IT'S flu season again, here’s why I always get the jab.
One year, about four years ago, having not been immunised, I suffered true influenza at the start of December.
I am fit - I run twice a week, go to the gym and attend a fitness class regularly.
Everything you read about true influenza is true.
The rigors and night time sweats for the first five days were appalling.
I started to think death would be preferable.
I couldn't think straight and had hallucinations. I couldn't eat. I could hardly drink - the nausea was terrible.
I could only sit in the corner of the sofa and shake.
I tried to go back to work after five days and was immediately sent home again. It was crazy to think I was fit enough to do any task responsibly and safely.
I slowly recovered over three to four weeks with work continually disrupted over that phase.
This caused great stress to my colleagues having to cover for me at a busy time of the year.
About six weeks after the initial phase, I tried going back to the gym.
I was on the exercise bike when I had an uncontrolled tachycardia - my heart rate shot up to near 170 beats per minute and I got chest pains.
I came off the bike, slid against the wall and waited for it to pass. I went home. It was another month before I tried exercising again.
It must have taken a year to get back to full fitness - I really had to push myself. My run times have never been as good as before the flu.
I now get immunised every year as soon as the vaccine is available and I encourage other business men and women to get immunised and even employers to offer the flu jab to their employees as a benefit.
Research shows that staff sickness costs businesses £595 per employee, per year.
It’s for this reason that a lot of businesses like to invest in their employees’ health, as to invest in your employees’ health is to invest in the future success of your business.
With the flu season about to rear its head again, it’s now the best time to vaccinate staff against the flu as people who contract the virus usually have to spend a few days to a week or more at home, missing work or other commitments and putting strain on other employees, as well as risking infecting them.
With the flu being as infectious as it is, it’s important to keep the virus from spreading amongst your employees to maximize business efficiency and minimize both business disruption and staff sickness.
YourGP receives delivery of the flu vaccine a few weeks before the NHS, enabling those who want it can have it early - and we now have it in stock.