• Please Remember: Members are only permitted to share their own experiences. Members are not qualified to give medical advice. Additionally, everyone manages their health differently. Please be respectful of other people's opinions about their own diabetes management.
  • We seem to be having technical difficulties with new user accounts. If you are trying to register please check your Spam or Junk folder for your confirmation email. If you still haven't received a confirmation email, please reach out to our support inbox: support.forum@diabetes.org.uk

To flu jab or not to flu jab

Status
This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
sololite

sololite

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 3c
Hi everyone,

Can I first kick off by saying I am not an anti-vaxer. All my kids have had their inoculations over the years as I have had myself.

I am 60 year old fit and healthy LADA insulin injecting diabetic for last 4 years.

I have never had the flu jab but have been offered it again for this winter. I have previously declined because I choose to accept the risk rather than take it.

COVID is making me rethink , not because I think the jab will protect me from it but because I dont want to burden the NHS at a time when they will be stretched to the max should I get flu.

I know my GP is pushing me to take it but I wondered what the DUK position is and welcome any wisdom from this forum please.

Regards,

Chris
 
sololite said:
I know my GP is pushing me to take it but I wondered what the DUK position is and welcome any wisdom from this forum please.
Click to expand...

I presume the advice will be to take it. Why wouldn't that be the advice?

While there's an argument that this year is more important than usual, there's another (I think pretty good) argument that it's less important since we probably won't have very much flu this year. (They didn't in Australia, for example.) However, I'm not aware of any particular reason not to take the vaccine.

(For what it's worth I just had mine.)
 
I can remember having flu at several points in my life (about once every ten years, I'd guess) The proper sort, I mean. A whole week in bed with a high temperature, followed by three weeks of feeling weak and washed out. And I didn’t have diabetes then, so didn’t have to fight high blood sugars while I was feeling wretched. So I certainly have the jab every year, in the hope of sparing myself such a grotty time ever again.
 
Hi @sololite 🙂

I don’t normally have the flu vaccination either, but I’ve decided to this year. Not burdening the NHS is one very good reason, but I also read that it’s possible to have both flu and Covid 19 at the same time, and so I thought I’d at least reduce the risk of getting one of those.
 
I’ve always declined the flu jab each year after having a very nasty dose of flu after I’d had the jab that particular year but I’m having it this year. Am extremely anxious about the double whammy of Covid AND the flu and am grateful it’s been offered by my GP surgery.
 
Haha, I started getting it as soon as they were available and have only missed once. By God was I ill with flu over Xmas and New Year, swore I'd never miss again and haven't. That must have been 30 years ago.
 
returned to the uk in 2006 after 20 years of sailing the worlds oceans,used to have the flu jab every year from 2006 untill 2013 and would get flu at least 1or 2 times a year ,after some research i started taking high dose vitaminC 1000mg+/day plus the asda 50+ multivitamins and minerals daily and stopped having the jab and have not had the flu since .

if other members of the household get flu i just increase vitamin C to 3000mg/day for myself and start the invalides on vitamin C and plenty of liquids ,they generally are feeling better after about 3 days.
 
Last edited:
I’m certainly not an anti-vaxxer but do have concerns that the flu vaccine is only a guess (educated?) as to which strain/s of flu will be in the wild here over winter. The vaccine covers one or three strains of flu, so theres no guarantee that it’ll protect you anyway. It’s probably the only vaccine about which I fear a severely adverse reaction. I’d like to be persuaded otherwise because I can see the sense in it.
 
sololite said:
Hi everyone,

Can I first kick off by saying I am not an anti-vaxer. All my kids have had their inoculations over the years as I have had myself.

I am 60 year old fit and healthy LADA insulin injecting diabetic for last 4 years.

I have never had the flu jab but have been offered it again for this winter. I have previously declined because I choose to accept the risk rather than take it.

COVID is making me rethink , not because I think the jab will protect me from it but because I dont want to burden the NHS at a time when they will be stretched to the max should I get flu.

I know my GP is pushing me to take it but I wondered what the DUK position is and welcome any wisdom from this forum please.

Regards,

Chris
Click to expand...
Take the Flu jab. The risks are trivial (or they wouldn't be giving it to millions) and getting flu and Covid on top or visa versa would not be good at all.

I'm sure at some point in the future someone will report on what a combination of flu and Covid does to you. It won't be nice.

The second wave is happening now. The attempts to stop it are grossly inadequate IMHO. Minimise your risk of getting Covid
 
Don't understand why you wouldn't get a jab? The risks are below minimal and there's a good chance it will protect you.

Just as importantly, there's a good chance it will stop you getting it & passing it on to somebody else.
 
The vaccine is dead; it cannot give you flu. But it takes a couple of weeks to become fully effective, so there will inevitably be some people who catch flu immediately after the vaccine, coincidentally, and many of these are convinced that the vaccine made them ill.

I put off getting it one year, and had flu - it made me very ill, and the effects lasted several weeks. I have never delayed getting it since. Yes, it does not cover all strains, but why not reduce the risk of getting it as much as you can?
 
I will be getting mine.

Partly because it seems the right thing to do. Partly because it means my GP surgery can put a tick in a box to get extra money (or has QoF finished now??) and mostly because there is no real reason for me not to.

I’ve had bad colds in the past, but I’ve never had flu. But the descriptions I’ve heard make me not want to try it!
 
I have a vague memory of a flu epidemic in the 1950's, I think it was. I'll be getting one.
 
I had it so bad once that I ended up admitted to the hospital. After that I’ve always got it. My advice is if your eligible than get it.
 
sololite said:
Hi everyone,

Can I first kick off by saying I am not an anti-vaxer. All my kids have had their inoculations over the years as I have had myself.

I am 60 year old fit and healthy LADA insulin injecting diabetic for last 4 years.

I have never had the flu jab but have been offered it again for this winter. I have previously declined because I choose to accept the risk rather than take it.

COVID is making me rethink , not because I think the jab will protect me from it but because I dont want to burden the NHS at a time when they will be stretched to the max should I get flu.

I know my GP is pushing me to take it but I wondered what the DUK position is and welcome any wisdom from this forum please.

Regards,

Chris
Click to expand...
I'm newly diagnosed so this is the first time I've been offered one - already booked in!
 
Had mine a week last Saturday. Painless, arm started to ache during the night. Ached for 24hrs. End of story.

Donald Trump probably knows more about when I may next come into contact with anyone not close to me than I do, so clueless if I'll ever meet an germ or virus ever again. Sounds mad I know but I really think we are going to have to go shopping for ourselves before too long as we're having less than ever contact with the world - and I've never ever wanted to be reclusive. Our legs will pack up.
 
Thanks for all the advice everyone. I am booked in to take it in a months time. They are going to give me

Mylan Influvac sub-unit tetra 2020/2021

Ever curious, especially when it comes to putting man made substances into my body, I had a quick Google and started to disappear down a rabbit hole of conspiracy theories and scare mongering which I quickly stopped reading, in case I talked myself out of it. Dont you just love the internet!
 
Status
This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
Back
Top