Anyone Feeling Sick???

[mdd7000]

We have all received flu shots for about the last 10 years and none of us have got the flu since. Wife had a serious lung illness years ago so we take the prevention seriously. We get the vaccine early every year. Even if you are healthy, flu should not be taken lightly.

[Devany]

Washing your hands constantly and not kissing/touching people is the best prevention. Also, stay away from children if you don't have any. Gee... that does not sound like much fun does it?

Wes gets a regular flu shot every year. Some years he gets a mini flu right after. Of course anyone with a history of lung disease would be first in line for the new swine flu vaccines, once they are proven safe and effective.

Personally, I do not believe in taking any drugs, even vaccines unless the risk of the disease truly warrants it. We are making resistant strains of these diseases every time we try to prevent them or use antibiotics etc. I believe medicine should be for the truly ill, and the rest of us need to use better hygiene, reduce stress from our lives, get plenty of rest, do meditation/yoga and eat well.

Aloha au i Hawai`i,
devany

www.myhawaiianhome.blogspot.com
www.eastbaypotters.blogspot.com

[mdd7000]

quote:

---

[i]...Personally, I do not believe in taking any drugs, even vaccines unless the risk of the disease truly warrants it. We are making resistant strains of these diseases every time we try to prevent them or use antibiotics etc...

---

Vaccines do not make for resistant strains of diseases! Childhood diseases used to routinely KILL young children! Go look at old tombstones - many are babies/children that were killed by diseases that we now vaccinate for like polio, whooping cough, measles, etc. Because of vaccines, the risk of a baby/child dying of a preventable disease is almost zero.

[maud gonne]

So, Devany: I'm curious. How did you know you had strep throat? I'm assuming that it's only diagnosed with a culture in a lab? I take it you didn't take any meds for it. I have never had a flu shot nor do I take any meds. But of course I'll never say never. My husband has had MRSA twice and I was very thankful for antibiotics which saved his life. My concern with the swine flu shots is that there has not been long term testing, and we don't know the possible downside of mass inoculations.

[centipede]

I'm treading on somewhat unfamiliar ground here, but isn't there a difference between a "vaccine" (Polio etc.) and a routine "shot", or antibiotics that doctors dispense like candy?

[JerryCarr]

A vaccine is a preventative concoction containing weakened or dead versions of a disease-producing pathogen such as a bacteria or virus. The vaccine provokes an immune response which creates anti-bodies in one's system to fight off a real pathogen when encountered. Routine shots or antibiotics are to help fight pathogens once a person is already sick. The dispensing of antibiotics "like candy" is one reason we are seeing so many anti-biotic resistant strains of pathogens such as MRSA. Anti-biotics do no good whatsoever for viral diseases such as colds and flu, and their inappropriate use makes bacteria resistant to them.

[csgray]

Routinely feeding healthy livestock the same antibiotics used to treat human diseases, solely for the purpose of increasing the speed of weight gain in the animals, is a big reason for the proliferation of antibiotic resistant bacteria. MRSA first emerged outside of hospitals in people who worked with swine in large scale industrial style hog fattening facilities. Using antibiotics for weight gain is also a common practice in similar chicken and beef fattening operations. These are bacteria rich environments and constant exposure to the antibiotics used to fight diseases in humans has sped up the rates at which these bugs develop resistance to the drugs. They then spread to the general populations through workers and through run off into waterways. There was a huge explosion of MRSA outside of hospitals after many factory farms had their pig manure lagoons flooded and released into waterways during a series of big storms and hurricanes in the South East several years ago.

Carol

[Devany]

Another reason to eat locally and to know where you food comes from.

Not just meats... everything you consume. It costs more for milk with no hormones or antibiotics for instance, and it is hard to come by on this island, but there are even farmers here who sell raw 100% organic milk if you know where to find them.

Everyone should go see Food Inc. at the Palace next weekend.

I personally believe that the hormones that have been given cattle have a huge impact on the size of the average American these days. Since the promotion of this kind of treatment our children (and then adults) have been getting bigger and bigger over the last 40-50 years. Not just fatter (which is a whole other story), taller, bigger breasted, larger shoe sizes etc. Young girls routinely start menstruation as early as 9 years old when it used to be 13-14. There is a reason for all of this.

Aloha au i Hawai`i,
devany

www.myhawaiianhome.blogspot.com
www.eastbaypotters.blogspot.com

[Devany]

Maude,

I went to the Dr. because I had the Swine Flu and was being tested for that. I was then diagnosed with the strep as a secondary illness (different swab). I don't have anything against Dr.'s or their suggestions, but I don't go see one except for an annual physical unless I have a fever over 102 for more than a few days, or some other signal that my body needs assistance. In the case of the Swine Flu, I was equally concerned about passing it on to others.

I agree, when one is facing any serious illness, medications can be the only way to recovery. And they should be used, only in those instances. In my original post I stated that the decision should be weighed.

I became allergic to penicillin and other antibiotics because I was given massive doses as child. Back then it was thought to be the miracle cure for everything.

Certainly, for those at risk, elderly, chronically ill and children, I have no problem with vaccinations as long as they have been tested and proven to have no ill effects. You are right about the Swine Flu shots, they are still testing them only months before administering them.

Massively inoculating people out of fear is what I am against. Most healthy people have no reason to worry about getting a flu bug or a cold. It can happen to anyone in contact with other humans.

quote:

---

Originally posted by maud gonne

So, Devany: I'm curious. How did you know you had strep throat? I'm assuming that it's only diagnosed with a culture in a lab? I take it you didn't take any meds for it. I have never had a flu shot nor do I take any meds. But of course I'll never say never. My husband has had MRSA twice and I was very thankful for antibiotics which saved his life. My concern with the swine flu shots is that there has not been long term testing, and we don't know the possible downside of mass inoculations.

---

Aloha au i Hawai`i,
devany

www.myhawaiianhome.blogspot.com
www.eastbaypotters.blogspot.com

[centipede]

Right on, Devaney. I was one of those kids who the doctor would give a shot of penicilin as if it were a cure-all, and perhaps it was way back then that I developed an aversion to the medical "practice".

Is the arbitrary use of antibiotics and hormones for livestock and people nothing less than quackery, or is it because there isn't anything else and this is like trying to hold back the tide with a sand castle?