<p>ZM, I just walked into a drugstore, and got the shot. It was easy.</p>
<p>I’m not sure about the only one shot for meningitis because my son had his shot before he was 16. So he had to have the booster. His college required they have the booster if they had the first dose before 16 years of age.</p>
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People often get mild cases of the flu which go undiagnosed as such. You may have had it and not know. </p>
<p>Personally, I’ve never gotten a flu vaccine.</p>
<p>Everyone here gets a flu shot. One person was a hold out until contracting the real flu and being sick for well over a week. One trip to an urgent care center…was told to go to the ER ASAP if dizzy. Did so, and had a $3000 ER bill. Now everyone in this family gets an annual flu shot.</p>
<p>And we all have had the meningitis vaccine too…and hep too.</p>
<p>This past April I was sick for about 3 weeks. When it started going into week 4 my mom took me to an urgent care center where I got medicine. Inflamed sinuses. Itchy throat. Intense headaches. Dizziness. Fatigue. </p>
<p>But I didn’t have the flu.</p>
<p>Yay. Glad you are getting the vaccine. Its the right thing to do.</p>
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<p>In my neighborhood, you shouldn’t even go to the supermarket. It’s across the street from a seniors’ apartment complex, and all of the residents shop there. The store is almost always full of older people, all of whom are at high risk for flu complications because of their age.</p>
<p>Also, re homeopathy: Classic homeopathic remedies are so extremely diluted that it is unlikely that they contain even one molecule of the active ingredient. So how could they possibly work? (Of course, they can’t hurt you, either, unless you use them as substitutes for effective treatments for conditions that truly need to be treated. After all, there’s nothing in them.)</p>
<p>Watch out, though, for homeopathic remedies that are NOT extremely dilute. They do exist. (The manufacturers are taking advantage of a legal loophole to sell their products in this way.) For example, those zinc lozenges that are sold as cold remedies are labeled homeopathic even though they contain as much zinc as a zinc supplement would. Products like this actually might work (because they actually contain something) but they also might have real side effects or risks (for the same reason).</p>
<p>Yes, MichiganGeorgia, the meningococcal vaccine is a two-dose series now for most kids, esp those who got the first dose at age 11-15. </p>
<p>I have never been able to understand how homeopathy could work, esp as the concentrations get more dilute as the “power” gets stronger. I’ve tried to be open-minded about it. And some things I do believe may work. But the explanations behind the further dilutions is not scientifically sound.</p>
<p>I have 17 year old twins. Both got the chicken pox vaccine AND the chicken pox. They got the vaccine very young (around one year) due to my son’s skin allergies. However, they got a VERY mild case of chickenpox. Their doctor thinks the vaccine kept it from being much more severe.</p>
<p>As for meningitis: my kids had to get another booster because it would have been a few days over 5 years on the day they move in their dorms (mandatory unless signed a religious waiver).</p>
<p>As for the flu shot, I never had them get it previously, thinking it was better to gain some natural immunity. This year (their senior year in HS), I gave them the choice. Both chose to get it as they did not want to chance missing out on school and some very fun ECs during flu season.</p>
<p>Wow, I have been a CC lurker for almost a year now, and I have NEVER seen a 5-page thread where everyone unanimously agrees on a topic! We were planning to get the meningitis booster for my daughter before she goes off to college in August (she was first vaccinated in 2008), but this thread prompted us to actually make the appointment. Thanks everyone!</p>
<p>We travel widely and always take vaccination seriously. Before you say “but my kids/family don’t leave the country and will be safe here”, remember we live in a fluidly mobile society and the world will come to us whether we like it or not.</p>
<p>^ Exactly. SARS taught us that (and the movie “Contagion”, lol).</p>
<p>My 18 year old got the chicken pox when he was 12 months old. It was a very light case.
His college requires either the vaccine or the blood test that proved he was immune. The doctor said there was only about a 50% chance that he was immune… he ended up having to have the vaccine.</p>
<p>However I had the MMR shots back in the 60’s. When I went back to college a year ago I had to prove I had immunity(I couldn’t find those records since it was sooo long ago) so I did the blood test and it came back OK! They don’t make people born before 1980 show proof of chicken pox immunity or shots. I think it must be because back then we ALL got it.</p>
<p>I have a question. DD has had mono twice - each time she developed her symptoms soon after getting the flu vaccine. </p>
<p>DD is headed off to a residential summer camp for four weeks. She is 16. Should I get her the meningitis vaccine before she goes? I’m afraid she’ll have a relapse. Thanks</p>
<p>A relapse of…mono? She wouldn’t be protected from mono with the meningitis vaccine. If she’s over 11, she’s hopefully had one dose of the meningitis vaccine already, and will get another dose eventually-- you don’t need one this summer (I think-- I don’t know how old your D is or how long ago her first dose was if she’s had one). If she hasn’t had a dose yet it might not be a bad idea. The mono issue is totally separate from the meningitis vaccine issue (and probably separate from the flu vaccine issue also, imo).</p>
<p>Mono=infectious mononucleosis, a viral illness caused by the Epstein-Barr virus. </p>
<p>Meningococcal meningitis=bacterial meningitis caused by the bacteria Neisseria meningitidis (sometimes called meningococcus).</p>
<p>I don’t get the debate… Meningitis shot= a couple seconds of discomfort vs no shot= risk of horrible disease.
Unless it is some sort of religious conflict I don’t get why this is an issue.</p>
<p>To everyone posting about on this thread about “oh I am so worried about X but I am not sure about getting them a vaccine” The answer is JUST GET THE SHOT! I really cant see any possible downside.</p>
<p>On another note people SHOULD lay off on the antibiotics for minor diseases such as colds and doctors should prescribe them less. This is because the overperscription of antibiotics leads to viruses and bacteria quickly developing resistances to them and as a result we now see outbreaks of new “superbug” resistant versions of diseases like tuberculosis.</p>
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<p>My D had the measles vaccine (combo w/others) and got a mild case of the measles years later. She had the chicken pox vaccine, and years later got a mild case of chicken pox (after being around someone who had shingles).</p>
<p>My youngest got the chicken pox twice, the older ended up getting the vaccine at 12 after not catching it either time. I won’t be the first on the block to try something out like that.</p>
<p>Anyway - is there any study that shows how long that vaccine is effective? Will they ever need a booster?</p>
<p>^^^^Vaccines can wear off eventually, that is why you can get boosters. This is because what vaccines do is to tech your immune system to recognize the pathogen. However overtime pathogens evolve and eventually the new mutated form of the pathogen will be harder for your immune system to recognize, hence the effects of the vaccine will “wear off”. This also explains why you have to get a flu vaccine every year since it mutates very rapidly and therefore is unrecognizable to your immune system in a matter of months. However even a long time after a vaccine if you get the disease it is more likely to be milder than if you had never gotten the vaccine.</p>
<p>How long a vaccine is effective largely depends on how fast a specific pathogen mutates.</p>