Yes, it’s that time of year again. It’s getting cooler out, and before you know it the leaves will be changing, along with your wardrobe. You hear the crisp fall breeze whistling through the trees, the fallen leaves crunching under your feet, and…hacking coughs? That’s right, ladies, flu season is almost here.

Now, I have a bit of a strange confession to make – I’ve never had the flu! It’s not that I don’t get sick. In high school, I used to get sick every winter without fail, but I usually got stuck with sinus infections or bronchitis. Never the flu. As you probably remember, in the fall of 2009, which was my freshman year of college, the swine flu hit. Almost every friend I had made at school got some version of the flu, whether it was of the piggy variety or just your grandma’s regular old influenza. I was scared. I’d just been sick for weeks (bronchitis AND a sinus infection) and had missed tons of classes. So what did I do? I got vaccinated for the swine flu and the regular flu. And it worked. No flu for me.

Even though I had a good experience, I’m still never sure whether or not I should get a flu shot, and I’ve heard lots of my friends say the same. I’m not a medical professional, so I can’t give a recommendation on the topic, but I’ve put together some information about the pros and cons of the influenza vaccine to help you (and myself) to make the decision this fall.

First, the facts: this link from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will give you all the basic information you need to know about the vaccine itself, including the different types of vaccines, and who should not be vaccinated. Read More »

Ew. Ow. Shots. Ew.

At this point, Swine Flu (or H1N1 if we want to be politically correct) has been branded into our consciousness. It seems like we can’t go anywhere without seeing a poster or a commercial telling us to protect ourselves. Suddenly the lessons we learned in grammar school are being made into multi-million dollar ad campaigns. “Wash your hands! Cover your mouth when you cough!”

It’s a little ridiculous how much everyone is freaking out. Then again, whenever I see someone sneeze I run in the other direction in fear that I will soon sprout a tail and oink all the way to the emergency room. So am I avoiding this swine flu like the plague? Hell yes. But when it comes to the vaccine, I’m not as sure.

I want to be as protected as possible, but I also don’t want to throw myself under the bus by injecting this mysterious killer into my blood stream. I talk to one person and feel like it’s the best thing since sliced bread, then the next minute someone else has me convinced that I would be making the worse mistake of my life.

It’s painfully clear: I’m torn. Read More »