<p>Bluebayou–I don’t really think #52 is fear-mongering. The reference to fear mongering is about the vaccine, not the H1N1 virus itself. The difference between ten thousand in mid- November (or close enough) and tens of thousands (and it’s now mid-January) is simply not that significant.</p>
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<p>bluebayou, I didn’t just make up these statistics… tens of thousands die each year from the ‘normal’ flu and from the initial stats H1N1 is no different, if not worse. </p>
<p>The CDC says (see below) that on average 36,000 people each year die of the flu in the US. I think 36,000 counts as ‘tens of thousands.’ </p>
<p>You yourself cited the CDC thinks at least 7,000 (and maybe up to 13,000) people died from H1N1 in the US just through mid-November… it’s surely far more now. There is nothing here to ‘challenge’ these are real facts… H1N1 is not something you want to mess with if you can at all help it. </p>
<p>[CDC</a> - Seasonal Influenza (Flu) - Q & A: Questions and Answers Regarding Estimating Deaths from Influenza in the United States](<a href=“http://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/disease/us_flu-related_deaths.htm]CDC”>http://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/disease/us_flu-related_deaths.htm)
From CDC website:
"How many people die from seasonal flu each year in the United States?
The number of seasonal influenza-associated (i.e., seasonal flu-related) deaths varies from year to year because flu seasons often fluctuate in length and severity. CDC estimated that about 36,000 people died of seasonal flu-related causes each year, on average, during the 1990s in the United States. "</p>
<p>^^^Along those lines, I have heard a lot of people say “What’s the big deal about H1N1? 36,000 people die of the regular flu every year! Nobody makes a federal case about that.”</p>
<p>The difference here is that a VERY large majority of deaths from seasonal flu are among the elderly. That’s sad, but completely expected. But consider that a significant proportion of the H1N1 deaths have been healthy 20 to 50 year olds. That’s a very scary thing.</p>
<p>^^^^Very true. There is some research suggesting that older individuals have some immunity against H1N1 because it is similar to a flu strain that circulated in the 1950s… thus they were hit less hard when the initial waves moved through (before vaccine was widely available).</p>
<p>However, elderly or not a significant proportion of those c.36k deaths per year are totally preventable.</p>
<p>^^^^^Good point.</p>
<p>I am an intern at a medical office and have seen the shots given. There are rare cases where recipients can die from these but those hardly ever happen (never where I work).</p>
<p>There are also flu mists that can be given to anyone under the age of 45. It’s similar to a nasal spray and the overall procedure takes less than ten seconds. I don’t think I’ve heard of anyone dying from the mist way so it is considered a safer resort to immunization ^^</p>
<p>siblings and I all got the mist and felt fine afterwards.</p>
<p>^^^^^^The seasonal flu mist and H1N1 mist are approved for healthy individuals aged 2 thru 49 who are not pregnant.</p>
<p>Got my seasonal flu last October and the H1N1 this past Monday. Felt fine before both shots, and fine after both shots. And I feel fine now, thank you.</p>
<p>Why anyone would want to risk getting one of these nasty diseases is beyond my comprehension.</p>
<p>I have asthma, and my pharmacist always says that the shot is safer for people with high risk illnesses, as opposed to the nasal mist. </p>
<p>Just got the H1N1 shot.</p>
<p>sweetea, if you know, could you tell us why the flu-mist isn’t recommended for those over 45? I think I remember reading it last year - but that was last year and I’m 54, so my memory isn’t what it was…</p>
<p>FluMist is a weakened virus not a killed virus. Thus, potentially more dangerous to those with weakened immune systems, such as the young, the old, the immuno-compromised, those undergoing chemo, etc.</p>
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<p>dragonmom, the mist is approved for up to age 49, not 45. Doesn’t help you, though. I managed to sneak in under the age limit, but not by much.</p>
<p>My H has a genetic lung disease and gets weekly injections; he was to avoid anyone for 1 week if they got the mist. (I think that meant his home health nurse since he obviously can’t avoid the general public for the whole flu season).</p>
<p>I get a reaction to flu shots and really didn’t want to get another one after having a sore arm after the regular one. On the other hand, I could never forgive myself if either my H or my S got the flu because of me. I KNOW that a shot does not give you the flu but I must get a reaction to the preservative; my arm is still sore from my shoulder to my wrist and my neck is sore also. Fortunately, I have a regular dr. appt. on Monday so I can ask about this reaction and whether it will get worse with each additional shot and what my alternatives are since I can’t get the mist.</p>
<p>"The difference here is that a VERY large majority of deaths from seasonal flu are among the elderly. "</p>
<p>True, and oddly enough, the best science says that the way to prevent more of these deaths among the elderly would be to vaccinate more SCHOOLCHILDREN against the flu. They are the main vectors for spreading it, and the vaccines are very effective for them, while they are less effective for older people.</p>
<p>[Vaccinate</a> Schoolchildren to Reduce Influenza Toll (from Archives of Internal Medicine) > Health Issues > ACSH](<a href=“http://www.acsh.org/healthissues/newsID.1189/healthissue_detail.asp]Vaccinate”>http://www.acsh.org/healthissues/newsID.1189/healthissue_detail.asp)</p>
<p>lotsofquests, I always get an extremely sore arm after a regular flu shot. With the H1N1 shot, however, I was offered the option of vaccine without preservative. I chose this option and had absolutely no reaction to the shot, including no sore arm. In fact, I couldn’t even tell I’d had a shot.</p>
<p>Perhaps you could discuss the option of flu vaccine without preservative with your doctor.</p>
<p>I do have a little bit of a sore arm after my injection, yesterday. It pales in comparison to the effects of the flu, however! </p>
<p>I used to immunize all my kids with the flu shots when they were kids, since we had people in the family who had asthma.</p>
<p>I asked nurses about getting a sore arm after a seasonal flu shot and they said it could be the amount of fluid going in the arm or what muscle they hit could cause the soreness.</p>
<p>^^^^I’m a critical care nurse and have seen just about every horrible or gross thing you could think of. But giving intramuscular injections just gives me the creeps. I hate doing it. Luckily, I rarely have to since we usually do IV therapy for most problems.</p>
<p>There is a really bizarre technique call a z-track injection I had to give once that completely gave me the heebie jeebies. Yuck.</p>
<p>The thing that causes most of the soreness after immunizations is neither the preservative nor the injection technique. It’s the local inflammation caused by the immune response to the killed or attentuated micro-oraganisms. That’s why the pain isn’t so much right after the injection but gets worse a little later. The inflammation takes a little while to get going. That’s also why immunization injection sites hurt more and stay sore for a lot longer than sites where drugs are injected. The immune reaction and resultant inflammation keep raging on for a while.</p>