Anyone here never had the flu? Do you get a vax?

[Clarity]

Dh and I are pretty certain that neither of us have ever had influenza. I do wonder if some people just don't get the virus. We DO get cold viruses and sometimes gastro viruses but they are typically pretty mild. I am rarely home sick from work and the kids are the same way. Last year, my 6 yo missed one day of kindy due to a gastro bug, this year, both girls haven't missed any school. (knocking on wood)

That said, they haven't gotten their flu mist this year and while I'm leaning toward calling the pediatrician and arranging for the mist, I guess I'm not planning on getting it myself. The only time dh and I have ever received the flu vax was the year of the swine (H1N1) flu hysteria.

If you've never had the flu, do you get the vax? Do you take your kids for the vax if you yourself have never had the flu?

[Katigre]

I have never ever had the flu and neither has anyone in my family. None of us get the flu vaccine either.

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[wendibird22]

I don't think I've ever had it. I know I've gotten vax'd every year since being pregnant with DD1 (so starting in '06) and I think I got vax'd a few years before that too because I work on a college campus and have frequent student contact.
That includes not getting H1N1 the year it wasn't included in the vax and I'm amazed because that was the winter I gave birth to DD2 and I was also hospitalized about 3 wks later for dehydration due to a stomach bug.

[Indianamom2]

I don't know that I've ever had the real flu. I know I've never been diagnosed with it. I do regularly get the flu shot (since getting married, not before). Both kids get the flu mist.

[Twoboos]

We do not get the flu vax. I am pretty sure I had the flu once 2 years ago.

DDs haven't had the vax, although they recently had some other virus with some flu-like symptoms (endless fever, light coughing, nothing respiratory, no body aches). DD1 was tested for flu and it was negative. The Dr said it may mean she doesn't have the flu, she didn't get a good swab, or it was a different strain (swab only tested for A/B). Soooo... who knows.

[brittone2]

I think I had the flu in 2001; I was interning as a PT in early intervention and had the vax. It was not lab confirmed, but I was really sick and had to rest in order to get enough energy to walk down the hallway to the bathroom. Chills, aches, etc. and literally couldn't get off the couch. I can't remember having it prior to that, and if I did, it was definitely more of a "bad cold" than anything that stands out in my mind like 2001. Nothing that made me want to run to the doctor, urgent care, or ER. I've never had a lab confirmed case.

I haven't gotten the flu vax since about 2002 or 2003, and the only flu vaxes I've gotten in my life were in the 2000-2003 time period. Since the might-have-been flu thing in 2001, I haven't had the flu (that I know of); if I did, then it was very mild. Nothing like what I had in 2001, anyway.

We just had two rounds of illness go through our house; one before Christmas, and one after. The first round was mostly sore throat, small amount of dry cough, DD had 103.7 fever, I only had 100.x but had chills and some aches. They recovered quickly but it was not fun for 2 days or so.

After Christmas 2 of the 3 kids had croupiness, lots of dry coughing once the croup cleared, all 3 were very, very raspy, all 3 had fevers. DH and I are starting to come down with it; runny and stuffy nose, scratchy throat, some coughing. Neither of us has had it badly at this point, no fever yet.

If I had to guess, what we had before Christmas may have been influenza. At the very least, it was influenza like illness based on symptoms.

But yeah, that's the first time I'd say I think my kids might have had the flu and they've never received the vax. I'm also not certain it was the flu. Whatever we just had with the croupiness for DD and DS2 was more annoying, but the first round of stuff that went through before Christmas probably fits the definition of ILI better. All 3 of mine have been prone to croup, and this has been one of the worst bouts we've gone through (and I've probably been through croup about a dozen times between all 3 kids).

[melrose7]

I have never had the flu and have only gotten the flu vaccine twice, both when pregnant with DDs. Looking back I wish I wouldn't have gotten it while pregnant. DH has also never gotten the flu or gotten the vaccine.

[egoldber]

I don't remember ever having the real flu.

Some years I get the flu vax and sometimes not. I think the last year I did was the first H1N1 year.

In general, I seldom get sick and seldom get sick for long. I have been fortunate in that way.

[Snow mom]

I've never had influenza. To my knowledge I've only been flu vaxed twice--the two winters I was pregnant (I may have been vaxed as a small child, I'm not sure.) We do get a vax/ flu mist for DD. She goes to school full time and is exposed to all sorts of things.

[Jupiter]

Mt dh and I have never had the flu or the flu vaccine. And I never plan to.

[mytwosons]

I think I had mild cases of the flu growing up. The last time I had it was the first week of Jan in 2000. I can't recall if I've been vaxed once or twice in my lifetime.

[alexsmommy]

I am in the midst recovering from the first time in over fifteen years of having the flu. I had it when I was an intern in a hospital and now. Body aches, chills (but no fever in my case), absolute exhaustion and bad cough. I have had stomach bugs etc, but this is only the second time since childhood I remember having a true flu.

We do vax. DS1 has asthma and we've had common illnesses land him in the hospital so we opt to vax. Having it I feel good with my decision, I'm coughing constantly with a wet cough and wouldn't want DS1's system to try to tackle this without whatever help we could give him to try to fight it.

[edurnemk]

I've never had a confirmed case of the flu, I may have had it in 2005, but it wasn't confirmed. I've only been vaxed twice.

When PG with DS I asked my OB if I should get the vax and he was all like "meh... if you want, but you're a healthy woman, it's not really necessary"

I asked our Ped if we should get it because of DD this year and he also said it wasn't necessary. He recommends it for kids under 6, the elderly and people with compromised immune systems. So only DS got the vax since his school got hit hard with the flu last year (but he didn't catch it and he wasn't vaxed).

[lmh2402]

i've never had it. hope i'm not jinxing myself!!

i never got vaxed before being pregnant with DS

but since being pregnant the first time, i've gotten the vaccine every year

[123LuckyMom]

I've never been diagnosed with flu, but I'm pretty sure I had it once when I was in college. I've never been vaccinated for flu, but DH gets the vaccine, and this year I had DS (age 4 and in preschool) and DD (9mos) vaccinated. DS brings home all sorts of horrible bugs, and he gave DD a terrible cough when she was only just 4mos. She had to go on a nebulizer, so I thought I'd do the vax just this year. I doubt I'll vax again for flu going forward, because DD will be older. We do delayed and spaced vaccinations for the kids. I want to do my part to protect public health, but I also don't want to over vaccinate or overload my own kids. I, personally, feel the flu vaccine is not necessary for otherwise healthy people and often does not target the strain of flu going around. It can be an extraneous vaccine.

[baymom]

I don't believe I've ever had the flu and have never been vaccinated. DC get the mist every year, but I don't ever plan to. In general, I think I have a really strong immune system.

[rin]

I've never had the flu, and to my knowledge neither has anyone in my family. In general, we are very pro-vaccine and we do all the childhood vaccines on schedule, but I admit I'm not meticulous about getting the flu vaccine. I got it both winters I was pregnant, and when I was in school I would usually get it when it was being given out free during campus clinics. This year I haven't gotten it largely because I never got around to making an appointment.

[AnnieW625]

The only year I have ever had the flu vaxes was 2009 when I was pregnant with DD2. I got the H1N1 vax and within 10 days ended up with a horrible upper respatory/sinus infection that the doctor actually took me off of work for 3 days.

Last year I got a really mild case of the stomach flu that was going around but I got it 6 months prior to everyone else. I did not get the flu vax.

Each year I seem to get some sort of cold or sinus infection or the aches and pains. I don't necessarily think that is something even the flu vax can avoid.

[hellokitty]

I do agree that some ppl seem to get the flu so much more easily than others, my mil always gets the flu and she is vaxed to the max. I have had the (undiagnosed) flu 2x. Both incidents when my older kids were school aged. The first time was during the whole h1n1 scare. The second time was last month. It has been so bad in our community this flu season, that one elementary class at our school only had FOUR kids left in a class that usually has like 20-some kids! I don't know a single family in our with kids this past christmas that wasn't ravaged with at least one person with the flu. It really sucked. One of Dh's co-workers had THREE family members at three different ERs on christmas day, due to being so ill from the flu, she said it was lucky that they had celebrated xmas eve. I got the flu vax religiously up until about 7 yrs ago, but members in the same household as me, who had the vax would often still get sick. I just don't tend to get sick as often, except for this past yr, my immunity has really sucked for some reason and I've been more sickly than before.

[essnce629]

I don't think I've ever had the flu and I've never gotten a flu shot as an adult. I'm not sure if I got the flu shot as a child.

I did get sick my sophomore year of college with what I thought was the flu, but on top of the fever and body aches, I was also throwing up a bunch so it was probably some kind of gastro bug right? I don't think vomiting is common with influenza.

[AngB]

Never had the flu, only have been vaxed 3x, the H1N1 year(after it was mostly over..like in late Jan.), last year b/c it was required to volunteer at the hospital, and this year b/c we have a newborn. (I could have gotten the shot while pregnant but just not comfortable with getting it then.) I am eventually going to be working in healthcare so I will probably end up having to get vaxed yearly.

[mom2binsd]

I get vaxed every year, I work in nursing homes.

I got vaxed in October, was diagnosed/tested positive yesterday with Influenza and started on Tamiflu yesterday. I happened to be the doctor for a follow up for something unrelated but obviously was seen by him for feeling so achey/chilled etc, I had felt bad since about 6pm Monday night and this was 9 am Tuesday morning. Not sure if I didn't have that previously scheduled appt if I'd have gone in and got tested so soon.

I feel a lot better today after two days of resting, sort of, I'm a single parent so I still have things to take care of.

[lizzywednesday]

I've gotten really bad colds and the odd tummy bug in the winter but never influenza.

I do get the flu vax and have since my company started offering it as a benefit, which also coincided with my asthma diagnosis. With DD being in daycare full-time and also having a heart defect, she gets a flu vax as well.

The years I did not get the vax, I seemed to come down with at least one sick-in-bed upper respiratory/sinus "thing" so the placebo effect alone is worth it to me.

However, I also take basic infection control precautions - wash my hands frequently (I keep hand lotion at my desk), stay hydrated, do not come into the office if I am ill - as well as frequently wipe down my keyboard, desk-chair armrests, phone handset/buttons and other desk surfaces with cleanser and/or disinfectant wipes before vacations and after recovering from an illness, which keeps me pretty healthy in general.

[Pyrodjm]

Dh and I have never had the flu. We've never had the flu vaccine as adults either. We don't give it to our kids either.

[elephantmeg]

I've had it once and have always gotten the shot. The year I got it flu was rampant (the vax wasn't a good match for what we had locally) and a patient I was taking care of with the flu pulled my mask off and coughed in my face... he was 4 and delayed so didn't mean to... but I was soooooo sick for weeks.

[daisymommy]

I got the flu shot for probably 10 years. Every time I felt flu-ish for 2 days afterwards, and then later on I caught the real flu. Several times I was in the hospital with it overnight for dehydration.

Then I stopped getting the flu shot because I figured what was the point? And I haven't had the flu ever since (knock on wood!)


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[redhookmom]

I have never had the vax and have never had the flu. Same for the children. For as long as I have known my husband the same is true.

[BayGirl2]

I don't think I've ever had the flu but I do get a cold or two every year. DH has had the flu, serious cases where he's in bed for a week straight. (Nothing could ever keep me in bed for a week, but sleeping seems to be his default).
We both get flu shots most years, but not every year consistently. This year we and the kids were exposed to confirmed cases of flu but didn't get it.

[JBaxter]

Never had the flu never had the vax One of my boys had and unconfirmed case but we don't and will not vax for the flu