Spin-Off of Flu-Shot Thread: Why DON'T You Get a Flu Shot?

[PattnFmly]

Afraid of needles is the understatement of the year. Absolutely terrified is more like it. Injection, blood draw, no matter which. I often pass out, even if I lie down. I also have to stay there for at least 20 minutes or I will pass out. Hate, hate, hate the blackness that starts clouding in, try hard to just breathe and make it go away but its awful! They would rather have me lie there taking up a valuable room than pass out and fall on the floor. I am bad. ...

 

[kamik86]

I just don't feel the need to. I'm not around any frail elderly often, the youngest kid in the family is 3 and I only see him a few times a year. I could handle having a flu if I got it. I have never gotten a flu shot and can't remember the last time I had the flu...Maybe in high school?

DH does get sick more often but I'm not sure it was a real flu, he just gets stomach issues really easy (for me its a sore throat). He got the shot twice and both times got sick shortly after so he refuses to get it as well.

 

[PrincessV]

I went with Other - After reactions increasing in severity year after year, my doctor cut me off a while back: no more flu shots. I'm not allergic to eggs, so we have no idea what it is that gets me, but I've had similar reaction to other types of injections, too.

 

[Christine]

I went with Other - After reactions increasing in severity year after year, my doctor cut me off a while back: no more flu shots. I'm not allergic to eggs, so we have no idea what it is that gets me, but I've had similar reaction to other types of injections, too.

Just curious--what are your reactions?

 

[nugov2]

I don't really fit any of the categories, so I picked other. We don't get them because we're all healthy, no chronic conditions or factors that would make us high risk for complications, and don't have any pressing need to do so. I've had the flu once, a relatively mild case as such things go, and none of the rest of the family got it. Generally I trust in handwashing, reasonable caution, and our immune systems to deal with anything we're exposed to, and it has done us well so far.

This is exactly my reason for us not getting it.

 

[PrincessV]

Just curious--what are your reactions?

First time: redness, swelling, heat about the size of a baseball at injection site, lasting several weeks - unusual, but not outside the realm of "normal."
2nd time: same as first, but the swelling/redness/heat took up the entirety of my upper arm and lasted over a month.
3rd time: all of the above, plus a rash that spread across my chest.
4th time: ditto, plus the rash spread to neck, face, back, thighs, and I had an asthma attack. Benadryl and an inhaler managed it well enough to avoid a trip to the ER, but that was the end of flu shots for me, lol!

 

[jahber]

We haven't gotten the flu shot in a few years. Last time we did, we ended up getting the flu anyway. It was verified by swab and was one of the strains in the vaccine. At that point, I did a risk/benefit analysis and decided to double down on disease prevention. None of us have had the flu in the years since. But we also homeschool, so our risk factors are lower than most. My husband's job isn't high contact, but he's also very careful (paranoid) about killing germs before touching the kids. I'm much more relaxed. My healthiest kid is my toddler, kid #3, and he has probably licked half the surfaces of WDW (not that I allowed him, but he's just "that" kid.)

 

[lovin'fl]

Selected other...too lazy and so what if I get the flu??? Knock on wood.