so what about this flu jab thing?

[BigonaBianchi]

The Gp keeps sending me texts to remind me about a flu jab.
I had one a few years ago and got the flu or similar.
I also had pneumonia two years ago which I got in the palliative care ward when my mother passed away.
So ..this year I'm tempted to leave the jab alone.
Any thoughts?

One risk factor I.have is that one lodger is a teacher..he's bound to introduce plague here at some point I would have thought due to the bugs that seem to surround kids in classrooms.

If you had the jab already did it give you symptoms?

I read the NHS direct site but for some weird reason o.trust the opinion of cyclists as well lol!

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

I've had it for a few years (because of renal problems I'm considered to be ''at risk'') with no side effects whatsoever. As well as forgetting what a bad dose of the flu is like, I also seem to get fewer colds than I used to.

 

[Sara_H]

I'm a nurse and I have it every year as we're encouraged to have it because they don't want the entire workforce going down with it.

I've never suffered anything more than pain at the injection site and a dead arm for a bit.

 

[compo]

I have had it for several years with no ill effects apart from a slight tenderness at the injection site for a few hours. I am having this years jab this coming Saturday.

 

[Puddles]

I had it last year for the first time, after I was very poorly sick and I am now on the "list" so I am going this year, I am not looking forward to it, last year the Doctor did it as he was most concerned I had it asap and just disappeared and came back and did it in the middle of a consult with me. This year I will be part of the cattle market I have seen up there on flu jab day with chaos and pandemonium and the long snaking queue. I have visions of a barrage of nurses coming along and jabbing you. Didn't have any side effects last year.

User76 is to have the flu nasal thing for the first time this year too, it is a new thing I think as Squidge did not have it.

 

[vernon]

Any slight discomfort caused by the flu jab pales into insignificance when compared with the misery caused by a full blown dose of influenza. I was bedridden for five days and then had a post viral episode that culminated in me being unable to walk back from the post office at the end of my street without three rest breaks. I was tentatively diagnosed with heart failure and underwent a year's worth of medical investigations that tested all of my vital organs.

It's not something that I would like to go through again and any measure that reduces the chances of me getting flu again is welcomed without reservation.

 

[Sara_H]

Any slight discomfort caused by the flu jab pales into insignificance when compared with the misery caused by a full blown dose of influenza. I was bedridden for five days and then had a post viral episode that culminated in me being unable to walk back from the post office at the end of my street without three rest breaks. I was tentatively diagnosed with heart failure and underwent a year's worth of medical investigations that tested all of my vital organs.

It's not something that I would like to go through again and any measure that reduces the chances of me getting flu again is welcomed without reservation.

Quite right Vernon, ask any ICU nurse if they have the flu jab. I've been involved in some real tragedies, that could so easily be prevented.

 

[London Female]

I seem to have missed the team going around the wards giving flu jabs to the nursing staff for the past three years. This year though I will be giving the jabs with another member of staff at the home I am now working at so will have no excuses not have it.

 

[Beebo]

I have a jab every year as I'm asthmatic. The waiting list is so long that my appointment is end of October. No side effects noted.
My old company used to offer all staff the flu jab, they seemed to think it was a good benefit for them and the staff.

 

[byegad]

Been getting mine for well over two decades, due to Asthma risk and being very ill with flu some 20 odd years ago that made the Asthma permanently worse. My wife has another lung issue and has the injection too. After she had Pneumonia, and nearly died, we had pneumonia shots too. No ill effects for either of us apart from a bit of a tender arm at the site of the injection for a day or so. The injection cannot give you flu as it is an inert vaccine, but it does take a few days to give you immunity, so you can have the injection and a few days later develop flu. But the jab is never the cause.

 

[MontyVeda]

never had it... I'd have to ask my mother if I've ever had the flu. I haven't even had a full blown cold since I can't remember... just get a bit bunged up once or twice a year.

 

[byegad]

If you had flu you'd not need to ask. Laid me low for a fortnight and left me worse off than before Asthma-wise. I spent a week hoping I'd be dead soon.

 

[hopless500]

I had the jab a few years back and didn't get flu. Not had the jab since and still haven't had flu, so I have no idea!

 

[ASC1951]

I have a jab every year as I'm asthmatic. ....No side effects noted..

Same here. What persuaded me was a bout of flu three years ago which had me bedridden for over a week - I shrugged those off in my youth, but not in ..er.. my early 60s. The jab seems to stop colds, too.
I don't think there is a downside, is there?

 

[numbnuts]

I've got emphysema and I have it every year mine on 5th October well worth having