Experts pick the top lifesaving shots that most grown-ups are behind on getting
Article Source: msnbc.com
from:msnbc.com5 vaccines adults need most
Seeded on Tue Dec 21, 2010 10:25 AM EST (msnbc.com)
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I'd like to hear from anyone who's ever had tetanus, or even known someone who had it. I think it's a mythical disease ; -) Even if you've had your tetanus shot, if you step on a rusty nail, the Dr. is going to give you another one. Why bother getting one as a preventative?
I stepped on the old rusty nail. I carpenter left the nail in a board in some ivy and I didn't see it. Went right through my sneaker. I could not get it to bled. By the next day I could feel something wasn't right so went to a 'First Med' place that gave me a tetanus shot and antibiotics. It kept getting worse and my foot was swelling so got in to see an infectious disease specialist. He told me I was 24 hours from loosing my foot. It was only a few days. Laying in bed hoping and praying the swelling will go down is not fun. I work in home improvement and get cut all the time. I get tetanus shots every once. I've has some nasty cuts since that nail. Can't really answer your question as to if they work but have not had any problems since. Please people if you get a cut or step on a nail and it feels at all funny get to a doctor. The antibiotics worked and the swelling went down. I still have my foot.
Since we don't make the flu vaccine in the U.S., no one can guarantee it's safety ! Magically, when a new strain appears, so does the vaccine for it ? Flu shots used to be recommended for certain age groups, the young, old, and the weak. Now it's stressed that everyone should be vaccinated. I'll just take my chances, thank you very much. Five, ten, fifteen years from now when "the masses" have some strange "never-seen-before" disease, I bet the common denominator will be - they all got a flu shot !
I always get the flu vaccine each year, but I think that it's in my best interest to ask my doctor about the other vaccines mentioned in this article; especially the Herpes Zoster vaccine as most adults have been exposed to the chicken pox virus. We all need to take better care of ourselves, instead of waiting until we become ill with something that could have been prevented, and then expect your doctor to make it all better.
I am 62 and had shingles at age 29. Would it still be of benefit to me to get the Herpes Zoster vaccine? I am not sure if you can have shingles more than once as I've seen information both ways.
badly edited article; the info was not there; you had to click on another site to get the info that should have been given in the first paragraph.
I had to hunt to learn what shots I should be getting.