I got my flu shot

I know there are lots of people that will willingly stir up unnecessary controversy over the necessity of a flu shot, but I honestly do not want to hear it. What I want everyone to know is that for the average healthy adult, you can and should get your flu shot. If you do not, you are putting others at risk.

You are putting me at risk.

I like to practice what I preach, and last year I went without one. Unfortunately, it was “safer” for me to go without. We have discovered that many vaccinations have “pork by-products” in them. Since my pork allergy is getting worse and not better, this is not good for me. I did react to the t-dap booster that I received and that is what speared the research on why. Interestingly enough, it comes down to something as simple as an allergy. Something I cannot avoid.

Unfortunately, for me I am also an individual that falls into the “high risk” category when it comes to the flu. Even a cold puts me into a high risk category. For me it is never just a cold. It is always something more. It might start off as a cold, but it quickly escalates into more than that. Whether it be a sinus infection, respiratory infection, or both I become sicker than the normal cold. It means that your normal 7-10 day viral course for me becomes a 21 day ordeal or more.

My lungs do not recover easily from something like that. It kind of stinks. It just escalates.

Since I am allergic to a lot of antibiotics, it makes it harder to treat me for simple secondary infections – sinus or respiratory infections. They hang on in my body and become worse. Bronchitis is something that is chronic for me. It hangs on. Secondary infections become other infections.

Unfortunately, I also have to watch out now for those same treatments that may be used to treat me for the things they are trying to get rid of. Remember the “pork by-products”? They are not just in food, they can be found in a lot of different medicines. The very medicines that are being used to treat simple ailments can make me sick! So not only am I allergic to a lot of different antibiotics, the now limited selection is now even narrower because what is left could have pork by-products (some do).

I have already been proven to be antibiotic resistant from time to time. This happens when you have to use the same antibiotics over and over and over again to treat the same things. It happens. You become used to it. You pray they work when you need them to. You get used to longer courses of antibiotics to treat and keep things knocked down so they do not recur. It is normal for me.

So for me, catching the flu is not just the flu. It is not just a simple virus that will run its course. For me, my children catching the flu means that one of us is being quarantined. Most likely me, away from my family so that I do not get sick. During cold and flu season it means that I have to be very guarded about who I am around because it is also allergy season – my worst allergy season.

So today, I got my flu shot.

It took a little bit of work. It took going to two different pharmacies. It took some research. I have to say that the pharmacist at Walgreens is way more patient than the pharmacist at CVS. With the help of the pharmacist at Walgreens I was able to find a flu shot that I could safely take.

So even if you think you cannot, please do the research. They have one that is pork free. They have one that is egg free. It is not one shot fits all anymore.

For those of you who think you get sick every year because of it. It is probably just coincidence. If you do not get the flu, it has done its job. If you have gotten sick with something else, it was just pure coincidence.

Now to get everyone else in my family vaccinated as I have 2 with asthma that also need to be protected from all the yucky stuff the cold and flu season can throw at us.