You can hide topics based on keywords. I don't remember the exact method; perhaps someone else will chime in.

This makes DU much more tolerable for me.

Auto-Trash by Keyword is under "My Account" at the top most DU pages, and then click the "Trash Can" tab.

It really makes the whole experience more reasonable.

It’s good to remind people to get their shot.

Fever so high I hallucinated. That was when I pooh-poohed flu shots as unnecessary. Never again.

I assume that was the nature of the op. There just haven’t been all that many old on the topic.

Let me follow up on your post. Not only does it count it is important. Last year I had planned on getting mine. The morning I was going to get it I was called to go on a business trip where I was going to be alone most of the time. I postponed getting the shot for just the reason you mentioned.

it slammed me hard, and I was YOUNG

I had been blase about flu shots but get them yearly now

Well, that's only half-true actually. I do get it for me.

I never thought it could get so bad. I was alone. Not good.

six years ago, and I was a healthy forty-something and not in any of the risky groups. You'd better damn well believe I get the flu shot every year no matter what, and no matter how bad any shit effects may be.

I have gotten them myself and probably will again this year.

To encourage others to get them. Why do you think so many are living longer? We exercise, get regular check ups, stay informed.

Both the Flu and Pneumonia are dangerous for us, especially as you grow older, and we all do, or we don’t.

And my post got yanked. Not long ago!!!

It takes 95% of the population's participation. There are way more than 5% that are exempt due to serious health reasons. 95% is impossible.

with even less percentages. And quite frankly, if I could waive my wand so you wouldn’t spread it I would wish a bad case of the flu on you and others that are discouraging flue vaccinations.
I get really tired of short sighted people that do harm.

know if there have been studies with those figures.

the 95% to acquire herd immunity is based on having an effective vaccine. The flu vaccine is not effective (since 2004, it has not been more than 60% effective). Last year it was 29% effective (and only 12% effective in my age range)

can’t protect from what it is not made for.

That's the reason flu vaccines aren't effective. It's an annual guessing game as to which variation wil roll around each year.

But creating herd immunity is cold, hard math. Math doesn't care why the vaccine isn't effective enough to create immunity in the recipients - only that it isn't.

So in terms of really effective vaccines, there is a much stronger argument for at least presumptively mandatory vaccination (or for the kind of arm-twisting that goes on annually for the flu vaccine) - because it really is possible to create herd immunity and any signifcant failure to vaccinate could blow it out of the water.

Get enough over the years, and you probably have a reasonable immunity to most strains. Years ago, the H1N1 strain was prevalent and the flu shot missed it completely. However, two years prior it was an excellent match. Those who had gotten THAT shot faired very well.

sufficiently to acquire immunity, also fared well. Which may partially eplain why I've had the flu only twice in the last 16 years.

And - you don't necessarily get any protection. In my age range (>50), the vaccine offered no advantage over bot being vaccinated for the second half of the season.

It's certainly a reasonable choice to get the flu shot every year.

I'm just annoyed with turning a personal choice into a shame campaign every year, under the pretext that creatiing herd immunity is a public health issue - when, even under the best conditions - the low effectiveness of the vaccine makes it impossible to do (in the best year, it would require 111% of the population to be immunized; last year it would have required about 230% - both of which are obviously impossible to attain)

When someone makes a bold statement like this, it is actually essential that the appropriate scientific evidence or link is provided.

Herd immunity is a thing. It is variable based on population, virility, transmission mechanisms, etc.

No one can just make a blanket statement on this subject. However, in general, and when in doubt, we should all favour getting vaccines, shots, immunisations, etc. If not for ourselves, then for the benefit of our neighbours and their/our children.

Nearly all horrific childhood diseases have been eradicated, and now people have no reference.

Just look up polio FFS.

This entire topic really make me angry.

I’ll stop typing now so that I can avoid creating an internet situation bigger than the one I’m typing about.

Do they disturb you in some way?

be posted under Health rather than GD,which makes sense.

every year. It transcends a simple health issue, and becomes major news each year. So, it goes in GD, and always has.

I don't actually think that's the OP's issue about threads on it, though.

almost died of the flu last year...missed 4 months work....only 35 years old.

Every year these posts fill the forum

Six of one, half a dozen of the other... and each as without merit as the other.

Oh, and before I forget to post it, I got my annual flu-shot last week and giggled during the procedure thinking about the flat-earthers who think flu shots cause autism (an MIT Venn diagram distributed last year bears it out).

DD

I still have patients coming in to the clinic declining the flu immunization. I usually manage to convince them to get it, (I'm 3 for 3 just today), but there are still those out there coasting on a raft of misinformation regarding immunizations.

I'm going to continue to get the correct information out there.

You are welcome to delete my threads when you see them.

...with rationale, “We never get the shots, and we’ve been fine.”

Because I must always be polite in my job, I could not say to her, “Past success is no predictor of future success.”

...made of rubber?" when a parent tells me their kid doesn't need to wear a bike helmet because, "He only rides on the driveway."

I almost never start posts but now I’m tempted to tell the stories of my immunosuppressed patients who have died from the flu

For most healthy people a case of the flu is just inconvenient and requires a week or so of rest. They don't have the secondary infections and other issues some people have if they get it.

So, a lot of people just say, "What's the big deal about the flu." Maybe they should know more about just how serious the flu can be.

occur again, actually. Even though we are much better in dealing with the kind of complications that killed those people now, thousands still die each year after contracting influenza. Most people do not, in a typical year, though, so we tend to poo-poo the risks.

Any year, though, a novel mutation in the flu virus could make it far more lethal. We aren't very good at predicting that.

Got mine last week along with a pneumonia shot! Had the flu about ten years ago. Would not want to get that again. P.S. Stay away from crowds!

Flu shots are very important.

risk these complications, can rapidly incur them, rapidly decline.

On backorder, as is the Shingrix vaccine.

And do they give the senior one to people who are dealing with problems that make them vulnerable,like diabeties?

I'm not sure about other vulnerabilities.

A woman said she was 56 on the waiting list for shingles.

...did you get your flu shot?

It's really important that you do, you know.

Click the "Trash Can" tab on the resulting page. Type "flu' into the box below and hit the "Trash It" button.

When flu season is over, you can go back in and remove the word from your trashed keyword list.

People don’t need reminders. They know what season it is. They know what flu is. They know vaccine is available.

Unless a person is anti-vaxx, or they have a condition that makes a shot risky, or they’re so broke it’s not possible, chances are they’re getting a shot if they haven’t already.

If they’re anti-vaxx, YOU ARE NOT GOING TO CHANGE THEIR MIND BY NAGGING. They aren’t getting a shot.

So please stop posting about getting flu shots. The OP is right. You’re being annoying, not helpful.

I've had patients decline the flu vaccine, only to consent once I strongly advised them to.

Whatever sort of misinformation they had latched onto, they obviously weren't terribly committed to it. For some people, refusing is just reflexive. It's the medical provider's job to address their objections head-on.

I credit non-smokers with helping me quit - I got tired of them nagging me

It informs me when I read their non vaccination post.

i'll post my flu shot story later today. thanks for the reminder.

If you don’t want to think about them, let alone get one, just trash the thread. You do you, I got my shot last week.

Don't be a anti-vax ninny-muggin!

While we are at it... the earth is round!!

next week going to get both flu and shingles shots.

and Shingrix shot, to allow the Shingrix shot the best outcome. The Shingrix shot can have quite a bit of side effects, too.

...the flu shot, not so much.

I’m still glad I got it...I’ve already had shingles twice.

with none.

My former Doctor refused to give me one, saying half the people got shingles.

But They are painful.

It’s from a non-living virus.

This was a few years ago. I am going to ask my young Doctor next time I see him. I firmly believe in prevention.

Several friends have had shingles. They are terrible and in some cases long lasting.

He may have been thinking of the first shingles vaccination.
Even mild cases can be painful.

1. Zostavax is the original shingles vaccination and is made from a live virus. It is approximately 50%-ish effective, and from anecdotal evidence seems to have a higher rate of side effects;

2. Shingrix (recombinant zoster vaccine (non-live virus)) is the preferred vaccine, recently developed in Australia and is approximately 90%-ish effective.

I had chickenpox when I was a kid, but have not ***KNOCK on wood*** had shingles. I have several friends and family members that have had shingles and noted the absolute misery they were in.

https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/prevention-15/vaccines/shingles-vaccine-basics

It's the better of the two available, but you have to ask for it. Also, it's a two-part vax. You do the first one and then the other several months later.

receiver and a flu shot non-getter, I would suggest not getting them at the same time. Especially if it’s the second Shingrix. You may wish you had risked the flu.

needling you?

I did not die but I sure wanted to. It was the worst most painful flu I ever had and I had the flu a few times as a kid and adult.

Better to get vaccinated then to go through that.

So it is important to keep up.

I only know one person who contracted Guillen-Barre Syndrome from the flu shot. And he was a senior citizen, so perhaps didn't have the best immune system to begin with.

Everyone else I know had no ill effects, other than possibly much milder flu symptoms rather than the full-blown disease, which I guess is a known thing.

So whoever is comfortable with the flu shot should get it! Haven't heard any stats on the efficacy this year, or if they hit the right strain.

STOP IT!

I am healthy, 62 years old and haven't had the flu on 40 years. The flu is easy to deal with if you don't have other medical conditions. I see long lines at all the pharmacies full of chronically ill people that not only follow their doctors advice, taking a handful of pills daily, but they are enticed to ask the doc if they can get certain meds they see on the TV! Should be illegal, Wait... They even have services you can join that will bundle your pills into individual twice daily packets. Most clinics now limit doctors to about 10 minutes per patient, which is just long enough to write a prescription. Greed $$$! Big pharma is killing us. When you get sicker from cure there is something wrong.

You have been lucky to have good health, but please don’t paint the health industry in such black and white terms. Most docs I know hate the profit aspect of the insurance and pharmaceutical industries, but that is because Republicans refuse to regulate. But there are tons of people with chronic medical conditions that require medications that you would imply are either unnecessary or overprescribed. Sometimes that is the case, but that’s like the welfare queen argument, i.e. all those obese people on food stamps buying chips, as if that’s the norm. You see what you think you’re seeing until you realize it’s not the case.

If you don’t like the post, you don’t have to open it. If you care so little about other people getting seriously ill, that’s on you. The posts you’re telling people not to make benefit others and hurt no one. Get over yourself.

except when it’s not, and people die.

And even if it is “easy to deal with” it’s entirely unnecessary to deal with it — get a jab and increase your chances of dodging it (and if you do get the flu after a vaccine it’s usually much less severe.) It’s isn’t as if it’s a hugely expensive or complex procedure.

I’m not gonna lie, I usually skip the shot because I’m terribly afraid of needles (pathetic, I know) but I would never counsel anyone to avoid doing it, let alone go on some long-winded, paint-by-numbers, anti-pharma bingo, heard it a billion times rant about how we all see the doctor too much and Big Pharma is a scam yadda-yadda-yadda.

Modern medicine is a net boon. Modern pharmacology is a net boon. Any liberal too dumb to understand something that basic doesn’t deserve the name.

The whole only the weak die thing is bullshit.

A bad flu kills by triggering off massive immune response basically killing the patient from the response itself.

In a normal year the weak do die at a higher rate. But are you sure this will be a normal year?

Anyone here ambivalent about the flu vaccine...please read the book ‘The Great Influenza’.

About the 1917-19 Spanish influenza. Which most scientists think jumped from chickens to humans in the US Midwest!

I will happen again. Any leg up we can give our population against something like that is crazy to pass up. Even with modern medicine it would be just about as deadly. Many people who died from it would need to be quickly placed in a trauma unit to survive. We don’t have 3 million trauma unit beds in this country. Not even close.

Even a little bit of protection would help a lot

My grandfather was a mortician, caught the flu while embalming dead soldiers about 90 miles northwest of Chicago. My grandmother was left with three young boys

And BTW, those people taking handfuls of pills daily have multiple co-morbidities that are often the result of not listening to their medical providers; eat less, drink less alcohol, exercise more, don't smoke, avoid street drugs.

In my practice, I treat with as few medications as possible, at the lowest effective dose. And any chronic illness that can be treated conservatively, with diet & exercise alone, I make it a goal for my patients to shoot for, discarding medications one by one until they can treat their illness without them. We're not drug-pushers. We try to be illness-preventers. And that's where immunizations come in. So the more people who get vaccinated, the fewer people you will see at the pharmacy, trying to get some supportive and symptomatic relief from illnesses that could have been prevented.

So, yes; you struck a nerve. That's what you were going for, right? Good for you. If you put that determination to work for you, you may end up doing something more worthwhile with your time.

And Insurance companies now have wellness programs. You should see the people at the Y every morning, both on machines and the pools. Therapy and regular.

They even visit you to check. Many are offended by this, but not me. The reason for the home visit is to check on both you and your living conditions. Suits me fine. I also take advice from my Doctors and do not lie to them.

Particularly the part about the thousands of deaths each year and how otherwise healthy people can die from it.

Other than that, the rest of your post is...well, no, it's actually not much better.

people need to be aware of the importance of flu shots

along with about 40+ parents and some 150 kids at a school flu shot drive. Everyone is just fine. I haven't had the flu in almost 50 years

That reminds me... I think I'll start an OP about getting a flu shot!

Ended up in the hospital from the reaction. Nearly died. Never again.

Yeah, at the technology level we are at now a flu shot will not produce herd immunity like measles.

But the fewer people that get it because of the vaccine, well, the fewer people overall will get it.

In a normal year up to 80K people die from the flu. And when we get a bad one like 1918 that will be in the hundreds of thousands. If not more.

I have allergies off the chart. I nearly died. Will NEVER take that risk again.

For medical reasons.

When I get any vaccine I understand it is not just for me but for folks who can’t get vaccinated.

The less disease around the less chance someone like you who can’t be vaccinated is protected.

And often times folks who can’t get vaccinated are more at risk of death if they get sick. May not be true in your case, but people undergoing chemo or such are very much at risk. If I can help prevent the disease from spreading I figure I am helping them.

I got one last April. I got a temp job at a hospital finance dept and I had no choice to get it or not.

Got other vaccines also but don’t remember what they were

I’m guessing that was last year’s flu shot, since this year’s would cover different strains.

But I doubled down (quadrupled down?) and got the MMR while I was at it.

My daughter, who is in her 30s, looks forward to her flu shots because she considers them to be her little victory over the anti-vaxxers of the world.

Maybe I did something right with that girl!

LALALALALALALA!!!!!!111

And the Flu will go away.

I see what you did there. I would never have thought of posting something like that. Sure, your OP sounded peevish and whiny, but you knew that it would, in fact, help to raise awareness here at DU of the vital importance of getting a flu shot. Good on you!!

Getting back to flu shots, I will have one because I have an autoimmune disease and my system is suppressed as it is. Additionally, I take a medication for this disease that impacts the hemoglobin level. I've been some bad battles with anemia.