Are you getting the flu vaccine this year?

[~Kim~]

I've had real influenza - I thought I was going to die, so did my GP - but of course it wasn't one the vaccine protected against was it?

I've also looked after immunocompromised people who've actually contracted that virus after they've had to shot!

[AnyDream]

I started getting the flu vax when I was working as a medical receptionist and now get it every year. DH flies OS for work a lot and so could bring one of the nasty strains home with him at any time. I've started noticing times in recent years where ppl all around me have fallen ill with the flu (one time at TAFE it was half the class, clearly it was the flu, sudden onset and hacking cough and another time at work where everyone got sick except me and the ppl at the two nearest desks- we were the three ppl who'd had the workplace flu vax that year)...so even if it doesn't protect from every strain, it does protect from some pretty common (and nasty) ones.

[dusty]

i think people at certain level of risk (elderly, those with respiratory problems etc) are encouraged to have it. i have asthma but the two times i have had the flu vaccine i have had the worst flu ever that year, so i don't have it anymore. that is my experience though and i wouldn't say it is responsible but is the choice i have made based on my experience.

i would talk to your GP if you feel you may benefit from the vaccine, or think you are at higher risk of contracting a flu.

[Shanti]

Nah i won't be getting it.... I've read a few things about it that don't make me feel safe about getting it....

[Antheia]

I used to get it every year when i was a kid but now for the last few years i havent bothered. I've had bad colds before but never the flu. So can't really see the point in getting it. Plus i am getting rather against vaccines now that i am researching them more.

[Nicambhar]

I have severe asthma and was advised to get the shot. I didn't want it but was pressured into it by my gp. I was sick pretty much for 10 months after getting that shot. I never got a full blown flu, but had that "I'm getting it" feeling all the time and my throat was constantly sore and my nose ran all the time. I will never get one again.

[Shanti]

Yeah the stuff i am reading is a bit scary..... there are good sides and bad sides to it and some people it can have pretty bad effects on, others are ok... its a risk, like everything... and up to the individual like someone else said above.

Just interested to see how many of us do get it but it doesnt' look like that many?

I'm scared because my Mum got it and then a year later was diagnosed with breast cancer so she feels that also didn't help and may have 'rocked' her hormones in her body and could have brought the cancer on (amongst other things of course).... she would be so upset with me if she knew i got the vaccine and i am not interested in it.

Viruses have a HUGE impact on our hormones in our bodies, particularly in women hence for some women the flu vaccine can actually make them really sick (maybe not always cancer) but in other ways..... i believe anyway. Also my AP has been telling me alot of stuff recently about it all very interesting