Do you get a flu shot?
 

Every year I read about how important it is to get a flu shot. I've never gotten one (I've had the flu only once in my life, so I've never felt the need), but I re-evaluate that decision every year. Who here gets the shot? And who makes it a point not to? Any medical field people here want to chime in on why it is/isn't important?

It's important if you're old or if you're young; but, if you're in between it's not so much important as it is convienient to avoid the actual flu. I never get one. I'm so rarely sick and I'm so practically OCD with the hand washing that if I were to get the flu I'd be more distraught over the "OMG, when did I mess up on the hand washing?" than over actually being sick.

I don't because I feel as a non-necessary worker (non police/emt/MD, etc) I don't need one. I'm 22 and about as healthy as I"m going to get. I've heard it suggested that the real priorities need to be necessary workers, followed by kids, then the average american, then the elderly. Mostly because the elderly get sick from the rest of us, and from a heartless cost-benefit analysis, society loses less if a retired person gets sick. But I figure there's no point in taking shots away from people more at risk for the flu and complications from it than I am. There always seems to be a shortage...

I get a flu shot every year, mainly becuase I have two small kids (1yr & 4yrs) and I don't want them to get sick any more than they already do! So we usually go as a "family" and all get shots (although I would rather get the FluMist stuff, but then what kind of example would that be for the 4yr old?).

Plus, the FluMist means you're contagious (shed the virus) for about 2 weeks. Health care workers are usually prohibitted from getting it. Unless things have changed in the past few years.

I'm supposed to as I'm high risk (EMT with bad asthma) but I never do. I've managed to avoid the flu completely for quite some time now without the shot.

I am high risk too (asthma). last time I got the flu shot, I got the flu twice that winter :mad:

I am asthamtic...that is my primary reason for getting it, plus i have a child who brings everything home from school and being a single parent it sure isn't wise to be sick as a dog with a 6 yr old.

I get both the flu & pneumonia shots. Being both in geriatrics AND the ability to catch just about anything that comes down the pike, it only seems prudent.

I had the same experience. My mother was on my case to get the shot my freshman year of college. I finally gave in, and the shot gave me the flu. :(

I had never had the flu before I had the shot, and I haven't had it since. Unless I think I'm going to be at high risk, I don't think I'll ever get it again.

I got one this year. I work with kids (between the ages 3 and 6) who have behavioral health disorders, such as autism and ADHD. Those kids come down with everything during the winter and I wanted to protect myself.

I have to get one because I'm ashtamatic and because I've had pneumonia I have to get that one too.

I don't. I'm 21, and I've never had the flu, and so I've never really felt the "urge" to get a flu shot.

Plus everytime i have gotten the shot i've gotten sick (but not with the flu---just "flu like" symptoms).

I always get one and so do my kids. I'm on meds that suppress my immune system and both of the kids have asthma. They've never gotten the flu in a year where they got the shot.

I get the flu vaccine because I have asthma. And for what its worth, although I'm going to get a million responses that I'm worng, you can't get the flu from a flu shot. It uses a dead virus. You may have been exposed before the shot or you may have gotten a nasty cold, or you may be the 1 in million people who get Guillain-Barré (a disease in which the body damages its own nerve cells, resulting in muscle weakness and sometimes paralysis).The nasal spray, yes, cause that is a live virus. But the regular ol' flu shot. No.

Sorry, its one of my pet peeves.

I never got the flu shot just because I didn't really see the big deal with the flu... I was like "whatever, you have a stomachache and throw up for a few days. Big deal."

However, December of my freshman year of college I got the flu which quickly turned into pneumonia which laid me out for two weeks. It was really gross. Now I get the flu shot. :)

I'm not saying you're wrong, but I always thought that vaccines were disabled viruses not dead viruses. So that if your immune system was already weak then the disabled virus could still cause the flu.....is that just an urban myth?

ETA: it turns out that both are true http://www.cdc.gov/flu/protect/keyfacts.htm

And evidently I didn't read your whole post b/c you said that! Or I cross edited...haha

Since I work for a hospital, flu vaccine is free so I went ahead and did it. I had a naaaaaasty case of the flu last year and I'm in no hurry to go through that again! I thought I was gonna die!

i sho did get one, yesterday actually. to quote outkast, "i was drunk and it wuzz my birfday anyway... i.likedt.it!"

oh ok i wasnt drunk, but it was my birthday, and i shouldve been.

Honeychile, don't kill me. I read that as you being geriatric. *ducks*

That reminds me...I've got to get mine! Working at a pharmacy means being exposed to a lot of sick people.

Happy belated birthday :D

I get that a lot! I also do an Introduction to History class for elementary schools, and the first time I showed up, the teachers told me that they were expecting a little old blue-haired lady!

I think it comes from being the younger child of two youngest children - I have first cousins who have children older than I!!

Count me in this category.

I think it the past 5 years I've had the flu once, and it lasted a day. But it was so bad my friends and I refered to it as the Martian Death Flu.

I was out of town or something the day they did flu shots at work, but they're giving them at our clubhouse in a week or so and I will get one.

I reeived mine two weeks ago. The two times that I did not get a flue shot, I got the flu.
First time, had a real nice 103.5 fever along with it. Second time, while my fever was not that high, knocked me out of work for 4 days.

I have severe CHF, and am on a heart transplant list, so a flu shot and the pneumonia shots are must haves for moi. So far so good, prior to now, I didn't bother with either shot. Just rolled with th punches.

Update. Got mine yesterday. Big red spot on the arm today and it feels kinda funny. Never had this reaction before, but it's not as bad as the flu.

Ewww, U got cooties :D

I don't get the shot if I can avoid it. Unfortunately, being military that means playing dodge the medic at this time of year... Reason I don't get it is I always seem to get sick right after it but never actually get the flu if I don't. I figure I'll take my chances

Oooops. I forgot to get the Cootie shot.

The "stomach flu" is not actually the flu. The flu virus causes the fever, congestion, body aches stuff. The stomach "issues" sickness is a completely different virus and not affected by the flu shot.

Also, Dolphin is correct, you cannot get the flu from the flu shot as it's a dead virus. You can have some flu-like symptoms after, but you don't get the flu.

I'm getting my first this year. It's free in our health center, and I'm hoping to get pregnant soon so that puts me in the group who should have it.

I received my flu shot.

You mean you don't have the flu vaccine in that big 'ol BAG O DRUGS you have? ;)

Like BetaRose, I got the flu after getting the flu shot. I always get the flu the week between Christmas and New Year's. Going on five years now...it never fails!

Hey I have a big ol bag o drugs too! Seriously, it's a gallon sized ziplock bag filled with the medications that keep me alive. Singulair, Advair, Flonase, Zyrtec, vicodin, Concerta, albuterol, Zomig. I am a walking pharmacy. It keeps from getting the flu too. Maybe that's the key. You need my list of drugs.

You and DolphinChicaDDD could be twins. SRSLY!

Except her BAG O DRUGS is like a huge cosmetics bag that has a zipper!

Yeah, my ziplock bag is actually kinda ghetto. I should get a pretty bag like Dolphinchica's.

OMG, are we the same person? Switch the Advair with Asthmanex (I made the transition a few months ago) and take out Concerta (turns out I'm not ADD bad enough to require meds, I use visual cues to get myself back) and add in Xanex. I think I'm adding some sleeping pills and maybe some migrane stuff soon too (I got to the nuerologist soon). I also have advil, excedrin migrane, tylenol, and aleive.

At any rate, I got my flu shot today.

I'm trying trying trying to get well enough to get one. At the beginning of the Sept I saw my doc for allergies & he really rec. I get one. I haven't ever had the flu exactly since I started teaching but I get sick on & off throughout the year. Teaching pre-school requires a strong immune system which I haven't built up yet :(

They had a health fair at work today and flu shots were part of it, so I got mine today. I'm also quite proud that my blood pressure was 96/60 and my cholesterol was 179 with an HDL in the desired range. The nurse said I got to eliminate a heart disease risk factor because my HDL was so good. Since I can't really eliminate my family history, I figure this means I don't have to quit smoking since those were the only two risk factors? (j/k, honest)

I probably should have taken a flu shot...a while ago I had this lymph infection thingy in my neck...it swell so bad that it hurt my ears. And I can barely swallow a chew...:( I took 2 full days off and I wasn't able to eat anything for like 3 days because it was so painful...boo...