Flu jab

jonnyburgo · October 2017

sister in law who works at the pharmacy has been bedridden for a week after the flu jab with full blown flu which has progressed into a chest infection, seriously ill. If she were an old person I don't think she'd still be here.

Receptionist at Docs asked my father in law who's 80 if he's had his, no chance he says, then she says she doesn't blame him because it put her on her arse for a week last year and she's never having it again. Don't forget to get your jabs though, they're good for ya!

TTony · October 2017

So, you get to sit in a room of sick people for 20/30/40 mins, breathing their air, touching the chairs/door handles/magazines (never!!) that have already been handled by another bunch of sick people, waiting for your appointment when someone is going to jab you with a bit of fluid that they fully know contains an infection.

Can't see any reason not to do it.

Being "of an age" I get annual flu jab reminders from my surgery now.

1. I don't really like to be reminded that I'm "of an age", thank you.
2. "Come and visit us so we can make you ill" isn't a great sales pitch.

I'll pass.

rocktron · October 2017

I had a bad reaction to a flu jab last year, but it hasn't put me off having one this year.

It has been over a week and a half now, and thus far I've been fine - fingers crossed.

I'll be travelling to NYC in December, and one of the worst places to catch a flu virus is on a plane.

I know other people at work who experienced a bad reaction and won't be be having a flu jab this year, if ever again.

Col_Decker · October 2017

Had a flu jab from work a few years back, never been so ill in my life. Won't be doing it again.

mynamesnotbob · October 2017

The flu jab does not contain any live virus, you an get achy etc but thats it. Good friend is an Immunologist and explained how they make it as my FIL was a bit worried. It's more likely there was an underlying issue, and then the immune was even given an excuse to drop defences by the brain, or the immune system got distracted with flu jab.

I had a flu jab every year, rarely die

not_the_dj · October 2017

We get offered it at work and I always take them up on it, in fact I'll be jabbed this Thursday.

You don't get flu from the jab.

Jalapeno · October 2017

Doctor admitted to me that it's a lottery - each year's jab is based on an educated guess of the flu strain most likely impact the UK, based on epidemiology patterns in China & the Far East (where these things usually originate).

The jab may protect you, or it may not.

I reluctantly go as (a) Like TTony I'm an old git, but also (b) I'm asthmatic, and when I get a chest infection it's usually a real Lulu.

It does usually make me feel like crap for 24 hrs (even though they say it shouldn't)

ourmaninthenorth · October 2017

I actually look forward to getting the flu...it's the only bloody sympathy I ever get.

jonnyburgo · October 2017

Well they should state that only heathy people who look after themselves should have it. But then those people rarely if ever get the flu.

fields5069 · October 2017

My very asthmatic wife used to have a flu jab every year before Christmas, then we'd spend at least one day over the holidays in A&E with oxygen and steroids. She didn't have it last year, and didn't get ill.

Jimbro66 · October 2017

I've been having flu jabs every year for decades, since an employer made it more-or-less obligatory for all staff. I've often had swelling and tenderness around the injected area which goes within a day but only in 2015 did I become ill afterwards. That might have been coincidence, who knows? I'd rather take my chances with the jab than risk two or three weeks of misery with the full-blown virus.

Snap · October 2017

One of the reasons that flu is so rare is because of the immunisation program we have.

As has been said, full on flu kills old people and makes otherwise fit and healthy people extremely ill, for a couple of weeks.

I get irritated by hypochondriacs saying " ive got the flu", when they've got a cold. Soft gets.

Jalapeno · October 2017

Snap said:

One of the reasons that flu is so rare is because of the immunisation program we have.

As has been said, full on flu kills old people and makes otherwise fit and healthy people extremely ill, for a couple of weeks.

I get irritated by hypochondriacs saying " ive got the flu", when they've got a cold. Soft gets.

It isn't really immunisation in the Polio sense - it's an annual race/guess for preventative inoculation.

If you've ever had influenza, you'll never call a heavy cold 'flu again. I too get irritated by someone with a sniffle saying they have 'flu. (Though neither should be in an office spreading it around IMHO)

CHRISB50 · October 2017

My wife and eldest daughter both have it. Wife is asthmatic and my daughter suffers from rhinitis so any kind of cold / flu based thing keeps her up. She has it as a just in case.

My youngest can't have the normal one as she's allergic to eggs, and the standard vaccine comes from chicken eggs.

I don't have it as I did two years ago, and have never been so ill over a winter as I was then.

Alnico · October 2017

Had mine last week.

Full on chest infection, stomach is wrecked, no energy, can't sleep, coughed my arse up and spent the last 3 days ready for the French Foreign Legion.

First and last time this is happening.

axisus · October 2017

As mentioned, you can't actually get flu from the jab - there is no 'live' element to it.
Secondly, it doesn't always work - last years variation was particularly poor.

I know about these things as I work in Public Health and we handle all the immunisation stuff.

I've never had flu so I've never bothered with the jab. If it takes me out one year then I will undoubtedly have it every year after that.

usedtobe · October 2017

Me and the wife had actual flu once. There’s nothing like it. If the flu jab makes some vulnerable people poorly, rest assured flu would kill them!

menamestom · October 2017

Quite a few people have a reaction to the flu jab becuase quite a few people at any one time are already within the incubation period of some other virus. You go in, get the jab, become I'll and blame it on the jab. Unless you can prove that no other virus was in your system when you had the jab then it's not correct to conclude that the flu jab was the issue.
That's not to say that what you went in with wasn't made worse by the jab, but that's impossible to confirm unless the whole process is done under controlled conditions

The same things happen on the other side, people take things like echinacea when they are unwell then attribute getting better to the echinacea, when they would have got better anyway (regression to the mean)

jonnyburgo said:

sister in law who works at the pharmacy has been bedridden for a week after the flu jab with full blown flu which has progressed into a chest infection, seriously ill. If she were an old person I don't think she'd still be here.

Receptionist at Docs asked my father in law who's 80 if he's had his, no chance he says, then she says she doesn't blame him because it put her on her arse for a week last year and she's never having it again. Don't forget to get your jabs though, they're good for ya!

I hope your sister in law feels better soon.

But consider this, the people who didn't get flu becuase they had a jab, did they go round telling everybody how great it was that the jab was? The people that have Asthma or other chest complaints, or the elderly, all oblivious to the fact that they could have died, did they go round telling people they nearly died? Obviously not, becuase they don't know what could have happened. They mainly went merrily on their way.

EDIT:- I've had mine, no issues to report

axisus · October 2017

The flu jab was no problem, but the flu uppercut took me right out.

Rocker · October 2017

I got mine about ten days ago. No reaction. No problems.

JezWynd · October 2017

jonnyburgo said:

Well they should state that only heathy people who look after themselves should have it. But then those people rarely if ever get the flu.

I've been advised to have it the past 4 or 5 years because of ongoing health problems that mean flu could see me off. The only time I've been ill is when I had a combined flu and pneumonia inoculation, felt pretty crap for a few days after that but I'm having the flu jab again this year.

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