Very Tired of All the Flu Hype - Page 3

[Taximom5]

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.

Gee...weren't they trying to say that autism is caused by living too close to the highway?  Why don't they say that flu susceptibility is caused by living too close to the highway?

[Chicharronita]

I was at a party on Friday where this topic came up.

A friend of one of my BILs was asking everyone if they got the flu vaccine. If they said yes, he'd show them the YouTube video with former Washington Redskins cheerleader Desiree Jenkins who had a bad reaction to the flu vaccine. 

I was sitting next to him with about four other people. One of them said that eleven years ago she had such a bad reaction to the vaccine she almost died. She got a really high fever, and I said that that is often one of the "side" effects of vaccines. She nodded and said that she hasn't gotten one since.

Everyone listened sympathetically to her which was nice and surprised me; I guess due to my experiences on the Internet I was expecting a skeptic to pop up and question her story. 

When he asked me about it I said I never get the flu vaccine. He looked bummed that he couldn't shock me, but didn't question my reply at all. I'm glad to see that there's still people out there who don't feel the need to bully you if you don't get vaccines.

[Chloebelle]

Has anyone seen this brilliant article? Makes my head spin.

http://healthblog.dallasnews.com/2012/12/my-son-has-fluagain.html/

[Chicharronita]

No I didn't see that. I've been entertaining myself reading the comments of authoritarian pro-pharma people on the Washington Post article

Why 64.8 percent of Americans didn’t get a flu shot

Many of them are along the lines of "get the shot in order to protect babies and the elderly or else you're an irresponsible selfish idiot who ought to die from the flu" peppered with more reasonable ones.

I also saw this interesting study posted on Facebook:
 

Annual influenza vaccination affects the development of heterosubtypic immunity.

Bodewes R, Fraaij PL, Kreijtz JH, Geelhoed-Mieras MM, Fouchier RA, Osterhaus AD, Rimmelzwaan GF.

Source

Department of Virology, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Electronic address: [e-mail].

Abstract

Annual vaccination of healthy children >6 months of age against seasonal influenza has been recommended by public health authorities of some countries. However, currently used seasonal vaccines provide only limited protection against (potentially) pandemic influenza viruses. Furthermore, we recently hypothesized that annual vaccination may hamper the development of cross-reactive immunity against influenza A viruses of novel subtypes, that would otherwise be induced by natural infection. Here we summarize our findings in animal models in which we demonstrated that vaccination against influenza A/H3N2 virus reduced the induction of heterosubtypic immunity against highly pathogenic avian influenza A/H5N1 virus, otherwise induced by a prior infection with influenza A/H3N2 virus. The reduction of heterosubtypic immunity correlated with reduced virus-specific CD8+ T cell responses. An additional study was performed in humans, in which we collected peripheral blood mononuclear cells from annually vaccinated children with cystic fibrosis (CF) and age-matched unvaccinated healthy control children to study the virus-specific T cell response. An age-related increase of the virus-specific CD8+ T cell response was observed in unvaccinated children that was absent in vaccinated children with CF. These findings highlight the importance of the development of vaccines that provide protection against influenza A viruses of all subtypes.

[kathymuggle]

Originally Posted by Chloebelle 

Has anyone seen this brilliant article? Makes my head spin.

http://healthblog.dallasnews.com/2012/12/my-son-has-fluagain.html/

 That is true fear mongering.  I love the part at the end urging people to drop what they are doing and get to their pharmacy ASAP for a flu shot.  

[Minerva23]

'NY flu epidemic' made it to the German news stating that pharmacist are now allowed to vaccinate children starting at 6 month to 18 y/o for the next 30 days.

[BeckyBird]

Originally Posted by Chloebelle 

Has anyone seen this brilliant article? Makes my head spin.

http://healthblog.dallasnews.com/2012/12/my-son-has-fluagain.html/

The article is terrible, but I love the comments!

[velveeta]

Originally Posted by BeckyBird 

The article is terrible, but I love the comments!

The comments are brilliant! Where in the world did she come up with this "fact"?
"Despite sharing recently released medical information that they are at 50% increased likelihood of heart attack without the flu shot, they decline immunization (sorry, I have to vent and this is a good venue)."
Flu shots decrease HA by 50%?!!!?! I am gobsmacked.

[kathymuggle]

….yet another article that is critical of the flu vaccine, media hype, and mandatory flu vaccines for HCP, from none other than the BMJ:

http://www.eurosalus.com/media/static/generic/files/BMJ-Belief-not-science.pdf

[imakecutebabies]

So none of you have the flu right, or have a family member currently suffering from it? I've been in bed for three days with my three children, 8, 5, and 1, all sick with influenza. I can barely function, the kids are miserable, my 5 year old woke up throwing up this morning, and I'm nervous about the baby, but I just keep nursing as much as he'll take. We live in NYC amd have never gotten flu shots. My 8 year old contracted the swine flu in 2009. It was very scary. I think you all should be thankful that you are just "sick" of hearing about it. You should probably try to understand that many people are actually very sick though.

[imakecutebabies]

I was hoping to find some mothering tips to help me through this...

[kathymuggle]

Sorry your family is unwell, imakecutebabies.  

Is any adult in your house well?

I had the flu last year at the same time as my youngest.  My youngest is prone to chest infections (and she did indeed get one after the flu).  It was really hard to take care of her while I was so under the weather myself.  I don't know if I would have been able to avoid her getting a chest infection if I had been on top of my game, but the reality was I wasn't.  It's hard.

If I were sick and trying to take care of sick people, I would focus on the basics - making sure they are hydrated, and not lethargic.

I would press liquids onto them frequently,  and I would monitor for high fever/ lethargy combo. For the baby I would monitor diaper output.   Glassy-eyed is always a bad sign around here.  If anyone seems really unwell (including you!) I would go to a clinic or hospital, or if it did not seem that bad, I would call a loved one to come and help me deal with the situation.  Your partner if he is well seems the ideal choice (even if he has to take some time off of work).  

If you are up for it, make a big soup with as much garlic and ginger as the kids will tolerate.

If you have a bit more energy and are into natural health supplement, I would consider Vit A, C and D for flu.  I would also consider Elderberry and maybe echinaccea.  You need to do the research and figure out the dose per age and if they are safe while nursing.

good luck!

[Marnica]

Originally Posted by imakecutebabies 

So none of you have the flu right, or have a family member currently suffering from it? I've been in bed for three days with my three children, 8, 5, and 1, all sick with influenza. I can barely function, the kids are miserable, my 5 year old woke up throwing up this morning, and I'm nervous about the baby, but I just keep nursing as much as he'll take. We live in NYC amd have never gotten flu shots. My 8 year old contracted the swine flu in 2009. It was very scary. I think you all should be thankful that you are just "sick" of hearing about it. You should probably try to understand that many people are actually very sick though.

While I am truly sorry you and your family are unwell, I don't understand why people cannot be entitled to their feelings about the propaganda surrounding the flu and the constant push for flu shots. I don't think any of us here (and yes there are a couple people posting who are sick currently or have had the flu recently or have had family members sickened) are under the illusion that the flu is not actually doing around and that there are not quite a few people who have come down with the flu. One has nothing to do with the other. The flu sucks. I *understand*  that it sickens many people every year. I still get tired of the propaganda - mostly because the flu shot is not very effective. 

With that said, my tip for you would be to dose SA to bowel tolerance for all of you including the baby (yes its safe). I wish you all a speedy recovery. 

[Chloebelle]

Originally Posted by imakecutebabies 

So none of you have the flu right, or have a family member currently suffering from it? I've been in bed for three days with my three children, 8, 5, and 1, all sick with influenza. I can barely function, the kids are miserable, my 5 year old woke up throwing up this morning, and I'm nervous about the baby, but I just keep nursing as much as he'll take. We live in NYC amd have never gotten flu shots. My 8 year old contracted the swine flu in 2009. It was very scary. I think you all should be thankful that you are just "sick" of hearing about it. You should probably try to understand that many people are actually very sick though.

Sorry you're all sick, but I'm sure everyone posting in this thread has had the flu and understands how awful it is to be sick. We all get sick sometimes. That's unfortunate, but it's life. That doesn't mean we subscribe to all the hype surrounding the flu and the relentless push for people to get annual flu shots. That is what this thread is about. Not to disrespect those who get the flu.

[imakecutebabies]

I totally hear you. I'm just miserable. I don't remember ever feeling this sick and it sounded like such a luxury to complain about it. The mainstream media is always so annoying and I do feel like the shots probably are what cause so many people to catch it.

[imakecutebabies]

And thank you for the tips! It's helpful to think that my body is taking care of me and not let the hype freak me out!

[Adaline'sMama]

Originally Posted by kathymuggle 

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.

Wow. I have premature infants that were just released from the nicu and our childrens hospital even has flu tents outside (tents for children to be examined in if you think they have the flu so that you can go into a special entrance and be quarantined if they do). There were no infants getting the flu shot in there- It was made very clear that no babies younger than 6 months could get the vax, even though there were several parents wanting their kid to have because of the hype.
Edited by Adaline'sMama - 1/15/13 at 5:37pm

[kathymuggle]

Holly - congratulations on the babies!!!!

Now I have to stalk your posts over the last week or two to see how you all are doing and what you named the babies.......

Fwiw, the post you quoted was about vaccines in general, I don't think it was in relation to the flu vax.

[emmy526]

Originally Posted by imakecutebabies 

So none of you have the flu right, or have a family member currently suffering from it? I've been in bed for three days with my three children, 8, 5, and 1, all sick with influenza. I can barely function, the kids are miserable, my 5 year old woke up throwing up this morning, and I'm nervous about the baby, but I just keep nursing as much as he'll take. We live in NYC amd have never gotten flu shots. My 8 year old contracted the swine flu in 2009. It was very scary. I think you all should be thankful that you are just "sick" of hearing about it. You should probably try to understand that many people are actually very sick though.

sorry to hear that your'e sick..here's to a speedy recovery!  . at any rate, the hype about getting vaxed in order to 'protect everyone' is ludicrous at best, and the media using scare tactics to sway the masses into submission is totally out of control right now.  At least in the northeast it's like that.  Some of us don't want the vaccine,  or are allergic to it, and it just seems as tho the propaganda is shoved down our throats no matter which way we turn our heads.    If they at least offered alternative advice other than just getting vaxed, it wouldn't be so monotonous, but there is no such advice on public announcements, other than to vax, and cover your cough.   

[Adaline'sMama]

Originally Posted by kathymuggle 

Holly - congratulations on the babies!!!!

Now I have to stalk your posts over the last week or two to see how you all are doing and what you named the babies.......

Fwiw, the post you quoted was about vaccines in general, I don't think it was in relation to the flu vax.

thanks :)