The 'net and medicine.

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

Having the flu does not necessarily mean you cannot get out of bed, nor that your stomach is upset. Nor does it have to last for weeks.

I have a pretty tough immune system. There was a flu that hit my workplace one year and it was flooring everyone. Usually for 1-2 weeks.

It must have been a really nasty one because I caught it and back then I rarely caught the "Creeping-Crud of the week".

Day one - Felt like death warmed over in the microwave.

Day two - Felt like I needed to get better to have the strength to die.

Day three - Felt like someone worked me over with a tire iron (ironically an improvement from days one and two). I could move again, the fever broke and I could eat solid foods again.

Day four - Still felt wiped out, but was on the mend.

Day five - Back to work.

[telecom_goddess]

Day two - Felt like I needed to get better to have the strength to die.
.

I'm sorry but I found that funny I can understand that feeling!

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

If you don't get exposed to the flu or are not susceptible to it, a flu jab won't do you much good, will it?

And if you have chest infections, it'd probably be better to figure out the cause than to treat something you don't have.

^-.-^

Actually it is possible to to not be experiencing the symptoms yet still be contagious. A lot of people who think "I never get the flu" actually have had the flu but never noticed it.

Much the same way that a lot of illnesses get shrugged off. Pertussis as a child can be lethal. As an adult with a healthy immune system you may think you have a simple chest cold.

So having a flu jab not only protects yourself, it protects others that you may come in contact with by giving you the immunity to fight it off before letting it spread to others.

At least that's what the hospital staff tell me when I'm due for the annual flu jab.

[Mr Hero]

The OP reminded me of the classic line, "It's not a tumah!" (It's Arnold pronouncing "Tumor")

[Greenday]

The OP reminded me of the classic line, "It's not a tumah!" (It's Arnold pronouncing "Tumor")

My friends kept making me say that when I had a tumor in my hand. I do a really good impression of it too.

I had my bowling league and my partner who was sick last week was back. Apparently, he caught that cold that was going around and it really kicked his ass.

I don't get it. Everyone else I know was practically bed ridden. I just took some powerful decongestants and went about my day, albeit very stuffed.

[Nyoibo]

So having a flu jab not only protects yourself, it protects others that you may come in contact with by giving you the immunity to fight it off before letting it spread to others.

At least that's what the hospital staff tell me when I'm due for the annual flu jab.

Herd immunity is a good thing, this is why I hate all these parents who refuse to get their children immunized, its not just their child it's affecting, it's lowering the herd immunity and putting other people at risk too.

[insertNameHere]

I currently have a staph infection which the internet assures me could easily turn into a flesh eating disease because of many recent cases... the fun part, I think it was a result of either a Hep A shot or the flu mist if I had to throw random guesses out. Because I find it hard to believe I ended up getting it after my dad got MRSA from a poisonous spider bite that I got staph threw a cut on my hand consider week or two after my medical checkup I had a random sore similar to what I have now, it was one then, now it about 8-10. Plus I have been feeling run down and I thought it was all in my head till I made it to doctor and he was like OH shit we need to give you strong antibotics

[protege]

Now that I think of it, my step-dad fits that description.

My dad fits that description. He won't take his allergy meds, then whines about how "sick" he is. Pisses me off, since he doesn't get the sinus/migraine headaches. Plus, he tends to 'spread it around' by not covering his mouth when sneezing/coughing. After having it happen to me one time too many, he got whacked upside the head with a thick issue of Classic & SportsCar. Not one of the usual issues either--I went all-out, and used one of the 300-plus page "anniversary" ones Never sneezed on me again!

I have bad allergies as well, but I do take the pills to lessen the symptoms. Usually, they kick in a few hours, and I'm good. What's not so good, if symptoms include the headaches. Not really much I can do. I hate taking the migraine meds simply because they make me sleepy and can sometimes cause So cans of caffeine are in order, followed by a nap, hot shower (helps clear out the head) and possibly some soup.

Right now, the hot/cold weather we're experiencing (seriously Mother Nature...quit being a bitch and make up your damn mind!) is kicking my ass. That's why I'm sneezing, why my nose is running, and why I feel like shit. I know what's wrong, and what I have to do to remedy it.

If one more person gives me shit about how "migraines aren't a big deal" I'm going to beat them with a tire iron. Unless you have to deal with the room 'swimming,' the pretty flickering colors, slurring speech, etc. you really don't know what it's like. You don't know how crippling those things are--do you really think I'm staggering around and for the hell of it? Let me put my head down until I recover.

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

Herd immunity is a good thing, this is why I hate all these parents who refuse to get their children immunized, its not just their child it's affecting, it's lowering the herd immunity and putting other people at risk too.

Precisely. I almost lost my daughter to Whooping cough because an anti-vaccination mother refused to give their child the proper series of vaccinations. Her child caught it and passed it along to mine. The difference was that her child was old enough to have it and only cause mild to moderate respiratory distress. Mine being only a few weeks old was too young to receive the vaccination.

Result? Was in Peds-ICU for 21 days, dropped below birth weight, coded three times, was given a 12% chance to live unless they tried a dangerous medication that is used for adults. It was a case of "This may kill her, but she's going to die if we don't try anything."

Decision was to go for it. She's now in her second year in College. The medication became the standard regimen for infants with pertussis. In fact another infant came in as my daughter was recovering. They hit her with it straight away. Was in and out in five days and never had to go to ICU.

So you're right. It's not just the child not getting vaccinated that is at risk. It's everyone else that may be exposed to whatever plague du jour they're carrying.

[MrsEclipse]

Re: herd immunity.
I hope someday, they develop a medicine that, when given to children, prevents autism from developing. I hope that, when that day comes, it must be delivered in the form of an injection like a vaccine. I know the universe isn't usually that ironic, but it would just be too perfect.

Moving on:
When my ferret was sick, I looked up his symptoms on the Internet and saw it could be anything from "Don't worry, with just a little help from the vet he'll be right as rain" to "Yeah, you're gonna have to put him down, the sooner you do the less he'll suffer." Of course, it was the last one, but I let a veterinary professional make that call, not Web MD for ferrets.

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

Re: herd immunity.
I hope someday, they develop a medicine that, when given to children, prevents autism from developing. I hope that, when that day comes, it must be delivered in the form of an injection like a vaccine. I know the universe isn't usually that ironic, but it would just be too perfect.

I would laugh and laugh until I pissed myself if that happens.

[Bloodsoul]

Like all the teen to young adult people who have a total freakout thinking that they're going to die from a brain tumor just because they have a rather nasty headache. The odds of dying from a brain tumor in the medically advanced nations of the world are something in the area of 4.4 people out of 100,000.

So we're looking at people freaking out about sinus migraines...or there is a massive population die-off around the corner.

But that doesn't bother me too much. Once quick trip to a doctor who'll either find out what's really wrong and reassure them, or will find the one rare instance of brain cancer and get them on the proper treatment to kill the sucker.

Or, in my case, where a trip to the hospital and then a recommended neurologist couldn't find out what was causing my headaches last year (which have recently returned). It's not that I haven't had headaches or migraines in the past, but in this case it was only affecting the temple, sinuses, and teeth on the left side of my head.

I just find these particular headaches to be odd because of where the pain is located, because OTC medicine has rarely, if ever, helped to dull the pain (oddly enough, watching "Twilight" for the first time last night did), and because I've yet to get a clear diagnosis about it. I mean, if it's because of my sinuses, fine, or if it's because of my teeth, fine; I just want to find out what causes them so that I can stop doing whatever it is that I'm doing that's causing it.. or to find some way to lessen the impact so I can sleep at night (the recent outbreak has been on and off since last Friday night with varying degrees of pain; right now it's at the "mild annoyance" stage with a tingle in my nose and teeth "itching").

[Eisa]

If one more person gives me shit about how "migraines aren't a big deal" I'm going to beat them with a tire iron. Unless you have to deal with the room 'swimming,' the pretty flickering colors, slurring speech, etc. you really don't know what it's like. You don't know how crippling those things are--do you really think I'm staggering around and for the hell of it? Let me put my head down until I recover.

Omg yes. I've had enough migraines that while I'm still not really able to do things, I can at least stay up and sort of deal with life? Although there was the 4-day migraine in the middle of my last year of college...that was fun. I ended up going to urgent care and getting shots for nausea and the pain, and then sleeping for ages.

But lately, I've been getting migraines that are beyond fucking evil. I don't normally get the aura. But with this, I do. Sparkles in front of my eyes like I've just looked into a light. Only the sparkles don't go away.

And then I have to go to sleep after taking pain meds because nothing else helps.

Well...I presume bashing in my head with a shovel would help, but I'd rather not do that.