• Please be sure to read the rules and adhere to them. Some banned members have complained that they are not spammers. But they spammed us. Some even tried to redirect our members to other forums. Duh. Be smart. Read the rules and adhere to them and we will all get along just fine. Cheers. :beer: Link to the rules: https://www.forumsforums.com/threads/forum-rules-info.2974/

2018 Flu and the Flu vaccine

Doc

Bottoms Up
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
Passed to me by a friend that knows I'm dealing with Flu. We do not know the author:

---------------------
What you may NOT know about the flu and flu vaccination.

I’m a RN of 20 years, get flu shots every year and had never had the flu before this season.
I am a healthy woman with no history of respiratory disease and I am not immunocompromised. This year, I caught the flu after Christmas and was officially diagnosed on Dec 30th. I received the 5 day course of Tamiflu and an inhaler for my wheezing. I completed my Tamiflu and the body aches went away but my chest felt tighter and sounded like a train station. I said to myself, “I’m a nurse, this is just cough, you can stay home and take care of it”, and that’s what I did. Until Monday, I couldn’t catch my breath and had a low grade fever. I went back to the hospital ER where I had had a chest X-ray the week before so they could get a new one hopefully. My oxygen saturation was 90-93 percent and my heart rate was over 100. What I didn’t see coming is that my lactic acid level was high indicating that I was in beginning stages of Sepsis, a potentially very dangerous situation. I was admitted with Pneumonia and possible sepsis. Within 24 hours my wonderful physicians pumped me up with 4 bags of fluids and the lactic acid level was within healthy range. I am still being treated for the pneumonia and should be fully restored in a few weeks.

Imagine this course on your frail grandmother, your best friend undergoing chemo, or your kids at preschool. In these populations, flu runs in packs, what we in the medical field, call an EPIDEMIC.

Epidemics in immunocompromised populations are deadly. Yes, vaccine effectiveness (VE) is not where we would like it to be, but the less people carrying the flu, the more immunocompromised patients get to live. Say effectiveness is only 10%, are 30 kids or grandparents worth saving out of a facility of 300? Not that they would die, mortality rates are another issue, but they would not be at risk for what I have gone through as a totally healthy woman in her 40’s.

I take the time to explain this as I sit in the hospital, having to had take time off of work, kids being shuffled around and medical costs being accrued, to make the point that FLU VACCINATION saves lives by stopping epidemics. I believe that groups against vaccinations need to understand further the big picture of public health and epidemiology.
Yes, it’s not perfect, the flu strains are ever changing and vaccine resistance is a concern, but the idea that vaccination is a conspiracy of big pharma is a lie.

There is no conspiracy around vaccination.

The CDC is not trying to pull one over on you.

Serve the vulnerable in your community, if you medically can, by being vaccinated against diseases that can cause epidemics.

The Flu is the bad guy, not the community that works to contain it.

Best wishes. Sheri RN
 

tiredretired

The Old Salt
SUPER Site Supporter
Boy, that is no friggin' joke. Without trying to sound dramatic, I have somewhat changed my daily lifestyle because of this. Mostly stayed close to the house, cutting some wood and clearing snow. When I do venture out, it is very early in the morning when crowds are thinner. I make a point to stay away from people anyway, :yum: , but even more so now.

Like I stated in another thread, I even gave up the big annual gun show I attend every year without fail. I'm just not taking any chances.
 

Doc

Bottoms Up
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
Smart TR. Still have not figured out where we (wife and I) got it but we both started it at same time so we got it from same place. Could have been grocery store shoping cart or a restaurant we stopped in. The one thing I'll try to remember for next flu season: Wash hand often.
 

tiredretired

The Old Salt
SUPER Site Supporter
Smart TR. Still have not figured out where we (wife and I) got it but we both started it at same time so we got it from same place. Could have been grocery store shoping cart or a restaurant we stopped in. The one thing I'll try to remember for next flu season: Wash hand often.

Yeah, if I get it I get it. But I'm trying like hell not too. :yum:
 

EastTexFrank

Well-known member
GOLD Site Supporter
I did eventually get a flu shot a couple of weeks ago. Like TR, for the most part I've been staying close to the house and, if I do venture into town, I try to stay away from crowds. I've been carrying hand sanitizer in the car and use it often when out and about. So far it is working. Almost everyone I know has had it or is fighting it at the moment.
 

luvs

'lil yinzer~
GOLD Site Supporter
i got one; always get 1-- tho i hear that it's only 11% effective this season-- & yep on sanitizer-- don't touch ur eyes/nose, either, as u can give urself a flu-- i keep sanitizer w/ me incessantly, & wash often--
 

luvs

'lil yinzer~
GOLD Site Supporter
i got that flu shot; got that flu, tho, anyhow-- spent awhile in that hospital-- they keep pushing me to get there again-- nope~~
 
Last edited:
Top