KanoasDestiny said:
I just don't feel that the government has the right to say that all girls between the ages of say 13-18 HAVE to get the shot. I feel it should be a personal decision between parents and child, of whether or not they get it. I would be most upset if the Government tried to FORCE me to get the flu shot or any other vaccine/medication.
I sympathize- as a healthcare worker, my hospital is considering making it mandatory for all employees to get the flu shot and it really hacks me off. First of all, not all of us work in patient contact areas. I work at an offsite CALL CENTER, for pete's sake! The only people I see are my few coworkers, the people at the grocery store at midnight, and horse folks during the summer. I live like a hermit. I know it costs them employee hours if I come down sick, but ya know what? I got the vaccine for the first time last year when they insisted and spent most of March out ill with sinusitis, conjunctivitis, and other symptoms that felt exactly like the flu (fever, coughing, chills, body aches, the works.) Think that had anything to do with getting live flu virus shoved up my nose?
I haven't been that sick since I was a little kid so fat lot of good it did me. I got it again this year because I was tired of being lectured by my management and didn't want the hassle of completing the new mandatory "Learning Module" I had to watch before signing the refusal paperwork and guess what? Yep, sick again with sinus congestion, general malaise and increasing feelings of unwellness. That was almost three weeks ago and my sinuses are still not right.
It is MY body! If I get sick, it's
my vacation time that I'm using up. (Yep, we don't get sick leave anymore...just one big vacation/sick "Paid Time Off" pot). I do respect how serious the flu is and think most people should probably be vaccinated, but if I choose not to because I listen to my body and I feel it makes me unacceptably unwell, that should not cost me my job when I don't even work directly with patients. The idea of the government requiring my daughter or myself to get a particular vaccine I don't yet trust on pain of jail time chills my blood. I'm frankly terrified this new H1N1 vaccine will be required by my employer- I have no intention of getting something so new and untried and neither does my mother, who is normally religious about vaccinations and other preventative measures. She gets a seasonal flu shot every year and has no side effects from it, just as most people don't. But it is and must be OUR CHOICE.
Gah, don't get me started.
On the original subject of the thread, yes, I've been using alternative healthcare for the last few years and am quite impressed with the results. I still see my dr for annual exams and went to an urgent care for the above-mentioned sinusitis, etc., just as my animals still see the vet. I got a tetanus vaccine because it is stupid not to. But when my joints start losing limberness and feeling painful I go to my osteopath who does some non-invasive manipulation and restores my body's natural movement patterns without surgery. After my positive experience with him, when Kody hurt his back this spring and traditional veterinary medicine could do nothing for it I turned to alternative treatments like myofascial release, massage, laser/magnetic therapies and Reiki and saw an immediate improvement in his wellness. I was so impressed by his results that I started using some homeopathic products the bodyworker recommended on myself and it's been amazing! Arnica, Witch Hazel and Yucca in a gel do wonders for bruises, which I've had plenty of this year.
Spyder has really benefited from regular Reiki sessions since this summer and even my empirical mind has plenty of evidence to convince me that it's really working. The practicianer (ChrystalPaths
) lives on the opposite side of the country but I can tell to the minute when she starts and finishes a session on the boys by their behavior and she makes a real and visible improvement in Spyder's swellings or weepy eyes in one session. It's astonishing to watch and the boys love her. When I had my flu vaccine reaction right before my recent trip to Kentucky I called Deb in a panic and she did a session on me which not only relieved the symptoms enough for me to fly but left me with a feeling of calm energy that lasted for about three days. I'm very excited about becoming further involved with Reiki.
Western Medicine has made some amazing advances and can do many things homeopathic and holistic medicine can't. At the same time, however, it makes sense to treat the body as an inter-related system and look for underlying imbalances that may be throwing the rest of the body off and causing specific symptoms in another part. We, and this whole planet, are far more connected than most western philosophies want to admit!
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