Students find it hard to decide on flu shot
Leanna Payton
Issue date: 10/29/08 Section: Lifestyles
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"Anyone who doesn't want to spend a week in bed during flu season should get a flu shot," said Lyn Edington, nurse manager at the health center. People begin ailing from the flu as early as the end of October, but it often occurs during finals. The employees at the health center diagnosed about 500 patients with the flu last year, she said.
"That's only the tip of the iceberg for those who went elsewhere or were too sick to get out of bed," Edington said.
Minghua Qiu, a senior civil engineering major from Siloam Springs, suffered from the flu last year and said, "Getting the flu is horrible. You're tired, you don't want to do anything and even laying in bed hurts. It even hurt when my blanket touched me."
Although her symptoms were bad, Qiu does not know if she will get the flu shot this year.
"It's not convenient [and] it's not my top priority," she said. "I don't want to make an appointment just to get a shot."
In addition to the general achiness Qiu described, flu symptoms include headaches, dry hacking coughs and, after a couple of days, cold symptoms, such as a scratchy throat and a burning nose. The flu can also cause nausea and diarrhea, Edington said.
Some people mistake the flu for the common cold, but it is not the same.
"The flu starts all at once like you've been hit by a truck," Edington said. "Seven in the morning you're fine, go to class and by 8:30 you feel like you're going to die.
"Anyone who has had influenza will never confuse it with the cold again," she said.
Although some students find setting up an appointment for their flu shots inconvenient, Sean Fraser, a senior business major from Marion, Ill., is getting it this year "so I don't have to spend money recuperating after I'm sick," he said.
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