Very Tired of All the Flu Hype - Page 2

[emmy526]

Originally Posted by kathymuggle 

I am not sure it is worse than in previous years.  Every year (it seems) they say "this flu season is very bad!"  It is a little bit like the boy who cried wolf.  This is one area where I think observations are the way to go; do people in your area seem to becoming down with the flu (the real flu) in numbers greater than you have seen in previous years?  Personally, I have not seen an upswing this year - but he flu runs through this area in late February - I still have a bit to go!

yes, it does seem worse this year here....our state health dept put out stats saying last year there were only 500 confirmed cases, and this year already its over 1700...theres been a lot of illness this year in school too,and it seemed to have started earlier this year as well.

[emmy526]

[hxcmama]

This is exactly what I went through 6 years ago; my mother went for a flu shot at the clinic she had been going to for 30 years on Dec. 5, 2006. She had a reaction right there before even leaving the clinic so my father took her directly to the hospital where, long story short, she never returned. She was dead 2.5 weeks later. First she lost the ability to walk then got sicker and sicker, was placed in shared rooms with people who had infectuous diseases like Norwalk-type viruses then her organs shut down. However, NO ONE has been willing to consider that any of this could have been a reaction to the vaccine, but rather that she had metastatic cancer, so, you know, she was going to die within a year or two anyway. I urged my father to get the vaccine lot number and file a report and when he called the clinic they claimed she had never gotten a flu shot there (telling him, we would never give a flu shot to someone who was ill, which only strengthens my case imho), even though he saw them insert the needle into her arm. It took 3 weeks fighting with various people before they "found" the record of her shot, though the release for his flu shot was provided right away. He thought he was going crazy and for about a month started to think maybe there was something to my "conspiracy theories" about vaccines (I don't have conspiracy theories of course, just a passion for evidence based practice that is divorced from profits) but he went back to loving his flu shots the following year. I check on him like crazy for the week after he gets his shot : / neither he nor my mother ever connected the vaccine, and subsequent drive to the ER from the clinic with her rapid decline. It was pure coincidence, I continue to be told.
 

Originally Posted by Taximom5 

There is definitely a double standard going on.

If you have complications from a flu shot, well, very sad, but you must have had an underlying disorder, and you were probably going to have those complications whether you had the shot or not, and it was probably a coincidence anyway.

If you have complications from the flu, then OMG THE FLU IS A KILLER AND EVERYONE MUST GET A SHOT

When severe reactions from flu shots are reported, they are assumed to be a coincidence.

[hxcmama]

ugh, sorry double post

[erinmattsmom88]

I've been reading about the flu and hearing about it what seems like every 5 seconds, and I live in the southeast. Who really knows how bad it is unless everyone who *thinks* they have the flu get tested and confirmed.

not ONCE did I hear anything but "get the shot", no conversation that even mentioned washing hands, NEVER do you hear about vit C-----only the shot!

Haha! I read an article online somewhere today that gave a list of things to do to avoid getting the flu, and washing your hands, eating well, taking extra vitamin C, D, etc were not on the top of the list. #1 was to get a shot.  

If I can find it, I'll post the link.

[erinmattsmom88]

I've been reading about the flu and hearing about it what seems like every 5 seconds, and I live in the southeast. Who really knows how bad it is unless everyone who *thinks* they have the flu get tested and confirmed.

not ONCE did I hear anything but "get the shot", no conversation that even mentioned washing hands, NEVER do you hear about vit C-----only the shot!

Haha! I read an article online somewhere today that gave a list of things to do to avoid getting the flu, and washing your hands, eating well, taking extra vitamin C, D, etc were not on the top of the list. #1 was to get a shot.  

If I can find it, I'll post the link.

[Asiago]

Wasn't there some debacle over the hype of the Swine Flu in 2009 and the CDC falsifying information to increase the vaccination rate? Could it be happening again?

[Asiago]

Wasn't there some debacle over the hype of the Swine Flu in 2009 and the CDC falsifying information to increase the vaccination rate?

[Nazsmum]

Yes I'm "sick" of hearing about it.

[Chloebelle]

I'm so tired about all the flu season hype and ads in newspapers and TV about getting the flu shot. Every year I hear the same thing."This year's flu is going to be a bad one". Oh please. Anything to sell their snake oil, and the media, who are bought and paid for, are quite happy to help out big Pharma by spreading the news! Makes me sick...not literally though...because I haven't had the flu in years. And guess what? I have never had a flu shot.

[japonica]

Originally Posted by Chloebelle 

I'm so tired about all the flu season hype and ads in newspapers and TV about getting the flu shot. Every year I hear the same thing."This year's flu is going to be a bad one". Oh please. Anything to sell their snake oil, and the media, who are bought and paid for, are quite happy to help out big Pharma by spreading the news! Makes me sick...not literally though...because I haven't had the flu in years. And guess what? I have never had a flu shot.

My mother's GP has been telling her every September for the past 15 years, "this is going to be the worst year ever," when she goes to get her flu shot. I guess her doctor will feel vindicated this year. 

[littlecritter]

Thanks for starting this thread as the general panic amongst some in my world was really starting to get to me.
 

[erinmattsmom88]

Originally Posted by Asiago 

Wasn't there some debacle over the hype of the Swine Flu in 2009 and the CDC falsifying information to increase the vaccination rate? Could it be happening again?

 Yes, I remember this well. I was pregnant with DS and had to continually decline the shot at every appointment I had. It got on my nerves. Yeah, I do recall no one really knowing who actually had it, as doctors weren't testing everyone and were making the diagnosis without an actual confirmation. Hmm, I wonder what the numbers ending up being from all that.

[Turquesa]

I was flabbergasted to be listening to NPR this morning and hear the newscaster actually admit that the vaccine only works about 60% of the time and you could still get sick with it. That was the first time I heard news media, usually Pharma's PR mouthpiece, fess up to that fact. Oh..."But you should still get vaccinated, say Big Daddy government officials."

I swear, they could come out with a report that a vaccine causes you to grow a second head...and you would still hear, "But get vaccinated, anyway."

Ugh! The dogma! I get so sick of medical fundamentalism.

[Dianarae]

I haven't gone through all the posts so I don't know if I'm repeating someone, but I heard that the Flu Shot is now mandatory to be in daycare/ preschool, etc. in NJ.  There is a mother who will not give her son the shot because he has an egg allergy and he has been out of school since the holidays and can't go back until february, when the flu has died down.  This is all SO ridiculous.  boost your immune system and let yourself get sick and fight it.  the flu has been around forever and we have all gotten it and survived.  I even got H1N1 3 weeks before my wedding and lived (obviously).  I just wish people actually thought about things and questioned money making media and pharmaceutical companies.  What happens when my unvaxxed child goes to school? She will not be getting the flu shot or any shot.  WIll she be kept out of school then?

[kathymuggle]

Originally Posted by Turquesa 


I swear, they could come out with a report that a vaccine causes you to grow a second head...and you would still hear, "But get vaccinated, anyway."

 

This reminds me of this line from the PHAC:  (public health Canada)

http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/publicat/cig-gci/p03-05-eng.php

"Premature and very low birthweight infants (i.e., 1500 g) still hospitalized at the time of immunization, however, may experience a transient increase or recurrence of apnea and bradycardia following vaccination…. Given these findings, it is recommended that hospitalized premature infants have continuous cardiac and respiratory monitoring for 48 hours after their first immunization."  

It is not quite "grow a second head"  - but wouldn't you think that if vaccines cause a premature infant to need continuos cardiac and respiratory monitoring, that delaying might be in order?????

Off topic rant over.

[kathymuggle]

Originally Posted by Dianarae 

She will not be getting the flu shot or any shot.  WIll she be kept out of school then?

Probably not.

Most places in the USA have philosophical and/or religious exemptions available for unvaxxed children to go to school.   We can point you towards info about your state if you like or when the time comes.  

[Dianarae]

Originally Posted by kathymuggle 

Probably not.

Most places in the USA have philosophical and/or religious exemptions available for unvaxxed children to go to school.   We can point you towards info about your state if you like or when the time comes.  

[sassyfirechick]

Originally Posted by emmy526 

Well the majority of these cases are along the I-91 corridor so who's to say the bulk of our flu isn't being brought in by out of state commuters from MA and NY?  I saw that on the news also about the 1700, but looking at the current population of around 3.5 million, that only puts us at .04% of the population so really that's not all that bad.

[emmy526]

Originally Posted by sassyfirechick 

Well the majority of these cases are along the I-91 corridor so who's to say the bulk of our flu isn't being brought in by out of state commuters from MA and NY?  I saw that on the news also about the 1700, but looking at the current population of around 3.5 million, that only puts us at .04% of the population so really that's not all that bad.

when i saw that pic, i kinda had the same thoughts...let's see what next weeks numbers are, as now my friends are coming down with it as well.