damn flu

[Maritime Q-Scout]

I had it too. Hacking up yellow phlegm, uncontrollable coughing, diaharea, you know the fun stuff.

Cough is still lingering almost a month later.

Zero missed days at work at I was away for training during the worst of it and if I missed any time I wouldn't get certified.

Those poor people around me. I feel bad.

Nothing like going to California and using your spending money on cold & flu medication from Walgreens!

[Ducay]

No one person in particular, but people who boast about how they don't get (or need) the flu shot GMG.

Unless you're an individual who can't get it, you are putting all the riskiest individuals who can't at more risk. You're not tough, you're an ass.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by V

Why do you keep coming in? Are you really so indispensable that you should risk the health of your co-workers?

One man department heading into year end . . .

[Kiran403]

Has anyone had the symptoms where you feel out of it, vomit and have the runs for a day and then it goes away? Everything is fine for a week and then you get another day of nausea/weak bowels etc? It can repeat for 2-3 weeks. I had it last year at the end of December and I seem to have gotten it again. It feels like the flu but I'm not understanding how it comes back as I'm 100% fine in the days between bouts.

[TheSutterDynasty]

The problem with the flu shot is how often they miss the strain, which I believe was this year again (anecdotal).

You're also basically risking getting sick a little bit from the shot to have a small % chance of not getting badly sick. Until it's a little better I'll take my chances.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22032844
Unfortunately behind a paywall, but it does mention

Influenza vaccines can provide moderate protection against virologically confirmed influenza, but such protection is greatly reduced or absent in some seasons.

so I'm not sure how reliable our predictions are.


Maybe one of our resident pharmacists can weigh in?

[Fuzz]

The flu isn't about your stomach. Their is no such thing as a stomach flu. Look up types of food poisoning. There are some that reoccur weeks later, I can't remember which.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

The flu isn't about your stomach. Their is no such thing as a stomach flu. Look up types of food poisoning. There are some that reoccur weeks later, I can't remember which.

Its not necessarily food poisoning, you can get gastroenteritis from a viral infection or occasionally bacterial infection of your stomach of intestinal walls. A "stomach flu" is not always food poisoning.

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

The flu isn't about your stomach. Their is no such thing as a stomach flu. Look up types of food poisoning. There are some that reoccur weeks later, I can't remember which.

GMG that many (read: lots) people seem to think the stomach flu is the actual flu now. No, you are not shatting out both ends due to the flu, maybe a stomach "flu", but not actual influenza.

Honestly might have some severe repercussions since most people now just assume the cold/flu related symptoms are from a cold and the flu is only stomach related.

[bigtmac19]

Yes a stomach issue is usually something like norovirus. We had that go through our office last year, I was one of them. Thought I was dying, burst a bunch of blood vessels in my face from such severe vomiting. I hope I never get that again. Everyone that got it was out 3-4 days.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Kiran403

Has anyone had the symptoms where you feel out of it, vomit and have the runs for a day and then it goes away? Everything is fine for a week and then you get another day of nausea/weak bowels etc? It can repeat for 2-3 weeks. I had it last year at the end of December and I seem to have gotten it again. It feels like the flu but I'm not understanding how it comes back as I'm 100% fine in the days between bouts.

Not saying it is this, but it's one I looked up last time I got sick:

Trichinosis is usually characterized by two phases:

• the initial phase (intestinal) of abdominal discomfort, diarrhea, and nausea that begins one to two days after ingestion and
• the second phase (muscle) of muscle aches, itching, fever, chills, and joint pains that begins about two to eight weeks after ingestion.

http://www.medicinenet.com/trichinosis/article.htm

[SportsJunky]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Its incredible how sick a flu can make you feel.

In my family we've always said 'the flu' never 'a flu'. My wife and her side always say things like "They've got a flu in their house" or "He's caught a flu". We, on the other hand, say, "He's caught the flu".

Minor thing and I don't even know if both are proper but her way makes me cringe every time I hear it.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by TheSutterDynasty

The problem with the flu shot is how often they miss the strain, which I believe was this year again (anecdotal).

You're also basically risking getting sick a little bit from the shot to have a small % chance of not getting badly sick.

True. I get the flu shot every year since I've had kids, and two of the the last three years I've gotten flu-like symptoms from the shot. Which sucked. But not as much as having the actual flu, or having it and then giving it to my elderly parents and killing them. So I still get the shot.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by SportsJunky

In my family we've always said 'the flu' never 'a flu'. My wife and her side always say things like "They've got a flu in their house" or "He's caught a flu". We, on the other hand, say, "He's caught the flu".

Minor thing and I don't even know if both are proper but her way makes me cringe every time I hear it.

It's a flu. Of course it's company policy never to, imply ownership in the event of a flu... always use the indefinite article 'a flu,' never 'your flu.'

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

True. I get the flu shot every year since I've had kids, and two of the the last three years I've gotten flu-like symptoms from the shot. Which sucked. But not as much as having the actual flu, or having it and then giving it to my elderly parents and killing them. So I still get the shot.

Same happens to me pretty much every year. I always get the flu shot because I cant get sick between January-May so I get the flu shot and puts me down for a couple of days.

[Russic]

Perhaps my biggest pet peeve is when people get a flu shot, then a stomach bug, declare the flu shot useless, then refuse to get it the next year and endanger those around them unable to get the shot. That shouldn't happen enough that it's developed into an actual pet peeve, yet here we are.

Even if it cuts your chances of getting sick by 10%, it's odd to not get it. Putting the health of those weaker than you at risk because you don't like needles or don't want to get mild symptoms is completely your right – but it says a lot about you.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Russic

Perhaps my biggest pet peeve is when people get a flu shot, then a stomach bug, declare the flu shot useless, then refuse to get it the next year and endanger those around them unable to get the shot. That shouldn't happen enough that it's developed into an actual pet peeve, yet here we are.

Even if it cuts your chances of getting sick by 10%, it's odd to not get it. Putting the health of those weaker than you at risk because you don't like needles or don't want to get mild symptoms is completely your right – but it says a lot about you.

What we really need is some sort of 'Flu Patrol' where they can weaponize the flu shot and administer it forcibly.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by Russic

Perhaps my biggest pet peeve is when people get a flu shot, then a stomach bug, declare the flu shot useless, then refuse to get it the next year and endanger those around them unable to get the shot. That shouldn't happen enough that it's developed into an actual pet peeve, yet here we are.

Well in my case, it's not a stomach bug but flu-like symptoms (headache, body ache, light-headedness) the day after getting the shot. Twice. Hard to imagine that being a coincidence. I still get it. But I'm confident the feeling crappy part is due to the shot.

[Mazrim]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

Well in my case, it's not a stomach bug but flu-like symptoms (headache, body ache, light-headedness) the day after getting the shot. Twice. Hard to imagine that being a coincidence. I still get it. But I'm confident the feeling crappy part is due to the shot.

That's just your body rejecting the mind control serum...

[bigtmac19]

I'm surprised how many people get flu like symptoms after getting the shot. I have never had any kind of after effects from getting it. I did get it this year, haven't for a couple of years before that, but always did when my parents were alive, because I didn't want to risk getting them sick.

[Mazrim]

Originally Posted by bigtmac19

I'm surprised how many people get flu like symptoms after getting the shot. I have never had any kind of after effects from getting it. I did get it this year, haven't for a couple of years before that, but always did when my parents were alive, because I didn't want to risk getting them sick.

I've never had bad symptoms from the shot myself, but my wife gets really varied reactions. Sometimes very minor like this year, or a bout with the flu a few years ago, or last year where her arm was super sore at the injection site for almost 2 months. It's not consistent at all for her.

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by bigtmac19

I'm surprised how many people get flu like symptoms after getting the shot. I have never had any kind of after effects from getting it. I did get it this year, haven't for a couple of years before that, but always did when my parents were alive, because I didn't want to risk getting them sick.

You have to wonder how many people coincidentally get colds after the shot and blame the shot