The Flu 😷

JulieC

New Member
My family is very healthy. We are big hand washers and do not touch our face or eat anything unless we have washed our hands(not use the sanitizer). I have never had the flu and neither have my children. We do not get the flu shot. My family does not do well on it. The only time anyone in my family(mom, grandma) have ever had the flu was within a few days of the 1 time they got the flu shot. When my sister worked in a hospital(in the office) they made her get the flu shot and she got the flu every year. Now that she does not work there and does not get the shot, she has not had the flu. I think for some people it could help. But there are others where it is the opposite.

She worked in a hospital, which is by definition a cess pool of the worst of all germs and viruses.
 

drizgirl

Well-Known Member
My family is very healthy. We are big hand washers and do not touch our face or eat anything unless we have washed our hands(not use the sanitizer). I have never had the flu and neither have my children. We do not get the flu shot. My family does not do well on it. The only time anyone in my family(mom, grandma) have ever had the flu was within a few days of the 1 time they got the flu shot. When my sister worked in a hospital(in the office) they made her get the flu shot and she got the flu every year. Now that she does not work there and does not get the shot, she has not had the flu. I think for some people it could help. But there are others where it is the opposite.
If you don't get the flu shot, how do you know you don't do well on it?
 

jaklgreen

Well-Known Member
If you don't get the flu shot, how do you know you don't do well on it?

Because no woman in my family has ever had the flu except right after they got the flu shot. I have never had the flu or any other serious illness and I trust in my immune system. You might think that is silly but the doctor has agreed with me and said that some people are like that. My grandmother who will be 91 next month, has had to flu 1 time in her life and that was within days of getting the shot. It is not an exact science after all. People get the shot and still get the flu, some people never get the shot and never get the flu. It is up the the individual to decide.
 

King Capybara 77

Thank you sir. You were an inspiration.
Premium Member
It is an individual decision.. which is why we’ll see so many cases of the flu every year. Because people don’t want to get a tiny shot.

I don’t think I’ll ever understand the anti-vaccination mindset, so I’ll stop there.
I understand it for the aged or infirm , but young healty people should havesome form of natural immunity. I think generations are losing this as drugs are more widely used at the first glimpse of any ilness.
 

OneofThree

Well-Known Member
It is an individual decision.. which is why we’ll see so many cases of the flu every year. Because people don’t want to get a tiny shot.

I don’t think I’ll ever understand the anti-vaccination mindset, so I’ll stop there.

I want to expand on this a bit. There was a time when somehow, the safety of vaccinations came into question. The current decline of healthcare and the steady stream of conflicting or contradictory health information made raising the question at least reasonable. Since that time, the importance of vaccinations has led healthcare professionals to provide sufficient assurance that US vaccinations are safe. IMO, it's incredibly important to recall some of the plagues wiped out by vaccination, such as smallpox and Polio. I will say however, that flu is a bit different because it relies on the accurate prediction of active strains. I did just read where scientists are hoping to develop a universal vaccine which would remedy the problem. Personally, I try to avoid introducing anything foreign into my system, but the risk/reward when it comes to dealing with these pathogens suggests that inoculation is a no-brainer.
 

OneofThree

Well-Known Member
I understand it for the aged or infirm , but young healty people should havesome form of natural immunity. I think generations are losing this as drugs are more widely used at the first glimpse of any ilness.

Any immunity to viruses is the result of prior exposure. Over prescribing is a problem, but one which has to do with bacterial infections.
 

jaklgreen

Well-Known Member
I have been reading up on this issue and for every medical professional that says that everyone should get the shot, there is one that says those with a healthy immune system does not need it. https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/seria...o-fight-virus-in-future-researchers-1.3147903 https://philmaffetone.com/flu-shots/ http://bolenreport.com/natural-immunity-better-flu-vaccines-top-ucla-researchers-claim/. Immunizations for things like the measles and mumps are different since they are a specific disease. The flu changes every year and that is what make the flu shot a crap shoot. So vaccines are not the same as the flu shot 21stamps. The best thing people can do to avoid getting sick is have a healthy lifestyle. Eat healthy foods, get plenty of rest, WASH YOUR HANDS!!!! Like I have posted numerous times, people do not wash their hands before they eat, or after they use the restroom. I was lucky, my Mom did us a great service growing up by feeding us healthy foods, which I passed down to my kids. It does make a difference. You are what you eat. If your body does not get the proper nutrients and rest then it does not function as it should. It is always fighting something. Same goes for tattoos, your body is always trying to fight this "invasion". They have found traces of tattoo ink in people's lymphatic system. So stay healthy.
 

KBLovedDisney

Well-Known Member
I have been reading up on this issue and for every medical professional that says that everyone should get the shot, there is one that says those with a healthy immune system does not need it.
Wish I had that awesome stainless steel immune system. I am a flu and cold magnet. Actually, the older I get, the better it is getting. I don't catch as much. Wonder if that had anything to with me being a premee...
 

21stamps

Well-Known Member
I understand it for the aged or infirm , but young healty people should havesome form of natural immunity. I think generations are losing this as drugs are more widely used at the first glimpse of any ilness.

I had chicken pox as a teen. I remember wishing that I would have had it as a young child instead..now it can be avoided altogether.
I’m so glad that children today will never have to deal with chicken pox, or anything else that can be prevented in this his day and age.... unless, the parents decide not to to get their children vaccinated, putting said children and other people at risk.

We can’t wipe out every virus completely, but it is possible to greatly reduce the number of people who contract and spread a virus.
 

Master Yoda

Pro Star Wars geek.
Premium Member
I understand it for the aged or infirm , but young healty people should havesome form of natural immunity. I think generations are losing this as drugs are more widely used at the first glimpse of any ilness.
It really does not work that way.

When it comes to taking antibiotics at the first sign of a sniffle, you would be correct as you are often taking antibiotics for something that antibiotics don't treat really does noting but destroy you gut bacteria and help to breed antibiotic resistant bacteria.

Vaccines work a bit differently.

Many people are under the impression that our immune systems are kind of like a bonfire that burns hotter and brighter with the more fuel you feed it. If all we do is give our body tons of great food and vitamins, out immune systems will nock out anything.

The reality is our immune systems are more like an MMA fighter. It has to learn how fight off viruses. Sure, you still need to give a fighter the right fuel as well, but no amount of kale and supplements will teach a person the counter for an arm bar. Our bodies lean to fight a virus off typically in one of two ways. Getting infected by the virus and developing a natural immunity or getting immunity through a vaccine.

To keep with the MMA fighter analogy, vaccines are like a sparing partner. If you need to know how to counter Brazilian jujitsu then you get a sparing partner proficient in it. This gives you the information you need in a controlled environment with minimal amount of injury. A vaccine will typically have just enough genetic material from the virus that our immune system recognizes it and learns how to fight it off with very minimal symptoms or side effects if there are any at all.

Natural immunity would be like going into the ring unprepared. Sure, you might emerge from the ring knowing how to deal what that particular fighter, but odds are you are going to get the holy crap beat out of you to do it. There is also the possibility that you could die right in the ring.
 
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Sonconato

Well-Known Member
I had chicken pox as a teen. I remember wishing that I would have had it as a young child instead..now it can be avoided altogether.
I’m so glad that children today will never have to deal with chicken pox, or anything else that can be prevented in this his day and age.... unless, the parents decide not to to get their children vaccinated, putting said children and other people at risk.

We can’t wipe out every virus completely, but it is possible to greatly reduce the number of people who contract and spread a virus.
I also wish they had the vaccine for chicken pox when I was little, because now I have been dealing with shingles since I was 27 years old and I nearly lost my eye over it. If there is a vaccine that can prevent things like this, I am taking it.
 

MisterPenguin

President of Animal Kingdom
Premium Member
I have been reading up on this issue and for every medical professional that says that everyone should get the shot, there is one that says those with a healthy immune system does not need it. https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/seria...o-fight-virus-in-future-researchers-1.3147903 https://philmaffetone.com/flu-shots/ http://bolenreport.com/natural-immunity-better-flu-vaccines-top-ucla-researchers-claim/.

WRT your first link, it concludes...
"I think it would be premature and possibly even dangerous, frankly, for us to make strong statements in either direction, or a radical policy change, on the basis of these findings," Skowronski says.
"It would be hazardous for those individuals to stop getting the influenza vaccine on the basis of these early signals."
Such signals are so recent that public health officials don't yet know if they are real or scientific red herrings. Until more conclusive evidence is established, annual flu shot campaigns will remain unchanged.

The author of the study is most emphatically not saying people should skip the vaccine.

So, what if people who get the flu vaccine more often are slightly more susceptible to the next strain of the flu turns out to be true? Does that mean the vaccine actually weakens the immune response? No. Correlation is not causation. It could be that people who self-select to get the flu are people who are in situations where they are more exposed to the flu, e.g., nurses and teachers. Much more research needs to be done as the study's author states.


WRT the second link, you linked to a crazy non-physician blogger...
Tim Bolen has been a Crisis Management Consultant in the Alternative Medicine section of the North American Health Care system for over thirty (30) years. He is a long time leader in the powerful North American Health Freedom Movement.

You know that's not real science, right?

So, no, your thesis "that for every medical professional that says that everyone should get the shot, there is one that says those with a healthy immune system does not need it" is not true at all.
 
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bigrigross

Well-Known Member
I had chicken pox as a teen. I remember wishing that I would have had it as a young child instead..now it can be avoided altogether.
I’m so glad that children today will never have to deal with chicken pox, or anything else that can be prevented in this his day and age.... unless, the parents decide not to to get their children vaccinated, putting said children and other people at risk.

We can’t wipe out every virus completely, but it is possible to greatly reduce the number of people who contract and spread a virus.

The problem is, that people are getting exemptions from having to get vaccines and states are allowing them. I had the chicken pox vaccine when I was supposed to get it. I still got chicken pox. But it did reduce the severity of it. Found out, two kids in my 3rd grade class (1997) had exemptions and also had it. Which means they gave it to me. School children in public and heck even private schools need to be 100% vaccinated. Their should be no exemptions for anyone on any grounds unless medically they are unable and have a doctors explanation.

Now as jaklgreen has said. I have never gotten the flu. I never got a flu shot until I started working for a hospital five years ago. I never saw it as a serious medical condition as other things you get shots for. Now, if only they could get a vaccine out for Strep Throat. I get that if someone just mentions a tickle in their throat.
 

21stamps

Well-Known Member
The problem is, that people are getting exemptions from having to get vaccines and states are allowing them. I had the chicken pox vaccine when I was supposed to get it. I still got chicken pox. But it did reduce the severity of it. Found out, two kids in my 3rd grade class (1997) had exemptions and also had it. Which means they gave it to me. School children in public and heck even private schools need to be 100% vaccinated. Their should be no exemptions for anyone on any grounds unless medically they are unable and have a doctors explanation.

Now as jaklgreen has said. I have never gotten the flu. I never got a flu shot until I started working for a hospital five years ago. I never saw it as a serious medical condition as other things you get shots for. Now, if only they could get a vaccine out for Strep Throat. I get that if someone just mentions a tickle in their throat.

Agree. Can’t make every citizen get vaccines, but every school, private and public, should require that Every Student has all immunizations up to date, including flu shots.

I rarely ever got sick in my adult life, until I had a school aged child (early learning included). Now I can count on being sick at least once per winter. Germs are going to be around, kids are going to get colds and pass them around, but why not try to prevent as much as we can?
Who has time for themselves or their child to be sick at home?! I sure don’t.
 

DavidS1234

Active Member
Good Morning:) The reports on the news, from my Husband that works in a hospital and various Disney Groups on FB have me super nrevous.
My family of 8 leaves next week. Currently we are all healthy. We did not receive the flu shot and it seems like a it’s not working anyway. Our 13yo had what we suspect of the flu right after Christmas, we treated the symptoms, keep in contact with our Pediatrician and he slept. Per advice from our Pediatrician we are taking Elderberry and Pro Biotics (the later we all ready.) I also purchased the Purell Professional Spray that kills the flu and norovirus In 30secs.
My question for all of you that visit the parks regularly and live locally, is the flu in the area widespread? Are the parks full of flu stricken people?
Am I just being an over worried Mom?

1. There are a lot of people here who have the flu right now, but no worse than anywhere else.
2. There's no such thing as an "over-worried" Mom. That's how normal moms are.
3. My approach is to mingle with as many flu-ridden peeps as possible. I figure the little bugs will be so busy, fighting each other over who gets to infect me, that they'll all destroy each other and I'll be ok.
4. I'm not a doctor.
 

MisterPenguin

President of Animal Kingdom
Premium Member
The problem is, that people are getting exemptions from having to get vaccines and states are allowing them. I had the chicken pox vaccine when I was supposed to get it. I still got chicken pox. But it did reduce the severity of it. Found out, two kids in my 3rd grade class (1997) had exemptions and also had it. Which means they gave it to me. School children in public and heck even private schools need to be 100% vaccinated. Their should be no exemptions for anyone on any grounds unless medically they are unable and have a doctors explanation.

Now as jaklgreen has said. I have never gotten the flu. I never got a flu shot until I started working for a hospital five years ago. I never saw it as a serious medical condition as other things you get shots for. Now, if only they could get a vaccine out for Strep Throat. I get that if someone just mentions a tickle in their throat.

Depends on the exemption. Children with illnesses and compromised immune systems can't safely get the vaccine and are rightly exempted. This is true for every state.

People who want an exemption because they believe in the falsehoods of the anti-vaxxer movement (causes autisms, too many shots at once 'overloads' the immune system, and other such nonsense) or for 'religious reasons' do so on a state by state basis. Three states don't allow any such type of exemption, which the rest, unfortunately, do allow some form of religious or 'philosophical' exemption.

http://www.ncsl.org/research/health/school-immunization-exemption-state-laws.aspx

Private schools can set their own regulations: "If you don't want to follow our vaccination policy, fine, you can send your child elsewhere." I was involved once with parents of a child in a Catholic school who tried to claim a religious exemption. We laughed (privately at them). Had to explain to them how the Catholic Church is 100% behind scientific reasoning and medicine and there is nothing in Catholic teaching that could be used to believe your child shouldn't be immunized.
 

MisterPenguin

President of Animal Kingdom
Premium Member
Remember: The Flu and The Common Cold are two different things, even though they're both viral infections.

The Flu can kill: Influenza spreads around the world in a yearly outbreak, resulting in about three to five million cases of severe illness and about 250,000 to 500,000 deaths. In the Northern and Southern parts of the world, outbreaks occur mainly in winter while in areas around the equator outbreaks may occur at any time of the year. Death occurs mostly in the young, the old and those with other health problems. Larger outbreaks known as pandemics are less frequent. In the 20th century, three influenza pandemics occurred: Spanish influenza in 1918 (~50 million deaths), Asian influenza in 1957 (two million deaths), and Hong Kong influenza in 1968 (one million deaths).

The Common Cold rarely kills: The common cold is generally mild and self-limiting with most symptoms generally improving in a week. Half of cases go away in 10 days and 90% in 15 days. Severe complications, if they occur, are usually in the very old, the very young, or those who are immunosuppressed. Secondary bacterial infections may occur resulting in sinusitis, pharyngitis, or an ear infection. It is estimated that sinusitis occurs in 8% and ear infection in 30% of cases.

This thread is about a dangerous viral infection, The Flu. It's not about catching colds. Mixing the two up makes people less fearful of the flu than they should be. And even though you may be a healthy adult who can weather the flu, you might be passing it on to grandma... and think about the consequence of that. Get the vaccine, even if this year's isn't as optimal as it could have been.

[quotes from the Wikipedia articles]
 

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