Flu Anyone?

[phrog]

Just getting over the first flu I've had in about 10 years. They tell me it was Influenza A. Worst flu I've ever had. Lasted about 2 weeks. Every time you think you're about over it, wham, it hits you again. Hope you'all are lucky and miss this one.

They say this year's flu vaccine was a failure and many people who have had the vaccine are getting this one.

[atgcpaul]

That sucks. Take care.

My coworker who refuses to get the flu shot (they were free at work) quickly pointed out that this year's shot probably won't help us this year.

No flu here, but whole family has been hit by some kind of cold bug. Cough, stuffy nose, runny nose. I was home with both kids yesterday and am back home with one of them today. Pretty mild for the adults but not the kids. Seems like whatever it is has made the rounds to everyone I know with kids. Now we're watching Frozen for the bazillionth time but maybe later she'll be OK to help me install some drawer slides in the kitchen.

[Stytooner]

Yes. We did get it and I am still getting over it. I didn't have the shot, but LOML did. Her case was just as bad as mine. I only had it hard for about 5 days. I still have lingering effects though. No fever. Just general blahs and stuffiness. Fatigue factoring into it well and is still lingering some. It has been about 15 years since I had the flu this bad. I do get annual severe colds and sometimes semi-annual.
Those are bad years.
I blame it ALL on the kids.

[JSUPreston]

Let me preface this by saying that every year I get the flu shot, I am sick all winter long. I've been told by nurses that I used to work with that some people just don't do well with the shot, and that I should just skip it. Not trying to start a debate on whether or not the shot is worth it. It just doesn't work for me.

SWMBO and both boys got the flu shot. Last month, older son starts with flu symptoms on Saturday night. He went to the pediatrician on Monday and got Tamiflu. Pediatrician wrote a script for our younger son. I started showing symptoms on Tuesday night (Veterans' Day) and got Tamiflu on Wed. Was out of work the rest of the week. SWMBO started with bronchitis (ain't nobody got time for dat) on Tuesday night and went to the doctor with me on Wed. morning. By that afternoon, she was showing symptoms and was called in some Tamiflu. By Thurs., younger son started with symptoms as well.

I recovered quicker than anyone else, even though I did not have the shot. That was a good thing, since I had to take care of everyone else.

The pediatrician that treated the boys couldn't explain why they got the flu. It wasn't until a couple of weeks later that it came out in the press that Flu A had mutated...of course this is the strain we all got.

I hate to hear that it hit you as hard as it did. At my house, everyone was pretty much back to normal (except for a nagging cough) by the next week.

[JSUPreston]

Yes. We did get it and I am still getting over it. I didn't have the shot, but LOML did. Her case was just as bad as mine. I only had it hard for about 5 days. I still have lingering effects though. No fever. Just general blahs and stuffiness. Fatigue factoring into it well and is still lingering some. It has been about 15 years since I had the flu this bad. I do get annual severe colds and sometimes semi-annual.
Those are bad years.
I blame it ALL on the kids.

I think the worst I've ever gotten it was in either '04 or '05. I wasn't showing the normal symptoms of the flu, so we were suspecting pneumonia. My temp got so high that I started having conversations with people that never existed.

[capncarl]

It is reported that 36,000 or 41,400 (pick one) people die in US with flu related illnesses. I've never know anyone that has died of this right off hand, but have known some that came to work with the flu that needed killing! We get the shot and maybe that is why it has been mild for us over the years.

[durango dude]

They say this year's flu vaccine was a failure and many people who have had the vaccine are getting this one.

Which is why I don't bother with flu vaccines. Epidemiologists are a little better than a dice roll ----- but they're just not that good. Microbiology remains more complex than most of us think.

I've been pretty lucky in the flu department --- the one year I got vaccinated, I caught the strand not covered ----- that was 3-4 years ago.

It helps that:
a) I'm in the relatively obscure town of Durango, and do not travel.
b) I'm obsessive about germs
c) I'm not very social, so the chances of my catching the flu is lower.

[Richard in Smithville]

Whether it's coincidence or not, but I haven't had the flu since I started getting vaccinated every year. Sure I get colds and such but nothing worse.

LOML and I both have underlying hereditary health issues that can be problematic should we get sick, not to mention that we need prescription drugs that won't interfere with our regular meds.

[TB Roye]

I get one every year but being retired we don't come in a lot contact with people like when we were working. I haven't really had the flu or a bad cold since quit smoking and retired. We take care of two of our grand kids and have managed to not catch their bugs. The get shots the same day we do.


Tom

[tfischer]

Not sure if it was officially "the flu" but we had something hit our house that took over a week each to get rid of. Both my boys missed multiple days of school and repeatedly vomited and had diarrhea. I myself just felt really run down most the time, with some stomach discomfort, peaking one day when I swore I was going to wake up in the middle of the night and have to vomit... but instead it just sat there, gnawing at me, and I missed the entire next day of work, mostly sleeping.

I think we're over the hump now and nearly back to 100%

All of us had the flu vaccine also.

[JoeyGee]

No flu shots in our house. No real stand against it or anything, we just don't think about it, honestly. SWMBO and all 3 kids got it pretty hard (first time in awhile) 2-3 weeks ago, but I didn't get a thing.

[cwsmith]

We've been getting our flu shots for probably a decade or so. While we seem to get a nasty cold every couple of years, we've managed to avoid the flu, thankfully.

This year may be something else though, as it's been reported that 'the shot' this year may not handle the particular flu strain that appears to be prevalent. We'll just have to be careful and try to avoid contamination as much as possible... but Christmas with the family and our two grandsons will soon be upon us, and that means germs!

When I used to work (retired in 2003), I had worked long enough to earn five weeks vacation. Nice, but project demands, deadlines, and the like always got in the way of any serious time off; and thus, I'd take three or four weeks in December. Problem with that was my immune system would somehow lower itself from being isolated for so long. AND, when I'd return to work in January, I would be sick when a week or two. So, I started going into the office just for "germ visits". Believe it or not, that helped tremendously. Now, we just try to visit Germ-Mart (Walmart) a couple of times a week to keep the resistance up.

CWS

[capncarl]

I can't think of a better place to catch a batch of germs! No telling what else either. Yesterday one of our Walmarts had a bomb threat causing an evacuation, right now our other Walmart is being evacuated because of bomb threat! Probably the germs calling them in?

[TB Roye]

Some people probably shouldn't get shot, one of them being my wife. It work for me but my having COPD and Asthma seems to get bad colds, flu or upper respiratory infection real easy in the cold air of winter. Don't know how much the flu shot helps but are more afraid of not getting them.

tom

[phrog]

Didn't realize that I would get sooo many responses from sooo many parts of the US. Guess this must be an unusually bad flu year.