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Some reports say that up to 80% of your immune system is in your gut. If the antibiotics mess up the balance of good and bad bacteria in your intestines, this could weaken your immune system.</p>
<p>Vitamin D and probiotics, people. And get enough sleep. 
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Lucky duck! :)</p>
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You’re preaching to the choir. I’m a school nurse and have sent out several e-mails to our faculty and staff reminding them to get flu shots if they haven’t already done so, and to speak with their students about good hand washing technique and making sure to cover a cough/sneeze. I also place articles in our school newsletter and give our principal info to go out on the auto dialer. In October, we offered (through an outside agency) FluMist at our school for any students whose parent signed a consent and paid $30 (or no cost to those who are on free/reduced lunch). Receipts were given so that it could be turned in for insurance reimbursement. Additionally, CVS Pharmacy sent several employees to give flu shots to faculty/staff at no charge to those of us who have our insurance through our school district.</p>
<p>I always get a flu shot. 10 yrs ago H and all 4 dentkids had real flu. They infected each other and I was off work for parts of a month to be the nurse. Now kids all get the flu shot, but H takes his chances. Yeah, he was sick over Christmas, flat for a week. The rest of us are well!</p>
<p>I had the flu in 2009 and spent a week in ICU. Missed 3 months of work and recovered slowly. Get the shot.</p>
<p>So all of you praising the “flu shot”; what do you make of the oft-quoted "60% "efficacy rate? I have had mine, but only because i had to, and based on some reading, it seems not clear that vaccinating healthcare workers has any protective effect on
patients anyway. And is being mildly exposed to all flu strains a better “preventive” than the man made vaccine? I wish they would say how many of the flu cases they pare seeing are in vaccinated people.</p>
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IMO, 60% efficacy is better than 0% efficacy which is what you get if you go unvaccinated.</p>
<p>Vaccines and the recommendations for people to get them is not taken lightly. </p>
<p>You do not get a vaccine to only prevent illness in yourself but the spreading of illness of others.</p>
<p>I get so frustrated when I hear/see people so negative against them. It’s a individual decision of course, but vaccines are a form of preventative care - preventative care is a positive method to control illness and disease.</p>
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<p>What you are saying harkens back to the time when people used to intentionally get smallpox when what they thought was a milder strain was going around. However, even the milder strains killed some people.</p>
<p>Not getting a flu shot is irresponsible and may contribute to others getting very ill or dying.</p>
<p>Just got over the flu (well, flu or flu like illness says the doctor), and I had a shot 2 months ago. Body aches, high fever, sore throat, runny nose. It was miserable, but the Tamiflu helped.</p>
<p>I am not “anti-vaccine” though; obviously smallpox is a different scenario (kills large percentage of those infected) and the vaccine lasted a virtual lifetime at close to 100% efficacy; i just feel like people put an awful lot of confidence in a vaccine that isn’t very effective. I don’t work with patients, i work in a research lab with about 3 other people; yet if i don’t get the vaccine, am required to wear a mask. So i feel like the hospital i work for is more interested in getting employee compliance than actually preventing infection! Since hand washing is better at prevention than wearing a mask, OR getting the vaccine.
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<p>But the choice is not an exclusive-or choice. You can do all three to be extra-safe.</p>
<p>I’m not anti-vaccine either, but I don’t get flu shots. When the swine flu was a threat in this area, the line to get the shot at our local mall was out the door and winding around the corner. Then when the second wave of flu viruses went around and it was a different strain, there was a report that all of those that received the swine flu vaccine may be at a GREATER risk of the new strain than those who had received no vaccine. Not a great risk to take considering only a 60% efficacy rating. I’ll wash my hands, keep my hands off my face, use hand sanitizer keep my work surfaces clean and avoid the elderly and ill as much as possible during flu season.</p>
<p>This doesn’t make me irresponsible. It means I’ve made an informed healthcare choice that some disagree with.</p>
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<p>And how would you control it so you are “mildly” exposed to the flu? Hmm, I will just breathe in a few of those germs coughed out by the guy on the elevator so I won’t get a severe case. Duh. You obviously can’t control this. It astonishes me how dumb some people are about the topic of vaccines. Go read the CDC website if you want to make sure you are getting good information. Stop listening to vaccine deniers and half baked theories on immune systems that have no scientific basis in fact.</p>
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<p>Just exactly what do you mean by “mildly exposed?”</p>
<p>EDIT: oops, should have finished the thread before I responded.</p>
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<p>Hand washing is good…very good…but isn’t going to do diddly for you if you are standing in the elevator with the infected person who sneezes.</p>
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<p>I personally have gone into germaphobe mode as I can’t find a flu shot (I caved and went looking for one, it seems all the area pharmacies/clinics are out, and I haven’t yet found a PC doctor since I moved).</p>
<p>-I avoid elevators if at all possible, and if I do have to take them, I make sure to take them alone and hit the buttons with my elbow. Added bonus of flu outbreak: extra cardio!
-If I have touched anything communal (water cooler handle, microwave, doorknob, communal computer keyboard, etc.) I do not touch anything until I have hand sanitized.
-I’ve tried to be a good coworker and lysol some of the communal areas every day
-Before I touch my workstation, I lysol wipe down the desk, mouse, keyboard, switch, monitor on/off button, and chair armrests
-I lysol the chair armrests and conference room table area where I have to sit for meetings
-I wipe down my badge and flipper key with lysol wipes
-I keep at least 1 chair between myself and any other person during meetings</p>
<p>People probably think I’m OCD or something, but preventative measures work pretty well</p>
<p>Our workplace put hand sanitizing stations by the elevators during the last epidemic.</p>
<p>New York declared a flu emergency and temporarily authorized Pharmacists to administer flu shots to kids 6 months-18 years old. Over 20,000 cases of influenza documented already–those are just the ones that were tested.</p>
<p>You know what I think are one of the biggest ways germs are spread? All those electronic pens that are attached to the credit card swipe terminals in stores! At my CVS no matter how you pay, you have to sign that you do/do not want to speak to a pharmacist. That means that every sick person picking up a Rx uses the same electronic pen. I always use hand sanitizer after using them!!</p>
<p>Ive been encouraging my kids to get a shot. They are pretty good about washing their hands( better than my H :p)
They both just had mild colds/flu the week or so after Christmas,( they weren’t sick when we were all together though, & neither H or I have been sick.- I made soup & tea for youngest and got some Yin Chiao Chieh Tu Pien for both of them. I only use the Plum Flower brand)</p>
<p>My oldest isn’t teaching this year, but she still uses public transportation, so I am trying to get her to see it could be a good idea to get a shot.
However, she has a bad reaction to needles, and even getting a TB scratch test that was required every year when she worked at the zoo, made her faint.
( when she was a baby, she was on oxygen, and they had to stick her every hour or so to measure blood gas levels, since it was before the nifty gadgets they have now, and her umbilical catheter was blocking circulation to her leg- It seems that all those tests make premies hypersensitive to pain:( )</p>