Swine Flu how worried are you???
It's the second day of fall and the flu is already on every parent's mind. Should your kids get a flu shot? Or do they need to get a swine flu shot (aka H1N1)? Do they get one shot? Or four shots? Lord have mercy, can this get anymore confusing? Maybe we should all just lock ourselves in our houses and emerge in the spring. Sounds like a plan, but not a very practical one.
Momma's Little Helper
Momma's Little Helper
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Julia Gray on -
As an FYI, My five year old son had the mist last week (H1N1) I had the shot two weeks ago for H1N1. So far we are both fine. You cannot get the flu from the flu shot. (it is not a live virus and the most you will get is your immune's response as it buids anitbodies which may result in a fever or aches-he mist is a live virus and may have a few more complicatoins but we did not expereience any yet). Anything else is likely a coincidence. Also remember statistically FAR MORE people die from the flu than the vaccine itself, so if you are using statistics as your deciding factor, the stats are in favor of a flu vaccine. I think it is which risk are you more comfortable with that will tip the scale. I come from a medical family and have seen what disease can do to folks when you least expect it so I am big on prevention and vaccines (within reason). My father never was vaccinated as a child. He ended up with over a dozen major illnesses--mumps, rubella, diptheria, tetanus etc and now at 72 has Parkinsons' disease-some experts say they neurological damage may be from all the diseases he had ravage his body, so there is a down side to letting things happen "naturally". As well my best friend's mother ended up with Polio. No need and so sad as she is handicapped. I think there is a story on either side (vaccine, no vaccine) but it appears far fewer suffer from the vaccine than the actual diseases. I feel for everyone trying to mull this over as their are always risks in anything we do.
-
Permalink Reply by Susan on -
After doing a lot of research and talking with various medical professionals, we decided to get the h1n1 shot. I had a very difficult time making a decision.
My daughter is considered high risk and her pediatrician, pediatric allergist and pediatric rheumatologist all urged us to get the shot. The pediatrician was my pediatrician so he's been practicing for a long time and is very thorough and conservative in his approach. I trust him not to push something unless he feels it is necessary. He said he had some initial concerns about the vaccine, but did a lot of research himself and felt that they were no worse than the regular flu shot. He estimates he has seen 2000+ cases of h1n1 flu in his office and said many of the high risk patients had some rough moments, including hospitalization. He didn't go into details, but given how much he stressed we should get it, I decided to listen to him.
The thing that concerned me most was the risk of secondary infections, not the flu itself. A friend who is an ER nurse said her son who is asthmatic seemed to get through the flu fine, but had pneumonia and she didn't even realize it! She had taken her son in for the mandatory doctor's note stating he was okay to return to school and they discovered it. I don't know what would have happened had the son's pneumonia gone untreated, so I guess it's a good thing that the school required a note.
I keep seeing Dr. Mercola's site referenced as why not to get the vaccine. I haven't seen too many other sites referenced though. I have listened to his recorded sessions and read the articles. While a lot of it is good food for thought, I have to question someone who has so many pop-ups on his website that try to get me to subscribe before I can listen to sessions or read the articles. If he is providing information for the greater good and not for his own benefit, then he should re-consider the pop-ups. There was one very interesting recorded session with the founder of the NVIC (nvic.org). I got a pop-up asking for my email address and when I entered my information, I was forwarded to page trying to sell me stuff. What a turn-off! I couldn't get back to the recorded session without entering the URL again so I had to listen to the entire session with the pop-up that covered my screen (there was no "close" option).
I have been building and marketing Websites since the mid-90s and I'm of the mindset that if you are legit and you provide valuable information, people will sign up and/or buy stuff on their own because they have built a relationship with your site. You shouldn't force it on people who haven't had enough time to experience your site. Because of these pop-ups and the sales spin to the site, a red flag went up even though I did think some of the information was worth considering.
Back to the h1n1 injection. I was initially concerned because I read about ASO3 which includes squalene. This is added to the shots in Europe and possibly Canada (I think I read that the Canadian government approved the use of it but please look into it yourself, if you're in Canada because I can't recall where I read it). If the US shots had this in it, I would NOT have given my daughter the injection. Currently it's against the law in the US to include it, but if that law ever changes, I will not risk my child's health (or mine).
My husband and I both got the h1n1 injection too and we both had terrible headaches on the left side of our foreheads (which is the side where we got the shot). My daughter said she didn't have any issues, but she's 5 and has experienced a lot of pain in her young life so I don't know if she'd complain about a mild headache if she had one. About two hours after the injection, I experienced shaking and chills. I didn't have a fever, so I am not sure what was happening. I bundled up, drank hot tea, and tried to relax. I ended up sleeping the rest of the afternoon and was pretty much back to normal the next day. It could have all been psychological since I was so worried about us getting this vaccine, but my husband and I having the headaches on the same side at the same time probably was a side effect.
I just want facts and accurate data so I can make informed decisions. I'm not sure either side of the debate has all the information so in the end I have to trust my daughter's pediatrician and hope that we're not one of the small percentage of people who have serious side effects due to the vaccine.
-
Permalink Reply by Felicia on -
I just took Graham this morning for his regular, seasonal, preservative free flu shot. I opted not to get him the H1N1 after much debate. I'm still not sure how I feel about my decision. But, I think we all have to do what is best for our families and use our own best judgment.
-
Permalink Reply by Stacy Colson on -
Personally, I feel this shot is too new for my situation, but believe we should trust the CDC & WHO. I have twin 1YO boys who were 3 months premature. They do not go to daycare and therefore are not exposed to other children. Not only this, but they are in the throws of regular childhood vaccinations.
The rest of our house has been vaccinated for the seasonal flu and I'll be getting the H1N1 on Friday (I am 10 weeks pregnant). If enough vaccine is available, my husband and our other children will get it too.
If you visit Dr. Sear's website (www.askdrsears.com), he has a pretty decent "un-biased" view of these vaccines. His info was helpful to me making my decisions. Basically he says choose one or the other (childhood vaccinations or flu shots..don't do both at the same time).
If my boys were 1 year older, I would be giving them this shot. Timing for us is not cooperating.
I've read alot of the posts on here. Please consider your sources. There are alot of "natural" sources people have cited. Honestly, if we believe these sites over the CDC and WHO, that's a bit skeptical to me. I believe both work, but need to work together.
Make the decision that is right for your family and don't look back.
Happy Winter!
-
Permalink Reply by Lori Wildrick on
-
I'll jump back in because I don't know if I am getting over the h1n1 virus or another flu virus, but I got hit with something last week, and I was shocked at how hard it hit. I was fine on Thursday, just a weird little dry cough and by the middle of the night, I couldn't breathe. Now, I don't know if that's symptomatic of h1n1, but I spent the next three days with sore throat, body aches, fever, headache and no appetite. I did go to the urgent care; they did not test me for the h1n1 virus, but sent me off with Tamiflu, antibiotics, Robitussin with codeine and albuterol. And they did ask if I had ever had asthma, because of how hard my lungs were affected. I had not been. I did my best to stay away from my kids, but now they are starting to get sore throats and dry coughs. Whatever it was, I'm glad I went in and got checked out sooner versus later. I also did take the online assessment tool (www.h1n1responsecenter.com) which told me to do the same: see a doctor. It is not going to be an easy winter, that's for sure!
-
Permalink Reply by Allison Wolff on -
I wrote a couple of posts about H1N1 and the vaccine industry, if anyone is interested. I'm getting more and more skeptical of the whole thing. You can find them here: http://greenoptions.com/author/allisonwolff
-
Permalink Reply by Jean Myles on -
I am not looking to get into a big disagreement or discussion over things, but just want to add our families' situation to the replies.
Jaylen has Autism, was diagnosed at 18 months, and he will never get another vaccine that contains any trace of mercury. SAY what you will, unless you have a child with Autism, you don't understand. The guilt over whether or not a vaccine did it, or you ate too many tuna subs during pregnancy, etc. And I can not sit here and wonder how or why it happened, but just move forward. Every day is extremely difficult and all we can do is try to do the best we can from here on out. So, long story short, no H1N1 shot for him. I would od the mist but they won't let me because he had 2 tini wheezing episodes and needed a nebulizer over a year ago! So annoying.
And my little one can't have any vaccinations for either flu because of an allergic reaction he had to eggs.
So we just have to put our heads down and hope that if we get it, we are strong and healthy enough to get through!
Jean, mom to Jaylen, 3 ASD, and Xavier 1
http://www.MommyToTwoBoys.blogspot.com
-
Permalink Reply by Sandra Simone on -
I don't think that there is anything to worry about. Yes, people have died from the swine flu. But, people have died from the regular flu as well. All we can do is try to keep our immune systems strong by eating healthy and excercising and we should do the same for our children so they can develop healthy immune systems. It is difficult to eat right most of the time so a good multi vitamin is crucial to achieve optimum health. If your immune system is weakened, it wont have the fighting power to even ward off a cough so we need to boost our fighting machines (antioxidants) in any way we can.
For more information on achieveing optimum health so we don't have to inject our bodies with a dead virus, visit my website at http://www.newlife1.info
-
Permalink Reply by Kevin Burke on -
There's a free webinar today on Natural Approaches to Treating Cold & Flu for the Whole Family.
When: Wednesday, December 2, 1pm ET/10am PT
Email parentbloggers@gmail.com for a webinar invitation. Then check your email for the invitation that will contain the link to join the webinar.
- ‹ Previous
- 1
- …
- 5
- 6
- 7
- Next ›
Announce yourself!
Badge
© 2010 Created by Megan Calhoun
