Influenza Causes Heart Attacks?

Now I am really confused. This article says “flu is a trigger of heart attacks.” It goes on to say that “vaccinations could save thousands of deaths from heart disease.”

I am nearly sixty and have never had a flu shot. Why not, you might ask? For one reason I never saw the need to get one before. Also, I have changed a lot in the past twenty years or so. I used to be all for vaccinations. Now, not so much.

But the above article got me to thinking, and this article also says “flu shots prevent cardiac death.” I am very afraid of having a heart attack. If flu causes heart attacks, then I should probably get a flu shot, right?

I don’t know. This article says that the first article above “doesn't prove that flu caused fatal heart attacks or other heart disease deaths. For instance, the researchers don't know the medical history, medications, or heart risks of the people who died of heart attacks or other types of heart disease -- or whether those people actually had the flu about the time of death.”

OK, well that makes me feel better. Maybe this was all just a false alarm, and maybe I just got scared for nothing. Besides, there are, I think, a lot of reasons not to take a flu shot. There seems to be some question as to whether or not the flu shot might contribute to Alzheimer’s disease, or Guillain-Barre Syndrome. There is some question as to whether or not the flu shot protects against the correct strains of influenza. And there are substances in the flu vaccine – such as mercury, aluminum, and formaldehyde – that you might not want to have injected into your blood. I know I don’t want them.

Here is more discussion. And Doctor Bob doesn’t seem to be for getting a flu shot. And here is something else. I may have already included it, but better safe than sorry.

(By the way, they say more people die from heart attacks during flu season, but more people have heart attacks in the winter anyway.)

This article says it is important to have a flu shot if you have heart disease. Maybe that is true. I don’t know. But so far I don’t have a diagnosed medical condition, so I still don’t see any real reason to get vaccinated. I think I am pretty healthy. The last time I got really sick was about seven or eight months ago. That was definitely not during flu season, although I may have had the flu. I really felt bad for more than a week. I was glad, however, that it gave me a chance to lose some weight I had wanted to lose. Since that time I have occasionally been around people who had the flu, but fortunately I dodged those bullets.

Here are articles from Wikipedia on the Flu Vaccine, Vaccines generally, and Vaccine Controversy. And here is a link to the National Vaccine Information Center.

I remember that I had a tetanus shot (which I think was unnecessary) when I was about twenty years old. I had a bad reaction to it. I was in the bed for several days afterwards. I don’t want to go through anything like that again.

As I say, I think I am fairly healthy now. I don’t see any reason to do anything. And I don’t see any reason to inject something into my system that might not even work; that I might not even need; and that might compromise my health. If I were in imminent and real danger, then maybe I would do something, but as of right now I don’t see an imminent or real danger from the flu. And certainly not serious enough to warrant my getting a flu shot, which seems to have enough threats and dangers of its own.


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