Get Your Flu Shot, Folks!

[distantearlywarning]

229. I was one of those who "never got the flu"

Never had a flu shot, never had a single case of the flu to my knowledge. I was very pleased with myself and never gave a moment's thought to my own moral responsibility with regard to herd immunity, possibly being an asymptomatic carrier, the vulnerabilities of babies and cancer patients, etc.

Then, in 2010, my husband and I took a trip to Paris over Christmas. We must have caught something in the airport. I don't know for sure, but I strongly suspect it was H1N1. A few days after we came back, we both came down with the most horrific respiratory illness either of us have ever had. He was flat in bed for a week with a high fever, and then came down with a terrible sinus infection that took a month and several rounds of antibiotics to cure. He told me it was the first time he could viscerally understand how otherwise healthy people died of such things in the days before modern medicine.

I was less sick initially, but then ended up with a lingering cough that I just couldn't seem to shake. A month later I took myself back to the doctor, where I was diagnosed with cough-variant asthma for the first time, at age 36. I still remember how much better that first breathing treatment made me feel in the doctor's office - like an elephant had been removed from my chest. Four years later, I still carry an inhaler daily just in case, and I have a round of bad asthma for a week or two every time I get sick with a cold. Smoke and dust set me off too. In other words, the flu I was so smug about and sure I would never get gave me permanent asthma. My lungs are permanently damaged from that flu.

I now get my flu shot every year. I just got one last week, and my husband went with me. Now, because of my prior foolish short-sightedness about my own potential susceptibility to influenza, I HAVE to have a flu shot yearly, because I am in a high risk group.

The minority anti-vax sentiment in this thread is absolutely appalling. I confess I am a little shocked at how many DUers have come out of the woodwork about this tonight - I always think of liberals as being very pro-science, literate, rational, etc. Reading some of these conversations is like listening to fundies arguing about evolution. Yikes! I sincerely hope that anyone who is on the fence takes my (and others') cautionary tales to heart and gets a shot.

On Edit: Someone asked upthread who had gotten sick or had a reaction to a flu shot. I have never had a reaction to a flu shot, nor have I gotten sick after one. After this last one I didn't even have any arm soreness or anything. The guy who gave it to me (at Walgreens) was really good and the needle didn't even hurt. However, in the service of being completely honest, I had a terrible reaction to a Pertussis vaccine several years ago - bad enough that it was reported as an adverse event by my doctor's office. But what worries me about that is that they say pertussis immunity wears off after 8-10 years. I don't believe I will be able to have another pertussis shot, so I will have to rely on my fellow human beings to protect me from whooping cough via herd immunity...and judging from this thread there are quite a few who could give a shit about my health or the health of others who, like me, will be unable to be vaccinated (including tiny babies who are too young to have a TDAP shot).