Re: Flu Shots?

[Guest guest]

Jan, I have not logged on to your website in a couple of years, and I am not familiar with the discussion of flu shots that you are referring to. I just want to tell you about my experience. On December 4, 2003, at 7 pm, I suddenly lost all hearing in my right ear. I went to bed as normal hoping that it would clear up by morning. But, around 4 am I was awakened by horrible dizziness and nausea. I couldn't even turn my head on the pillow, or open my eyes, the spinning was so bad. My wife had to call an ambulance to take me to the ER. I had to spend 3 days in the hospital. About 2 months after that, my TSH began rising, I was extremely tired, etc., and had to start thyroid supplementation. I still am completely deaf in my right ear and have constant disequilibrium/dizziness when turning my head. The only thing temporally

associated with my sudden hearing/vestibular loss was that I had had a flu shot 15 days before. My ENT doctor said that that doesn't prove that it was the cause. However, she said if it were her, she would never get a flu shot again. We reported the incident to the CDC's adverse vaccine reaction department. A person there told me that they have had 7 incidents of hearing loss reported after a flu shot in 14 years. I know that there has to be many such incidents that are not reported since in the office where I worked, there was another person who, 8 years previously, had lost his hearing/vestibular function in one ear 2 weeks after a flu shot. Physicians are obligated to follow the standard, mainstream recommendations regarding flu vaccinations. I don't think you'll find a physician anywhere who will recommend against getting a flu shot for most patients. That means that it is up to the individual

patient to research the matter and make her/his own decision on whether to get the vaccination. But where are patients supposed to find information such as mine, if not in a forum such as yours? There are no published studies pointing to an association between flu shots and hearing loss, and possible autoimmune thyroiditis. My wife has not gotten a flu shot since my episode 4 years ago. She is a physician. Thanks, Ken Jan wrote: I think some of the questions asked and advice given go beyond the scope of this board and may broach upon medical advice. Each of us needs to consult our own doctor as to whether or not a flu shot would be appropriate for us. Thank you! Jan

[Guest guest]

Know what? We had that discussion in the office just the other day. I

used to get them, but I quit. Now I'll make sure I never get one

again.

Amy

[Guest guest]

I personally don't get them anymore. I think you are overloading you

immune system that is already taxed. I know this is contrary to what the

doctors say about auto-immune disease and the flu shots. I think it is a

personal choice. If you wash hands regularly and stay away from high risk

areas you should be ok. I haven't had the flu since I was a kid, and yes

my mother was giving us the flu shot then.....just my two cents...but you

need to do what you feel is right for you.

Kate

At 12:51 PM 9/26/2007, you wrote:

>Know what? We had that discussion in the office just the other day. I

>used to get them, but I quit. Now I'll make sure I never get one

>again.

>

>Amy

[Guest guest]

I hardly ever get the flu shots. My entire family always urges me to

do so and I always refuse. One year I got it, though. Had no

problems from it but I also haven't come down with the flu in over 7

years so it really seems pointless to me.

I actually, despite having hashi's, rarely get sick with common

ailments. I feel like I have the flu 24/7 (achy/headache mainly) but

I never actually come down with a full blown case of it like my

coworkers do.

But this week I caught a cold. This is the first cold I've had I

think in the last 7 or so years. Usually it's passed from person to

person in my office every year but I never catch it. Occasionally,

I'll have half a day where I'm sniffling and feeling achy and headachy

and then suddenly, I'm fine. It's almost like I was about to catch it

and my body fights it off super well. Which seems to go against what

having an autoimmune disease should do. Weird.

Anyway, as I'm getting better from all of this (presumably), I now

catch a full blown cold?? Crazy! lol

It's been 4 days. It really needs to go away now.

Jul

> I personally don't get them anymore. I think you are overloading you

> immune system that is already taxed. I know this is contrary to what the

> doctors say about auto-immune disease and the flu shots. I think it is a

> personal choice. If you wash hands regularly and stay away from high risk

> areas you should be ok. I haven't had the flu since I was a kid, and yes

> my mother was giving us the flu shot then.....just my two cents...but you

> need to do what you feel is right for you.

[Guest guest]

I was mainly concerned with folks asking for and giving medical advice. For legal reasons, we need to make very sure that we do not give direct medical advice, most especially in an off-topic subject. Most of those posts have been deleted. You might want to seek out a flu vaccine forum. I found one for fluoroquinolones (Levaquin, Cipro, Tequin, Avelox, etc) after having an unlisted adverse reaction to Levaquin. Ken Bateman wrote: Jan, I have not logged on to your website in a couple of years, and I am not familiar with the discussion of flu shots that you are referring to. I just want to tell you about my experience. On December 4, 2003, at 7 pm, I suddenly lost all hearing in my right ear. I went

to bed as normal hoping that it would clear up by morning. But, around 4 am I was awakened by horrible dizziness and nausea. I couldn't even turn my head on the pillow, or open my eyes, the spinning was so bad. My wife had to call an ambulance to take me to the ER. I had to spend 3 days in the hospital. About 2 months after that, my TSH began rising, I was extremely tired, etc., and had to start thyroid supplementation. I still am completely deaf in my right ear and have constant disequilibrium/dizziness when turning my head. The only thing temporally associated with my sudden hearing/vestibular loss was that I had had a flu shot 15 days before. My ENT doctor said that that doesn't prove that it was the cause. However, she said if it were her, she would never get a flu shot again. We reported the incident to the CDC's

adverse vaccine reaction department. A person there told me that they have had 7 incidents of hearing loss reported after a flu shot in 14 years. I know that there has to be many such incidents that are not reported since in the office where I worked, there was another person who, 8 years previously, had lost his hearing/vestibular function in one ear 2 weeks after a flu shot. Physicians are obligated to follow the standard, mainstream recommendations regarding flu vaccinations. I don't think you'll find a physician anywhere who will recommend against getting a flu shot for most patients. That means that it is up to the individual patient to research the matter and make her/his own decision on whether to get the vaccination. But where are patients supposed to find information such as mine, if not in a forum such as yours? There are no

published studies pointing to an association between flu shots and hearing loss, and possible autoimmune thyroiditis. My wife has not gotten a flu shot since my episode 4 years ago. She is a physician. Thanks, Ken Jan wrote: I think some of the questions asked and advice given go beyond the scope of this

board and may broach upon medical advice. Each of us needs to consult our own doctor as to whether or not a flu shot would be appropriate for us. Thank you! Jan

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[Guest guest]

Jul,

Not sure were you live...but in Houston the allergies are all high right

now. I normally get a drainage that leads into sinus ache...which then

gives me body aches...then into my chest. I haven't had a true cold in

years...only allergies and bronchitis. We have switch me meads two weeks

ago and so far so good, right in the middle of a huge allergy bloom!

Kate

At 02:50 PM 9/26/2007, you wrote:

>I hardly ever get the flu shots. My entire family always urges me to

>do so and I always refuse. One year I got it, though. Had no

>problems from it but I also haven't come down with the flu in over 7

>years so it really seems pointless to me.

>

>I actually, despite having hashi's, rarely get sick with common

>ailments. I feel like I have the flu 24/7 (achy/headache mainly) but

>I never actually come down with a full blown case of it like my

>coworkers do.

>

>But this week I caught a cold. This is the first cold I've had I

>think in the last 7 or so years. Usually it's passed from person to

>person in my office every year but I never catch it. Occasionally,

>I'll have half a day where I'm sniffling and feeling achy and headachy

>and then suddenly, I'm fine. It's almost like I was about to catch it

>and my body fights it off super well. Which seems to go against what

>having an autoimmune disease should do. Weird.

>

>Anyway, as I'm getting better from all of this (presumably), I now

>catch a full blown cold?? Crazy! lol

>

>It's been 4 days. It really needs to go away now.

>

>Jul

>

>

> > I personally don't get them anymore. I think you are overloading you

> > immune system that is already taxed. I know this is contrary to what the

> > doctors say about auto-immune disease and the flu shots. I think it is a

> > personal choice. If you wash hands regularly and stay away from high risk

> > areas you should be ok. I haven't had the flu since I was a kid, and yes

> > my mother was giving us the flu shot then.....just my two cents...but you

> > need to do what you feel is right for you.

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

I would never ever ever in a million lightyears consult ANY doctor in my area about whether I should get a flu shot, as they would ALL tell me to go ahead and have one, in their ignorance. I had my last flu shot several yrs ago, due to hearing things on this site and many others, put two and two together and decided it would be the best thing for me not to ever have another one ever again. Those things never keep me from getting the flu anyway, since I have Hashi's, meaning that my immune system makes it's own gross errors in judgment, and may or may not build antibodies to any form of the flu, and even if it did, it might mistake some other body tissue somewhere for something else, that's part of the disease. Some of my worst yrs to get the worst cases of flu I've ever had were the yrs when I got the flu shot early on in the season. I appreciate the free flow of information on all these sites, and if it had not been for them, I would not even be walking around at this time, might be dead. A certain site I know of and used to belong to, however, always shunned and condemned members who didn't see it their way, so I just don't post there any more at all. Briefly, but I pulled out again because I have never seen such one-sidedness in my life. I think that we could say in answering people back that we could do this and we could do that, but I won't say that's always right for one person or the other, as we're all individuals here. I will say, however, that some things in medicine ARE written virtually in stone, but at this point, I won't say which things, as there's a vast array of information out there. I have weeded through the info over the yrs, and it can be quite confusing, with so much variation from person to person. If someone wants to state their case, then I'm willing to listen, that is until they start sparring for drug companies, etc.....then I'm not going to listen any more and will delete.

Flu Shots?

I think some of the questions asked and advice given go beyond the scope of this board and may broach upon medical advice.

Each of us needs to consult our own doctor as to whether or not a flu shot would be appropriate for us.

Thank you!

Jan

[Guest guest]

As one who has permanent earringing for the last 9 to 10 yrs or so, dizziness, true vertigo, nausea, falling on my face in my home and the middle of a parking lot (thank God not on my job, I was extra careful there!), and spending a nightmare of a time for months on end with this, I can sympathize, to say the least. I believe it to be involved with the antibodies of Hashimoto's, and there is evidence out there in writing to back this up, though I could say that MY local doctor would have absolutely no inkling of this. I would not ask any doctor around here these things, because I already know i'm going to get that blank stare and looking at me like they think I need another SSRI to make me sick again. Mine, however, started in May of 1998, with slight earringing, then listening to people sounding like they were Duck (low tone noises killed), sour notes in music (which I love and means the world to me), the road in front of me writhing up like a snake, when I put my brakes on slowly at a stop sign, and that nausea for months is indescribable. I've never been "right" since that day. I suspect the Mexican fires that drifted across Tx that yr, and so did all these doctors here. Yet, some will never be susceptible, yet people like me will be susceptible to almost anything. The dumb ENT who was forced to treat me, being as I wouldn't leave the office til he guided me to the audiologist, told me initially to go back to my primary care doctor (who had advised me to go THERE to the ENT---WHAT???!!!!) and do what, have them check my thyroid, when I just had it checked?! Why didn't the ENT check it himself, if he knew so much about it, since he could have? There just isn't any excuse for this crap. I suffered for months with that, left hanging in the middle of nowhere, with no help, but yeh, ask a doctor. Ha!!!

Re: Flu Shots?

Jan,

I have not logged on to your website in a couple of years, and I am not familiar with the discussion of flu shots that you are referring to.

I just want to tell you about my experience. On December 4, 2003, at 7 pm, I suddenly lost all hearing in my right ear. I went to bed as normal hoping that it would clear up by morning. But, around 4 am I was awakened by horrible dizziness and nausea. I couldn't even turn my head on the pillow, or open my eyes, the spinning was so bad. My wife had to call an ambulance to take me to the ER. I had to spend 3 days in the hospital. About 2 months after that, my TSH began rising, I was extremely tired, etc., and had to start thyroid supplementation. I still am completely deaf in my right ear and have constant disequilibrium/dizziness when turning my head.

The only thing temporally associated with my sudden hearing/vestibular loss was that I had had a flu shot 15 days before. My ENT doctor said that that doesn't prove that it was the cause. However, she said if it were her, she would never get a flu shot again. We reported the incident to the CDC's adverse vaccine reaction department. A person there told me that they have had 7 incidents of hearing loss reported after a flu shot in 14 years. I know that there has to be many such incidents that are not reported since in the office where I worked, there was another person who, 8 years previously, had lost his hearing/vestibular function in one ear 2 weeks after a flu shot.

Physicians are obligated to follow the standard, mainstream recommendations regarding flu vaccinations. I don't think you'll find a physician anywhere who will recommend against getting a flu shot for most patients. That means that it is up to the individual patient to research the matter and make her/his own decision on whether to get the vaccination. But where are patients supposed to find information such as mine, if not in a forum such as yours? There are no published studies pointing to an association between flu shots and hearing loss, and possible autoimmune thyroiditis.

My wife has not gotten a flu shot since my episode 4 years ago. She is a physician.

Thanks,

Ken

[Guest guest]

My main point was that folks should not rely on this group for medical advice. Due to the practices of those "other " groups, we need to be especially diligent about covering our collective and respective legal derrieres. I believe the legal feces will hit the fan for those groups sooner rather than later, and I do not want our groups to be dragged down with them. We can share our own experience. We can share links and references to articles, being careful to observe copyright law, posting only the link, a brief quote and a brief comment about it. You do a beautiful job of sharing information in this manner. The copyright issue was the only reason I deleted the post from Ruth. I did not delete it because I disagreed with it. Most of the other posts were deleted because medical advice was asked and/or being given. I share your distrust of the medical establishment and BigPharm. But I have been very careful to avoid stating my own opinion in many of these discussions, because some folks will take it as a recommendation. I also do not wish to occupy this group with extended off-topic

discussions. Ideally, everyone will read, do research on their health issues, and find their own answers, as you and I have done. Those who do not care to do that and just want to be told what to do should hire someone for that purpose: if not a doctor, then, maybe a nutritionist, naturopath, herbalist or sherpa guide. . . . . Your contribution this group, both as member and moderator, is greatly appreciated.

wrote: I would never ever ever in a million lightyears consult ANY doctor in my area about whether I should get a flu shot, as they would ALL tell me to go ahead and have one, in their ignorance. I had my last flu shot several yrs ago, due to hearing things on this site and many others, put two and two together and decided it would be the best thing for me not to ever have another one ever again. Those things never keep me from getting the flu anyway, since I have Hashi's, meaning that my immune system makes it's own gross errors in judgment, and may or may not build antibodies to any form of the flu, and even if it did, it might mistake some other body tissue somewhere for something else, that's part of the disease. Some of my worst yrs to get the worst cases of flu I've ever had were the yrs when I got the flu shot early on in the season. I appreciate the free flow of information on all these sites, and if it had

not been for them, I would not even be walking around at this time, might be dead. A certain site I know of and used to belong to, however, always shunned and condemned members who didn't see it their way, so I just don't post there any more at all. Briefly, but I pulled out again because I have never seen such one-sidedness in my life. I think that we could say in answering people back that we could do this and we could do that, but I won't say that's always right for one person or the other, as we're all individuals here. I will say, however, that some things in medicine ARE written virtually in stone, but at this point, I won't say which things, as there's a vast array of information out there. I have weeded through the info over the yrs, and it can be quite confusing, with so much variation from person to person. If someone wants to state their case, then I'm willing to listen, that is until they start sparring for drug companies,

etc.....then I'm not going to listen any more and will delete. Flu Shots? I think some of the questions asked and advice given go beyond the scope of this board and may broach upon medical advice. Each of us needs to consult our own doctor as to whether or not a flu shot would be appropriate for us. Thank you! Jan

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[Guest guest]

The one I sent was directly from the website, so I would think there are no illegalities if they give you the option to email it.

Flu Shots?

I think some of the questions asked and advice given go beyond the scope of this board and may broach upon medical advice.

Each of us needs to consult our own doctor as to whether or not a flu shot would be appropriate for us.

Thank you!

Jan

Be a better Globetrotter. Get better travel answers from someone who knows.Yahoo! Answers - Check it out.

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[Guest guest]

Emailing something to a friend is one thing. Posting it on a website is another. In the absence of explicit permission to reproduce or post, I would stick to our original guidelines. Please repost with just the link, a brief quote, maybe a summary, maybe your own comment. RuthK wrote: The one I sent was directly from the website, so I would think there are no illegalities if they give you the option to email it.

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[Guest guest]

OK... sorry for misunderstanding about this groups copyright guidelines... Here is a link from immunesupport.com. The topic is "stop a cold and prevent a relapse." This site has a focus on Fibromyalgia and ME/CFS (auto immune or immune systems that are compromised).

I thought it was interesting because I got it right when we were having this "flu" discussion.

http://www.immunesupport.com/library/showarticle.cfm/ID/8367/

-Ruth

Re: Flu Shots?

Emailing something to a friend is one thing. Posting it on a website is another. In the absence of explicit permission to reproduce or post, I would stick to our original guidelines.

Please repost with just the link, a brief quote, maybe a summary, maybe your own comment.

Fussy? Opinionated? Impossible to please? Perfect. Join Yahoo!'s user panel and lay it on us.

[Guest guest]

Excellent site, Ruth. I actually did this once on my own without ever having read their advice with almost all the same products. Can't remember the outcome now, of course. But it sure didn't hurt. Thanks!

Carol

>> OK... sorry for misunderstanding about this groups copyright guidelines... Here is a link from immunesupport.com. The topic is "stop a cold and prevent a relapse." This site has a focus on Fibromyalgia and ME/CFS (auto immune or immune systems that are compromised). > > I thought it was interesting because I got it right when we were having this "flu" discussion. > http://www.immunesupport.com/library/showarticle.cfm/ID/8367/> > -Ruth> > Re: Flu Shots?> > > Emailing something to a friend is one thing. Posting it on a website is another. In the absence of explicit permission to reproduce or post, I would stick to our original guidelines.> > Please repost with just the link, a brief quote, maybe a summary, maybe your own comment.> > > > ____________________________________________________________________________________> Yahoo! oneSearch: Finally, mobile search > that gives answers, not web links. > http://mobile.yahoo.com/mobileweb/onesearch?refer=1ONXIC>

[Guest guest]

Three weeks ago when I got a cold, my doctor (chiropractor) told me about Zicam (I had never heard of it and was surprised that it was sold at a regular drug store). I have always had airborne on hand. I have not tried the lozengers. Last night I felt a cold coming on or a bad allergy attack. I took airborne and zicam. Woke up feeling same... used Zicam, and over the course of the morning had two "shots" of airborne. By lunch time, my nose was unstopped... (I also used a saline nose rinse, along with my allergy meds.) It was great to get confirmation of something I was doing and to learn of the other product.

Re: Flu Shots?> > > Emailing something to a friend is one thing. Posting it on a website is another. In the absence of explicit permission

to reproduce or post, I would stick to our original guidelines.> > Please repost with just the link, a brief quote, maybe a summary, maybe your own comment.> > > > ____________________________________________________________________________________> Yahoo! oneSearch: Finally, mobile search > that gives answers, not web links. > http://mobile.yahoo.com/mobileweb/onesearch?refer=1ONXIC>

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