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Flu Shots

The TVClubHouse: General Discussions ARCHIVES: Jan. 2007 ~ Mar. 2007: Health Center: Flu Shots users admin

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Herckleperckle
Member

11-20-2003

Sunday, November 19, 2006 - 1:38 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Herckleperckle a private message Print Post    
Source: Ivanhoe.com
Reported November 14, 2006


Risk for Neurological Disorder
Increases With Flu Vaccine


(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- It's a small risk, but it is one you should be aware of if you are considering getting a flu vaccine. A new study reveals the flu vaccine is associated with an increased risk of developing a debilitating neurological disorder known as Guillain-Barré syndrome.

Guillain-Barré syndrome affects about one in 100,000 people each year. It happens when the body's immune system attacks part of the nervous system, causing weakness or tingling that can eventually lead to paralysis. Previous research linked Guillain-Barré syndrome to the flu vaccine, but uncertainty remained.

Investigators from the University of Toronto led this latest research. They studied residents in Ontario, where a universal influenza immunization program was started in 2000. All residents 6 months or older received a free flu vaccine. Study authors identified all of the hospitalizations for Guillain-Barré syndrome from 1993 to 2004. Then they looked at who had received a flu vaccine and compared their risk for the syndrome within two to seven weeks after vaccination to 20 to 43 weeks later. They also compared the number of cases before and after the immunization program began in 2000.

Researchers found patients were more likely to be hospitalized for Guillain-Barré syndrome in the two to seven weeks after being vaccinated than at 43 weeks. This shows a small but increased risk for this disease after vaccination. However, study authors did not find a difference in the number of patients with the syndrome before and after the immunization program began in 2000.

Study authors report this increased risk equals a very low absolute risk for developing Guillain-Barré syndrome because of the rarity of the disorder. While they add patients should understand the benefits of the flu vaccine, they feel they also need to be aware of this risk.


SOURCE: Archives of Internal Medicine, 2006;166:2217-2221

Herckleperckle
Member

11-20-2003

Sunday, November 19, 2006 - 4:17 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Herckleperckle a private message Print Post    
Source: Ivanhoe.com
Reported November 6, 2006


Researchers Question Flu Vaccine Safety


(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Every year the government pushes people to get the annual flu shot. But should they?

Maybe not -- and especially not for young children, according to experts from the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC). They point to recent studies revealing the medical evidence simply isn't there to suggest the flu shot is truly safe or effective for either children or adults, and it may be causing real harm in young kids.

The study comes from the Cochrane Collaboration, which gathers research conducted in specific areas and analyzes it for scientific reliability and validity. In this case, the investigators found most of the studies published on the flu shot were flawed in some manner. Of chief concern, the studies were generally observational in nature rather than randomized. In observational studies, researchers watch a group of people to see how they fare. In randomized studies, researchers compare carefully matched groups -- one of which received a treatment and one of which didn't -- to come up with their findings.

NVIC doctors particularly criticize a recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) that concluded the vaccine was safe for young children. That study was a non-randomized analysis of the medical records of children ages 6 months to 23 months who received the flu shot. The NVIC reports it concluded the vaccine was safe, but the Cochrane investigators found so many flaws in the study they believe the finding cannot be trusted.

"Vaccine studies are using increasingly complex statistical techniques rather than time-tested research designs," reports National Vaccine Information Center Health Policy Analyst Vicky Debold, R.N., Ph.D. "The JAMA study is exactly the type of study criticized by the Cochrane Collaboration. There were so many limitations and exclusions in the study design that it is nearly impossible to interpret or replicate the findings. The true effect of the influenza vaccine on health outcomes cannot be identified in this single, flawed study, which should not be used as evidence that influenza vaccine is safe for infants and toddlers or to justify national vaccine policies."


SOURCE: The National Vaccine Information Center

Dahli
Member

11-27-2000

Monday, November 20, 2006 - 12:47 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Dahli a private message Print Post    
Amen...finally the word is getting out and thankfully both my parents decline these shots.

Colordeagua
Member

10-25-2003

Saturday, December 02, 2006 - 10:48 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Colordeagua a private message Print Post    
Not me! Only got it once in my life when my parents took me to the doc in my younger years.

Cndeariso
Member

06-28-2004

Saturday, December 02, 2006 - 11:13 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Cndeariso a private message Print Post    
i get a flu shot every year and have since they first came out. i personally have never had any problems. and, neither have my mom or my husband.

Chiliwilli
Member

09-04-2006

Saturday, December 02, 2006 - 11:25 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Chiliwilli a private message Print Post    
Me too, Cndeariso. Except this year the flu wised up and got me first. I'm going next week for mine since I finally beat the bug.

Jimmer
Moderator

08-30-2000

Saturday, December 02, 2006 - 11:27 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Jimmer a private message Print Post    
My family Doctor refuses to give us the flu shot.

Cndeariso
Member

06-28-2004

Saturday, December 02, 2006 - 11:34 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Cndeariso a private message Print Post    
i also have had the pneumonia shot even though i'm not in the normal age range. but, because i am high risk my doctor recommended i get one.

and, i get a lot of other shots and boosters since i travel out of the country to central america.

Yankee_in_ca
Member

08-01-2000

Saturday, December 02, 2006 - 11:38 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Yankee_in_ca a private message Print Post    
I got my first and only flu shot when I was in my early 20s, cause my company was giving them out for free. I was then sick for the next month with the flu.

I have never had one since, and don't feel the need.

Seamonkey
Moderator

09-07-2000

Saturday, December 02, 2006 - 3:22 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Seamonkey a private message Print Post    
I've gotten a flu shot each year for awhile, when they are available for my age and situation.

Twinkie
Member

09-24-2002

Saturday, December 02, 2006 - 5:10 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Twinkie a private message Print Post    
Our doc gives me a flu shot and hubby a flu and pneumonia shot every year. He's prone to bronchitis. I've only had the flu when I haven't gotten the shot.

Skootz
Member

07-23-2003

Saturday, December 02, 2006 - 5:14 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Skootz a private message Print Post    
Myself and the girls had our flu shot this past Wednesday. I had the flu 2 weeks prior....sure wish I had the shot before I had the flu. I have never been as sick in my life as I was that one week.

Brenda1966
Member

07-03-2002

Saturday, December 02, 2006 - 6:50 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Brenda1966 a private message Print Post    
The flu kills elderly people every year, but what I know of Guillain-Barré, it does not. I had an acquantance who got Guillain_Barre from the flu shot and he had facial paralysis that did go away after a few weeks.

There is a lot of misconceptions of the flu. During winter everyone who gets a cold or respiratory virus claims to have the "flu". People hugging the toilet barfing claim to have the "flu". Just the other day a mom at DD's pre-school commented "he was throwing up all weekend and we even got a flu shot -- guess they don't work." NO! They don't work for stomach bugs which haven't a thing to do with influenza.

I get a flu shot every year and haven't been down with influenza since. *knock on wood* Having the flu is the worst feeling. Your body aches like you've been run over by a mack truck. You feel so bad you're wishing the truck would back up and finish the job. The real flu can lay you up for a week.

Seamonkey
Moderator

09-07-2000

Saturday, December 02, 2006 - 10:57 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Seamonkey a private message Print Post    
I had the actual flu of that year in 1968. I had just finished up at Berkeley in September at the end of the summer quarter, we moved south and I was in a job search. I took a temp job for a couple of weeks and on the last Thursday it hit, and hard! I couldn't even finish the day. My husband had to go in the next day to pick up my paychekc and they kindly included me in the gift of of a turkey to each person there. That turkey went in the freezer and it wasn't for months that we could have eaten it. By that weekend he also had it (and our neighbors, too.)

That was the infamous Hong Kong flu. It was respiratory in nature. I finally did get dragged to the doctor and had very bad bronchitis that he said was just that close to being pneumonia. The stuff hit hard, kept you in bed for weeks and weak for a couple of months. Many people died, but we were young and came through. We were weak as kittens for Christmas and couldn't eat anything much but soup.

When I volunteered for hospice we got free flu shots each year. My mom always got her flu shots because with her emphysema and COPD pretty much any flu or virus could (and eventually did) do her in.

Cndeariso
Member

06-28-2004

Sunday, December 03, 2006 - 7:07 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Cndeariso a private message Print Post    
a lot of my staff mistake a stomach virus with the flu.

i actually had the flu in 1990 and was out of work for over two weeks. the bronchitis that accompanied it stayed with me for 3 months. i barked so much that i pulled a muscle where my ribs connect to the breastplate. that was the most painful pain i have ever had. it is called costacondritis (i think that is how it is spelled).

and, i remember once when i was a child having the true flu for about 3 weeks.

Juju2bigdog
Member

10-27-2000

Sunday, December 03, 2006 - 8:48 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Juju2bigdog a private message Print Post    
Seamonkey, I also got Hong Kong flu in 1968. That was some really bad shit. I was visiting my boyfriend in Minneapolis and came down with it on New Year's Eve. I have no idea how I got home to Illinois.

Seamonkey
Moderator

09-07-2000

Sunday, December 03, 2006 - 9:01 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Seamonkey a private message Print Post    
It was BAD.. we knew our friends had it but nothing about the symptoms.. my ex was kind of hypochondriacal in nature so he kept getting stomach symptoms but when it hit me it was just BAM! I kept working and almost collapsed and the people at the company had see it, I guess and he came and picked me up (we had one car and he was in school finishing his bachelors) and that was it for me.. he went and got the paycheck and the turkey, still with his stomach symptoms, but when it hit him in reality of course he had the respiratory crap. I just remember both of us staying in bed, feverish, staggering out to feed the cats once a day. One of our friends started to feel better, ventured out to the mailbox and relapsed. We ate vanilla pudding and chicken soup for a month.. ACK.

Luckily I had already taken the tests for programmer trainee and then the interviews were done too and the job didn't start until February.. At least the flu had decent timing.

I can't even imagine getting from Minneapolis to Illinois!! Heck even from Minneapolis to St Paul, in my condition.

Sunshyne4u
Member

06-17-2003

Monday, January 01, 2007 - 4:00 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Sunshyne4u a private message Print Post    
Not sure why anyone would voluntarily inject Formaldehyde and mercury into their bloodstream.

The flu can be nasty IF you have other health problems.

I'm allergic to some of the stuff in flu shots so I dont take them.

My coworkers took the free flu shots given out at our hospitals. Around 1/4 got sick enough that they needed to leave work BECAUSE of the injection.

Some had migraines the next day as well.

I really dont think a shot which MAY help for only 70% of flu is worth the long term health impact. Unless a person is immunosuppressed or elderly of course. Flu could be terminal for those folks.