Get your flu shot. This is a personal warning.

frenchyd said:

In reply to Curtis : the generic version of Prilosec is about $22 for three bottles of pills at Walgreen.   

About what you spend on Tums and I can tell you Tums don’t work as well. My acid reflux eventually scarred my throat bad enough that food would get stuck and it took a procedure   To be removed. 

After about six such procedures that require a specialist I started taking Prilosec. My insurance covers it.  

You're right.  I'm back in a financial place where I can afford Prilosec.  The WalMart brand of Omeprazole is actually $15 in the store for the three bottles of 42 count pills right now.  My prescription dose was 40mg, so I would double up those pills.  Did that for 20 years.  In 1996 they did the throat scope and stopped counting at 50 ulcers.  Basically my whole esophagus was popcorn.  At the time, however, the surgery to correct was to take a piece of the diaphragm, cut it, wrap it around to make a "new" sphincter.  Side effects were perforated diaphragms (can't breathe), inability to vomit, inability to swallow, or it could have been completely ineffective.  The surgery at the time was given something like a 60% success rate.

Doctor's orders to get off of it.  My bone density was less than half what it should have been for my age and I started getting some of the long term side effects they talk about.

So... No Prilosec for me.  I was one of those people who considered calling the law firm in the commercials when they said "have you taken Prilosec and experienced these symptoms?"

But we're not here to talk about my guts, we're talking about vaccines.  Doctor's orders are Tums until I decide that they've come up with a good enough surgery.

wearymicrobe said:

Did not want to start a vaccine discussion FYI. Just wanted to tell people it was coming hard this year.

Just this morning I watched a report on GMA.... the projected success rate of the flu shot this year is 10%.

ABC News report

Fast forward to 1:20 for the short attention span folks

wearymicrobe said:

Did not want to start a vaccine discussion FYI. Just wanted to tell people it was coming hard this year.

You didn't, not really anyway.

10%, man that is totally worth while.

Low bone density eh, have you considered lifting weights?

In reply to Curtis :

Some of what you are saying applies to me too,  I’ve been taking Prilosec so long the effects are beginning to add up.  

Even though diary adds to my acid reflux I drink a lot of milk to add calcium for bone density.  I also take supplements to reduce the effects.  

Once you’ve had a drunk specialist try to unplug your throat you realize something has to change.  (that’s the second time in my life when a courageous nurse stood up to a doctor)  

So we agree that blind following of medical policy is not a wise choice.

From reading your postings on this subject I’m sure that my initial assumptions about your position was wrong.  You have done due diligence and in your case you have a very valid position.  

I had assumed that you were like so many who dismiss medical advice  were poorly informed and listening to half truths.  Thank you for taking the time to explain your reasoning.  

Absolutely.  I didn't mean to snap or sound abrasive, I just noticed we were getting off the topic so I said "here's the whole story, back to your regularly scheduled programming."

For the most part I trust medicine.  Their hearts and minds are in the right place, but there is fertile ground for money to cause misinformation.

I used to have a friend (foreign exchange student from Netherlands) who moved back home and became an ophthalmologist in Belgium.  She was a great source until she got MS and can't practice anymore.  I could call her and say "this is what the doctor wants to do..." and she could answer with knowledge from a country where the money aspect of the medical industry is not subject to TV commercials, WebMD, and unchecked Pharma greed.  Most of the time the advice was spot on but sometimes she would say something like "it looks great, but use Drug X instead of Drug Y because over here Drug Y was banned for causing deafness and paralysis, but in the US the drug companies just used the loose drug trials rules to shove it through knowing that they can afford the future lawsuits with the profits they can make before people start noticing."

I honestly never really doubted US medicine until A- I needed serious medical help in Canada, and B- my Dutch friend gave me another perspective.  Its not that I doubt it completely now, but I'm skeptical any time a doctor wants to jump to a brand new drug that has a multi-billion dollar commercial attached to it.

And the same is true for the flu shot (which is not a vaccination).  Pharma made us afraid of a disease that (for most people) isn't deadly and we likely wouldn't get it anyway.  The R-numbers for contagion of flu along with its ridiculously low success rate and my infrequency of getting it mean I am not going to dive in and line pockets for big Pharma.

I still tend to advocate for getting the flu shot, but it appears to have not helped me this year. Fortunately, the whole body aches and shivers only lasted about a day and a half, but I’m still under the weather after getting first symptoms last weekend.  

Of course, I was pretty much a near worst case scenario.  Last week I flew up to Canada in a packed regional jet, went to 1.5 days of meetings packed into conference rooms with hundreds of other people, went to a movie theater in downtown Toronto, went to a company party with over a thousand attendees, then got back on another packed regional jet.  It was inevitable I’d get some sort of disease.

Where I work they said it was mandatory, Now I sit here at my computer with the flu. I asked for a couple sick days and they said if I took one then just plan on a string of them standing in the unemployment line.

So they can pay me to be here at GRM inbetween shipments!

Where the hell kind of horrible place says "Come to work with the flu or get fired" jesus that's horrible.

In reply to Curtis :We have the same take on big Pharma.  The money involved is astonishing and the potential for evil with that much money is too high.  

I honestly believe nationalized health care is our only hope.  The market can’t fix it because big Pharma controls the market.  

Health care itself cannot be fixed by the free market because  most often when an emergency strikes time is most critical not lowest price. Add the trust the average person places with his doctor ( who is likely in the pocket of big Pharma )  and there is another reason the free market can’t correct itself  

In reply to z31maniac : it may be horrible but to businesses all too often that is the reality.   I drove hundreds of kids with double pneumonia because if I’d taken a day off my pay would go down a buck and a half an hour.  ( when I worked)  no pay for sick days even though the bank expects payments on time!   

eastsideTim said:

I still tend to advocate for getting the flu shot, but it appears to have not helped me this year. Fortunately, the whole body aches and shivers only lasted about a day and a half, but I’m still under the weather after getting first symptoms last weekend.  

Of course, I was pretty much a near worst case scenario.  Last week I flew up to Canada in a packed regional jet, went to 1.5 days of meetings packed into conference rooms with hundreds of other people, went to a movie theater in downtown Toronto, went to a company party with over a thousand attendees, then got back on another packed regional jet.  It was inevitable I’d get some sort of disease.

Maybe it only lasted a day and a half because it worked?  Do you know if you hadn’t had the shot how long it would have lasted?  

z31maniac said:

Where the hell kind of horrible place says "Come to work with the flu or get fired" jesus that's horrible.

The company I work for keeps this office lean, We are understaffed especially this time of year, All the richie riches want their houses done weeks or months ahead of schedule so my bosses always cave. Usually happens when they charge a lot of services and the rich people didnt get the discounts they felt they deserved.

I cant wait until Im shiny taillights out of California. This place really is the E36 M3s for little guys. 

In reply to frenchyd :

That sounds plausible, I know I got exposed, then felt a little off and noticed a throat scratch and prepared for the worst, but it never came. Both of us got the shot this year, I guess I just reacted to it better. 

z31maniac said:

Where the hell kind of horrible place says "Come to work with the flu or get fired" jesus that's horrible.

Unwise practice, good way to get your workforce sick

Alternatively Yugo, it was not the flu

Sounds like a lot of you guys have some pretty crappy physicians taking care of you.   Oh yeah, doctors are not the ones making money on flu shots.

According to medscape,

this year's vaccine effectiveness may be as low as last year's, at 32% for A(H3N2), the CDC says.

CDC weekly summary.

After 4 hours in the ER last night (because immediate care couldn't be bothered to deal with my wife's issue, even though they could have done it, and it was enough of an emergency it had to be dealt with last night) followed by 2 hours of caring for my brother since my parents are out of town and his girlfriend couldn't handle him anymore, I'll be shocked if I don't get the flu. 

And next time I'm dealing with my brother with the flu, I'm just hitting him with a frying pan and taking him into the ER. "Oh, how did he pass out? He fell". What a dumbass. 

The CDC also sez that a Tamiflu a day keeps the flu away.  You might ask your doctor for some. 

Dr. Hess said:

The CDC also sez that a Tamiflu a day keeps the flu away.  You might ask your doctor for some. 

I will give it a shot. Thanks for the advice.

In reply to mtn :

A phone book doesn’t leave as big a bruise.

Wally said:

In reply to mtn :

A phone book doesn’t leave as big a bruise.

I'll keep that in mind, but harder to find this day and age. 

Just saw the topic and didn't bother to read the entire thread. But we had our shots back in early November, prior to our Palm Springs trip, and so far we're good. Knock wood, as the Brits would say.

Walgreens interactive map.

Based on what their stores are selling for flu meds.  We're Number 10!!  We're Number 10!!  We're Number 10!!

You fuggers jinxes me. 

Went to bed Friday night, then started getting symptoms and couldn't sleep worth a lick. Sick all weekend and then Sunday evening my wife talks to her sister. Turns out both my SIL BIL and GPIL (grandpa in law) all came down with it! The same inlaws we had dinner with Wednesday night!

Luckily my wife made it to the pharmacy just before they closed. Used the GoodRX app to get a coupon to get Tamiflu for $58 . My wife also got some (free from insurance) as a preventative. Immediate improvement after taking tamiflu.

Been home from work the past 3 days but I haven't had a fever for 24 hours so I should not be contagious. Still feel a bit off but not bad. 

Fun stuff!

My mother missed X-mas laid up with the type A flu. However my Father and Brother showed up coughing and sneezing all over everybody talking about how the doctor told them it was super contagious. 

Needless to say I spent the new year weekend laid up with a 103° fever and am still suffering from low energy and a chest full of phlegm.

The missus has so far avoided it but is flying to New Orleans on Saturday so is guaranteed to develop symptoms Friday night

Knock on wood, so far I've been good despite my sojourn in the ER and visit with my flu-ridden brother. That has been about 13 days now. I had a cough that had me working from home one day--Jan 2--and still am coughing, but it hasn't been bad. Maybe one cough an hour, and it has at least been productive.