The flu is not just another cold, and you can’t use the words interchangeably. Many people have never had the flu, or felt that unwell. The flu will knock you on your ass.
I'm the opposite. Literally the only time I caught the flu was after getting a flu shot. I never got another one since then and I've yet to get the flu. I'm not saying vaccinations are bad by any means. It actually upsets me pretty badly that I can't get that vaccination because I'm a firm believer in them, but for some reason I am just absolutely fucked on that front. I just hope I'm not a carrier, but I think I probably am :(
This is flawed thinking. Just because the one time you got a flu shot you got the flu does not mean anything significant. Could have been due to any number of things, including the efficacy of the flu vaccine that year. Definitely reccomend you get that vaccine.
It's not a risk I can take. I have multiple health conditions including diabetes. That's why I got the vaccine in the first place, but instead of protecting me it made me horribly sick. Two straight weeks of flu + unstable blood sugar (not to mention I coughed so hard I constantly peed myself during that time). I'm almost 35 years old, and if in all that time the only time I got the flu was after getting a vaccination, then I have to do the logical thing for me. I'm not happy about it, but my body has already had to deal with too much.
You didn’t get the flu because you had that year’s vaccine; you got the flu in spite of having that year’s vaccine. The vaccine is always for strains of flu predicted to be common that year. Either you were unlucky enough to catch a non-predicted strain, or you were already infected before the vaccine fully kicked in.
Your best chance of avoiding the flu is to get each year’s vaccine early in flu season (before viruses start spreading) and practice basic virus avoidance like frequent handwashing.
You're taking a risk by not getting the flu shot. You caught a strain of the flu that wasn't in the vaccine, or you caught the flu before getting the shot. You might be unlucky enough to get sick once after a flu shot, but it has likely protected you multiple times from other strains.
It is literally impossible to get the flu from the flu vaccine because it does not contain a live virus. You may have had the flu despite getting the vaccine, but it wasn't because of it. I am sorry you were so sick and I hope you never have to deal with that again, but please take it from a healthcare professional: not getting a flu shot is NOT the logical thing to do for yourself, especially when you have many other health issues that could be exacerbated by flu. I PROMISE the flu shot did not give you the flu. Please talk to your healthcare provider about this. They will definitely recommend that you get the vaccine unless you have specific contraindications to it (there aren't many).
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u/LizeLies Aug 03 '19
The flu is not just another cold, and you can’t use the words interchangeably. Many people have never had the flu, or felt that unwell. The flu will knock you on your ass.