NaBloPoMo – November 2009

Ever since I read about NaNoWriMo a few years ago, I thought I’d have to participate some day. I don’t know if I ever will though. Not this year, that’s for sure, because I’ve been so busy writing that grad school assignment over the last few weeks, that I’m not inclined to start another long project right away. A few days ago in some blogs in my blog list, I read about taking part in the NaBloPoMo instead and I thought about giving that a try and revive the kind of neglected blog of mine. But then I thought about the couple of days of which I already know I’ll be offline and not able to post and discarded the idea of blogging every day during the months of November. Until a online friend reminded me that there is such a thing as pre-scheduled blog posts. Why didn’t I think of that myself? I’m not sure I know my blog hosting services well enough to pull that off, but I’m willing to try. Luckily I already posted yesterday on November 1st, so here I go… (I probably would have posted that today anyway :-) )

Are any readers here considering getting a swine flu vaccination? Or do you think that the panic is exaggerated and that the old influenza is much more dangerous? I have to admit I’ve been (and somehow still are) somewhere on the fence on that. have to admit that I have never gotten a ordinary influenza vaccination so far. I never quite thought in neccessary, even though I know that the flu can be harmful. Especially when the immune system already is compromised, like it is with MS. On the other hand I remembered that vaccinations can be harmful for an MS patient as well, because the vaccine interferes/interacts with the immune system as well.
With all the swine flu news and talks and panic going on, I looked into the whole MS/vaccination issue again. I’ve got MS for almost 10 years now, so you’d think I’m a well-informed and educated patient. I obviously wasn’t, because there are basically two kind of vaccines, one with killed microorganisms (like for flu vaccine) and one with live microorganisms (typhoid, measles etc). And only the live ones can be harmful for MS patients, so the flu shot – any kind of flu shot – is no problem at all.

I had to pick up a prescription at my neurologist this afternoon and asked him about it as well. He said, that for anyone with uncompromised health he would leave it up to that person himself, but for MS patients he would definitely advise getting both vaccinations. He offered to explain in detail why, during my next appointment (in early December), because I really just was there to pick up the prescription and caught him in the hall. So on my way home I stopped at my GP and asked for appointment for both shots. I got the ordinary flu shot right away and there has to be a four week break between the two vaccinations, so my appointment for the H1N1 vaccination is on December 11th.

Do I over-react with wanting to to get vaccinated? Maybe… But somehow I got worried a bit, when I read about the flu (either the old or new one) possibly triggering an MS attack because I really don’t need that at the moment. Or ever. I got worried even more this morning on the train on my way to work, because there was this guy sitting behind me, who clearly had some kind of cold, bronchitis or whatever. His breathing and coughing sounded horrible and he was sitting right behind me. I really don’t want to think too much about how many germs and viruses are floating around a crowded train compartment every day. So getting both flu shots might be the better deal in the long run…

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2 Responses to NaBloPoMo – November 2009

  1. LJ says:

    I’m actually getting the H1N1 shot tonight with V and my friend and her little girl. It’s around like wildfire over here, and I have quite a few friends that have had it.

    I, too, have never gotten the flu shot, but this year I’m putting it in the better safe than sorry camp.

    I think that the benefit of vaccines in healthy persons far outweigh the risk, so while I can handle a cold, I don’t want to put that on our son.

  2. liljan98 says:

    We didn’t have too many cases around here yet. Well in Germany all in all of course, but not too many in my town or metro area. But it’s starting, there were a couple of schools closed down and all, so I’m sure it’s the right decision for me.

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