Despite no clinical evidence of the effectiveness of the flu shot for those with a compromised immune system, most experts will agree it's not effective. The immune system just can't mount the necessary response to the vaccine to fight off the flu.
On that same note, most experts will also tell you, getting a flu shot will do no harm, so I've always gotten a flu shot, hoping the experts wrong.
Unfortunately this year has almost convinced me of the futility of getting a flu shot.
For the second time this year, I've gotten sick. Both times with the same symptoms, headache, runny nose and sore throat, and both times lasting about the same number of days. [Note: I am feeling somewhat better, but still experiencing some lingering effects.]
Maybe I should have gotten a second shot. Maybe it wasn't even the flu that I contracted, or maybe it was a different strain of the flu. I can't be sure.
What I can be sure of is how much this experience highlights the much greater importance of everyone else getting their flu shot(s), and staying away from others when they are feeling sick, preventing the spread of any germs or viruses, especially to those who do not have the ability to mount a proper defense.
On that same note, most experts will also tell you, getting a flu shot will do no harm, so I've always gotten a flu shot, hoping the experts wrong.
Unfortunately this year has almost convinced me of the futility of getting a flu shot.
For the second time this year, I've gotten sick. Both times with the same symptoms, headache, runny nose and sore throat, and both times lasting about the same number of days. [Note: I am feeling somewhat better, but still experiencing some lingering effects.]
Maybe I should have gotten a second shot. Maybe it wasn't even the flu that I contracted, or maybe it was a different strain of the flu. I can't be sure.
What I can be sure of is how much this experience highlights the much greater importance of everyone else getting their flu shot(s), and staying away from others when they are feeling sick, preventing the spread of any germs or viruses, especially to those who do not have the ability to mount a proper defense.
Comments
Did you have fever and chills? Muscle aches. Without those I suspect you had a common URI for which a flu shot wouldn't be expected to prevent.
It's still good to know, all those flu shots may not have been in vain.
And thanks for the input Gary. I'm still hesitant to take any sort of medications. I feel the time for that will come soon enough.
Most of the infections in them are bacterial and fungal.
So stop worrying about a cold.
I think you proved me right. Before docs became aware of MCL you would have been lumped in with CLL with it's good prognosis.
I'll bet the people with MCL who have had poor survival are just a tip of the iceberg of the total MCL population. You probably fall in the majority of MCL patients that carry the diagnosis of CLL.
Is that clear?
In any event stop worrying. Life's too short.
(I should talk, I'm the worry wart of all time).
I guess that's why I was initially diagnosed with CLL. I knew that wasn't correct (my immunophenotype didn't confirm CLL), but my original doctor was interested in pursuing any further (HMO). It was only after going to Kaiser and convincing the doctors there, I didn't have CLL did I get a correct diagnosis.
I've just been very lucky, in that my MCL has behaved very indolently. Most do not, as do many with CLL. I just can't help worrying about how much longer my luck can hold out.
In any event, my "cold" seems to have run its course about now. With the exception of a slight runny nose, I'm feeling pretty good.