Sounds like the flu has really ramped up in most of the country already, a bit early for flu season. We're still not as hard hit here in California, but the numbers seem to be heading up recently. Knock on wood, I'm still healthy.

How have our ETS members been faring this year? What's your perception about the flu season this year in your area, or how bad the bug is? My sister in NYC felt really awful, but it wasn't a long lived thing for her. Lot's of folks around her were getting sick. She didn't have that exhausted feeling for a long time like many people experience after the flu.

Well, a bad norovirus is also circulating now, too, so throw projectile vomiting and the runs into the winter mix, too.

Got the flu vaccine this year. I've only had it once in 43 years and would have taken my chances without it but the boss offered to cover any cost the insurance didn't cover.

So far, so good. Did not get it. I have the extreme good fortune of only getting sick about every 1 1/2 to 2 years for no more than about 48 hours. I stopped getting the flu shot when I retired from the Air Force six years ago.

Same procedure as every year. No shot, no flu. I do some exercise, try to get enough fresh air, fresh fruit and fresh vegetable and sprouts. In this season I use paper handkerchiefs and strictly throw away after single use.
The flu has downed a few of my coworkers, some of them more than once. They seemed to be really sick.
This winter I started using a can for nasal irrigation. It feels awkward at first but you get used to it. It reduced problems with overly dry rooms.

It went around our office but so far not me. I don't generally get the flu vaccine shot even if the company provides for free. I'm not paranoid about the vaccine like Jenny McCarthy is, I'm just too lazy to take the 30 minutes to get it.

There are several different strains out there and each year when they make the vaccine, they are basically predicting which strain is most likely to be an issue. Sometimes they don't guess corectly.

Last year, I got the vaccine. 1 week later I got the flu (not a common cold, there is a lot of difference), I assume a different strain or else it takes more than a week to build up enough resistance in your system to be effective.

Nope,not here......yet.

The general rule of thumb seems to be two weeks before you are protected, so it's possible that you were unlucky in your timing.

Or it might have been something else. Influenza is not the only bug to produce the typical "flu" symptoms. Or just another strain, as you mentioned. Or maybe you actually came down with one of the strains in the flu shot because no flu shot is 100% protective even with a match.

Word around here is that the strain of flu knocking people out is not one of the ones they put in the flu shot. My understanding is that they have to make an educated guess about what strains are going to be prevalent in any given year, so it's a little bit of a crap shoot.

it's true the mix of strains in the flu shot is a crapshoot. has to do with the time required to grow the viruses in eggs and manufactor the vaccine from the eggs. MDInana, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.
M_a_x, hope you're using sterile water or sterile saline for that can. There's a particularly nasty strain of amoeba which can be found in some tap water and has been implicated in some lethal meningitis cases where people used tap water for nasal irrigation.

The amoeba issue is exceedingly rare. AFAIK there were only two separate Lousiana cases EVER that seemed to have gotten infected with the amoeba from treated tapwater nasal irrigation, however tests of their water supplies showed no contamination so it's unclear how the amoeba got into their water. Using untreated water, like from a well, is probably not a good idea.

I have used a Neti pot once or twice a day for years. It's as second nature as brushing my teeth now. To rehydrate dry nasal passages and clear out mucuous, an isotonic solution is very soothing. It's a bit uncomfortable, but the literature indicates a hypertonic solution is best at stimulating the tiny hairs that line the mucous membranes, to maintain a healthy barrier against bugs. Definitely a plus during cold and flu season. For routine use, I try to use a hypertonic solution.