Wise ones

DH and I have always had the Flu jabs since they first offered them. We never had any problems, not even a sore arm, and we seemed to get fewer colds throughout the year. But last year the vaccine was different and DH was unwell for about a week afterwards. This year I have had ongoing problems with asthma, sinusitis and recurring chest infections (currently on my 8th course of treatment in 12 months) so I will discuss it with GP before deciding, I don't want to make everything worse - but neither do I want to get flu!

I ve certainly never had any symptoms after the jab not even the arm itself

^You dont get flu from the jab.
You might get a few days of feeling flu-LIKE. But you don't get near fatal debilitating flu^

You are right notanan2 my GP said that it is not possible to catch the flu from the flu jab. I sometimes get cold like symptoms but nothing like the full blown flu .

There is some misconception about the flu jab. You cannot get flu from the jab because there is no active ingredient. What the jab contains is an outline of what the virus looks like. That then primes our immune system to look out for any foreign body with the same outline and kill it.

The problem has always been that we cannot know for sure which virus to guard against as each year the virus can be different from what science expects. Hence the reason why some people contract flu even after the jab. And that is why science is aiming to provide a jab that will offer more 'outlines' and try to prime our immune systems against a variety of viruses. Or a completely new approach to virus protection.

Therefore, I time my jab for a less busy week.
But I still have my jab.

Do be careful: a young asthmatic friend had the jab and was VERY POORLY with flu immediately after! Of course, she'd have also been ill if she'd caught actual flu...but maybe she wouldn't have got it at all! My parents also had jabs and were laid up so they're not repeating the experiment

I sometimes get FLU-LIKE side effects from the jabs. It is not the same as getting flu
If I get side effects, which I dont every year, it lasts 2 days, then I'm fine. For those 2 days I am miserable and achey and headachey and may need to call in sick and lay on the sofa eating soup.

When I got flu I couldnt eat or breath or stand for 2 weeks, couldn't function normally afterwards for 6 months, and couldn't work full time again for 18 months.

You dont get flu from the jab.
You might get a few days of feeling flu-LIKE. But you don't get near fatal debilitating flu

Glad to see this post. I have never had a flu jab and have been very nervous about them. Then in January and again in April of this year, I was laid out/up with the most horrendous cases of flu. I will definitely have it this year, but when I went to my GP the first date they had available is 20th October. I am going to visit the grandchildren on 4 November and they say to allow 3 weeks for side effects. So guess I will go to Boots and hope for the best. (Not sure why I think it would be any different from GP).

I didn't have the flu vaccine for years, but then I read that it will give 'herd immunity' if the take-up is high and felt guilty
and selfish and have had one ever since:

uk.reuters.com/article/us-health-vaccines-education/explaining-herd-immunity-may-convince-more-people-to-get-flu-shots-idUKKBN1JW2MC

It may be helpful for some here to read this from SAGA on virses:
www.saga.co.uk/magazine/health-wellbeing/treatments/recover-from-viruses-faster?scid=eml-n|pub|money|na|Mag_Subscriber_Newsletter|Control|15_Sep_2018&utm_source=newsletter-15September18utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Print%28Newsletter

I didn't know about different jabs. BUT this year unless they will offer me the spray up the nose (as they do with children) I will NOT be having it!! Following last year's flu jab I developed a frozen shoulder. GP said it wasn't caused by the jab. I had two steroid injections into the shoulder (That didn't help a jot) before I finally got an appointment with physio. She told me it was more than likely that the jab caused the frozen shoulder!
Being diabetic I'm apparently prone to this and I have no wish to tempt fate as it's taken almost a year to get some relief and some reasonable amount of movement.

I remember coming down with flu in winter 1987 the day after starting a new job. Was laid up for a fortnight.
Never had it since though have had plenty of cold viruses over the years. Real flu, you never forget.

I’ve had the (proper) flu twice in my life. The second time about 7 years ago saw me hospitalised for several days over Christmas. I always have the jab now.

I've been having the jab for years since being diagnosed with diabetes although I missed it one year as I had a cold at the time I should have had the jab. Last year I had the jab at work as I work in a school who offer it to all staff. It was convenient to do it there but I guess it cost the school to provide it and I hadn't thought of my GP practice losing out by me not going there - I thought I was saving them money. Actually I probably am as I don't pay for mine so I'll probably take the convenient option again this year.
I had flu about 30 years ago and it was really horrible. I'm sure it would be much worse if I got it now as an older person, and as I now live alone I wouldn't have anyone to look after me as I did back then.

i had the flu for real and now I m on my own
Did the flu chase your partner away ?

Seriously why don’t you ring your surgery or a pharmacy to ask, that is if no one on here can help, I do know diabetics are urged to have it

Do be careful: a young asthmatic friend had the jab and was VERY POORLY with flu immediately after! Of course, she'd have also been ill if she'd caught actual flu...but maybe she wouldn't have got it at all! My parents also had jabs and were laid up so they're not repeating the experiment

I’m going to a pharmacy on Tuesday go my ‘flu jab. I don’t qualify for one from my surgery so I’m not depriving anyone of anything. I’m just spending my money to potentially save the NHS the cost of my treatment if I get the ‘flu.

If people go to pharmacys for their flu jabs they are depriving their surgery's of money .Be loyal to your practice,they need the fees more than the pharmacy's do.

For people who arent eligable for free jab its cheapest in ASDA pharmacies i think.

Im sure if you pop into a branch of Boots pharmacy they will clarify i would imagine its same jabs in chemists as well.My daughters boyfriend had a bad case of pneumonia about 18months ago,which took awhile to recover fully from,&hes in his midtwenties,i didnt realise people still could die from it though in this day&age?that was a shocking discovery.

There are others in the high risk groups also,if youve low immunity,or got certain neurological conditions,or anyone considered higher risk,carers,students,etc.but our GP led me to believe its the elderly&at risk group who receive the full immunity jab,not other way around,so that they are fully covered??its also why they are to be later administering them this year as they are to take longer to prepare these.(which is an annoyance in a way as i like my "at higher risk" teenager inoculated by now as he always catches a strain of flu in autumn or winter months (despite having a jab) then ends up with quite a lot of time off school,as it usually turns into bronchitis as well.

Do you mean pharmacies? That is the plural of pharmacy.

Does anyone actually know what's in the flu jab? I only ask because I have total intolerance of sugar in its many forms but last January I had the flu for real (not ever having had a jab) and now I'm on my own, I'm not sure if I can go through that again!

I was given the jab years before I was 65, as I was seeing the GP for something else and she offered it. I've been having it ever since - well over 20 years now - and only got something like flu a few years ago when one strain was missing from the vaccine and I had a slight dose that didn't stop me going on a city break to Rome. The Saturday morning when they have the mass immunisation here is almost like a U3A meeting! You always run into friends in the queue.

(The actual flu lasted about 10 days, but it left me so weakened after that, it was long hard graft to get healthy and active again)

Well I never had flu....
....until I did.
And it took me about 6 months to recover from it (well from the after effects: getting my strength back etc). I had to leave my job and take a VERY part time job for a while, it was about 18 months before I was fully ready for proper full time work again.

Never having had flu before didn't offer me any protection.