I had allergy shots (4 a week for a year) with no success. I'm also a nursing student and as i learned about lymphocytes and WBCs (white blood cells) your cells that create "histamines" (the chemical which induces a reaction) do not "learn" they are phagocytic and part of the "nonspecific immune system" aka they don't have a clue what they are targeting just that its something that shouldn't be there. Where as B cells create antibodies to attack viruses and learn immunity but they have nothing to do with "allergic reactions" so based on my personal experience and basic understanding of the immune system I have no reason to believe that allergy shots are anything more than you're old fashion "cure all" magic elixir.. NOT too mention you are subjecting yourself to "triggers" twice a week and when they begin to increase the dosage you are putting yourself at risk for anaphylactic shock if your basophil cells do as they were created to do (which is why they request you get an epipen when you begin treatment. All in all I feel I approached the treatment with an open mind and tried I feel after a year of 4 shots a week!! (do the math OMG and the $$$$ ) I felt no difference my asthma had not improved and I was still suffering from allergies (of course they said it could take FIVE YEARS to have an effect.. basophils don't even live that long!) buy some OTC zyrtec or an 24hr OTC anti histamine.. I believe you will find it more effective and less costly. :)

Hi Kristin -- I don't know too much about it, but I do know that it's prescribed for narcoleptics (hence the name). I believe that it has wide off-label use as a general stimulant, and is pretty similar to Adderall (prescribed for ADHD). As such, it probably has wide illicit distribution on college campuses.

If your insurance won't cover it, it's usually because there is a cheaper generic available. Talk to your doctor.

I've never taken it, but I have taken a variant on Adderall when I was flirting with an ADD diagnosis several years back. I didn't much like it -- it made me feel clenched and robotic, AND I stopped eating so was getting obnoxious blood sugar crashes. That said, everyone's brain chemistry is different, and how you respond can, I'm sure, vary widely.

Given what you've shared in the past about your medical history, I probably wouldn't take as gospel truth anyone else's experiences with this drug. It may interact with the other stuff you're taking in interesting ways. No way to know until you give it a shot.

Not entirely sure why your insurance doesn't cover it, but the most common reasons why insurance doesn't cover a drug are:

1) if it's a new drug, the pharma company has a patent on the drug - it usually charges a premium during that 7-year exclusivity period - and insurance companies won't generally cover new and usually very pricey drugs (or brand name drugs) - those ads we see on TV (excluding the "boner pills") are for drugs that most likely aren't covered (or you have to pay something like 80%) but they don't tell you in the commercial that a month's supply can be $300-$600

2) insurance companies won't cover a drug if there is a cheaper generic alternative

3) insurance companies won't cover off-the-label indications - for instance, if a decongestant, say, lowers blood pressure, but it isn't indicated for hypertension, then it won't get covered

4) and a brand new treatment might be deemed experimental

Hasn't it been pulled from all markets?

I've done Accutane, but I had severe cystic acne and had gone through so many acne treatment regimens that Retin-A had pretty much become a placebo.

It's pretty rough. You have to go in to the doctor once a month to take your pregnancy test and birth control/sex ed quiz (if you're a woman), get your blood tested (fortunately only a finger prick), and pick up your next prescription. It will make your muscles sore and will seriously dry out your hair and skin. If you do it, you should try to time it during the fall/winter because you'll need to stay out of the sun; although Retin-A also causes sunburn.

Since your acne isn't that severe, though, you probably wouldn't need to be on Accutane for the full six months.

I'm sure you could find a dermatologist willing to prescribe it to you even if you don't have cystic acne, but I think the main wrinkle could be insurance. It's possible they might refuse to cover the treatment if your acne is non-cystic, so you should check with your dermatologist and/or your insurance company beforehand.

I took Accutane as a teenager. It is the heavy artillery of acne medications. It should only be turned to after all other options have been exhausted.

One of the side effects is suicide. It fucks with your head. They knew this for some time, and when I was on it, it was required that you check in on a regular basis with a mental health professional. I believe things got even tighter after the high-profile, and tragic, suicide of the son of Michigan Congressman Bart Stupak while on Accutane (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bart_Stupak#Personal_life) Stupak's son was a healthy popular young man, captain of the football team, etc, and one day after he started taking Accutane, he up and killed himself.

If other things don't work, Accutane will. But it will fuck with your head. If you have a history of mental health challenges, it's not for you.

I have two very minor notes only (not a full answer, sorry).

*I've heard Retin-A is a damn-near miracle drug. I think my brother used it with great success.

*If donating blood is important to you, some places will defer you if you are on Accutane.

Good luck, and I hope things get better!

Yes, though I'm a bit hesitant to answer because what turned out to work best for me was... alcohol. I tried a bunch of different approaches (including vitamins and supplements) and eventually noticed that the thing that relieves my PMS tension the best is a glass of wine.

Your mileage may vary.

I'm an RN and I've never heard of needing a double dose for any condition. I work in acute care in a major hospital and have many patients with hypothyroidism with many other comorbidities. We always give the same dose. Are you being treated with medications for your condition? Speak with your MD or Nurse Practicioner.

Ask your doctor, physician's assistant or nurse practitioner!

I say yes. Like it or not, we're all part of the herd, and it's our responsibility to try to stay healthy. Not just for our sakes', but for everyone around us. I'm diabetic, so I should be getting it annually anyway, but I do it mostly for my mom, who is living with cancer and is immune-suppressed. If I got sick and then passed it on to her...

There isn't really a good argument against it except for those of convenience.

Flu shots are not always plentiful in a given year and in those cases it's more important for the immunodeficient than healthy individuals to be protected.

There is also the potential for the minor side effects associated with any shot...soreness, minor illness, etc. Rarely someone may be allergic to a vaccine component but hopefully they would have prior knowledge of this.

And then there's just peoples fear of needles, which can be quite strong.

Because savviest you blast the world with something that's supposed to kill germs your raising their resistance (like with antibiOtics. Look into the research on super bugs it's kinda scary, not to say you shouldn't use thembut as a society were so trigger happy with taking stuff for everything that eventually what we take has an effect on how effective they are at killing what there supposed to. Bugs evolve weather there microscopic or not, the same thing happens to normal bugs and pesrticides.

Also because flu shots are designed to kill a specific virus or two they don't hit the whole range. You could still get the flue because you didn't get that particular flu's killer ( remember the H1N1 scare a few years ago and all the various bird flu scares). There are flus out there that we don't have real ways of killing them out there and if they get rampant or mutate with some we do have effective measures for we could eventually be really screwed. Maybe it's just good fodder for scifi books or maybe it's our future.

I don't know if it works this way or not but it seems like in general it keeps your body from developing it's own kick ass immune system. A health person who kicks something develops antibodies to fight or prevent future occurrences (think about chicken pox everyone gets it once as a kid and then their system will know what to do in the future but If you don't get them as a kid they can be rather deadly to adults) it seems to me that having your body do what it was designed to do us better than pumping it full of whatever they speculate is this seasons flu. Every year I've gotten a shot I've still gotten the flu . Maybe I avoided the really nasty one but theres no way to know if I would have gotten two flus or not and it doesn't mAke me want to jump and take one from past experience

But if you're already on the short end of the genetic stick or old or have some other complications please disregard my reticence. It's using a normal healthy baseline. I'd rather you take the shots and hopefully prevent something and I'll not try and dilute the effectiveness for you and gamble that my body can take it

Based on a personal anecdote, yes.

I'm fifty-nine and as I entered my fifties, I was getting sick three to five times a flu season. And the illnesses were getting more severe with each passing year. I held off on flu vaccine for several years because of all the bad things I'd heard about them, but one year, after getting tired of getting sick so frequently, I went ahead and got one in November. I didn't get sick the following season. It was wonderful. And more importantly, I haven't been getting sick since getting the vaccine annually for about seven years now.

Still, wash your hands frequently (wearing gloves and sanitizer helps, too) and keep your hands away from your face until you've washed them thoroughly. It really does help.

Here's a novel answer, you choose. I never bother getting it myself, I rarely get sick anyway and when I do I never notice until the last day or two. But here's the thing, they are only guessing which flu strain will be common each year, so even if you get no ill effects with the vaccine, it's not going to always prevent you from getting the flu. The aspect of feeling ill after getting it is one of a few things:

1. Exaggerated symptoms, vaccines are made from a dead version of the virus, which can sometimes give you the symptoms as well. As for it lasting longer than actually getting the live virus, it's usually just exaggeration or paranoia.

2. Allergic reaction to an ingredient. If they do make you more ill than getting the actual flu, you may just have an allergy to an ingredient.

3. Bad sterilization ... quite possible that where you got it was not a good place to ever go back to, because you may have picked up something else from the people giving it to you. Seems like a silly paranoia, but there are people traveling to homeless shelters and the like giving these vaccines to people IN THE SHELTER, or in public pharmacies. It should always be at the doctor's office.

Just weigh your pros and cons, based on real information, and choose based on what you want.

I also vote yes. I've gotten the flu shot off and on for many years, and have never gotten sick from it or heard of anyone who got a cold from it. Just a little area of tenderness where I got the shot.

I was ambivalent about getting it before, but someone I worked with in the past is HIV positive and got sick a lot. I got the flu shot then because he said it helps him stay healthy if more people around him get the flu shot, and I've been getting it ever since.

Even if you have a good immune system and don't get sick I think it's still possible for you to transmit the virus to people who might be at risk of getting really, really sick from the flu. It's not really about your individual risk.

"the months long semi cold that is oft described after receiving a flu vaccine"

I've never heard of this side effect. All the information on the flu vaccines say that cold-like symptoms are possible for 1 or 2 days, though I've never experienced this myself despite getting a flu shot for each of the last four years.

The idea that the shot can make you feel sick for months sounds like complete B.S. I wouldn't take this seriously, even if you heard it from coworkers in a hospital.

Yes.

You're not really in the risk group, but you work in a hospital. Hospitals are disease incubators. I recently learned that in one hospital the "anti-bacterial" soap in the bathrooms, which are completely worthless against gram-negative bacteria, actually turned out to be the source of a hospital-wide infection of a disease.

If you worked in some office, I'd say no, unless you were 60+ and/or immune-suppressed, but hospitals? Scare me.

Despite not working with patients, I think getting a flu shot is wise, both for yourself, and for those around you who may work more closely with others. Every link in the chain protected helps.

I vote no.

My sister and her husband are doctors and they don't get the flu shot for themselves or their 4 kids..

But, even before I knew their stand on it my gut told me that if you're not a baby, not old; your immune system isn't compromised by some disease/illness -- then forget it. It's a waste of time, energy, resources.. Live dangerously!

My humble opinion.

Is there any way you can get it at a grocery store or pharmacy and get reimbursed? Just asking, because some places offer incentives (like coupon books or x percentage off your next purchase) to entice people to get flu shots. If you could get a free flu shot *and* a discount off your groceries, why not?

I have never experienced any reaction to taking a flu shot other than some tenderness at the site of injection for a day. I think it is a valuable defensive move that can only serve to help you.

If you don't think it is important for you, don't get it. If you get a bad case of flu be sure to reflect afterwards on whether taking the shot might have been an easier course.

I say if it is free, why not get it? If it saves you from one bad flu it is totally worth it.

Do you usually get the flu? How is your immune system?

I've never had the flu shot, and have not had the flu for many years. Or even a bad cold. And I work in court houses where a huge number of people pass through or spend time. If you have some pressing reason to avoid getting sick, such as age, other health problems, then it may be a good idea. If not, why bother? I cannot help thinking that the whole flu shot hype is just marketing...

i know this question is a tad old, but wellbutrin seems to be working incredibly for me. i quit cold turkey on my own [1/2 pack-1 pack a day for roughly five years] a couple of times and winded up starting back up a couple of months later. now i just hit two months as a non-smoker last week, so i can't make guarantees, but i certainly FEEL different this time around. i'm not falling in to the same traps i did before, bumming cigarettes when someone around me is smoking or if i'm at the bars. i've also found popsicles to be helpful when the cravings do hit. nothing works for everyone and YMMV, but i can't say nicer things about it. i have a history of depression personally and i think that's why i had so much difficulty quitting by myself before. getting put on this also got me on the right track to talking to my doctor about long-term anti-depressants. i know that isn't related to your problem, but it is a positive side effect of using wellbutrin in smoking cessation.
p.s. see if you can get your doctor to put you on bupropion--it's the generic of wellbutrin and WAY more affordable, particularly if you have insurance.

It's definitely worth a try, since good carefully done research shows that it improves people's chances of quitting.

It's especially the best option for someone who is also suffering from low mood, since Wellbutrin has also been shown to be effective improving mood in people with depression.

(Interestingly, it seems that what happens in the brain with acute nicotine withdrawl is somewhat similar to what we think happens in the brain in people with depression, which is why it can work for both things.)

Specific tips to help Wellbutrin work:

1) Start it at least 3-4 weeks before your quit date.

2) Start at a low dose at first for a few days then increase the dose slowly

3) Avoid taking the last dose after 3pm to reduce chances that it could affect your sleep.

4) Use it together with the nicotine patch as they work well together. (Even if you didn't find the patch helpful before, it might just do the trick in combination with Wellbutrin since they work by different mechanisms).

5) Make sure you get the cheap generic version (bupropion) and not one of the more expensive brand names (Zyban or Wellbutrin)

Good luck!