Flu Vaccine: Do it or not?

[pocaracas]

I don't!

So you've never had Chicken Pox? Never had a cold sore? You're a rare person indeed!

Indeed... strange, because all of my kids got it and I never got it...
I remember being a kid and my brother got it... but I didn't.

My dad always says I got some rare disease, when I was about 2 that made me immune to a lot of other diseases... Similar to rubella, but stranger... roseola, most likely... the symptoms match...
Oh look, it's got herpes in there... .damn it! you got me!

[Chad32]

If you have had chicken pox as a child, you have herpes living in your spinal column.

Oh, you were serious when you said everyone had herpes?

[Whateverist]

Of course I get a flu shot every year. I work with young people who are essentially walking, spewing petri dishes. Influenza has the capacity to do people in. It will find me ready.

[Fidel_Castronaut]

I have a flu shot every year because, as a diabetic, I'm more liable to get ill and/or complications from influenza viruses.

I think people also forget just how deadly influenza really is. As a virus it's responsible for millions of deaths each year. And let's not forget entities such as Spanish flu, which killed more people post WWI than those who died during the conflict (WIKI estimates up to 3-5% of the world's population).

Influenza was the cause of my diabetes. It killed me. 3 times in 2 days. Fortunately we have the NHS here in the UK or else I'd have been a proper gonner. In fact, had that situation occurred 3 years earlier, the technology to revive me wouldn't have existed. For that, I have to thank the Elsie Bertram Diabetic Centre and DiabetesUK for the funds they pump into research every year as well as the care and expertise of the medical staff; even more important now that the coalition government have lowered NHS & research funding.

Get the vaccination people!!!

I had no idea you were a diabetic too, Ben.

I did have a viral infection which caused my immune system to cannibalise my eyelets of langerhans. It was one of the most painful experiences of my life at the time and I can't remember ever being so ill. It could have been influenza thinking back to it, but I didn't get diagnosed until a month after being ill so there was no way to work out what had ultimately triggered my immune reaction.

But I echo the above. Get the vaccination.

[Ben Davis]

I had no idea you were a diabetic too, Ben.

I did have a viral infection which caused my immune system to cannibalise my eyelets of langerhans. It was one of the most painful experiences of my life at the time and I can't remember ever being so ill. It could have been influenza thinking back to it, but I didn't get diagnosed until a month after being ill so there was no way to work out what had ultimately triggered my immune reaction.

But I echo the above. Get the vaccination.

Sounds nasty, Fidel. Mine was less painful (thank goodness) but messy. I caught flu but had a shitty work sickness policy meaning I couldn't get enough rest to recover. Flu got in to my renal system (probably the dehydration...) and attacked my pancreas. I didn't realise (I had a fever & wasn't thinking straight) so when I started feeling sick, I assumed that I needed energy drinks, fruit, basically sugary stuff! Little did I know... Upshot was, for a few years, I held Europe's record for the highest blood-sugar level of anyone who's lived: 88 mmol/l - 1586 mg/dl (for those who don't know, that's just over 4 times the fatal level). I'm not resistant to insulin and my islets are still intact, they just don't produce any insulin. It's weird and unfixable.

Anyhoo...

Vaccinations!

[Kayenneh]

Indeed... strange, because all of my kids got it and I never got it...
I remember being a kid and my brother got it... but I didn't.

Some are naturally immune, lucky you! My friend got mono and infected me when we drank from the same Coke bottle. She got so ill that she had to be hospitalized, because her spleen was about to burst. The funny part was that neither of our boyfriends got ill, so they were both immune.

Oh, you were serious when you said everyone had herpes?

Yep. To not have any kind of herpes virus in your body is actually somewhat rare.

[Fidel_Castronaut]

I had no idea you were a diabetic too, Ben.

I did have a viral infection which caused my immune system to cannibalise my eyelets of langerhans. It was one of the most painful experiences of my life at the time and I can't remember ever being so ill. It could have been influenza thinking back to it, but I didn't get diagnosed until a month after being ill so there was no way to work out what had ultimately triggered my immune reaction.

But I echo the above. Get the vaccination.

Sounds nasty, Fidel. Mine was less painful (thank goodness) but messy. I caught flu but had a shitty work sickness policy meaning I couldn't get enough rest to recover. Flu got in to my renal system (probably the dehydration...) and attacked my pancreas. I didn't realise (I had a fever & wasn't thinking straight) so when I started feeling sick, I assumed that I needed energy drinks, fruit, basically sugary stuff! Little did I know... Upshot was, for a few years, I held Europe's record for the highest blood-sugar level of anyone who's lived: 88 mmol/l - 1586 mg/dl (for those who don't know, that's just over 4 times the fatal level). I'm not resistant to insulin and my islets are still intact, they just don't produce any insulin. It's weird and unfixable.

Anyhoo...

Vaccinations!

Holy Shit! That's bloody high! Honestly, it's amazing that you survived that, truly amazing.

How weird is it though that I did exactly the same thing as you when I was ill. I just drank Lucozade and Red Bull when I was ill which, unbeknownst to me me, rapidly increased my sugar levels causing me to get worse.

I can't compete with you (like it's a competition, lol), but I had almost fatally high keytone levels when I was admitted to hospital (7mmol/L). Any longer and I'd have been in a coma. Sad thinking back, but glad I/we're ok now.

[pocaracas]

People get ill and drink crap... -.-'
Everyone who's been pregnant (and their partners) knows water, pure clear still water, is the best thing you can have, in the absence of medicine.

[Ben Davis]

Holy Shit! That's bloody high! Honestly, it's amazing that you survived that, truly amazing.

That's nothing. The US record is 126mmol. That's like, gamma-enhanced neuro-toughness or something.

How weird is it though that I did exactly the same thing as you when I was ill. I just drank Lucozade and Red Bull when I was ill which, unbeknownst to me me, rapidly increased my sugar levels causing me to get worse.

Not weird. The amount of education in the UK is laughable. It's only been the past 5 years or so (with the increases of child weight problems) that diabetes has even become something that gets regularly talked about.

I can't compete with you (like it's a competition, lol), but I had almost fatally high keytone levels when I was admitted to hospital (7mmol/L). Any longer and I'd have been in a coma. Sad thinking back, but glad I/we're ok now.

Yeah, I was in a coma for nearly a week. Given that my blood was mainly syrupy acid, I'm amazed that I came back so well (although I was smarter before, I'm sure ). It's thanks to a combination of my local hospital housing one of the UKs largest diabetic centres (Elsie Bertram Centre), a robust body & a strong will that I'm alive. Curiously, due to a fast metabolism, 7mmol is the upper tolerance of my normal range. I don't start producing ketones until I hit 13 or so. It makes things far easier to control. I'm simply lucky.

[Whateverist]

Holy Shit! That's bloody high! Honestly, it's amazing that you survived that, truly amazing.

That's nothing. The US record is 126mmol. That's like, gamma-enhanced neuro-toughness or something.

Correction. 126mmol is the US average.

We're really overweight and eat like total shit food. It's what happens when you breed puritan to puritan for too many years.