Labs, classes, committee meetings, and now I have to somehow squeeze my flu shot into the schedule. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate Thursdays this semester?
Oh, yes, you should get your flu vaccination too. For the good of your community. And so you’re less likely to spend a day or two puking your guts out at some time this year.
Right. Flu shot. Trying to find the spoons for that somewhere.
They offer them for free at the drug store but I’m a little iffy about getting a shot at a drug store.
I’ll get mine either with my doctors appointment in a couple of weeks, or when I pick up my next prescription refill at the pharmacy. Its covered by Medicare.
‘Tis Tuesday, you oppressive Calendarist Oppressor!
I understand. Wednesdays are the day of the weekly staph meeting here. Well, my Wednesday. Which drops lots of shit on me that I am supposed to accomplish during your weekend (my Thursday and Friday) which are our busiest days which means that I always get emails on Monday (your Wednesday) wondering why I didn’t get this shit done on Saturday and Sunday (your Monday and Tuesday).
I could never get the hang of calendars. Colanders, on the other hand, are easy.
I think the flu shot prevents respiratory flu not stomach bugs. I wish they prevented stomach bugs. I hate puking worse than anything. I got one for free at CVS this year. I had a reaction from it but it’s still worth it. The flu makes me feel like I’m dying a slow miserable death and then I can’t quit coughing unless I take steroids.
Is there a shot for Thursdays (or in Brother Ogvorbis’s case, Tuesdays)?
Alternatively, is it possible to shoot Thursdays / Tuesdays? Or otherwise discourage it from showing up…
I’m afraid that’s unpossible since I already got mine.
@Terska You are correct. Flu shots will do nothing to stop you getting any kind of winter vomiting bug.
@Prof Myers – come on, you knew that!
In the vernacular people sometimes say “stomach flu,” but vomiting is not a symptom of influenza.
Unless, as the result of a very rare adverse reaction, you are turned into a newt and don’t get better…
Less puking isn’t really the point. You’re less likely to die from influenza. Less dying in the real point. And you’re less likely to transmit it to someone you love. Another bonus. So don’t be a purulent piss hole; get vaccinated.
Got mine last week when refilling prozac at CVS/Target and got a free $5 gift card. Not sure if the shot itself was already free or just readily covered by my not-so-great insurance. Got it last year at Target and the year before that at Publix, both times while already getting prescriptions filled and going ‘why not?’.
Getting the shot at a pharmacy is not really iffy unless you require privacy to roll up your sleeve and get stuck. The doses are already prepared in their syringes, so they just plop one in a tray with alcohol wipes and a bandaid then bring it over to you sitting in a chair beside the pharmacy. They put on some gloves and swab the gloves and injection site, then remove the needle cap, clear any air bubbles, stick you, stick the syringe in a sharps disposal bin, and stick on the bandaid.
I refuse to get a flu shot, because I don’t want to get adult onset autism. Jenny McCarthy has saved my life more than once, you know.
As mentioned above, it ain’t about puking. At all.
There is no actual thing called ‘stomach flu’. Nor ’24-hour flu’.
Further, it’s not influenza, whatever your symptoms, unless you’re running a high fever.
(if you’re going to PSA, please PSA correctly.)
Ye gods…I’ve started getting the”DON’T GET THE FLU SHOT” hysteria on facebook again. It’s that time of year. Already suffering from rebuttal fatigue.
Got mine! :-) YES. YAY for modern science!
As an aside I think the stories I sometimes get about “I went in to get the flu shot and THE NEXT DAY I got the flu!” are hilarious. I always remind them about that incubation period… LOL!
I know. But puking is so much more vivid, don’t you know?
Maybe not as vivid as the dying thing, though.
Got mine at work the other day. I asked about side effects…the usual, sore arm (not much) and maybe a bit warm. Definitely had that. Felt kind of iffy that night, but fine the next day. My wife had a flu shot a few years ago and then had a runny nose that evening which developed into a full-blown bronchial infection. Her respiratory system is sensitive. Of course, not sure if there’s an actual connection. To her credit she still gets the shot because the risk of that sort of side-effect is way below the risks associated with the flu.
By the way, I was asked if I had any problem with thimerosal. I wasn’t concerned about it, but I thought thimerosal was no longer used.
Yes, there is.
I’m partial to rye myself.
I got a not so good reaction to flu shot a few years ago (I was achy and tired two weeks, as if I got actual flu but without fever) despite having it with no adverse effect previous years. I consultated it with my physician and it was recomended I should do without flu shots for a while.
This year I decided to risk it again and got mine two weeks ago. Without any adverse effect, yay!
My parents are getting their flu shot each year for past ten years.
Robro #17
From the CDC.
You either had someone giving the shot who was drawing from a multidose vial, hasn’t gotten the memo on thimerosal removal from single dose injections, or still asks about it as a CYA technique.
No, I’m pretty sure everyone can relate to puking their not-so-proverbial guts out. Vividly. Dying, is a little more difficult for most people. One hopes.
I vaccinate myself against AOA by adding a thimble of mercury to my water bottle each morning. I also use lead oxides and arsenic as seasoning and take the occasonial preparation of chromium, which, unless I have my chemistry backwards, is a powerful antioxidant and therefore must be good for you.
Ever since I stopped listening to my doctor and started self-medicating based on Things I Read Somewhere things have been going great. I don’t get migraines anymore, it’s just permanent. The voices are a lot louder, which makes it much easier to follow their every instruction. And the constant cold sweat and chills are a useful reminder to drink plenty of water. I’ve never felt so vital in my life.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have another 18-hour nap scheduled. I’ve been up for almost half an hour, if you can believe it.
Chas:
For some of us, a high fever is all of 98 F. My normal temp runs at about 95/96, has been that since I was around 7 years old.
I have had my flu shot.
I have attended my first meeting of our multi-ethnic committee — it was surprisingly productive.
One more appointment to go, and then a 5:00 seminar…which is optional, and I may go collapse in a heap somewhere instead.
You’d think so, but every one I’ve ever had leaked.
I got my flu shot a few weeks ago. I was at the drug store to pick up a prescription and was offered it, so I got it done then and there. This particular store charged me for it (less than a buck) even though my insurance has covered it 100% at other stores in past years.
Another odd thing: at this place they give the shots right out in the open, in the area where people are lined up to pick up their meds. At the other places they’ve taken me into a back room to give it. Weird. I would think they’d be worried about freaking out the needlephobes among their customers.
I got mine though my wife’s employer. Thanks! (She and the spawn didn’t get vaccinated last year, and both were very ill at the same time, while I was not.)
Just because PZ hates Thursday so much, I propose we change the name … of the day, not of PZ. Rather than going back to Thor’s Day, let’s call it Mjölnir. (It might be easier to just start calling PZ “Mjölnir”, come to think of it.)
Got mine yesterday. I work for a university with a medical school which encourages all the employees (and students) to get jabbed; many of the people doing the jabbing are volunteer first year medical students, the Flu Crew, organized by older students (the vaccine itself the university pays for). The students also work with the local county public health department to do flu vaccination elsewhere (e.g., to the homeless population). The medical school considers it good training for the students.
And here I thought it was influenza when you’re infected with a form of the influenza virus. Silly me.
Caine
The little one is the opposite. She’ll go to 40°C in no time and for a mild cold.
My, my, has everyone forgotten that nausea and vomiting were signs and symptoms of H1N1 2009? Which, BTW, according to that, link is still around.
I’ll probably get a flu shot at a doctor’s appointment next week. If not, I’ll try to get it at my local CVS
Chas.
It’s best not to be too dogmatic about this. I once dismissively remarked to our GP about one of the kids complaining about stomach ache and saying she wasn’t well enough for school. He rather sternly pointed out that there are lots of lymph glands around the stomach area … which is the reason that the first signs of _any_ approaching illness in children is very often a tummy-ache. The reason that full-blown illness doesn’t always eventuate is the child’s developing immune system – the lymph glands do their work better and better as the child grows.
Adults are less likely to suffer these symptoms, but not all of us all of the time.
@Menyambal #25, I second the motion (on changing the name of the day, not PZ (his family might object)).
@inquisitiveraven #28, my wife and I can’t forget the symptoms, we caught an H1N1 influenza infection some years back. It literally took two years to fully recover from it.
The infection actually isn’t that bad, it’s the cytokine storm that’s what causes the most damage.
I had a reminder from my doctor’s office via e-mail, so I left a message on the web portal to schedule the immunization.
They scheduled me for January.
Yeah, like I’ll wait that long. I have follow-up appointments in between, I’ll get it then.
January, might as well wait for July!