Pros and cons of the flu shot

Ema of 5

Mon, Oct 15 2018, 11:34 am

southernbubby wrote:

Once the virus is in the body it can overwhelm the body very quickly chas v'sholem, even of healthy people. The lungs fill up very quickly which is pneumonia so I don't think that the numbers are inflated. Of course there are people who are sick with something else already and the flu is just one thing too many but there are lots of stories about people who were in the best of health who died of the flu.

Once a person has the flu, their immune system is compromised, so it’s easier for complications to arise. But those complications are generally what kills the person, not the flu itself. People DO die from the flu, but I’m thinking more people die from complications due to their weakened immune system. A healthy person can get pneumonia just like a sick person, but if they die from it, they died from hay, not from the flu.

sky

Mon, Oct 15 2018, 11:36 am

1. If you get the flu right after the shot how do you know it is from the shot? My son once got the flu 2 days after the shot. He caught it from some one.

2. Part of the shots affectivness is not ending up in the hospital, death, or permanent heart or lung damage. People who get the shot can still get the flu.

3. Kids who get the shot and take tamiflu immediately typically recover faster and with less risks then other kids.

4. You can get the flu more then once as there are different strains.

(Unfortanetly my insurance only covers it once per person and with a high co pay. When I was pregnant last year and took it when each of my kids were sick I paid a ton for each prescription. Tamiflu cost me a small fortune)

amother

Coral

Mon, Oct 15 2018, 11:41 am

eema of 3 wrote:

The first child who died from the flu this year was a healthy child from Florida.

The frum little girl who died last year in Lakewood was otherwise healthy.

Complications from the flu kill many healthy children. There were many stories last year.

amother

Copper

Mon, Oct 15 2018, 11:46 am

flowerpower wrote:

If you are anti-vaccine and want to brainwash everyone here then take your agenda to the natural parenting board. Thanks!

I am not anti-vaccine and I don't have an agenda. I am actually on the fence right now about the flu shot.

But I AM against people saying that there are no side effects to the flu vaccine, because there are. Obviously it's less dangerous, generally, then getting the flu itself. But then, my kids rarely get the flu... hopefully this year they won't either.

Here is the CDC's list of serious side effects:

"There may be a small increased risk of Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS) after inactivated flu vaccine. This risk has been estimated at 1 or 2 additional cases per million people vaccinated. This is much lower than the risk of severe complications from flu, which can be prevented by flu vaccine.
Young children who get the flu shot along with pneumococcal vaccine (PCV13), and/or DTaP vaccine at the same time might be slightly more likely to have a seizure caused by fever. Ask your doctor for more information. Tell your doctor if a child who is getting flu vaccine has ever had a seizure."

The CDC says the risk is 1 or 2 additional cases, there is much anecdotal evidence to claim that the actual numbers are much, much higher. Also, read the second paragraph.

I am on the fence right now about the flu vaccine. I have never given it yet to any of my children, and b'h never had any problems. But last year's statistics scared me.

FranticFrummie

Mon, Oct 15 2018, 11:50 am

I am so conflicted on this! I am not anti-vax, by any means, but I am pro-information.

I'm over 50, and have a weak immune system. My doctor says I need the shot. Every time I get the shot, I get the flu. The doctor says that it's a coincidence, and that it's not connected. Every single time? Others say that the flu gives you the flu is an urban legend.

When I do get sick, it's like a cascade effect. The last time I got the flu, it turned into a secondary bacterial infection, then a full blown drug resistant sinus infection, then bronchitis, and then pneumonia. I was sick for a total of 8 solid months. That's the year I didn't get the shot.

This year? I don't know. I could get the shot, and just plan in my schedule to be sick for a few weeks, just in case. Ugh!

DD is as healthy as a horse, B'H. When she gets the flu or a cold, she's only sick for 3 days, maximum. But they are saying that the healthiest people are the ones who have the strongest reaction to several strains of flu, because the immune system over reacts and causes multiple organ failure.

Scratching Head

amother

Tan

Mon, Oct 15 2018, 1:02 pm

I have mixed feelings towards the flu vaccine. Personally last year I myself got the flu shot in my ninth month as my midwife recommended it saying it would protect my baby as well for the first few months. My two other children came down with the flu when my baby was two months old but my baby and I b"H didn't catch it from them.

I did however once have a very negative reaction to the flu shot which made me not take it for the next few years. Since I haven't had it again and had a great experience recently I think I might vaccinate myself and my children this year. I'll ask our pediatrician what he thinks; I believe he does recommend it.

Fox

Mon, Oct 15 2018, 1:12 pm

Don't get flu shots because of how sick you've determined you or your kids are likely to be. Yes, healthy kids die from flu and its complications, but a relatively low number.

Instead, get flu shots for all the people your kids and family members come in contact with. Because many of those people die from flu and its complications in much, much higher numbers.

The school secretary whose elderly father lives with her.

The cashier who helps takes care of her sister, who is a transplant patient.

The co-worker who is meeting her brother, who is HIV+, for lunch today.

The playmate next door, whose mother is an active Bikur Cholim volunteer.

The receptionist whose child has a trach.

Flu is highly virulent. You can pass it along before you feel the symptoms yourself. You may not even recognize that you have the flu until a day or two into the illness.

Getting a flu shot to make the disease less virulent isn't just about your own health and well-being. It's about the health and well-being of everyone you come in to contact with before you realize you're sick. If you want to do chesed for the sick, elderly, or those with vulnerable heath, a flu shot is one of the easiest things to do and one of the most valuable.

cbsp

Mon, Oct 15 2018, 2:10 pm

I found these pages from CHoP (Children's Hospital of Philadelphia) to be informative:

https://www.chop.edu/news/feat.....-love
(links on the bottom of the page with resources and explanations about the flu vaccine)

https://www.chop.edu/centers-p.....uenza
(interview with a child of a survivor of the 1918 influenza pandemic)

Ema of 5

Mon, Oct 15 2018, 3:08 pm

amother wrote:

The nerve of u!!! Exploding anger

I lost my five year old niece last year to the flu and u tell me it was probably something else... U have such chutzpah! If u r anti flu shot please keep ur kids home thank you! My niece got it from someone in daycare who doesn't vaccinate and my sil had given half her kids the flu shot but not this niece yet.... And it hit her so hard, within 24 hours of getting sick her body went into septic shock and she was nifter a day later. So watch what u say and keep ur brilliant advice to yourself! Exploding anger

I’m sorry for your loss :-( I’m going to assume that your sharp response and your direct attack on me are because you are in pain.
However, we are having a discussion, which means there will be people who think differently than you, and even disagree with you. That doesn’t mean they should stay quiet.
I would also like to point out that at no point did I give advice. I am just stating my stance. If I WERE to give advice, it would be discuss it with your own pediatrician. As with many other things, what my ped says may differ from what your ped says, and your ped maybeven day two different things to two different patients, depending on their circumstances.
If you feel the need to attack me again, please do so with your own screen name.

southernbubby

Mon, Oct 15 2018, 3:14 pm

https://www.livescience.com/61......html

MORE
Partner Series
How Do You Die from the Flu?
The influenza virus
Credit: CDC/ Dr. Michael Shaw; Doug Jordan, M.A.
This year's flu season is off to a killer start — literally. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that rates of hospitalizations and deaths from the virus are higher than what's typically expected for this time of year.

But how does a person die from the flu?

The influenza virus can kill a person in several different ways, Live Science reported in 2016.

For instance, the virus can directly cause death, Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in Baltimore, told Live Science in 2016. This occurs when the flu virus causes such overwhelming inflammation in a person's lungs that they die due to respiratory failure. Severe damage to the lungs makes it impossible for enough oxygen to pass through the lung tissue into the blood, leading to death. [Flu Shot Facts & Side Effects (Updated for 2017-2018)]

amother

Violet

Mon, Oct 15 2018, 4:22 pm

Just started reading this thread and it seems that OP is a troll.

amother Ginger OP wrote:

Dont get the flu shot. There I said it.

And then her next post after a couple of replies:

amother Ginger OP wrote:

I'm a nurse. I personally watched children die from a preventable disease. Not one person who got the flu shot died from the flu.

amother

Babyblue

Mon, Oct 15 2018, 5:41 pm

20.000 nurses refuse the flu-shot https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1c1akKIPuI

partial list of risks https://www.fda.gov/downloads/.....7.pdf

Flushot is major cause of kidney failure

Vit D protects against all strains https://news.harvard.edu/gazet.....-flu/

amother

Silver

Mon, Oct 15 2018, 5:51 pm

I've gotten the flu shot for the past twenty five years and bh have never had the flu. I sit all day in a busy doctors office, where I get coughed and sneezed on by a lot of people that have the flu.
We always say.... the patients that are sick with flu are the first ones clamoring for the flu shot the following year. You're all making a huge mistake when you take responsibility for you or your child not getting the shot.

amother

Copper

Mon, Oct 15 2018, 6:31 pm

amother wrote:

Well guess what? Yours is a case study of one. And I had the exact opposite experience. The only two times dh got the flu were the two years that he got the flu shot. Coincidence? Just as much as your experience is a coincidence.