LooseSuits

Yes, I am. Not specifically for me (because I rarely get the flu), but because I've got a toddler, and my mom doesn't have the greatest of health. Lowering the chances of me becoming a flu-link to them is a good idea.

And anyway - I'm reading The Stand right now. You bet your ass I'm getting a flu shot!

I got mine at work a couple of weeks ago. Last year I just shook my arm a couple of times and forgot about it, but this time I was achy for a couple of days. I'd prefer that over feeling like I've been run over by a car so I say bring on the needle.

I've been put in hospital more than once thanks to flu so yep getting one over here. I get about a day to 2 days sickness from it usually - sort of like having flu in a few hours / day at worst and nothing compared to what happens if I get proper flu. It's kept me out of the hospital for the last year's bout and even when I did get flu (not all flus are covered as they 'guess' the ones that will come) I have managed to recover enough and not get in the situations I did before. I'm an asthmatic and for me it's something I will always get every year, I take flu very seriously thanks to what it's done to me.

I've never had a flu-shot, and don't really intend to ever have one until I get old and unfirm.

But I'm crazy, I avoid most drugs as often as I can. I do take antibiotics if I have strep or an infection that lasts more than a day, and I'll take anti inflamatories if I pull or strain something, but that's it.

I only ever seem to get man-flu (and not the strains the vaccinate against) so I don't really see the point. I may one day.

I'm also with Ozone in that I'll avoid most meds until I need them (save the odd painkiller).

What is the man-flu, Oli?

Should I be offended the woman-flu has never found me ... "appetizing?"

Man flu is when you take to your deathbed when you get the sniffles and make the woman in your life take care of you.

Oh. Right.

There, there, Oli.

I just got over a bout of man flu, so I won't be. Nor do I ever. Meds are a cure rather than a preventative for me. To be perfectly honest, I wasn't aware such a thing (a flu shot) existed.

Estarla, man flu is the male version of a cold or the flu. It started off as just a little gentle ribbing from women, who frequently claim that men are pathetic when ill. But it got a little traction a year or so ago when Nuts magazine (a men's magazine in the UK) ran a poll on their website to find out if men really do suffer more when ill.

They claimed their findings proved man flu really existed, and was "potentially catastrophic" for men. The reality, of course, was that a men's magazine ran a thoroughly unscientific survey and reported the findings as fact. Then there was a load of hoohah because certain news outlets ran it as fact, causing all sorts of people to get up in arms.

There's your brief history of man flu.

I almost don't dare to say this.... but I've never had the flu (but I'm sure going to get it now! *giggles*).

Here in Sweden they recommend it especially for kids, aged or weak people. It's not that common that healthy people takes flu shots. Though I suspect it to increase in the future.

I've not persisted about it, just for that reason that one can get ill after the shot. It doesn't feel good, but I guess it's a small price to pay to not get the flu real badly....

No, I prefer to develop my own immunities if possible. I'm healthy so I don't feel I need it.

Here in Sweden they recommend it especially for kids, aged or weak people. It's not that common that healthy people takes flu shots.

Same here.

No, I prefer to develop my own immunities if possible. I'm healthy so I don't feel I need it.

Unfortunately for the people that do catch a strain of flu, the body just can't deal with it fast enough.

The virus mutates so fast that each year the main strains doing the rounds are usually different from the previous year. The only way you'll be immune from a flu is if you've had a significantly similar strain dealt with by your own immune system, be that from catching the full blown mother-virus or having a lab-modified version of the strain.

The vaccines have to provoke the immune system into a sufficient response or you won't have nearly enough antibodies. The idea is you teach the immune system and prepare a big enough "welcoming committee" for the real virus so when it enters your body they can bind to it and destroy it fast.

So it's a double-edged sword. If you need to guarantee your uptime or if you're in a high-risk area (meeting lots of people, regularly travelling on public transport, etc) a flu shot will probably be a worthwhile thing.

But remember that they only account for the three most likely strains, predicted months and months ahead of time. The strains you come into contact with in the wild may have mutated enough not to be detected by your fancy new antibodies, so it can be hit and miss.

Eeek. I need to stop myself before I go into biorants.

No, I never get a flu shot. I am highly allergic to egg white and will go into anaphylactic shock, with my air passages closing over, and the flu shots are made with egg white.

I had mine a few weeks ago. I'm diabetic and that means I get offered one free on the NHS. I have only had real flu once about 15 years ago and it put me out of action for over a week and was horrible, so the chance to avoid that is welcome for me.

I work for a company who has a ridiculous policy of giving staff a £500 bonus if they don't have any sick days during the year. On the face of it, that's a free £500 if you're not ill, but in practice it means that people who are ill come to work in order to not lose that £500, and I've been sat in rooms with people sneezing all over the place and once, there was even one of my colleagues being sick outside the office who had to be told to go home - I have no proof that the £500 was the motivation for that last example being at work though! So, it's nearly November, I've not been off sick at all this year so I'm 2 months away from the cash - that means everyone else who hasn't been off sick yet will most likely be at work with me whatever medical state they're in - so I need all the protection I can get!

publicenergy:

That reminds me of my high school's exam policy. If we missed fewer than three days a semester and got C's or better, we didn't have to take semester exams.

Of course that meant November through February the entire school was sick. It got to the point that a lot of teachers said "Look, I'll make the exam one question, multiple choice, open book if you just stay home when you're sick."

Often the only way to get rid of colds and flu is to get some rest so I think it's terrible to encourage folks to push their bodies and get others sick.

That does indeed sound like a stupid policy... Pay out £500 so people stay at work even when they're working to far less than capacity for longer than if they went home to get better and making other people ill at the same time.

Pay should be assessed by performance, not attendance.

I work in a hotel and am exposed to all kinds of people and I have never gotten a flu shot. I try to wash my hands as much as possible. In thirty years I can count on one hand the number of times I may have gotten the flu. I have never missed more than one consective day for illness, so no I am not getting a flu shot.
I agree going to work when you are really sick is detrimental to everyone around you. Sometimes we are encouraged to work when we are sick, as I am sure most people have been at some time or other.

I got it because it was free. If it wasn't, I wouldn't have bothered.

One time, I did get the flu and even my eyelashes hurt. I didn't have the energy to physically move one cell in one toenail. I also am in the risk group of folks my age with chronic medical conditions and working in settings very likely to have germs floating around. Even if it were free, would I get it? No. The medication I take now and side effects of it on a weekly basis would be severely compromised.

Publicenergy,

That is a crazy incentive. Especially considering that £500 is $1100 USD! I'd have thought lowering the incentive or even giving a 1-day grace period would have put people less at risk.

It's dreadful how severely the flu (or flu vaccination like LorriM) affects some of the responders in this thread. I really had no idea. And astounding that some, on the other hand, have never gotten sick (lifecruiser)!

I've already had one flu episode this season in mid-September, and it was pretty rough. I was flat on my back on the couch for five days, for the first time in about five years. Usually when I'm sick, I can at least tend to the house and meals, and sit at the computer, but not this time.

Despite that, no I'm not getting a flu shot. As others have said, I don't take many meds at all, and I tend to react badly to them when I do, showing many of the "unusual side effects" that they say don't affect many people. Since my kids aren't even in school anymore, and I work at home and don't spend bunches of time with other people, I'm not interested in a flu shot that would likely put me back on the couch for a couple more days. Never mind.