The Singapore Forum

My family's been blasted by two different strains of flu, back-to-back, within a month. Last night Mr VS and I talked about getting regular flu jabs for everyone. Wolfie has already had pneumoccocal (sp) and rotovirus jabs.

Anybody have insight or anecdotes for me about flu jabs? When is the best time to get them in Singapore? Does Singapore even have a "flu season"?

Scummy Daddy and I had them in December just before we went back to the UK. Didn't bother with mini as they take 2 weeks to work.

Had him and our maid done a few weeks ago on Doc's advice.

(Having said that we are both laid up with flu-like symptoms at the moment).

I get them purely because works provides them for free. The first time I got one I ended up going home sick because I developed Flu symptoms in the afternoon. A 6 hour flu is quite novel.

I'm not sure when the best time is meant to be but I think it's around the time the northern hemisphere hits Autmun (Fall).

We didn't get side-effects (symptoms) and nor did mini-S. My mum always does when she has it, so I think it must vary by person.

would say, unless you are at a high risk it is not really worth it, oh and after a certain age it is recommended, that being said you do seem to be getting a lot of them, so perhaps at higher risk?

but as SM pointed out it really is not a guarantee it will stop you getting another strain

Personally I've always been against them as there are just too many flu strains and against antibiotics (generally speaking) too. Much better to fight something and build up your immune system isn't it? But maybe a doc should comment.

I think I've only had a flu shot once -- I don't think it made any difference whatsoever, but I suppose it should be said that I don't really get sick all that often anyway (knock wood).

Hmmmm, it does sound too good to be true, doesn't it? I think we've also had it worse than usual because Wolfie just started nursery school this year, and everyone's told me he'll be bringing home bugs. He's been sick at least once a month since he started. Slinky, I also don't fall sick very easily, but my husband is a flu magnet. He's had flu shots before and swears they've helped. Scummy, your account doesn't sound encouraging at all!

Is it really FLU that everybody keeps getting? (It's all over my office at the moment...) I've always heard that REAL flu absolutely flattens you. If you really have flu all you can do is lie there and moan a lot. If you are basically functional, you just have a bad cold.

I do love the "24 hour flu" many seem to get here. A real flu does knock you out. Joint pain, muscles pain, normally lasts a few of days I thought.

Maybe they are confusing it with "gastric"

Yes, the more I read about flu, I'm thinking I really don't understand what it actually is. Maybe I've never had it?

From Wikipedia:

The most common symptoms of the disease are chills, fever, sore throat, muscle pains, severe headache, coughing, weakness and general discomfort.[1] Fever and coughs are the most frequent symptoms. In more serious cases, influenza causes pneumonia, which can be fatal, particularly for the young and the elderly. Although it is often confused with other influenza-like illnesses, especially the common cold, influenza is a much more severe disease than the common cold and is caused by a different type of virus.[2] Influenza may produce nausea and vomiting, particularly in children,[1] but these symptoms are more common in the unrelated gastroenteritis, which is sometimes called "stomach flu" or "24-hour flu".[3]

Actually, thinking about it I had real flu a few months ago, which was a few months after I'd had the jab. was totally bed ridden for 3 days. At the moment I have a throat infection and feel lousy but functioning. Scummy D has real flu/mycoplasma at the moment, but we know that men suffer more.....

Oh, that's interesting, we all had what my son's pediatrician called "stomach flu" about a month ago. My son was out of school for 2 weeks. The first day of it, I was unable to move. But according to Baloo's clip is not flu at all.

The bug I have now, the doctor called it "pharyngitis" which I can only assume is laryngitis for ancient Egyptians. It has flattened me bad. I have all the symptoms of flu as described in the clip.

Hmmmm, flu jab not looking encouraging.

A flu jab is just an insurance policy. They tend to cover known strains and protect against them. If a new strain develops you won't be covered for it.

Ahhh, I have pharyngitis too (visited doc on Monday). Scummy D and I both developed same symptoms at same time on Sunday, so presumably he has the same but worse? (He also has dodgy tummy, but I don't).

real flu is horrible. it will knock you out for more than a week and once it's gone you'll be so weak you can hardly stand. the fever is usually way up at the 39C+ level. had it a few times when i was young and it's something you won't wish on your worst enemy (well, maybe on him), it literally wastes you. what they call 'flu' in Singapore is usually just a cold.

was thinking of getting a (free) flu jab this year, but have been down with some stupid chest infection bug for more than a week now, so getting the jab now is out of the question.

Lili Von Shtupp wrote:The bug I have now, the doctor called it "pharyngitis" which I can only assume is laryngitis for ancient Egyptians. It has flattened me bad. I have all the symptoms of flu as described in the clip.

I had to look it up & according to wiki it's essentially a sore throat I had a mild case of it last week, it seems (didn't see a doctor, so I guess I'm not 100% sure). I know I felt like I couldn't get enough sleep all week and my throat was dodgy. I was eating those vitamin C & zinc chewables like candy.....seems to have done the trick - much better this week.

Pharyngitis (pronounced /ˌfærɪnˈdʒaɪtɪs/) is an inflammation of the throat or pharynx.[1] In most cases it is painful, and thus is often referred to as a sore throat. It can result in very large tonsils which cause trouble swallowing and breathing. Some are accompanied by a cough or fever.

For what it's worth, I've never had a flu shot even when I lived in Canada full time even though the Canadian govt offers it free in most if not all provinces and Health Canada endorses it wholeheartedly and spends major bucks advertising in the media. There are 2 schools of thought amongst most people in general, that of, for and against and I'm in the latter category because I don't see it as being effective and a preventive cure all for all the various strains out there.

But then (knock on wood), I don't fall sick often.
p.s. I practice hand washing religiously.


edit: word

Even though I am not a medical doctor, I would recommend getting the seasonal flu jab every year to everyone who can get their hands on it.

Why? In the case of a pandemic flu:

1: You will not have your immune system compromised by seasonal flu in which case you should be able to fight off pandemic flu better.
2: You will have a reduced chance of catching seasonal flu. If you get the seasonal flu during a pandemic alert, you will be treated as someone with seasonal flu and be sent to a place where there are a lot of pandemic flu sufferers.
3: During a pandemic alert, if you do get flu-like symptoms, you'll be pretty sure it's not just seasonal flu and hopefully you're increased alertness over this will get you to seek medical attention quickly (which is best for any type of flu: anti-virals work best if given within 12 hours of onset of symptoms, and don't help much at all if given after 24 hours)

Anecdotally, I suffered a spate of flu/colds which were always backed up with a bacterial infection of the throat. My doctor suggested the flu shot, I've not had one case of that since annually taking the shot.

This year, I reckon the flu shot will be in short supply. So get it early, Sept-Oct is a good time. And whilst you are there, top-up on other vaccinations. (So overall promoting a healthier lifestyle if only it gets you protected on a few other things).

FB, maybe you know this: is it correct that it is not advisable to get a flu jab if one is sick already?

FB, that's a perspective I didn't even see. Very interesting. My husband swears by flu jabs and, to be honest, this is his call. So come Sept/Oct we'll probably march the family out to get them, then we'll see how many illnesses we suffer after that.

True, very interesting FB.

Lili - might be worth getting your maid done too, if she's agreeable.

Oh, Mr VS thought of that too!