Flu shot.... my teenager is ALWAYS sick...

[nextcommercial]

I have never gotten the flu shot for myself or my daughter.

However, my 17 year old daughter is always sick. She's litterally sick more often than she's not sick. BUT neither one of us has ever had the flu. I might have had flu when I was young, but I've not had it in several years.

My daughter tends to have strep throat, allergies, and other normal illnesses.

Her doctor says she should get the flu shot since her immunities are so low. Is there any sense to that? Since she's not had the flu, does it make sense to protect her against that? Am I missing something obvious here? Because so many people look at me like I'm nuts when I say, "We don't plan to get the flu shot".

I'm OK with getting it, if I can understand WHY we are getting it.

[Marnica]

Persoanally I would avoid the flu shot...the flu shot is ineffective anyway.

Giving your daughter the shot will tax her immune system even further and with all vaccines there are risks involved. To take these risks to get a vaccine that is notoriously ineffective at preventing the flu (or the 2 strains dujour that it supposedly prevents by guesswork alone) is not worth it to me.

I would be giving your daughter Vitamin D3. This will go much farther in prventing the flu.

[GreenKnitPocket]

Myself and my family have never gotten flu shots either. Personally I think the best thing you can do is just the usual preventive stuff – washing hands often, getting vitamins and eating healthy, and always keeping little travel packs of hand sanitizer and Kleenex Anti-Viral tissues in my purse.

[WTHamI?]

If your daughter gets sick easily, in my opinion that's more reason NOT to get a flu shot. I've had one twice, in non-consecutive years, and those were the two years of "The Respiratory Infection That Wouldn't Die." I almost ended up in the hospital both years with flu turned bronchitis turned pneumonia, and was sick with various things the whole season.

I'm pretty sure the effect of the flu shot was that it crapped out my immune system so badly that while it *may* have offered protection against the specific strains in the shot, it made me more susceptible to everything else floating around out there. So I ended up with more than one bout of the flu those years, which turned into more severe respiratory illnesses because my immune system couldn't fight it off. My strategy to stay healthy during flu season now is to take extra vitamin C, garlic and oregano oil and stay the heck away from the flu shot.

[13Sandals]

sounds like your daughter needs immune system support - not something that will tax it further. is she maybe suffering from an undiagnosed allergy? in any case, the flu shot doesn't work well, and works less well in those with immune system issues.

supplementing with vitamins is sometimes viewed as worthless - but vit c and cod liver oil can work wonders at boosting the immune system.

[weliveintheforest]

I would not take the flu shot with a weak immune system. Has she seen a naturopath or anyone to help with her immune issues?

[mommy2jonah]

Please don't do the flu shot.
Get her immune system back up with natural remedies. I agree with the naturopath referal.