something else to battle....

Bingo... Symptoms are usually the results of your body trying to fend off an infection. It doesn't matter that the infection isn't real, your body thinks it is.

You can attach avatars under "My Home" then "Personal Information" now, no need to tack them onto posts.

Hehehe, I attached it to the post, went to change it, and discovered that. Too late of course.