Anyone worried about this new flu?

[Starrynight999]

So my kids in 2022 had flu A and my 2 year old got sepsis after being ignored by doctors s just a virus for a week after multiple trips, he recovered and he is ok.. skip to last year they then got flu A again a much milder strain but we’re still very poorly and now this year it’s everywhere again and seems to be an awful strain and I’m just dreading it.. before anyone says.. non of us are vaccinated we are to to date with all vaccinations and I’m really not an anti vaxer.. but I don’t know how I feel about the flu spray if I’m honest.. doesn’t look like they are working much.. I’m just also anxious about it.. how is everyone else feeling?

Fucking hell.

I have a child who ought to have died before his 1st birthday. Grateful science adopter here.

I would say definitely worth being vaccinated even if it just lessens the symptoms.

I had my jab end of October, went down with virus a fortnight ago. It came on unbelievably fast - from vaguely uncomfortable throat, to sore throat, headache and completely unable to breath through my nose in a couple of hours - and knocked me out for about a week. The cough was horrendous - I ended up in A&E overnight last weekend as was coughing up small quantities of blood.

Back in work this week (the coughing blood was diagnosed as severe inflammation due to my being asthmatic and having previously had whooping cough)...am getting through the days ok but feeling very groggy and spaced out of an evening. It's actually quite unnerving as I had to shield during Covid due to caring for an elderly parent and I haven't had a bad cold for years until this autumn and this is my second in 10 weeks.

No brainer isn't it?

Never heard of it. I was sick for a few weeks but the dr never mentioned the flu…

I have flu right now. I am asthmatic. I can't take the vaccine because I'm allergic to too many things. My son had it 2 weeks ago and it lasted a week. Headaches, chills, fever, etc . He's fine now and I'll be over it by Christmas . It is what it is. Just suck it up.

Yes, some people are like that. There are different strains too (I was told by a hospital doctor when visiting a relative in with it, who joked that everyone says if you've got flu you can't do anything; that's true for some but not others).
Don't know why they are only offering the vaccine to kids under 16 though. I get cost is an issue, and that the vax doesn't stop everyone getting it, but surely offering to 16/17 year olds who can't get it privately would save money overall, by keeping more people well?

Mine was vaccinated in school and hasn't been ill. Over half of his class is ill, some seriously - hospital, seizures, secondary infections.

So get the vaccine. I wish I had done it for myself. My and daughter (3, has had the vaccine) both of us have had the flu. She was not that bad and now fully recovered. I was in bed for 24 hours and still have a cough 10 days after other symptoms have gone.

Edit to add that I did not get the Covid vaccine, I don’t believe it was tested sufficiently. I know a lot of people that have different, life altering side effects from it. And I definitely would not have given it to my child. The flu vaccine has been worked on for years.

When will people understand that getting vaccinated doesn’t mean you’re not going to get sick it just means it will be less severe and hopefully won’t land you in hospital

Get them vaccinated. Heavens above!

Because you can't argue with stupid.

Fine. Don’t get vaccinated, but stop moaning.

I know someone who developed ME after the flu and never recovered. The flu itself wasn’t too bad but the ME symptoms that followed were horrendous. After many years with ME they committed suicide. I think people forget all the different complications we can get after the flu. Get vaccinated

I’ve had the flu vaccine, not the jibby jab, so maybe that’s why I’ve avoided serious illness. I think it works better.

Hey. So shocked by some of the really cold replies on here. I don't think it's at all unreasonable to be worried but I think I can offer some comfort from a medical perspective. Your children and you will have some immunity from the A strain if you've had it in the last few years. It's really unlikely any of you, even your youngest will become seriously ill from this after having contracting it in recent years.

The flu season has come early to the UK this year. The whole 'super flu' rhetoric you're seeing in the press is just word play. From an epidemiological perspective, the peak of flu season is normally January in the UK. This year it appears to be peaking several weeks earlier than it normally does...BUT the numbers of people ill in hospital with flu is no higher than it is during a normal peak.

There are higher virulence levels in the younger age groups because they have so much close contact with others and because the A strain is possibly a new one to a lot of younger immune systems. But it's not a more 'severe' virus.

The vaccines are a good match this year if you choose to have them but it's not going to make a huge amount of difference to you either way as you have some remaining immunity.

One evidence based thing that can help you and your kids is the use of saline sprays or nasal rinses after being out and about. So after school and again before bed.

Saline not only washes viral particles out of the nasal cavity but it also helps your body make its own virus killing substance called hypochlorous acid. There is evidence that kids who use saline sprays have a lower viral load, less severe symptoms, and a shorter illness duration.

Sterimar is the brand me and my kids use.

Also if I'm in a place that's crazy busy, I wear an FFP2 mask. My 5yr old wanted her own masks as a result of seeing me in mine, so we got her some simple kids masks with pretty designs on and she is really into wearing them! My 15yr old would rather die of plague than wear a mask but she does use the nose sprays.

Really hope that helps you feel a bit better about it and less worried. X

Yeah this.

Hey. So shocked by some of the really cold replies on here. I don't think it's at all unreasonable to be worried but I think I can offer some comfort from a medical perspective. Your children and you will have some immunity from the A strain if you've had it in the last few years. It's really unlikely any of you, even your youngest will become seriously ill from this after having contracted it in recent years.

The flu season has come early to the UK this year. The whole 'super flu' rhetoric you're seeing in the press is just word play. From an epidemiological perspective, the peak of flu season is normally January in the UK. This year it appears to be peaking several weeks earlier than it normally does...BUT the numbers of people ill in hospital with flu is no higher than it is during a normal peak.

There are higher virulence levels in the younger age groups because they have so much close contact with others and because the A strain is possibly a new one to a lot of younger immune systems. But it's not a more 'severe' virus.

The vaccines are a good match this year if you choose to have them but it's not going to make a huge amount of difference to you either way as you have some remaining immunity.

One evidence based thing that can help you and your kids is the use of saline sprays or nasal rinses after being out and about. So after school and again before bed.

Saline not only washes viral particles out of the nasal cavity but it also helps your body make its own virus killing substance called hypochlorous acid. There is evidence that kids who use saline sprays have a lower viral load, less severe symptoms, and a shorter illness duration.

Sterimar is the brand me and my kids use.

Also if I'm in a place that's crazy busy, I wear an FFP2 mask. My 5yr old wanted her own masks as a result of seeing me in mine, so we got her some simple kids masks with pretty designs on and she is really into wearing them! My 15yr old would rather die of plague than wear a mask but she does use the nose sprays.

Really hope that helps you feel a bit better about it and less worried. X

I’d be wearing a mask in your situation. Peoples hygiene can be very disgusting: the amount of people I see coughing and spluttering in public without covering their mouth is astonishing. Some people are filthy .

This is worth repeating. Whilst your child might still catch the flu if they have the vaccine, they are much less likely to develop the very complications you are worried about if they have had the vaccine. I really don't understand why you would not allow them to have the flu vaccine. It is astonishing to me, given your child's history with the flu

Unfortunately I don't think some of the above isn't quite true. Lasting immunity will depend on what subtype they had previously (for example having had H1N1 doesn't provide particularly brilliant protection against H3N2, though there's some cross-protection) and how many mutations the virus has acquired since then.

The trouble with influenza is that it mutates so quickly your never going to be seeing the same virus two years running - and it will always be an unknown how quickly your immunity wanes, and how well the virus has adapted to be able to evade any remaining immunity.

You know "a lot of people that have different, life altering side effects" from the covid vaccine? A lot of people? Like, how many? What are those side effects? How do you know they're from the vaccine?

I was told the opposite by the pharmacist who gave DH and I our jabs last week. He said the current vaccines were "guesstimates" of the relevant strains 6 months ago and so have turned out not to be for the current "superflu" strain but are still the best protection against serious illness relating to flu as something is better than nothing.

A family friend who no longer has control over her hand. They are curled up and shake.
My sister’s tutor ended up in a coma and had stroke like side effects after (she had the initial 2 vaccines then 2 boosters. Had also had Covid)
Another friend it triggered ME.
2 people who ended up with a frozen shoulder caused from the injection site (yes I know you can get this from other vaccines)
They know as that is what the doctors have said caused it.

5 people might not seem like a lot but I know 0 people that have had side effects like this from other vaccines.

Completely agree. The people I know who had the vaccine ended up more ill. Never had the covid vaccine either and when I got covid, I thought this has to be a joke as I was barely ill. My partner's mum had all the vaccines in 1 year including the flu and ended up with turbo cancer. My nana ended up in hospital when she had the flu vaccine and stopped having it amd was not ill again.

Turbo cancer isn’t a medically recognised thing, it’s an anti vaccine term