Please can you share your experiences of having a flu shot. I have had nasty bouts of flu several times last year and this year. Now the doctor has recommended I have a flu shot and a pneumonia vaccination. About eleven years ago I came down with pneumonia and needed hospitalisation. The doctor says I will be protected for ten years with the pneumonia vaccination but will need a yearly flu shot. He feels that I fall into a high risk category because I work with children in an educational settings.

What are your thoughts on both these jabs. I am quite worried about my health and I need to hear your responses on whether the flu jab helped regarding how severe a flu infection you came down with and is it a good idea.

Thank you all.

regards
Ruby

Don't know, but thank you for asking the question, it's something I've been thinking about too. I've had flu twice in my life and both times it was dreadfully serious and I thought I'd kick the bucket, and was hospitalised. I'm normally healthy as a horse, but I seem to have become much more 'chesty' since I came here...it's the damp I think. I worry about flu.

The problem with the flu jab is that it can only protect against the few that they think MIGHT be big that year - there is no guarantee at all, and there are thousands of variations. You can get the jab and STILL get the flu, in fact you can get the flu FROM the flu jab. I'm not a big fan tbh - just seen it not work too many times to warrant my belief in it. Personally I would hook up with a good naturopath and look at more "natural" ways to boost your immune system so you can more easily fight of the lurgies.

I've been getting the flu shot for years now. I have never had the flu or any side effects since I started. I shall have on next week before I leave town for the winter.

Thank you Simon, I may just go ahead and get a flu shot. I am just so ill at the moment. I feel so tired and this is upsetting me.

Ruby

Hi! Millie,

I am just so ill and I wish it would just go away. I am tired and weepy. I will go out into the sunshine for a bit. I just want a new body.

Ruby

Thanks, Annie. I may consider this in the future but I have been taking Echinacea to no avail, so maybe traditional methods are what I need now.

Ruby

I always get the flu shot, snd had the Pneumovax vaccine a few years ago. I haen't had my annual bout of bronchitis since

The flu shot does not give you flu. You get a sore arm for a day or so, that's it.

Take some B12, low levels make you tired and depressed

Thank you Bats, I will get some B12 and D.

You're much better off to take oral homeopathic Influenzinum. It's recommended by the World Health Organisation and is updated every year to include all 'flu strains. I've used it for over ten years. It has no side effects. Neither my husband nor I have had 'flu in all that time. We never take 'flu shots.

I will be on immune-suppressant medication for the remainder of my life. The hospital contacts me every fall to remind me to get the flu shot and pneumonia shot if required. I've been having the flu shot for many years now without experiencing any flu or colds. It seems foolish to me not to take advantage of avoiding a condition (flu) that could prove deadly.

If you've got anymore money you want to waste why don't you just send it to me and I'll pray that you don't get the flu. Wouldn't be any less effective.

Really? WHO recommended? Water with a memory?

No. Really not.

I suspect Leith has become confused by the paragraph on this page or somewhere similar, that states
That's disingenuous to the point of almost being criminal. "A respected organization recommends action A. We want to sell you some mumbo-jumbo, and by associating ourselves with the respected organization by dropping their name, we want to give our mumbo-jumbo a veil of authenticity."