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      November Newsletter    
           
 

Healthy Habits ~

   Every fall, I line up my husband and kids, and off we go to get our annual flu shots.  I know there's lots of chatter whether the shots really help or not, but using our family as an example, they certainly do.  About five years back, our youngest child and her nanny did not get flu shots.  It wasn't planned that way, just happened, as life sometimes does.  Later that winter, the flu hit the kids' school hard and they brought it home.  The four of us that had gotten flu shots were down for about twenty-four hours, with another twenty-four hours of "moving slow."  The two that didn't get the shots were down for six days and then "moving slow" for another full week.  To me, it was certainly worth the efforts to get immunized. 

So, if getting a flu shot is such a good thing, why all the chatter?  It starts off first with a question of how effective the vaccine really is.  For us, it has proven itself positive, but others have had other experiences.  Part of the challenge lies in actually defining what the flu is.  A true case of influenza is a respiratory illness that typically starts with a headache, chills and a cough, which are rapidly followed by fever, loss of appetite, muscle aches and fatigue, runny nose, sneezing, watery eyes and throat irritation.  With a list of symptoms this long, the flu is often blamed for other illnesses that have some of these same symptoms.  A large number of people use the term "flu" to describe a gastrointestinal illness.  The immunizations aren't geared to fight those illnesses that really aren't the flu.

In February, The World Health Organization picks the flu strains for the next season.  It takes around six months for the vaccine manufacturers to grow the viruses in chicken eggs and formulate them into trivalent (three-strain) vaccines.  This year, 2007 to 2008, the strains of flu that are recommended to be included in the vaccine are Type A/Solomon Islands (H1N1-like virus), Type A/Wisconsin (H3N2-like virus) and Type B/Malaysia.  That said, being immunized doesn't come with a guarantee that you will always avoid the flu.  And it has no effect on other viruses, such as the common cold.  But even when the match of chosen strains in the immunization and what is circulating around the neighbour is not optimal, the immunization offers some protection and can reduce severity when you do catch the flu.

As someone with seasonal allergies and asthma, I fight hard to keep the flu away from my family.  The three key ways to avoid the flu?  Cover your cough, wash your hands, and get immunized!

 

    
      Carpe diem,
                                     Kellie		    
     

   
           
     
 


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Last website updates ~~~ November 2007

  
   
 

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