# Flu Season



## synthpunk (Jan 14, 2018)

Horrible season for the flu out there. Calling it Aussie flu this year as that where it seemed to originate. Make sure you have your flu shot (although not as effective and last years) and or get some vitamin and a immune boosting going. First time in 17 years I missed a week of work sick.


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## givemenoughrope (Jan 14, 2018)

Sorry, dude....

Get that flu shot, everyone! Finally got mine.


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## chimuelo (Jan 15, 2018)

Yeah right.
Haven’t taken a flu shot in over a decade.
Haven’t been sick in years, I eat right and excercise.
Got my Shot for S.America/Yellow Fever in May, had a blast down south.
Came back here and decided since I’m traveling a lot from back east and down south, get the flu shot.
Then I became so sick. Played 3 gigs with 103 fever, came back Vegas, moved to N.Nevada, got sick again.
Been fighting this crap for weeks.

I regret getting that shot.
Now Im afraid I might be a junkie and need constant “preventive” vaccines.
I sure hope not.
I regret getting the flu shot...


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## Jeremy Spencer (Jan 15, 2018)

I got the flu shot for years, then skipped it in 2009 and caught a really bad one; it was one of the virus' contained in that year's shot! I would have been safe if I'd gotten that shot. I now get the shot every year regardless....it's free (in Alberta, Canada).


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## synthpunk (Jan 15, 2018)

One day a person who didn't get the flu shot will wipe out half the planet.


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## kgdrum (Jan 15, 2018)

I got the flu shot a couple of months ago and my Doctor joked how ineffective the shot actually is,lol
IIRC flu shots are usually only about 30% to 40% effective, recent reports are estimating that this year's flu shot is only about 10% effective,they missed the mark this year BIG TIME!


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## chimuelo (Jan 15, 2018)

Ever move your family to a new school district and have to get new vaccinations?
I experienced this.
Sent my boy home with our neighbors kid, they just moved from SoCal to Vegas.
Taiwanese family.
The paper slip said Hepatitus C was needed.
I asked why, we had this done 10 years ago, but they claimed no record, and said if my boy contracted Hep C he could get others sick. I said but doesn’t everyone already have Fep C, how could they get sick? Then the do as I command or else tactic kicked in.
No biggie, would have appreciated an answer versus a programmed response.

Funny though, my boys lil buddy showed his mother, still struggling with English, the paper slip. Typical Asian Mother was angry thinking it was a report card, and yelling “Why you no get Hepatitus A”... 


Ankyu


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## gsilbers (Jan 15, 2018)

i just got over a stomach flu. damn those are strong. It really hits the whole body, 1-2 days in bed w/o being able to move.


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## tack (Jan 15, 2018)

chimuelo said:


> I regret getting that shot.


Given you had the shot before with no adverse reactions, it's safe to say the vaccine didn't make you sick. You were either infected before you could develop the antibodies, or the vaccine didn't provide complete protection. It's also possible your symptoms would have been much worse had you not had the shot. Unfortunately although they did correctly guess this season's dominant influenza strain (H3N2), it's highly mutative and as a result the efficacy of this year's vaccine is quite low. But even at 10%, the risk-benefit of the flu vaccine is a no-brainer.



chimuelo said:


> I asked why, we had this done 10 years ago, but they claimed no record, and said if my boy contracted Hep C he could get others sick. I said but doesn’t everyone already have Fep C, how could they get sick?


Didn't you keep records? From their perspective it's reasonable for them to assume that without a proof of immunization it never happened. And so the argument that he should be able to benefit from herd immunity provided by_ other_ people vaccinating is pretty weak sauce.


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## tack (Jan 15, 2018)

kgdrum said:


> they missed the mark this year BIG TIME!


They nailed the strain. It just mutated on us. :(



synthpunk said:


> get some vitamin and a immune boosting going


Unfortunately not actually effective (unless you are extremely malnourished in which case you're probably anemic and have other problems).

The way to boost your immune system is to give it something to fight -- whether dead (as in the case of the vaccine) or alive (as in the case of the real virus).

That, and hand hygiene. Paranoia is good here: wash your hands frequently and avoid touching your face.

And if you do get sick and you work in an office, please don't be a hero and stay home. (I work in an office full of heroes. Sigh.)


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## kgdrum (Jan 15, 2018)

gsilbers said:


> i just got over a stomach flu. damn those are strong. It really hits the whole body, 1-2 days in bed w/o being able to move.




that's a stomach virus not the flu


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## chimuelo (Jan 15, 2018)

tack said:


> Given you had the shot before with no adverse reactions, it's safe to say the vaccine didn't make you sick. You were either infected before you could develop the antibodies, or the vaccine didn't provide complete protection. It's also possible your symptoms would have been much worse had you not had the shot. Unfortunately although they did correctly guess this season's dominant influenza strain (H3N2), it's highly mutative and as a result the efficacy of this year's vaccine is quite low. But even at 10%, the risk-benefit of the flu vaccine is a no-brainer.
> 
> 
> Didn't you keep records? From their perspective it's reasonable for them to assume that without a proof of immunization it never happened. And so the argument that he should be able to benefit from herd immunity provided by_ other_ people vaccinating is pretty weak sauce.



Yes, but they weren’t from the Clark County Center, From out of state, not acceptable.

10% wasn’t enough obviously.
I sure hope this H3N2 crap runs its course.
I hate being sick.
Hope it’s another 10 years as I’m so use to being healthy, when I get sick I can’t sleep so it hits me even harder.


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## gsilbers (Jan 15, 2018)

kgdrum said:


> that's a stomach virus not the flu



correct. thats what i wrote...its also called stomach flu.
https://www.webmd.com/children/features/the-truth-about-stomach-flu#1
if not i wouldnt of said the stomach part.. i would of just wrote "i also got the flu". A stomach flu also severerly affects the body similar to the flu even if its a different type of virus. but im _sure_ you already knew that


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## chimuelo (Jan 16, 2018)

Just read up on vaccines since I was so damn sick.
Found out when I got my Yellow Fever shot for traveling last year that it wasnt because the H3N2 shot I got nullified the effects. The shots were taken in April then again in September.
I got sick because the H3N2 had mutated. CDC claims the French company says 30% effective.

Good news is they merged with a company called Berg who is using AI to create a universal influenza vaccine.
Once you get as sick as I was I want to learn more as I’m ignorant to the trends.
It was 10 years ago I was sick, but from unsanitary conditions leading to food poisoning.Over 20 years ago I had a bad 2 week long flu. And like recently it was caused by traveling.
Even traveling from coast to coast in the USA you can catch a variant you need vaccinated for.

AI seems to be a great idea.
Hope it works.
I do not want to get sick like that ever again.
It really sucks trying to perform with a high fever.
We were in Brazil for 3 nights in June and what we’re seeing in the States was happening there then. They have a lot more deaths there with the elderly and with children when they get hit.

This summer there will be a vaccination that is suppose to handle recent strains with 60%.
Guess Im going to be a vaccination junkie now.
Don’t ever want to be this sick again.


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## musicalweather (Jan 16, 2018)

Here's an article in today's N.Y. Times explaining why flu shots are so important. From the article: 
"The https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/disease/2015-16.htm (C.D.C. estimated) that in the 2015-2016 flu season, the flu shot prevented more than five million cases of the flu, about 2.5 million medical visits and more than 70,000 hospitalizations. It was also estimated that it prevented 3,000 deaths. 
If just 5 percent more people had been immunized, we could have probably avoided 500,000 illnesses, 230,000 medical visits and 6,000 hospitalizations." https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/15/...t-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0


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## WindcryMusic (Jan 17, 2018)

I wish people would take the flu more seriously. It nearly destroyed my life, and certainly left me a shell of who I used to be.

I caught the flu from an obviously sick grocery clerk right after Christmas 1999 (and I hadn't gotten a flu shot). It was the worst flu I'd ever had (fever of 104º on New Years Eve), and after the worst of it passed I continued to feel sick for months (lungs constantly filling up with fluid) until it was finally figured out that I'd become allergic to milk as a result of that flu (I'd drank and ate milk products profusely prior to that without issue). I suffered from asthma when I was younger, and my doctors confirmed that the flu can cause allergies to resurface "in new and exciting ways".

Well, the next year I got a flu shot ... and literally about two days after the shot I developed an allergy to wheat (which manifests itself as Meniere's disease, or AIED to be more specific, which is "thrilling" news for a musician BTW). Two more times since then I've obviously been exposed to someone with the flu, no matter how careful I'd tried to be, and each time within a week or so have become allergic to new foods. My doctors and I have since concluded that my immune system overreacts every time it is re-exposed to the flu (including flu shots, since they are designed to provoke an immune system reaction after all) and starts reacting to whatever food proteins are in my system at that time.

After the last flu exposure I became allergic to so many foods that I lost nearly 40 pounds before I found enough foods I could still eat to be able to maintain my weight. And I can't use the flu shot or any similar vaccine to protect myself anymore (both because the vaccine itself provokes the reaction that causes my problem, and because the vaccine is made with eggs, which I'm now allergic to). So what do I do now? I'll tell you: in October each year I buy enough foodstuffs to get me through the flu season, and then once the flu starts going around, I hunker down in my house and avoid contact with EVERYONE until about April or May. (This wouldn't even be possible if I didn't live alone and have a job that allows me to work from home ... so I guess I'm lucky, in a way?)

Summary: the flu changed my life dramatically, and not for the better. I'm weathering the storm, but wish I didn't have to. So if you are someone who is able to get the flu shot, I suggest you do so. There's no such thing as "it's nothing to worry about, just a little flu".


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## Kevin Fortin (Jan 17, 2018)

@Windcry -- Liking would be wrong, but I appreciate what you had to say.


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## catsass (Jan 18, 2018)

chimuelo said:


> Good news is they merged with a company called Berg who is using AI to create a universal influenza vaccine.


Berg? Did you mean the Borg?


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## chimuelo (Jan 18, 2018)

Ankyu.
Please.....stay seated.


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## Brian2112 (Jan 18, 2018)

Yea. My wife is an ER nurse. Seen tons and tons of flu. I got my shot. Got flu anyway. Maybe not as bad as it could've been had I not but it was mean.


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## NYC Composer (Jan 19, 2018)

Fist pump!


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## Jeremy Spencer (Jan 20, 2018)

tack said:


> Given you had the shot before with no adverse reactions, it's safe to say the vaccine didn't make you sick.



Yep, the viruses that they inject are actually dead, there's no way you can get sick from the shot.


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## tack (Jan 20, 2018)

WindcryMusic said:


> and because the vaccine is made with eggs, which I'm now allergic to


Yours does sound like an exceptional case -- and it happens -- but I wanted to mention that those with egg allergies (but otherwise unexceptional immune responses) https://www.cdc.gov/flu/protect/vaccine/egg-allergies.htm (no longer need to avoid the flu vaccine).


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## PaulBrimstone (Jan 21, 2018)

I avoid germs and the flu by ensuring my only connection to the outside world is via VI-Control.


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