Have you ever had the flu? (your best guess if not sure)

[creekland]

I've heard that some folks are naturally immune to the flu, but google seems to say that's unproven (at best).  What's the Hive experience with the bug (yourself, not family members - and don't worry about when you were too young to know what was going on)?

 

ALL answers are 100% confidential.

 

Reason for poll?  Pure curiosity.  Sometimes I wonder if I'm one of those who might have natural immunity.  I work in a school and have for years, often following right behind teachers out with the flu (confirmed cases) and/or have students who leave my class to go to the nurse and get sent home with it, but I've never in my life gotten it.  The past 4 years I've added the flu shot due to hearing some people who never show symptoms can still be carriers and I wanted to do whatever I could to avoid that possibility, but I don't know that the shot makes any difference to my body (or with the carrier possibility).

 

If anyone has any insight into my curiosity part, feel free to add!

[regentrude]

I definitely had it once (cannot recall whether I had it as a kid, it is possible) in 2005, the year when there was no vaccine available.

Went from feeling not so good to flat on my back with high fever in the span of an hour.

I remember, because I had planned to fly to Germany for my grandmother's 80th birthday that day. I left work to get my luggage and drive to the airport, ended up cancelling my flight once I got home because I started to feel sick, and an hour later I would not have been able to make that phone call. I was SO incredibly glad not to be on a plane! Nasty stuff. Was in bed for a week and then for another week winded after short stairs.

 

ETA: I did not go to the doctor and did not get tested. 80% of my colleagues got sick that spring. We had a search for an open position and not enough people available to talk to the candidates to fill the slots on the schedule. 

Edited January 20, 2018 by regentrude

[Laurie4b]

I thought  for many years that the "flu" referred to a GI bug.  I have no recollection of having had anything like it however. I did have what was diagnosed as bronchitis. I suppose that could have been flu, but didn't come with aches, etc. to the best of my recollection. That would have been 40 years ago. 

 

I do get flu shots and practice as careful hygiene as I can. However, I work in a preschool/kindergarten where the kids are just learning basic things such as how to sneeze or cough, etc. As our director says, "Once the droplets hit you in the face, there's not much you can do."  Unfortunately very true. 

[Granny_Weatherwax]

I've had what I call the flu but have never been tested for the flu so there is no medical confirmation.

[Carrie12345]

Just the once.  I don't believe I ever had it as a kid.  Obviously I'm not entirely immune to The Flu, but maybe it's possible to common strains?  I've been tested as immune to the chicken pox and I've never had those. At least not a perceptible bout.  I was sent to play with my pox'ed cousins.

 

 

Edited January 20, 2018 by Carrie12345

[homemommy83]

Oddly, the only year that I got the flu was immediately after getting the vaccine (2 weeks later).  My husband has never had the flu. I had taken the vaccine to protect my newborn from the flu.  My husband and I also took the vaccine to prevent pertussis in our children and HE got pertussis that winter- and the next winter go figure; but not my new babies thank the Lord.  

 

Several years later I was homeschooling my friends children and we did not get vaccinated (I was paranoid of the new one, as I was hearing stories of injuries) and they chose the "flu mist", and knowing that with that vaccine that it can actually spread the flu I canceled school for a week- but it ended up being two weeks as the flu mist gave them the literal flu.  Within 24 hours they were all seriously sick:(  They had H1N1.  

 

We thought we all had the flu this year, but after tons of testing it is only a "flu-like" virus that begins with 3 days of vomiting followed by cold, then flu like symptoms, and sadly pneumonia for our youngest.  My baby was hospitalized over CMAS due to whatever it was, all we know is that it was a virus.

 

Brenda

[mmasc]

I’m always fascinated by illnesses and how they spread, etc! Like you, my MIL had never had the flu or a flu shot. She worked at a college and was therefore around sick students often. The one year I got the flu (confirmed, along with DH and DS), she came over and helped us survive...yet no flu for her. Then, BAM, last year she got the flu, confirmed by test. I find that strange and interesting. 60+ years and multiple exposures but no flu until last year.

My other strange yet interesting involves strep. I’ve taken care of my DC *numerous* times with confirmed strep. DH and I never got it. Then one summer (blech...summer illnesses are evil!), one DS got confirmed strep, then the other 4 of us fell one by one with it. And it was BAD for the two adults. DH and I were quite sick for weeks.

 

I’m analytical by nature and would love to know *why* to those two scenarios. 🤔

[amo_mea_filiis.]

Flu B positive test last year.

 

I think I had flu once on thanksgiving as a teen. I remember having a high fever and sleeping all day, though don’t recall recovery time.

 

ETA: dd has never had flu. Ds had H1N1 in 2009/2010.

Edited January 20, 2018 by amo_mea_filiis.

[Butter]

Yes, multiple times confirmed.

 

I've gotten it 3 or 4 times in years I didn't get a flu shot.

 

I've gotten flu shots 1997, 98, 99 and then 2015, 16, 17.

 

I got the flu in September 2015 and got the shot in October (the doctor's office didn't get them in until October) so obviously I hadn't had the shot yet when I got sick (ironically from someone coughing like crazy in the doctor's office waiting room while I was waiting to be called back for a well woman exam).

 

I got the flu again in June 2017.  I had gotten the shot in October 2016 and they said by June it had worn off and a lot of people who had had the shot around here got the flu in May and June.  It was a strangely late flu for where we live.

[purpleowl]

I've had it twice. Once in 7th grade, and once when DS was a baby. About 20 years between instances.

[Garga]

I never had it until I turned 40. Having the flu was something that was completely off my radar and when people would talk about the flu, I really didn’t understand what it might mean. The idea of getting a flu shot seemed so silly because I never got it.

 

Then I got the flu. It was misery. I finally understood why people made a big deal about it. I’ve been sick before with things like strep throat, and I would feel bad, but also kinda liked it that I could sit on the couch and watch a lot of tv. With the flu, I felt so bad, I couldn’t even sit there and watch tv. I’d lie down and vaguely stare off across the room and sometimes give out a little groan of disbelief at how horrible I was feeling.

 

I figured it was a fluke.

 

And then the next year, I got it again!

 

So, for the past three years, I’ve gotten the shot.

 

Note, though. I don’t know if it’s correlation or causation, but the years that I got the flu where the same years that we used our wood burning fireplace insert almost every day. I would open that metal insert and the change in temperature would send tiny puffs of ash into the air. We all got terrible (terrible) coughs those years. Tiny bits of ash were getting into our lungs. We coughed for months. It was pretty horrible. I wonder if all the coughing and gunk in my lungs from the ash suppressed my immune system and made me more susceptible to sicknesses like the flu.

 

My kids didn’t get the flu, though they had the coughs those years. I can’t remember whether DH got the flu one year or both years. He really suffered from the coughing from the ash because he has a touch of asthma. Those were two brutal winters with all the coughing. People didn’t want to hang around with us because we sounded like we were dying with all the non-stop hacking.

Edited January 20, 2018 by Garga

[happypamama]

We had the flu two years ago. It was confirmed by testing. I actually don’t remember which strain. DH had a routine checkup for something else, and he was also sick at the time, as were one of the kids and I. They said they he had bronchitis and gave him antibiotics and said that anyone else in the house who was sick should get treated for bronchitis too. They never did a flu swab on him. But because they said others should get treated, I took myself and the sick kid to urgent care that night. Urgent care said they suspected flu instead so they tested both of us. One of us came back positive and the other negative. They said the negative one was probably because we’d already been sick for a few days. They said Tamiflu wouldn’t help because you need to take it at the onset, and also, it only shortens the duration by one day anyway. All seven of us had it, although I seem to recall the littler guys not being as sick. Most of us felt like death for a day or two, fever, aches, etc., then just kind of crummy for about three more days, and then a few more days to be fully better. Of course, it was staggered so that we all got it somewhat sequentially.

[Miss Peregrine]

Not confirmed but pretty sure as I was wishing for death.

[Cosmos]

Then I got the flu. It was misery. I finally understood why people made a big deal about it. I’ve been sick before with things like strep throat, and I would feel bad, but also kinda liked it that I could sit on the couch and watch a lot of tv. With the flu, I felt so bad, I couldn’t even sit there and watch tv. I’d lie down and vaguely stare off across the room and sometimes give out a little groan of disbelief at how horrible I was feeling.

 

That's a good description. I've had that type of illness twice -- once when I was a teenager and again a few years ago when dh, ds, and I all had it at once. I'm pretty sure it was the flu because it fits all the descriptors, but we weren't tested.

[Greta]

I've had the "regular" flu twice and swine flu once.  Two of those cases were before doctors routinely had a test to perform, and they were just diagnosed based on symptoms.  I'm confident in the diagnosis, though, because the flu is a whole different world from other illnesses I've had.  I've heard other people say, "I had the flu once, it was like a bad cold."  Um, no, you had a bad cold.  Because the flu is NOTHING like a cold.  That's like saying "I got stabbed once, it was like a bad paper cut." :lol:  I've also had bronchitis, pneumonia, strep throat, many stomach viruses, and gazillions of colds.  Nothing.  Like.  The.  Flu.   I get vaccinated every year now, because if there's even a small chance of not having to go through that again, I'll take it.

 

ETA:  My daughter got the swine flu at the same time I did, and she's had a cough ever since, and that was ten years ago, at least.  Her cough has never gone completely away.  My husband had a-fib and when he got the flu, it became permanently worse.  He barely noticed it before, but it's been a real problem for him ever since.  He also has a friend, a young and previously healthy marathon-running friend, who died from the flu.  It's nothing to mess around with.

Edited January 20, 2018 by Greta

[Arcadia]

Plenty of times as a kid in Asia. Luckily no one I knew had SARS virus when it started in Hong Kong and spread. My parents grew up with the TB pandemic so by the time I was a kid, masking up at the ER’s urgent care/triage area was normal whenever flu season (usually H1N1) rolls around.

Edited January 20, 2018 by Arcadia

[Joker]

I've only ever had it once and that 5 years ago. It wasn't even during flu season - it was May and it was a positive test at the doctor's office. I woke up knowing it was the flu or I was dying. I have never felt so awful and I permanently lost my taste and smell because of it.

 

Haven't had it since or before that time and never had a flu shot before that time. Since then I get a flu shot about every other year. I go back and forth on how I feel about them. I didn't get one this year and so far, so good.

[edelweiss]

I have had it once while I was in college. It was a confirmed case. I have gotten the flu shot ever since.

[sbgrace]

I don't know how anyone could be naturally immune if they haven't had prior exposure? I generally don't get sick often. I figured it was either because of my years of teaching or maybe my immune system is different somehow. I assume, in cases when I'm caring for those with flu by not symptomatic, that I am actually infectious myself. 

 

Twice the other 3 people in our family got lab confirmed flu, and I never showed symptoms. Another time my husband got it and I don't think any of the rest of us came down with it. We knew he had been exposed to confirmed flu before he became symptomatic, and I did my best to quarantine him. So I don't think that counts.

 

For years after a particularly bad flu the other three here had, we all got flu shots. I just doubt their effectiveness, and so I've skipped the last couple of years. If I could rewind, I might have done it this year, even though I know it's a bad match, just to know I tried to mitigate it. 

Edited January 20, 2018 by sbgrace

[JudoMom]

Maybe.  The Year of the Swine Flu we all got really sick on a road trip.  That was fun, but nothing was confirmed.

Dh gets the shot, but I don't and I do not have the boys get it.  Every year, dh gets sick after the shot and says he'll never get it again, but by the time it's pushed again he ends up with one.

[Joker]

I'm pretty sure I had it last fall. I couldn't get tested though because the soonest any GP in a 20 mile radius could fit me in was two weeks from the day I called. :glare: I wasn't going to go to the ER simply to find out whether it was officially flu or not and I wouldn't touch Tamiflu with a ten foot pole, regardless so I stayed home.

 

I will say this occurred despite 6 years straight of flu shots. I have decided to take on the method the public health nurses I worked with advocated to me (and I didn't bother to read the research at that point, but have since and agree with their stance) and stagger my flu shots to every other year. I talked to my GP and my kids' pedi about it. They were less than thrilled that I simply didn't get the shot, but they couldn't argue with the studies beyond saying, "well yes, and we don't understand the mechanism of why it works that way and until we do, it simply is safer and recommended to get the shot." But if the studies I read were accurate......then you don't lower your risk with yearly shots. So anyway. Controversial I know. But this was a non-year shot for us (now that all my kids aren't' under five) and I think it wasn't a bad year to be a skip year for us, seeing as the shot will probably end up being less than 10% effective anyway by the time it's all said and done.

I didn't know that staggering shots was an actual thing! It's what I've been doing since I first had the flu but just because I would waver on how I felt about them. It's been working for us so I guess I'll stick with it for now.

[Soror]

I'm not aware of ever having the flu unless I was a child when I had it. ( I know it is superstition but I feel scared to say that being how this flu season is going).

 

We all got flu shots this year for the first time ever because dh's dad is really sick. Dh's cousin is a NP and wants us to stay holed up at home, I can't do that to the kids though. We are not knowingly going around anyone sick and mostly they are in smallish groups but we have to live a life.

[creekland]

I’m always fascinated by illnesses and how they spread, etc! Like you, my MIL had never had the flu or a flu shot. She worked at a college and was therefore around sick students often. The one year I got the flu (confirmed, along with DH and DS), she came over and helped us survive...yet no flu for her. Then, BAM, last year she got the flu, confirmed by test. I find that strange and interesting. 60+ years and multiple exposures but no flu until last year.

My other strange yet interesting involves strep. I’ve taken care of my DC *numerous* times with confirmed strep. DH and I never got it. Then one summer (blech...summer illnesses are evil!), one DS got confirmed strep, then the other 4 of us fell one by one with it. And it was BAD for the two adults. DH and I were quite sick for weeks.

 

I’m analytical by nature and would love to know *why* to those two scenarios. 🤔

 

Me too.  I have heard that our immunity wanes as we get older, so perhaps that had something to do with it?  Or like Garga's scenario that there was something else in the environment the immune system was dealing with and it was too much?

 

 

I've only ever had it once and that 5 years ago. It wasn't even during flu season - it was May and it was a positive test at the doctor's office. I woke up knowing it was the flu or I was dying. I have never felt so awful and I permanently lost my taste and smell because of it.

 

Haven't had it since or before that time and never had a flu shot before that time. Since then I get a flu shot about every other year. I go back and forth on how I feel about them. I didn't get one this year and so far, so good.

 

That would be frustrating!  I wonder how common that is and how/why you drew the "lucky" straw.

 

Human body variation is fascinating overall - such a relatively new science with so much yet to be discovered.

[Spryte]

I have a compromised immune system.

 

I’ve had it (confirmed) more times than I can count.

 

The year I had Flu A and B, and strep, all at the same time landed me in the hospital.

 

My DH has a great immune system but he’s had it (confirmed) probably three times.

 

DS (13) also has a compromised immune system. He’s had it multiple times, confirmed. He cannot get flu shots due to allergies, and he has severe asthma. Flu is very serious for him, and often goes into pneumonia.

 

DD (6) has had it twice, also confirmed.

 

I detest the flu.

[Serenade]

I think I might have good immunities to the flu, too.  Right now, the three other people in my family have or have had the flu in the past couple of weeks, including one who sleeps in the same bed with me.  I didn't get it.  I did get a really, really horrible cold, though.  I thought that maybe the cold was an odd flu spin-off, but really, I didn't have any of the flu symptoms -- no fever, chills, headache and/or body ache.   A few years ago our whole family got what I think was Type-B flu, but even though I got it, mine was much more mild than anyone else in the family.

[Joker]

 

 

That would be frustrating! I wonder how common that is and how/why you drew the "lucky" straw.

 

Human body variation is fascinating overall - such a relatively new science with so much yet to be discovered.

The ENT I saw said it's actually rather common. He said there's no real reason and no way of knowing if it will come back. Some do and some don't. I guess mine could one day but after five years I doubt it.

[creekland]

I don't know how anyone could be naturally immune if they haven't had prior exposure? I generally don't get sick often. I figured it was either because of my years of teaching or maybe my immune system is different somehow. I assume, in cases when I'm caring for those with flu by not symptomatic, that I am actually infectious myself. 

 

Twice the other 3 people in our family got lab confirmed flu, and I never showed symptoms. Another time my husband got it and I don't think any of the rest of us came down with it. We knew he had been exposed to confirmed flu before he became symptomatic, and I did my best to quarantine him. So I don't think that counts.

 

For years after a particularly bad flu the other three here had, we all got flu shots. I just doubt their effectiveness, and so I've skipped the last couple of years. If I could rewind, I might have done it this year, even though I know it's a bad match, just to know I tried to mitigate it. 

 

I wonder if our bodies get the immunity from exposure, but just aren't sensitive enough to get symptoms most folks get from it.  That would match the "carrier" bit I read about a few years ago.  I don't recall if it was theory or tested true though.

 

I know I don't get typical symptoms of almost anything.  My body just reacts very strangely.  I guess it hasn't read the book about how things are supposed to be.  This is good for things like not getting the flu, but not so good when something is wrong, but it can't be figured out because it's not typical.

 

Maybe.  The Year of the Swine Flu we all got really sick on a road trip.  That was fun, but nothing was confirmed.

 

Dh gets the shot, but I don't and I do not have the boys get it.  Every year, dh gets sick after the shot and says he'll never get it again, but by the time it's pushed again he ends up with one.

 

This one, at least, is explainable.  Some bodies are sensitive enough that they react to the killed virus by producing symptoms.  They don't actually have the flu (or whatever), but the body reacts as though it does for a period of time.  One knows they aren't contagious, but I imagine it still feels miserable for that period of time!

 

This is true for those who always have that reaction, like your dh.  For those who get the real illness, it's just because they were exposed prior to the vaccine becoming effective - fairly easy to happen if the exposure is there. 

 

The vaccine itself can not produce the illness.  It's dead.

[Word Nerd]

I’m pretty sure I’ve had it at least twice, though I’ve never done a test to confirm. I’ve also had pneumonia twice.

[creekland]

The ENT I saw said it's actually rather common. He said there's no real reason and no way of knowing if it will come back. Some do and some don't. I guess mine could one day but after five years I doubt it.

 

That's what I think about my never getting hungry (side effect of radiation supposedly).  At least that one is a positive side effect though.  Not being able to smell or taste would be frustrating to say the least.   :grouphug:

 

I have a compromised immune system.

 

I’ve had it (confirmed) more times than I can count.

 

The year I had Flu A and B, and strep, all at the same time landed me in the hospital.

 

My DH has a great immune system but he’s had it (confirmed) probably three times.

 

DS (13) also has a compromised immune system. He’s had it multiple times, confirmed. He cannot get flu shots due to allergies, and he has severe asthma. Flu is very serious for him, and often goes into pneumonia.

 

DD (6) has had it twice, also confirmed.

 

I detest the flu.

 

Understandably!  I hope you can avoid it.

[Selkie]

Our whole family had the flu last spring, the one and only time any of us have had it. It was horrible! One whole week of feeling like I had been repeatedly run over by a truck, then another week of feeling slightly better but still sick and exhausted. It was a month before any of us felt back to normal.

[Jaybee]

I've had lots of bronchitis, sinus infections, etc. But when I was in 8th grade, I had the flu. It was before they did the tests. It was different. I was so sick on Monday and Tuesday, and stayed home from school. On Wednesday, I went back for the day. Mistake. I was out the rest of the week. I felt so bad that even watching TV to pass the time was too much. 

 

ETA: I went back to school the next week, but it took me 2-3 weeks to really get my strength back.

Edited January 20, 2018 by Jaybee

[Katy]

A few years back, maybe 10, a study came out that many "colds" are actually the flu, but just so mild that no one knows it.  ETA: it might be mild for you, but kill someone else.

Edited January 20, 2018 by Katy

[JudoMom]

I wonder if our bodies get the immunity from exposure, but just aren't sensitive enough to get symptoms most folks get from it.  That would match the "carrier" bit I read about a few years ago.  I don't recall if it was theory or tested true though.

 

I know I don't get typical symptoms of almost anything.  My body just reacts very strangely.  I guess it hasn't read the book about how things are supposed to be.  This is good for things like not getting the flu, but not so good when something is wrong, but it can't be figured out because it's not typical.

 

 

This one, at least, is explainable.  Some bodies are sensitive enough that they react to the killed virus by producing symptoms.  They don't actually have the flu (or whatever), but the body reacts as though it does for a period of time.  One knows they aren't contagious, but I imagine it still feels miserable for that period of time!

 

This is true for those who always have that reaction, like your dh.  For those who get the real illness, it's just because they were exposed prior to the vaccine becoming effective - fairly easy to happen if the exposure is there. 

 

The vaccine itself can not produce the illness.  It's dead.

Yeah, we get that.  It's become a source of amusement for me, though, when he comes home and tells me he got his flu shot :D.  He's an engineer, so the yearly repeat of something that makes him miserable is out of character for the logical way he normally behaves.

[Starr]

The last flu, swab sent in and verified, was 17 years ago. It was so miserable I thought the fevers would never end, the aches would never go away and I would be in bed forever. It was 10 days before the fever broke. I decided to get the flu vaccination after that round. You know the saying, "It's the flu if you can see $100 bills on the ground outside your window and you don't care." Ds had mono and watched videos and pushed his trucks around in the morning while dh worked on his doctoral dissertation, we napped in the afternoon and I guess my then 6 year old babysat when she got home from school. :ohmy: It's more vivid than childbirth. 

[Butter]

For years after a particularly bad flu the other three here had, we all got flu shots. I just doubt their effectiveness, and so I've skipped the last couple of years. If I could rewind, I might have done it this year, even though I know it's a bad match, just to know I tried to mitigate it. 

 

You can still get the shot!  It's not too late.  Even though for the bad strain it is only 10-32% effective to prevent it, it is lessening the severity and lowering the chance of side effects in people who do get it who have had the shot.

[JFSinIL]

It has been years (knock wood) but at least twice I have it. Once all four kids got it - tested positive for flu AND tested positive for strep AND pneumonia. the pediatrician gave hubby and I both prescriptions for Tamiflu...and then neither own of us got sick at all!!!!and never took the stuff. This itme of year I keep stocked up on chicken soup, Kleenex, ginger ale, Popsicles etc. just in case.

Edited January 20, 2018 by JFSinIL

[homemommy83]

I don’t think so, and I had such a bad reaction to the shot last time I don’t know if i’ll ever get it again. I was really lethargic and disoriented and so cold I couldn’t stop shaking even with five blankets on top of me. The only thing that would make it stop was if dh gave me a full body bear hug. I think he ended up holding me like that for a few hours before I could fall asleep. My muscles were sore for days from all the shaking, and the arm I got the shot in hurt for four months every time I tried to use the muscle.

That is horrible.  My daughter had a horrific reaction to the pertussis vaccine- she went from reading BOB books, to not being able to recite a complete sentence back to us.  Oddly she talked fine of her own volition, but all of a sudden she couldn't do Bible verses and nursery rhymes- or read.  She cried for five hours and the hospital couldn't "find anything wrong"- it is a small country hospital.  After that is when all of this happened.  My son was also hospitalized with rotovirus the day after getting the oral Rotovirus vaccine at his 18 month old appointment- it was horrible.  He ended up being fine, but many children died from that vaccine:(.  Sadly while vaccines do help most people, some people (obviously our family are prone to terrible "reactions" from them).

 

Our daughter still stuggles with learning (she has had to work so hard), but over the last two years has made AMAZING strides, but we do wonder where she would have been if we didn't vaccinate her with pertussis.  She was fine with all of the other ones, the health department said it was a reaction to just the pertussis part.

 

Brenda

[maize]

Once as an adult confirmed.

 

I'm sure I've had it more than that but there's no way to know since there was no test done. I've certainly had a flu like illness many times. Most not as severe as that one confirmed case which I actually went to the dr. for, but mild flu has been found to be much more common than once thought.

Edited January 20, 2018 by maize

[Sandwalker]

Once. I was working nights on a pediatric floor, and the lab called at 2am and said that one of my pneumonia patients tested + for Influenza A (this was before rapid flu swabs existed). I had been in his room most of the night unmasked, as flu wasn't particularly suspected. I had been vaccinated, got the flu and was pretty sick for a few days and weak for awhile afterwards. My daughter got the flu once at 3 years old, fevers and sore throat, not too too bad.

[Wheres Toto]

I put maybe. 

 

I don't remember ever having the extreme, can't get out of bed, every part of my body aches feeling that people describe with the flu.   I've been sick with respiratory illnesses but I don't remember ever having to stay in bed and rest more than one day, and usually I don't even do that.  Mostly I get one day of a really bad stuffy/runny nose, then a day or so of a sore congested feeling throat, then I get bronchitis (almost every time a get a cold) and lose my voice for a day or two and cough for a while.  But I usually don't feel that bad, and the days I sound the worse I actually don't feel that bad at all.   I was sick from right before Thanksgiving almost to Christmas but I was still up and functioning every day, and I think a lot of it may have been allergies since I'm allergic to evergreen and lots of other stuff that tends to come out with the decorations.  

 

Since I have allergies and allergy-induced asthma, I take antihistamines and decongestants almost year round.  I'm also Vitamin D deficient and was severely anemic for the past year or so.   I try to remember to take my vitamins now but I'm not great at it.  

 

I haven't had a flu shot in years, and two years ago my boss had a confirmed case of flu after she had already come to work sick for a week.  

 

Kids have never had the flu, only fairly mild respiratory illnesses and they don't/won't take vitamins, are lousy at washing their hands, and don't have the greatest diets.  Although I think they do end up eating a lot of stuff with Vitamin C (tomato sauce if nothing else).   They also get plenty of sleep since it's rare I have to wake them up before 9am.

[Zinnia]

Our whole family got it Christmas 2012. It went around the church after 2 kids with the flu came and performed (and practiced in tight quarters) at the Christmas pageant. My kids were 2 months, 2, 4, and 6, and I think postpartum sleep deprivation made us a little more susceptible. I can't remember if we had been vaccinated. I want to say that I had not because of the tikming of my pregnancy (it was before they recommended for pregnant women), but at almost always gets one. My child with a September birthday usually gets one, too, because of the timing of his well check.

[Debbi in Texas]

I had the flu the year before I got pregnant with ds23. I have read that sometimes the flu is followed by a severe depression. This is what happened to me and I ended up on medication.

 

I have gotten the flu shot every year since then.

[Ellie]

The last time--and only time--I had the flu was when the Princess was killed in the car accident. :crying:

 

I had the flu shot once. I won't do it again.

[Crimson Wife]

Yes, I have had flu confirmed by testing when I wound up in the ER with it years ago. I don’t know if Tamiflu was available back then but even if it was, it would have been too late for it.

 

I have had other suspected cases with similar symptoms but I didn’t get as sick.

 

No cases (knock on wood) since I started getting the flu shot.

 

 

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[rdj2027]

At least I don't think I ever had it because I cannot remember ever having had the symptoms that are described. I have never had the vaccine, don't sterilize anything an don't avoid people. None of our kids ever had the flu and have only been vaccinated once in their lives (they attended classes at the local high school and it was mandatory).

[AnnE-girl]

I’ve never been tested, but I think I had the flu twice. Or something very similar. Once was in high school and I missed most of tech week for the fall musical. I can remember being half asleep but having vivid weird dreams about the funeral of the cardinal of Chicago that was on all the local news stations. The second time was the week before Christmas break when my oldest was in kindergarten. I dragged myself out to take him to school and it was like an out of body experience trying to talk to the school secretary about something. I really should have just stayed home.

[TracyP]

I voted maybe. I've never been tested, but I would guess I've had the flu. I would guess that virtually everyone has at some point. Sometimes people get *very sick* from the flu, but often it is hard (or even impossible as the CDC says) to distinguish between a cold and flu. And then on the other hand, two years ago my doctor told me there was a virus going around that would have you begging for the flu. I don't think symptoms alone are a good indicator, so I'm going to go with odds and assume that I've had the flu at some point.

 

 

 

 

[TracyP]

I’m always fascinated by illnesses and how they spread, etc! Like you, my MIL had never had the flu or a flu shot. She worked at a college and was therefore around sick students often. The one year I got the flu (confirmed, along with DH and DS), she came over and helped us survive...yet no flu for her. Then, BAM, last year she got the flu, confirmed by test. I find that strange and interesting. 60+ years and multiple exposures but no flu until last year.

My other strange yet interesting involves strep. I’ve taken care of my DC *numerous* times with confirmed strep. DH and I never got it. Then one summer (blech...summer illnesses are evil!), one DS got confirmed strep, then the other 4 of us fell one by one with it. And it was BAD for the two adults. DH and I were quite sick for weeks.

 

I’m analytical by nature and would love to know *why* to those two scenarios. 🤔

 

 

Me too.  I have heard that our immunity wanes as we get older, so perhaps that had something to do with it?  Or like Garga's scenario that there was something else in the environment the immune system was dealing with and it was too much?

 

 

Human body variation is fascinating overall - such a relatively new science with so much yet to be discovered.

 

I agree! And I always wonder why people react so differently to the same bug. I have a pretty large sample size in my house (family of 8). It rarely seems like anything hits us all with the same severity. I can never find a pattern to why some will get hit so much harder than others. It really is fascinating.

[Kassia]

I agree! And I always wonder why people react so differently to the same bug. I have a pretty large sample size in my house (family of 8). It rarely seems like anything hits us all with the same severity. I can never find a pattern to why some will get hit so much harder than others. It really is fascinating.

 

It is fascinating!  I've had the flu twice.  The second time was when my youngest was two years old.  She was all over me when I was sick - touching me, in my face, etc. - and I was too sick to get her off of me.  I was sure she would get sick, but she didn't.  Weird.  

[lailasmum]

Twice I distinctly remember. Once when I was 18 and once about 6 years ago. The most recent one was relatively mild for all of us.

 

My mum seems to have some kind of resistance to getting flu and rarely catches anything else. She was at boarding school during the 1957 pandemic and was just about the only person to not get sick and I don't remember her ever getting it during my life. She worked in a school for 25 years and rarely got sick with anything.