Influenza US 2019/2020 and vaccine

Well....
After skipping the flu shot for a few years I decided to get back in shape.
I had an appointment for this year's vaccination last week but woke up in pre-illness distress after being slimed by a beloved family member.

I probably did myself a disservice by squashing the elevated temperature part and am now in the week of hacking and coughing and generally doing an imitation of a semi-functional frog.
I do not think it was the FLU flu, since nobody who has ever had the FLU flu ever wondered if was the real-deal.....but now I'm going to re-intensify my efforts to keep my immunizations up to date.

This was the first cold I've suffered in a number of years (based on the expired dates on my go-to meds) HOWEVER (comma!) I do not recall one being this bad, nor lasting this long.

I can only imagine that minor illness get less and less minor from here.....

Stay immunized out there, folks!

 

i had a really sore arm for 3 days, slight headache, and maybe a bit more lethargic than usual. but i am also fighting the tail end of a bad cold.

 

The injection tech gave me plenty of warning, and an option to schedule later if I was doing anything important tomorrow. She indicated that a number of patients returned the next day with flu-like symptoms or other problems, before they started giving better warning of the side effects. She was knocked down to a couch most of the next day after both shots of her course, while the injection site lump lasted several days. Among her close coworkers, the best was a mere headache, the worst was knocked out of work about three days, but most just has a single lousy day.

Even though we are planning to host a small gathering tomorrow, I didn't see a better time coming in the next several months, so went for it now.

 

we were going to go monday before Christmas, and they recommended thursday. good call.

 

Not sure if that rule about exposure to infants still applies now with the newer Shingrex. vax

 

I do not recall reading anything about kissing babies in the CDC page, but I only skimmed....AND the ladies in my life will probably want me to schedule this vac around new arrivals.
I have to schedule one soon.

I’m STILL producing an impressive amount of green stuff 11 days after getting slimed by my much adored granddaughter...and my church singing is presently limited to lip-synch.
When you have a family member in pre-school and school, you kiss every child in your community by proxy!

 

I have a friend in the same boat with you. He's been miserable for weeks and weeks.

We got the shingrex shots a while back. Both made my wife pretty sick. Captain Oblivious, here, felt nothing from the first one and only a little achey from the second one.

As for the flu shots, I swore them off years ago. After my first one, I got one of the worst flu cases I've ever had. But now I'm old enough (66) that the doctor almost commands it. So I've been getting them for several years. We both have a super-mild flu-like thing going right now. If it's really the flu, the injections have vastly reduced the symptoms. If it's not the flu, I don't know what it could be. It hit the chest, sinuses, and throat all at once, along with fatigue and a little initial nausea. But it's not slowing us down very much. I just wish my food didn't all taste like snot!

 

my daughter and i are just getting over the same colds. she lost her voice for 5 days.

sore throat, then it moves up to the sinuses, finally goes out the ears, but leaves weeks of a dry hacking cough

 

That's what I usually get and in that sequence. This is very different so far. And the cough is fairly infrequent but is productive. Not like what I typically get.

 

covid?

 

got our second shingrix shots yesterday. wow, rough night. my whole body ached, could barely get out of bed.

on rotation of tylenol and advil this morning. better, but still feel like i got hit with a truck.

 

For me the injection site (upper right arm) turned very red around the site for about 4 inches all around and was very sore and a general whole body ache that lasted about 2 days.

I have never had shingles but people who have had bouts with it convinced me to get the shot. Their description of shingles and the pain and discomfort that goes with a case of it are sobering.

Like many in our generation chicken pox, measles mumps etc were all a right of passage in the 50's and 60's. Apparently shingles are a reemergence of the chicken pox virus that is dormant residing in our bodies from our youth.

 

my daughter got shingles at 40 years old. we went looking for shots the next day, it's horrible

 

Got my second shot Thursday, and had very little trouble from it (other than flinching mid-shot), just a very lightly sore arm the next day.

Either that, or any problems were almost completely masked by a 47 mile soft-surface bike ride immediately after, which itself needed a few Vitamin I tablets (ibuprofen).

 

everyone reacts differently. mrs b is doing much better than me. glad to hear it wasn't too bad for you!

 

Captain Oblivious checking in here. I jumped on the rowing machine right after my 1st shingles shot. Could not even find the injection site. Didn't do that for the second one. Felt a little achy that night. Fine the next day except mile tenderness at the site.

Wife? Holy smokes! My princess bride felt like she'd fallen off the top of a barn for both of them.

 

is there such a thing as asymptomatic flu?

 

I think any infectious agent can be asymptomatic to some degree.

This says that asymptomatic cases of the flu can be 4% to 28%.
The fraction of influenza virus infections that are asymptomatic: a systematic review and meta-analysis
It was a metastudy looking at the results of multiple others.

 

interesting. so if you cn be asymptomatic and contagious, and don't get a flu shot, you increase the likelihood of super spreading

 

Thanks for reminding me Cap!
I need to get vaccinated for the shingles myself.

...soon.

@ reactions....

I got the famous/infamous "21-gun salute" (smallpox vaccine) three times in my life and have never reacted to the not-a-bug.
The last time I got it the protocol was pretty different.
They literally gave us kit with instructions and warnings about how to deal with the site.
I dealt with it by giving my kit back.

However (comma!!) I've been a PPD-converter (reacts to the TB test) all my life, and the last time I was eligible for the 'mist' (FluMist) I had flu-like symptoms for 10 days.
As a matter of fact it was one of the last times I got sick enough to consider taking a sick day - something I've not done in over 20 years.

So.....reactions vary.

One GOOD thing about the dampanic.
It ought to shut the anti-vax people up for a little while.....

If they offer a shot for the Covids?
I'll take it.
Sign me up!