Flu season coming..

This year's flu season will be my first year dealing with the potential flu since I had PM implanted in March this year. Before PM, I have flu shots every year. I was wondering if anyone knows or can share any experience about getting a flu shot or catching a flue or taking flu medicines with a PM. Do flu shots or flu medicines have an affect on arrythmia, afib, etc? Any info is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Have a nice day.

Duke

6 Comments

I have had a flu "shot" every year

by janetinak - 2013-09-09 03:09:08

before & after getting my PM after an AV Node ablation for Afib in 2000. No issues except I no longer get Bronchitis as I did every year before getting the flu shot.

Hope this response helps,

Janet

flu shots

by Tracey_E - 2013-09-09 06:09:21

As heart patients, we are considered higher risk of being in danger if we get the flu and are therefore on the list of people who should always vaccinate, according to AMA.

I've never had one, that's my personal choice. Yes, they can work but every medication/vaccination takes a toll on our body. Some people get sick from the vaccine. Every summer some smart people meet and decide which of the thousand or so strains out there are most likely to be prevalent this winter, that's what ends up in the vaccine so it's a bit of a guessing game. I'm otherwise healthy, my immune system is not compromised, so I'll pass. YMMV, of course :)

Thanks for asking the question

by Marie12 - 2013-09-09 09:09:25

Duke999. My implant was July 3 and it was not something I had even thought about yet. I was aware that it is recommended for heart patients to get the flu shot, however, I've never had one and I've also not had the flu in over 30 years. I think I'll forget it this year and try to keep myself as healthy as I was before.

flu shot

by Alma Annie - 2013-09-09 11:09:05

we are just finishing our flu season. Our vaccines are made with the Northern hemisphere in mind as to what they had before us, but often with a few modifications.
I have the vaccine every year and have never had problems. Of course it does not cover colds, that is a different virus, also there are some viruses out there that rear their heads without us knowing so we are not covered for those. Every year in Australia many people die from flu who have not been vaccinated. Research has determined that when more people have been vaccinated there is less flu around. It does take a couple of weeks to kick in so one is at risk during that time.
Alma Annie

Thanks for all replies

by Duke999 - 2013-09-09 11:09:55

Thank you so much to the folks who take out the time to respond. I really appreciate it. I wish you all continue good health. Have a great day.

Duke.

Flu & being an Old Coot

by donr - 2013-09-30 04:09:44

I have had but one flu shot & that was in Oct 1955. I enjoyed hosp food for a week thereafter & was told to never, ever again get a flu shot.

I have researched the flu shot & discovered that the basic shot given today is made EXACTLY the same way it was in 1955, So I cannot even get in the same room w/ the sealed bottles. The newer ones are apparently made differently, & not cleared for those of us that dirt treats w/ deference.

So, I am stuck - figuratively, not literally - but have been since Oct 1955.

Fast Fwd to the May after the infamous H1N1 flu that was pretty darned virulent & killed a bunch of people world -wide. BUT - it apparently ignored us senior citizens, since there were very few deaths to it. Between 1955 & 20XX, there occurred in the US a very messy flu strain in the winter of 1957-58. I have not looked up the death rates from it, but it went across the US like wild fire. I recall that all three of us in our college room had it at the same time - & my roomies had the shot a few months prior. It had 2/3 of the student body sick at the same time.

In May after the H1N1, I was chatting up a US CDC nurse working on the project to work w/ the H1N1 at a luncheon when I got hit by an inspiration. Perhaps our 1957 strain was close enough to the H1N1 to have given us old-timers a residual immunity that the young sprouts among us did not enjoy. 1957 was too soon after the discovery of DNA for it to have been used to identify varying strains of anything & CDC did not have in its virus repository any samples of the 1957 strain to test according to the nurse doing the speaking. I did a Google search & could find no info on the 2013 existence of 1957 flu virus..

Since I was the only person in the room even BORN prior to 1957, the rest of the crowd looked at me like I had lobsters crawling out of my ears when I suggested that. Amazingly, the CDC had wondered the same thing about all the cohorts that were exposed to the 1957 strain. As a group, they did suffer the ravages of the H1N1 strain as severely as anticipated.

Side Bar: I doubt if most people alive then even remember that flu pandemic of 1957. It was nowhere near as dramatic as the 1918 pandemic, so did not garner the tremendous publicity as the 1918 event. I recall it because of the dramatic impact on us at school, w/ so many of us down w/ it at the same time. It came on very fast, knocked you down for about three days & left you rather fast once it did let go.

I have only had flu twice that I can recall since 1957. I do not recommend gambling w/ that disease as you get older, since it takes a toll on anyone who is the least bit impaired in the cardio-pulmonary area, & seniors tend to be more impaired than the younger sprouts among us.

Don

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