Anyone get a flu shot but still got the flu?

This is an amusing thread. It certainly is a "hot button" issue for many. For me personally, I won't take the damn things (flu shots) as I feel they are dangerous,.

For what it is worth: when my wife and I didn't get our flu shots last year due to unusual circumstances, I got so ill that afterwards, some of my friends and my son told me they thought I was not going to make it, especially given I have but one lung. And my wife had even worse complications.

All possibly not a straight and direct effect of having missed the shot, but there was a causality involved, at the very least of a lowered immunity and resistance to ensuing infections.

This year I got my shot and so far so good.

I often wonder if there isn't an element of self-mesmerisation involved in some people's aversion to vaccinations. They are scared because they hear you get a reduced variation of the disease inoculated against and then develop symptoms in accordance. When I get a flu shot, I don't even feel the injection puncture by the time I am out of the doc's office. And never any symptoms ...

OK, there ARE more than just a couple of flu strains.

BUT It's 2 or 3, or occasionally 4 that do 99% of the damage worldwide.

The others affect relatively few people in a small area or oar not severe enough to do much damage.

Target those handful of strains with a vaccine and you can stop the ones that are likely to cause problem.

Also: there are dozens of things that can compromise a person's immune system. A flu shot can do nothing but tell your immune system "This CAN get you! You need to stop it!" If the immune system is not strong enough to get it stopped the flu shot won't work. It still comes down o that person's own body to block it, and attack it and not let it do any damage!

I get the shot 2 weeks before school starts. The incubation period is two weeks, so that when it spreads through the school system and next, the parents, I'm inoculated. During the incubation period, I will sometimes get flu like symptoms, but they go away in a day or so. I think many people get the shot too late and already in contact, get the shot but buy the time the incubation period has finished, they already have the flu and blame it on the shot.

The flu shot is not a 100% guarantee that you won't get the flu. It is to HELP prevent it. I got it for the first time last fall only because I was going to be spending a lot of time around a lot of people over the next couple of months with my job. The doctor told me that I could still get sick, but that the shot was supposed to make it less likely.

Dr. Put me on Vitamin D. Says its a cure all for colds, flu, and such. His idea was 50,000 units a week. His nurse decided to change it to 50,000 init a day. I don't know who to believe. Anyways no colds or flu here

In 2007 I got the flu shot, by needle injection, as it was offered free where I worked. About a month later, I was sicker than I had been in 7 years, shivering, chills, aches, in bed for almost four days. Then, the next year I got the nasal spray flu vaccine, and got sick almost as badly, again.

Haven't had a flu shot since, and haven't been sick like that again, either.

Not telling anyone else they shouldn't, but it didn't agree with me.

Took it in 2001, woke up the next day thinking I was dying. Had a major reaction plus the flu itself. Lesson learned haven't taking it since then. and haven't fell sick to flu since then.

The development of a finished flu vaccine is truly the best of the best guesses. You may start out with one strain only to have it fizzle out in trails and replaced by strain(s) that are brand new. If I remember correctly, the current dose is estimated at being only 43% effective. Believe me, CDC really tries to hit the nail on the head but the nail disappears and then re-appears as another strain. My own personal view is that I get a flu shot every year and hope that catches one or more strains.

First of all to the person that was told to take 50,000 IU/day of vit D??????? It's my personal medical opinion that taking amounts that high is to high. Levels like that will or can cause toxicity which could lead to some pretty serious real medical conditions. Do some research and see what you find. I can tell you that a good nurse would never over step a doctors order in front of the patient. When I question an order I do my research, I go to the doctor and ask him why he/she wrote the order that they did, then I tell them why I was asking. I basically use situations like this to educate myself as well as my patients. Yes, there have been exceptions to that. I have in my medical career dealt with one doctor who was a total asshole. He didn't like being questioned and would never explain himself ever. I got one order from him that had I not known the medication that I was to give and how it was dosed would have killed my patient. And who do you think would have lossed their license in that case? Me because I gave it and it is my legal responsibility to know what I am giving and everything about that medication.

Moving on and back to flu shots. I can't tell you how many times I have heard from people, "I got the flu shot and it gave me the flu". That is not true, it's a myth. The flu vac is not made with a live virus so it's impossible to get the flu from a flu shot. I have gotten the flu after I have been vaccinated more than a few times but it wasn't from the vac it self but because I work around sick people all day everyday and most people don't know how to wash their hands properly, or at all, don't cover their mouth when they cough, or wipe their eyes and then touch things.

Whoever said that the CDC or WHO does their best to guess what strain of flu will be ravaging us this year, it is their best educated guess. You have to remember that we have to add in the "human factor" which means that we are not perfect, we do make mistakes, we are human.

So please for you, your loved ones and the general public either learn to wash your hands correctly and often, get a flu shot, or become a hermit during the flu season so you don't become a petri dish of germs infecting the general public. PLEASE!

Mashie

Once I started working with kids and around sick people, I got the flu in 2012 and 2013. I have been getting a flu shot ever since then and haven't gotten the flu from 2014 on. Call it luck or whatever you'd like, but I'd like to think the flu shot has prevented, or at least helped prevent, me from contracting influenza.

The proper daily amount of Vitamin D to take is 2000 IU.

I practically never get a flu shot and never get the flu.

Flu shots apparently contribute to production of free radicals that have been known to lead to Alzheimer's. So if you should happen to notice a correlation between people who traditionally get flu shots & subsequently being diagnosed with Alzheimer's, well......

While flu shots may work as a successful remedy for a particular flu, flu shots in actuality are thought to be more about a lot of hype to trigger monetary gain.

By the way, I grab most door handles with either the end of my sleeve, the bottom of my shirt, and even my ID badge on the backside of the handle.

I understand that there is a correlation between certain medications/foods/activities and certain diseases/conditions/ailments. Ninety-nine percent of those who have broken a bone have eaten a sandwich....one hundred percent of those with hair loss have consumed dihydrogen monoxide (water). My point is, unless we live in a bubble, diseases and accidents will happen. It is up to the individual to make his or her own decisions about which choices to make regarding what goes in your body.

I didn't but my annual physical this year got postponed because my doctor, who always gets a flu shot and insists that her patients get one also, got the flu.

I was talking to a friend yesterday who has the flu, and the doctor took a culture and prescribed drugs for her and her elderly father as a precaution. The doctor told her the reason he is doing the culture is that there has been an abnormally high number of cases. Basically, outside the statistical norm and they want to find out what particular bug it is and whether it was missed when the yearly prediction on which strains they need to protect for.

I did, back in the beginning of March, 2017. Rectal temp of 102.4, at its highest. Despite the shot, I had a strain of flu that had apparently mutated. Nine days of bottoms up for the old thermometer- UGH!!!

It won't stop all flu viruses and the level of protection may vary between people, so it's not a 100% guarantee that you'll be flu-free, but if you do get flu after vaccination it's likely to be milder and shorter-lived than it would otherwise have been.

Each year, the viruses that are most likely to cause flu are identified in advance and vaccines are made to match them as closely as possible. The vaccines are recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Most injected flu vaccines protect against three types of flu virus:

A/H1N1 – the strain of flu that caused the swine flu pandemic in 2009

A/H3N2 – a strain of flu that mainly affects the elderly and people with risk factors like a long term health condition. In 2016/17 the vaccine will contain an A/Hong Kong/4801/2014 H3N2-like virus

Influenza B - a strain of flu that particularly affects children. In 2016/17 the vaccine will contain B/Brisbane/60/2008-like virus

My younger sister did last winter. She isn't getting the flu shot ever again!

I have had years when I had the shot and did get the flu. Most years I have gotten neither the shot nor the flu.

Last fall I got the shot and had an immediate reaction (two hours later) and had a fever of 104 F for two days. Did not have the flu this year though.

As to the story that if you have the shot and still get the flu, "it will be milder and shorter" I find that there is no evidence that it is true, Anyone with any real data on this, please identify that study for me.

I've been fortunate. I get a flu shot every year and so far haven't had the flu for many years. Of course I'll get it next year for bragging here.

Have taken the flu shot for many years and never gotten the flu. However, this year my luck ran out. Despite having taken the shot I managed to come down with the flu. Doctor did say it was a much milder case thanks to having be vaccinated. Doctor also said that this past year's vaccine did not seem to do a good job against the strain of the flu that was going around.

A few years ago I received an annual flu shot. Shortly after I came down with initially what I thought was flu, but wound up being double pneumonia.

In answer to Trucker's post:

Influenza vaccine, while not 100% effective, may reduce the severity of flu symptoms

Embargoed Until: August 26, 2015, 12:30 pm EDT

Annual vaccination remains the best strategy for the prevention of influenza and its complications. It is recognized that influenza vaccines are moderately (~60%) effective against disease, meaning that receipt of influenza vaccine reduces by approximately 60% a person’s risk of developing an influenza-associated illness that would require a visit to the doctor. Individuals who have been recently vaccinated may still get infected with influenza (“vaccine failure”). Among these individuals, it is not known whether recent vaccination can attenuate the course of illness, that is, lessen the severity and/or duration of symptoms associated with influenza.

A study led by the Infectious Disease Clinical Research Program (IDCRP), Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland, examined the association between recent receipt of influenza vaccine and symptom severity among so-called vaccine failures.

Of the 155 participants, 72% had recently received influenza vaccine. When all cases of influenza were analyzed, there were no differences between vaccinated and unvaccinated participants with respect to symptom severity at the baseline visit. However, among patients whose illness was caused by a specific influenza subtype (i.e. A/H3N2), the severity of upper and lower respiratory symptoms, and systemic symptoms (e.g. chills, muscle aches, etc.), was significantly lower among those who had recently received influenza vaccine as compared to those who had not. The overall symptom score was also lower among vaccinated individuals. Moreover, the differences in symptom severity persisted for the 7-day observation period. No such differences were observed for participants with influenza A/H1N1 or B infection.

The findings of this study suggest that annual receipt of influenza vaccine, while not 100% effective in preventing disease, may be of some benefit by lessening the severity of symptoms among those who do get influenza. This study was conducted among young, otherwise healthy active duty military personnel and beneficiaries, and it is not known whether these findings would be consistent among individuals who are known to be at high-risk for complications due to influenza infection (e.g. pregnant women, elderly persons, and persons with underlying medical conditions).

These results were presented at the International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases, held in Atlanta, GA, from August 24-26, 2015.

Disease Clinical Research Program (IDCRP), Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland

Corresponding Author: Eugene Millar

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I've only had the flu shot twice and both times I had a reaction. Never got the flu but did get hives and a swollen throat and a migraine. Never again! Lol

The first time I got the influenza shot I just had hives, only on the arm I had the injection in. That was about 10 years ago. I decided to leave it alone. Fast forward to 5 years ago and I thought, "hmmmm maybe I didn't really have a reaction, I'll try again." Yeah, bad idea. Hives, migraine, throat tried to swell shut. Earned me an overnight stay in the ED. Yay me!

So needless to say, although I've never gotten the flu after the influenza injection, I'll not be getting it again!

Flu shots are the biggest lie on the planet

I don't get them and never get the flu

To REDinbed:

Sounds as if you have an egg allergy. They use eggs as the incubator for the virus used to make the shot an on killed virus are used to make the vaccine.

Rob

@admcnabb

Thought that at first, but nope. I was tested. Guess I'm allergic to the false pretense of hope the influenza shot provides lol 😉

Red

I have never got a flu shot ever and have never caught the flu ever...heard so many negative things about them so just never got one!. Guess I'm super luckly and hardly ever get sick so that might help or may not be a faction at all...who knows.

A woman back in 2019 got the flu shot in November, then contracted the flu in March of the next year. She was soon diagnosed with bacterial pneumonia, and then a septic infection. Spread throughout her body and ultimately having her arms and hands amputated to stop the spread of the infection. Was this a complication from the flu or something else? Maybe a doc here can add to that.

https://www.foxnews.com/health/ohio-woman-lost-four-limbs-flu-complications-speaks-raise-awareness

The flu shot isn’t a guarantee, but I still get it every year and so far haven’t got it. For us, it’s simply risk reduction. This, obviously is an extreme case and I suspect there were other factors and shouldn’t be a reason not to vaccinate.

Was this a complication from the flu or something else? Maybe a doc here can add to that.

https://www.foxnews.com/health/ohio-woman-lost-four-limbs-flu-complications-speaks-raise-awareness

I am not a Dr, however I very much doubt a bacterial infection would be a result of a virus. Media do like to sensationalise stories unfortunately.

I was 13/14 when I learned not to trust everything that is printed in a daily paper, when a boy of my class died, the paper's article had more inaccuracies than truth in an article that took up a quarter of the page.

I am not a Dr, however I very much doubt a bacterial infection would be a result of a virus. Media do like to sensationalise stories unfortunately.

I was 13/14 when I learned not to trust everything that is printed in a daily paper, when a boy of my class died, the paper's article had more inaccuracies than truth in an article that took up a quarter of the page.

@Secret_sub That’s too often the case, and this news source has marginalized some vaccines.

I doubt the vacination - or the flu -caused the infection - something else most likely was going on with her immune system and maybe that’s why she got the flu. The article didn't attribute that the flu was the cause, only that she had the flu concurrent with the infection, and that she had been vaccinated. Whatever the cause, she was unfortunate.