Topic: Flu jab

[star]

You'd best sit down matey, here a big dose of 'There, there, there' and a man size............... :D






















Feeling better?????........................ ;)





Good, the fence needs fixing!!!!

[Borlotti]

My OH wants me to have the flu jab, as I am retired and have nothing better to do all day and it is free.  He has had an appointment for cholesterol test for months but is much too busy to go to the hospital as he may have to wait in a queue and might have to give me custody of the remote TV control.  I think he should have the flu jab although he may have to pay as he is the one that goes to bed for three days with a cold and can moan for England.  I do try and avoid the doctor as most of the people in the waiting room are ill.  I am still undecided about the flu jab.

[Amazin]

If your OH is so busy, how does he know what you do all day? Tell him you will if he will - that might keep him quiet!

Seriously though, you've heard about the possible pros and cons but in the end, what does your instinct tell you? I'd go with that, it's as good a judge as anything (or anyone) else.

[flossy]

   froglegs  --  please what is ' man flu '  you just gotta tell me !!    ::)

   floss x

[star]

   froglegs  --  please what is ' man flu '  you just gotta tell me !!    ::)

   floss x

Oh dear Flossy, how much time have you got? My OH gets it.........................its awful, really awful. But nothing that a shotgun wouldn't put right ;D ;D ;D ;D

Though I know all the fellas would soooo disagree ::)

[Borlotti]

Man flu
OH has to rush to the shops to buy tissues, lemsip, paracetamol.  He has to go to bed with remote control for TV for at least 3 days.  When asked if he wishes to see the doctor, he says he is too ill to be disturbed.  He appears downstairs at 6pm when dinner is ready and is able to eat two or three platefuls of food before having to retire to bed, try to remove the remote control and he finds the strength to fight for it.  He decides he may try to go to work in the morning but then develops a bad cough and decides that he doesn't want to spread his germs, apart from to OH.  We then have at least an hour of symptons and general moaning about life in general.  Give him extra dose of paracetamol or whatever and go down the pub to get away from him.

[Froglegs]

You can laugh but thankfull it's only us men who get it, just imagine how frustrating it is for us to be as weak as a kitten unable to fend for our selves,just imagine the misery of knowing it can strike a any time.....ya just don't know how lucky you lot are.

[Paulines7]

I had flu for at least 3 years running and was very ill with it.  Although I am under 65, my GP agreed that I could have the jab.  I went ahead and this is now my third year of protection and have been free of flu since getting the jabs.  Evidently the immunity builds up with each years injection so it is important not to miss one.  I had mine last week, the day before my pacemaker was fitted and I have no sign of the flu.  The sooner it is done the better in my opinion so the protection is there when an epidemic starts.

Just to throw a spanner in the works, when I was having my op last week under local anaesthetic, the consultant, his assistants and I were discussing the jab.  According to one person present, their friend was advised to have the flu jab as he handled poultry and there is a possibility that the virus could mutate.  I felt pleased to have had mine but now have to persuade my OH to have one as well. 

[star]

You can laugh but thankfull it's only us men who get it, just imagine how frustrating it is for us to be as weak as a kitten unable to fend for our selves,just imagine the misery of knowing it can strike a any time.....ya just don't know how lucky you lot are.

Yeah my OH says exactly the same ;D ;D ;D

Have you fixed the fence yet? :-*

[Kea]

I would happily pay to have it but fortunately my surgery has a 'worried well' list and when they've done everybody else they give the left overs to the rest who want one. The rest of my family husband and son's get one for asthma. As a child I had flu every year followed by bronchitis and so missed a lot of school in the winter. As an adult I've had lots of bouts of flu and I have had a flu jab for the last 4 years and had no flu.

My Great grandmother died in the 1918 flu epidemic a few months before my Mother was born. She'd lost her youngest son in the Battle of the Somme a couple of years before maybe that didn't help her fight the flu'.

[Tulipa]

I have already posted in here but seeing Kea's mention of the 1918 flu epidemic, the younger sister of my great grandfather died from it then too, aged 4, it is the saddest death in my family tree, poor little mite.

T.

[Borlotti]

That is so terrible, but if the flu is going to be so bad what about the children.  I travelled on the tube to work until last year and now I am at home alone, just because I am 65 why do I need the flu jab.  If it is that dangerous I would rather my grandchildren had the protection.  I quite understand the very old, people with health problems, but it is nice of them to ask me, but 'am I bothered'.  Will probably live to regret my decision when I am ill in bed. I think it would be nice to have more information about which strain of flu is around and the side affects of the jab (if any).

[Kea]

Side affects .....I had mine on Tuesday, my arm is swollen up around it and very sore and on Wednesday we had a beautiful day and i was planning to plant my garlic etc but I was too ill. I had a temperature and a migraine, I don't think the migraine was a direct result of the flu jab but the pain woke me up everytime I turned onto the affected arm so the tiredness probably caused it.

I've never had a side affect before, also never felt the injection before but the nurse i got was the really grumpy one who doesn't have the right people skills for a nurse and she chucked it at me like I was a dart board. She did the same to my son last week when he got his teenage booster shots but he didn't get such a sore arm.

Borlotti, I understand what you're saying but just think how your grandchildren would feel if you got a really serious flu and they lost you.

Interestingly in the 1918 flu pandemic it was the fit young or middle-aged that got hit the worst and were often the ones that died.

I found the story of Kirsty's great uncle very sad, he had survived years of terrible war and was going home for Christmas but then died of the flu...how cruel is that!

[shirlton]

Tone and I have it every year. I had the pneumonia too last year cos of me COPD (from smokin) Felt a bit rough after that one but have never felt bad after just the flu jab. Remember having the Asian Flu when I was in my teens ( and yes I can remember that far back) I never want to feel that bad again

[Carol]

I see and speak to a lot of people in our village, mostly over 60 and who have all had the flu jab.  Not one complained of side effects.  Only one had a tender arm the next day.  I have never had flu'  (touch wood)  although the way this year has gone with me healthwise who knows what next I could take before 2008 ends.  I would certainly take the flu jab this year.......  if I had been offered one but  ;) not quite  ::)

[Paulines7]

Carol

Pleased to see you haven't left us.

I am sorry to hear that you have had bad health this year.  With this in mind you may be able to get the jab from your doctor's surgery despite being under 65, so you could give them a ring to ask them. 

I hope you are feeling better soon.

[asbean]

I think I must be immune.  I had Asian flu - yes, I was around then too - and then had "normal" flu in 1974 and again in 1999.  I remember having a flu jab at some time or the other, but certainly not in the last 30 years. 

Think I'll take my chances and not have the jab, I'm pretty robust, don't suffer from asthma or anything like that. It is better to let people who really need it and those who are elderly and frail.

[hellohelenhere]

I get offered the jab too, because of asthma, but have decided against it. It can make you briefly ill - although the virus is dead, your body can still react to it, there are substantial parts of the virus there. It's a kind of mini-flu. I felt pretty horrible for a few days last time I had it and decided against the gamble in the long run.
Because it *is* a gamble; every year, the pharmacists have to make a guess as to which of many potential strains could be the one to cause a pandemic this winter. They can only vaccinate against one strain - so if it's another one that hits, it won't help you. It won't help against bird flu, either - that one is a H5 N1 virus which you definitely won't be getting a vaccine for. Those aren't normally a human flu-type, and so the vaccine would have to be very specifically tailored. (They're working on it!)

The 1918 virus is thought to have evolved in the trenches of the war, and may for that reason have been especially adept at infecting young, fit people rather than the old, young, and weak that usually fall prey - because of the environment it adapted to. Most flu will follow the more traditional pattern, but I still reckon that the flu jab is more of a psychological prop than anything, and can't be bothered with it myself. And yes, I *have* had real flu, in the early 90s. I just don't like to trouble my immune system with a vaccine that is most probably irrelevant...

[hellohelenhere]

Actually (while on my flu hobby horse, haha!) the one thing that would really help to keep it in check would be if people would blimmin' stay at home when they're sick! It was one thing that I really hated about working in an office, that we were pressured so much not to take any time off sick. Great idea - bring it in for everyone to share!  >:(

Staying at home (if everyone does it) obliges the disease to evolve into milder forms, as it depends most on those that are infected but mobile, in order to be transmitted. If we drag ourselves on in spite of it, we just allow the virus to be more aggressive and virulent.

There are other disease strategies, before you point out that people with cholera or typhoid tend to stay at home - but those diseases are spread by a different method - not by proximity and contact, but by getting into the water supply (by all horrid means possible.) Sorry if I'm boring (or disgusting!) anyone - have stumbled onto one of my soap-boxes, oops! :D

[hellohelenhere]

... but having said all that - I have no argument with anyone who decides to have the vaccine. Particularly if your experience of it is good, and it has kept you well. If the gamble pays off then of course it's well worth doing! I may decide differently myself, in future years.