60 Minutes on H1N1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I did not, ever, say fuck off. I said do whatever the fuck you want.

I'm just sick of the condescending attitude toward those of us who are concerned about the flu, and think, for one minute, that our child have have a serious complication or worse.

It IS possible. If not probable, possible. And I'm sticking up for myself and that's all. I got a little passionate because I'm sick of people on this board acting like I am crazy for being concerned. I'm actually a pretty rational person in real life. I'm incredibly educated about this strain of flu, and being in public health, have probably listened in on 2 dozen CDC calls for health professionals this fall alone. Yet, I'm a mom. So I'm allowed to ignore the odds and worry.

I am not going around message boards posting crazy stuff about the end of the world, but I feel like any rational discussion on these H1N1 threads get sidetracked by this vaccine debate - of people telling the parents who are interested in getting the vaccine they are being irrational, not paying attention to the numbers, are "sheep" following the herd. It's ridiculous.

Best of luck.

[Anonymous]

And I should add that it's less than one percent of cases are admitted, and that Einstein did not really flunk math.

[Anonymous]

Interesting flu experience:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/20/health/20pregnant.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Interesting flu experience:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/20/health/20pregnant.html

Gosh, what a sad story. Sounds somewhat similar to the story of the boy on 60 Minutes last night too...he actually thought he was feeling better, went to take a shower and then according to his parents, out of blue started having trouble breathing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I did not, ever, say fuck off. I said do whatever the fuck you want.

I'm just sick of the condescending attitude toward those of us who are concerned about the flu, and think, for one minute, that our child have have a serious complication or worse.

It IS possible. If not probable, possible. And I'm sticking up for myself and that's all. I got a little passionate because I'm sick of people on this board acting like I am crazy for being concerned. I'm actually a pretty rational person in real life. I'm incredibly educated about this strain of flu, and being in public health, have probably listened in on 2 dozen CDC calls for health professionals this fall alone. Yet, I'm a mom. So I'm allowed to ignore the odds and worry.

I am not going around message boards posting crazy stuff about the end of the world, but I feel like any rational discussion on these H1N1 threads get sidetracked by this vaccine debate - of people telling the parents who are interested in getting the vaccine they are being irrational, not paying attention to the numbers, are "sheep" following the herd. It's ridiculous.

You are not ignoring the odds. The probability that you will die of influenza, while low, is at least three orders of magnitude (1000 x ) more likely than the chances of having a significant adverse reaction from the influenza vaccine. You have a correct understanding of the probabilities.

[Anonymous]

Death's not the only thing to be concerned about here. Hospitalization of a baby/toddler/young child who can't breathe well is no fun, either. You've put your child into the mac daddy of germiest environments, where they are confined to a metal cage crib. You do the diaper changing, feeding, entertaining all day -- the nurses don't. You stay round the clock to do all this, then get to share a toilet and shower with the skanky, child-molester looking "father" staying with the other kid in the room. If you think you can grab an hour or two of sleep overnight, think again. The blood oxygen monitor taped to your kid's toe goes off every so often to show he's not getting enough oxygen. Or, he kicks it off in his sleep or takes it off on purpose, setting off more alarms. So you (not the nurses) are constantly reattaching it so that you have a clue if your child is oxygen-starved or not. Not something I would put my child through voluntarily.

[Anonymous]

My friend's two children (4 and 18 months) just got over the H1N1. The 4 yo has asthma and was taken to the hospital to check out her lungs. She was out of there in 3 hours. Both children were fine after 3 days.

Sadly, there is no way to detect whether your child will be one of the unlucky few, but the odds are in your favor that your child will be fine in a week or less.

some good advice: Stay hydrated; warm drinks are especially effective against it. And if you're into the neti pot (or nasal cleansing), do it once a day. (It does take some getting used to, but once you get the hang of it, it's great!) I read that this virus takes 3 days before it can spread throughout your body. And apparently, it hits your nasal passages. So focus on your nasal passages. Gargling helps, too. Using salt water is fine, but if it's not your style, Listerine is effective, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Death's not the only thing to be concerned about here. Hospitalization of a baby/toddler/young child who can't breathe well is no fun, either. You've put your child into the mac daddy of germiest environments, where they are confined to a metal cage crib. You do the diaper changing, feeding, entertaining all day -- the nurses don't. You stay round the clock to do all this, then get to share a toilet and shower with the skanky, child-molester looking "father" staying with the other kid in the room. If you think you can grab an hour or two of sleep overnight, think again. The blood oxygen monitor taped to your kid's toe goes off every so often to show he's not getting enough oxygen. Or, he kicks it off in his sleep or takes it off on purpose, setting off more alarms. So you (not the nurses) are constantly reattaching it so that you have a clue if your child is oxygen-starved or not. Not something I would put my child through voluntarily.

Been there - toddler could breath fine, but we were in surgery and spent the night. Similar experience in terms of comfort to you (we did get our own bathroom though - how horrible!) and spent the night wondering if our toddler would ever smile again, ever laugh, ever be near the same child we bought in. Scariest experience of my life, and this was a minor, routine, planned out medical event.

I would never wish a hospital experience on ANY parent. I will do whatever I can do avoid my child ever going to the hospital again.

[Anonymous]

Yes, describing what could happen to the tiny minority who get terribly sick from this is scary. I don't think a less than one percent chance of this happening is scary, though. I'm not afraid that me or my kids will be in that less than one percent. Others DO feel that their kids could be in that tiny minority. That's basically all there is to say about it now, since none of us can predict the future. But I am confident my family will be fine, and I feel sad for the small, small number of families who won't be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What I don't get is why the moms on this board who have decided not to vaccinate are just condesending and rude to the moms who are vaccinating. The CDC is recommending the vaccine--are you all so high and mighty about ignoring this advice because you all conducted some independent DCUM frau study that I'm not aware of?

Because our arguments are so superior to "would you shut up already" maybe?

Please share what is your reason for not getting the vaccine for your child? I can accept that some people are afraid of the vaccine because they don't understand how it works/what's in it, etc. But, I think the vast majority of the anti-vax people aren't afraid of the vaccine at all. So what is your personal reason for not getting it? Is it just that you don't want to be bothered? Is it just that you're so sure nothing will happen that you're taking some kind of moral stand against it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What I don't get is why the moms on this board who have decided not to vaccinate are just condesending and rude to the moms who are vaccinating. The CDC is recommending the vaccine--are you all so high and mighty about ignoring this advice because you all conducted some independent DCUM frau study that I'm not aware of?

Because our arguments are so superior to "would you shut up already" maybe?

Please share what is your reason for not getting the vaccine for your child? I can accept that some people are afraid of the vaccine because they don't understand how it works/what's in it, etc. But, I think the vast majority of the anti-vax people aren't afraid of the vaccine at all. So what is your personal reason for not getting it? Is it just that you don't want to be bothered? Is it just that you're so sure nothing will happen that you're taking some kiend of moral stand against it?

Because I'm not afraid that my kids will be in the one percent who get seriously sick, even less afraid they will be in the less than one percent who go to the ICU, and even less afraid they will be in the even smaller percentage who die from this. I think the odds of us getting the flu and getting well are really, really high and the odds of us getting the flu and getting very sick are really, really, really low.

[Anonymous]

"Because I'm not afraid that my kids will be in the one percent who get seriously sick, even less afraid they will be in the less than one percent who go to the ICU, and even less afraid they will be in the even smaller percentage who die from this. I think the odds of us getting the flu and getting well are really, really high and the odds of us getting the flu and getting very sick are really, really, really low."

NP - that is good reasoning to me. And maybe you are not one of the people who have been criticizing people who are interested in the vaccine. But our reasoning, at least a lot of the parents I've talked to, is not because we think that our children are destined to get the flu, and that it will be so bad they will end up in the hospital or dead. It's because there is a pretty good chance they might get the flu, there is a pretty good chance if they get it they will be miserable, there is a tiny chance looming in the back of our minds that our family could be one of the random unlucky ones, and we think there is a really, really, really small chance of the vaccine causing harm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What I don't get is why the moms on this board who have decided not to vaccinate are just condesending and rude to the moms who are vaccinating. The CDC is recommending the vaccine--are you all so high and mighty about ignoring this advice because you all conducted some independent DCUM frau study that I'm not aware of?

Because our arguments are so superior to "would you shut up already" maybe?

Please share what is your reason for not getting the vaccine for your child? I can accept that some people are afraid of the vaccine because they don't understand how it works/what's in it, etc. But, I think the vast majority of the anti-vax people aren't afraid of the vaccine at all. So what is your personal reason for not getting it? Is it just that you don't want to be bothered? Is it just that you're so sure nothing will happen that you're taking some kiend of moral stand against it?

Because I'm not afraid that my kids will be in the one percent who get seriously sick, even less afraid they will be in the less than one percent who go to the ICU, and even less afraid they will be in the even smaller percentage who die from this. I think the odds of us getting the flu and getting well are really, really high and the odds of us getting the flu and getting very sick are really, really, really low.

But, why not protect yourself from getting the flu if you can? Being sick with the flu sucks--it makes you feel horrible and if your kids do get sick, I can't believe that at least some small part of you wouldn't worry that it could get really serious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What I don't get is why the moms on this board who have decided not to vaccinate are just condesending and rude to the moms who are vaccinating. The CDC is recommending the vaccine--are you all so high and mighty about ignoring this advice because you all conducted some independent DCUM frau study that I'm not aware of?

Because our arguments are so superior to "would you shut up already" maybe?

Please share what is your reason for not getting the vaccine for your child? I can accept that some people are afraid of the vaccine because they don't understand how it works/what's in it, etc. But, I think the vast majority of the anti-vax people aren't afraid of the vaccine at all. So what is your personal reason for not getting it? Is it just that you don't want to be bothered? Is it just that you're so sure nothing will happen that you're taking some kiend of moral stand against it?

Because I'm not afraid that my kids will be in the one percent who get seriously sick, even less afraid they will be in the less than one percent who go to the ICU, and even less afraid they will be in the even smaller percentage who die from this. I think the odds of us getting the flu and getting well are really, really high and the odds of us getting the flu and getting very sick are really, really, really low.

So, I'm guessing you also refuse other childhood vaccines based on this reasoning...because you realize the odds that your kids will die from H1N1 are much higher that the odds that they'll die from measles?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What I don't get is why the moms on this board who have decided not to vaccinate are just condesending and rude to the moms who are vaccinating. The CDC is recommending the vaccine--are you all so high and mighty about ignoring this advice because you all conducted some independent DCUM frau study that I'm not aware of?

Because our arguments are so superior to "would you shut up already" maybe?

Please share what is your reason for not getting the vaccine for your child? I can accept that some people are afraid of the vaccine because they don't understand how it works/what's in it, etc. But, I think the vast majority of the anti-vax people aren't afraid of the vaccine at all. So what is your personal reason for not getting it? Is it just that you don't want to be bothered? Is it just that you're so sure nothing will happen that you're taking some kind of moral stand against it?

NP here, I'm not getting the vax because H1N1 has already made its rounds through our family, and guess what? None of us are dead. We recovered very easily. The regular flu was a much worse experience for us a few years ago.

Furthermore, this flu is supposed to peak next week. The vax kicks in after 2 weeks. I'm confident that mankind will survive this. But, go ahead and focus on the negative, extremely rare stories. You know crocks can get caught in escalators and take your child's foot with it.

I really don't care who gets vax'd or not. However, most of you sound very foolish and seemt to suffer from some form of panic disorder. You really need to stop watching so much CNN, I think it much worse for your health than the swine flu.