tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79861699919631405.post3717367787656367745..comments2023-04-27T07:10:29.869-04:00Comments on Bipolar and the City: Should you be forced to get the flu shot?Jean Greyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13826037279061710386noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79861699919631405.post-8154864452275026852013-10-02T14:45:20.831-04:002013-10-02T14:45:20.831-04:00It is so tricky. I now get the flu shot because w...It is so tricky. I now get the flu shot because with asthma it's a good idea. Before I had pertussis and then asthma I got the shots to protect patients. One year I was late and got the flu. A week after I left the contagious period (along with several co-workers) we had a flu outbreak that killed 1/8 of our patients. The only time I didn't get a shot promptly after that was the year there was a shortage and I chose not to get one at all. <br /><br />Pertussis was another experience with shots. I had them as a kid but in divided doses because I was allergic and they thought it was a way to reduce the risk. The shot didn't work that way. So I caught pertussis from a patient. Because you are sick for 3 weeks before you are REALLY sick I spread it for 3 weeks. When I came back to work quite a few of my patients had been hospitalized for pneumonia but were coughing with pertussis (diagnosing pneumonia saved the local doctors from dealing with the health department). Pertussis shots don't have permanent immunity and most people don't know that. You are immune enough that as long as you are healthy you only get a bad bronchitis. If you are elderly you get sicker. If you are an infant and are exposed you can die. My niece was a few months old when I got it. I happened to not see her during the contagious period and then wasn't allowed to see her for several months. It still scares me that I could have infected her. Pertussis is not a nice thing to have as an adult who is going to survive. It's got to be a terrifying death for a baby, or illness if they survive.<br /><br />All of this changed how I felt about vaccines. I'm confused too. I feel much more pro-vaccine than I did before I caught something that was in the community because of people not vaccinating (the vaccination is a community health contribution is true; I relied on others to not pass pertussis to me since I couldn't be immune from my own vaccines). And I'm glad other vaccines are available. Varivax might not be something I'd give my child but when I started asthma treatment and remembered that I had barely had chicken pox as an infant and my dr. decided to test me he said that he was sure I'd be immune, that he'd never seen anyone not be immune and didn't even know how getting an adult the shot worked. I was not immune. Chicken pox as an adult is even worse than pertussis. So I had 1 of the 2 shots. But it had to be done while I wasn't around patients so it was done a few days after I had surgery and my psych meds had been messed up and I was very manic and growing worse daily. I had the shot and the mania became akasthesia. We're 99% sure it wasn't Varivax. But it could have been part of it so I now am reliant on community vaccinations to be sure I don't get chickenpox which I may or may not be immune to.<br /><br />What I do not think is necessary is the number of immunizations started before the baby leaves the hospital. Just Mehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01085642883987294862noreply@blogger.com