Flu Shots

Want to protect against the Flu? Really want to? Get your Vitamin D level checked, and when you find out it's low (because it will be), take a supplement of D3 until you get your level up to around 65-80. May require a few checks to find out the dose that it takes but it's a really smart move to improve your overall health. Protection against flu is just one small part of it.

Excerpt of an article that touches on the subject, and the book he references is fascinating.

Let's just say I have a background in medicine; I can assure you there is more truth to this than what the CDC is spouting about flu vaccines. For the record, I get a flu vaccine every year, because I don't personally think it's harmful, but I don't rely on it. But whether you get the vaccine or not, what you really need is a good, robust Vitamin D level and a healthy diet. If you really want a good D level you will have to get it checked to see how much supplement it takes to get your levels up. Everyone absorbs and metabolizes the supplement differently, and some people need higher doses than others. The lab you need is a 25(OH) Hydroxyvitamin D level.

Also as an aside, I think Tamiflu is crap and I wouldn't take it or give it to my family. I've had the flu 3 times in 12 years (I'm guaranteed dozens of exposures every season in my work so I get the flu from time to time) and I refuse to take neuramidase inhibitors like Tamiflu. Take Vit D and Vit C and leave the drugs at the pharmacy.

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Vitamin D deficiency is a pandemic in the United States, but many Americans, including physicians, are not aware that they may be lacking this important nutrient.
Despite its name, vitamin D is not a regular vitamin. It's actually a steroid hormone that you get primarily from either sun exposure or supplementation, and its ability to influence genetic expression that produces many of its wide-ranging health benefits.
Researchers have pointed out that increasing levels of vitamin D3 among the general population could prevent chronic diseases that claim nearly one million lives throughout the world each year. Incidence of several types of cancer could also be slashed in half.
Vitamin D also fights infections, including colds and the flu, as it regulates the expression of genes that influence your immune system to attack and destroy bacteria and viruses.
In this interview, one of the leading vitamin D researchers, Dr. Michael Holick, expounds on these and many other health benefits of vitamin D. He's both an MD and a PhD, and wrote the book, The Vitamin D Solution.
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I've always gotten the flu, colds, and viruses very easily. The flu shots were given at my workplace. The 1st ones I took would give me a bad skin reaction, so I quit taking those. Went to medical a few years later, and the plant nurse asked if I had had the flu shot. I told her about the skin reaction. She told me that the new flu shots had a different make up if I would like to try it. I did that, and had no skin reaction, so I've been taking the flu shot ever since, and have had no instances of the flu. 68 yo now, so I've been taking the flu shot for ~ 35 years now. I am guessing form what I am hearing, that body chemistry has a lot to do with how a person reacts to any meds. My wife Susie has never had a cold, or at least if what she had was a cold, it was minor, and she has never had the flu. Still our doctors recommend that she gets a yearly flu shot. Iffy on that one, but she still takes it.

SurRider, thanks for the info on vitamin D3. I had some kidney damage from some arthritis drugs I was taking a few years back. My nephrologist recommends that I take vitamin D 3, but I never asked why. I do get a blood test for the level, so since you mentioned the correct level, I'll ask for the result. I've also read where senior citizens need more vitamin D than younger people, so I may need to double up. I have an appt. coming up, so I'll ask then. I have been reading recently about the benefirts of vitamin D.