<p>^^^^Romani, D2 also got H1N1 back in 2009 when she was on a community service project in Costa Rica. I, too, have wondered if she has some residual immunity. It would seem she would, but I haven’t researched this. She may, but since she has a history of asthma and always manages to get sick every year with something bad (flu, mono, norovirus, etc.), I really encouraged her to go ahead and get the vaccine. She got it 3 days ago and I’m crossing my fingers that she doesn’t get exposed before the shot gives full immunity.</p>
<p>The usual sources say stuff like “Protection from influenza vaccine is thought to persist for a year because of waning antibody and because of changes in the circulating influenza virus from year to year” (e.g. [Ask</a> the Experts about Influenza Vaccines - CDC experts answer Q&As](<a href=“http://www.immunize.org/askexperts/experts_inf.asp]Ask”>Ask the Experts: Influenza Vaccines) ), although there is little specific said about whether immunity from vaccine taken more than a year ago will remain if you encounter the same strain from one of your old vaccinations.</p>
<p>If you get the actual influenza, then [How</a> Long Does Flu Immunity Last? - TIME](<a href=“http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1835907,00.html]How”>How Long Does Flu Immunity Last? - TIME) says that immunity will last a lifetime.</p>
<p>In any case, the 2009 influenza virus that caused the concern back then has been included in the regular seasonal influenza vaccine each year from 2010 to current.</p>
<p>(“H1N1” is not a sufficiently precise designator for that virus, since H1N1 viruses are quite common.)</p>
<p>Also, if a particular virus mutates, I’m wondering if one who actually had the illness vs. vaccine retains 100% immunity or if is a partial one, i.e., one gets only a mild version of the illness if infected.</p>
<p>It looks like we were too late, my fianc</p>
<p>Don’t beat yourself up.
I know several people who got the shot in Sept and were very ill over the holidays.</p>
<p>Ema, has your fiance talked to a doctor? “Having difficulty breathing” shows up on Google as a reason to seek medical attention, if you have the flu. I guess he has seen a doctor, if he was diagnosed with the flu, but don’t mess around and don’t be afraid to seek further medical attention.</p>
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<p>Ok, that scares me. What they are seeing with young people and this flu are some serious respiratory issues. Don’t take that lightly. If he is still struggling with his breathing, he needs to be seen immediately. Did he get Tamiflu, and did you?</p>
<p>We just got back from the doctor and they gave him tamiflu, a cough pill for daytime, and a cough syrup with codeine for night. I am piggybacking tylenol and advil, he didn’t have a fever yet at the doctors office but his temp spiked by the time we got home. I have a sore throat and chest congestion myself (very mild but there) and I mentioned it to the doctor and said I was worried because I have asthma, if I get as sick as he is I am in serious trouble, but he didn’t give me anything. I guess if I get any sicker I will go in and see my regular doctor… we have different doctors in the same practice. I did get my flu shot in September so there’s hope I will be okay.</p>
<p>He is 29 years old, fit and active, healthy as a horse, and has never had the flu before. Within 12 hours he went from being perfectly fine to flat on his back and crying like a baby. I took the day off work to take care of him and I am glad it is friday so I can be home the next few day to watch him, if he gets worse I will take this seriously. A lot of people are gravely ill in our area. I am hoping since he did get the shot, even if it was late, maybe it will make this not be as bad. That and the tamiflu.</p>
<p>Ema, I’m so glad to hear that you didn’t wait to take him in. I’ve been hearing that this flu seems to be striking otherwise healthy people, so it’s nothing to mess with. And for the future, there’s nothing like a bad case of the flu to make you a believer in the shot forevermore. You probably won’t have trouble persuading him next year.</p>
<p>Whew, Ema. I was worried about that “difficulty breathing,” glad you took your fiance in. I hope the meds the doctor gave him will alleviate the symptoms somewhat.</p>
<p>In good news, if you can call it that, when you get the real influenza flu it comes on suddenly, as it did with your fiance. So probably considering your own symptoms, either you have the flu and it’s mild, or you have something else which is not the flu. </p>
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<p>Isn’t that the truth? A few years ago I was flat on my bad for a week with the flu, for several days too weak to even watch TV. Now it’s flu shots for my family forever, you can bet on it.</p>
<p>Me too, Fang. I had a bad flu 7 years ago, and haven’t missed a shot since. I’ve even talked D into it; she got hers in October without prompting.</p>
<p>I’ve never heard anything like it. He could only breathe in halfway when he woke up this morning and he coughed through every exhale. I was going to take him straight to the ER but once he laid still he fell back asleep and his breathing steadied so he seemed okay to wait til his appointment. Then the coughing wasn’t so bad, but then came the body aches and the fever. </p>
<p>He is teasing me that he is only sick because he got the flu shot, but I think he knows better. He said he will get it next year but that if he gets sick again next time he won’t anymore. Men are so stubborn. His mother tells me, “you’ll already be a pro by the time you have children.” She is probably right.</p>
<p>I heard a doctor once describe the difference between a cold and the flu as this: If you have a cold and see a $1000 bill laying on the floor, you will jump up, grab it, and go spend it. If you have the flu, you will close your eyes and go back to sleep.</p>
<p>After watching my kids suffer with the flu a few times as children, we get the flu shot every year now. No way do I want to be responsible for them suffering like that when I can prevent it.</p>
<p>When the H1N1 first went around, I got it and I was so sick that I was sure that in one more day I would be in the hospital or dead and I really didn’t care much at that point which way it went. Thankfully, that was the bottom point and I got well from there. When people say the flu is no big deal, then they haven’t had the flu.</p>
<p>He is up to date on his other shots, isnt he?
There has been a large outbreak of whooping cough across the country, including in adults.</p>
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[Pertussis</a> | Whooping Cough | Help Silence the Sounds of Pertussis](<a href=“http://www.soundsofpertussis.com%5DPertussis”>http://www.soundsofpertussis.com)</p>
<p>Movemetoo, the only time Ive ever been that ill thank goodness, is when I had mastitis.
Not fun, lying on the bathroom floor because it was cool.</p>
<p>emeraldkity, I had mastitis once, oh my gosh I forgot how horrible it was. I remember just crying while tried to nurse my daughter.</p>
<p>Emaheevul, I’m convinced that many of the stories about people who insist they got sick from the flu shot, actually got sick from the sick kid sneezing on them in the lobby while they waited for the flu shot. I think I get sick 25 percent of the time within 4 days after going to the doctor when I started out perfectly healthy.</p>
<p>We had to wait at the pharmacy for almost an hour for his prescriptions and a bunch of people came in to get their shots, so it did occur to me that we were probably infecting everybody. I should have brought him home first!</p>
<p>Interesting and disturbing findings on the efficacy of the flu vaccine…</p>
<p>[Studies:</a> Flu vaccine effectiveness waned over 2011-12 season | CIDRAP](<a href=“http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2013/01/studies-flu-vaccine-effectiveness-waned-over-2011-12-season]Studies:”>Studies: Flu vaccine effectiveness waned over 2011-12 season | CIDRAP)</p>
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<p>Yes, this is data from 2011-2012. However, if the pattern holds then we may be seeing a rise in flu cases because those of us vaccinated in October are no longer protected.</p>
<p>Well…this is an interesting development.</p>
<p>It’s interesting to me, because I always get my flu shots in September or October the minute I can find it. I used to always get the flu unseasonably early, like late August/early September-- especially when I was in school, I would get sick the minute I got to campus. And if I get sick like that right in the beginning of the season, I never really recover and am severely sick every other week the rest of the season.</p>
<p>Anecdotally, the flu shots seem to make a big difference for me. I think I’ve gotten flu like symptoms once since I started getting flu shots three years ago, and that was the first year. I actually think I have not been sick in more than 12 months now, which is the first time in my entire life I can say that-- I have NEVER made it through an entire winter without at least a cold or sinus infection. Now, nothing! I have this little cough now which I guess will break the streak, but no fever, nothing bad, I might not have noticed it were my fiance not so sick also. I will keep getting the shots, and would get a mid-season booster if one were available and deemed to be useful. I won’t think anything of it anymore. And hell, even if it does wear out mid-season, I’d still get it-- at least I won’t use up all my sick days before Christmas.</p>