flu shots?

[lisle]

Help me think this through. My natural dr. says flu shots will just insult the immunity of an adhd kid who already has vitamin imbalances. He also says that they still contain metals that are hard to shed, even though this year the mercury was taken out. (Unless some dr. used what they already had, which they aren't supposed to do.) Aluminum is also in the shots and that is a problem for my kid. He already has the flu on top of all this, but not the one that is talked about in the news. This one is bad enough.
Help me get a handle on this.

[RiahBubbaPooh]

We don't do flu shots here. We deal with what comes.

We learned a lot from dh's 8 years working in ICU. The flu vaccine is, at best, a not-so-educated guess. They look at all the possible strains, and try to figure out which one is going to be the one that hits. They guessed wrong this year. So even if you got the current vaccine, it does not cover the one that is killing these kids.

We believe in letting the immune system do it's thing whenever possible.

DD and I are fighting off flu right now. We use a homeopathic remedy from Boiron called Oscillococcinum. It works wonderfully, and gets us over it quickly. 1-2 days of muted symptoms as opposed to a week or more of agony.

[catatonic]

One of my boys has asthma. He gets a flu shot every year, no matter what, period. Go right ahead and insult his immunity, as long as it keeps him breathing.

In general, I agree it's desirable to allow the immune system to do it's thing. This is how it becomes able to fight off new threats and adapt to the changing viral and bacterial attacks it faces each day.

However, for anyone with already compromised health, I believe strongly in protecting them from further risk. Additionally, a flu that kills at surprisingly high frequency may represent one of those watershed decisions where keeping your family healthy (and alive) takes precedence over philosophical belief systems. I say that because I'm not entirely in favor of mass innoculations against flu but the severity of this year's strain is making me question myself.

I will add that my 9-year-old ADHD son has NOT had a flu shot yet. I didn't realize the thimerisol had been removed, and will have to check into that further. If this year's vaccine doesn't contain thimerisol, I'm going to have to re-think my decision. Not sure what I'll do -- the boy is young and strong and never gets the flu anyway.

So, Lisle, I'm with you in the " Don't know what to do" category.

[RiahBubbaPooh]

Ds and I both have asthma. Since I stopped getting the shot, I fare much better with flu. (Even when I get it.)

For me, alternative health practice is not just a philosophical belief. I've done the research, and I believe it is a better way of maintaining health.

For example:

Immunizations and anitbiotics keep your body from doing what God intended it to do...protect you! If there's always an outside source to do the job, your immune system gives up, because it's not needed.

I went against my own philosophy this summer, because dh was freaking out about a kidney infection that I had. I wanted to honor him, so when he insisted that I take the antibiotics, I took them. Three rounds of antibiotics and 4 months later I'm headed to a rheumatologist. It never was an infection, but a symptom of a much larger problem, which we could have started treatment for long ago. We are both sorry that we didn't stick to what we knew was right for us.

BTW, I'm not advocating that everyone ditch traditional medicine. It takes a lot of time, research and foot work to live this way. If you don't have the drive or time to put all of that into it, it won't be effective. It's a whole health approach involving diet, herbs, homeopathy, etc.

Wow, I really got off track. Sorry.

[lisle]

Hi, All:
Thanks for the input. We generally try to stick to the natural approaches for my son as he is so sensitive to meds and metals. By the way do you guys believe the stuff about toxic metals? I always vacillate in my own mind but I try to not do things like use aluminum pots or foil and baking powder with aluminum--my kids aluminum tests turn out 95% toxic anyway. This all started with a flu shot. His mercury did subside after a year. Anyway, I guess that since I can't quite figure out what "affords some protection" means about the new flu shot since it is based on the wrong strain (isn't it always?), I am going to take our chances. My son has a stress disorder and not the strongest immune system, so that is why my dr. said not to get them. That seems different from what you all said?
Confused person am I.