How to Dodge the Flu Without a Shot

Even without a flu shot, you can still do something to protect yourself.

WebMD Feature

Reviewed by
Jennifer Robinson, MD

Most seasonal flu activity typically occurs between October and May, but it most commonly peaks between December and February. To dodge the illness, you should get a flu shot.  There are available alternatives to standing in lines or paying exorbitant prices to get the flu shot, such as good hygiene or antiviral medications.

Recommended Related to Cold & Flu

Novel H1N1 Flu (Swine Flu) and Feeding your Baby: What Parents Should Know

This document updates previously posted information for parents about infant feeding and novel H1N1 flu (swine flu). It now more clearly addresses parents who are formula feeding as well as breastfeeding, suggests that parents sick with novel H1N1 flu (swine flu) find someone who is not sick to feed the baby, and provides more detailed strategies for breastfeeding mothers to maintain breastfeeding throughout the course of infection. This document is based on current knowledge of the novel H1N1 flu…

Read the Novel H1N1 Flu (Swine Flu) and Feeding your Baby: What Parents Should Know article > >

FluMist

FluMist nasal spray vaccine  is generally recommended for healthy persons who are aged 2 to 49 years and are not pregnant. Unfortunately, the 2016-2017 season is not one that FluMist should be considered an option because it is not expected to be effective.

There is a “needle-less” option for people 18-64 years old:  the jet injector vaccine with Afluria, which uses a tool with high pressure to deliver the vaccine.

Preventing the Flu Without Shots

Short of getting the flu vaccine, there are many steps you can take to lower your risk of getting the virus.

“We are calling it respiratory hygiene,” Walter Stamm, MD, professor of medicine at the University of Washington in Seattle, and president of the Infectious Disease Society of America, tells WebMD.

The most important thing you can do, Stamm says, is to wash your hands frequently. You would be amazed how often adults, not just children, put their hands in their mouths, he says. Although the flu virus is “airborne” in droplets of breath, the majority of it is probably passed by hand, according to Stamm.

The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations has joined with a raft of other medical professional groups to recommend three easy steps to prevent infection with the flu especially during a time when there is a shortage of flu shots:

• Clean your hands for 15 seconds. Soap, warm water, and a period of vigorous rubbing will wash viruses down the drain. Do this every time you sneeze or cough and especially before meals. Those alcohol-based hand cleaners are also good to have around the house or in a pocket or purse.
• Cover your nose and mouth when you cough or sneeze. Use a tissue, rather than a cloth hankie, or cough into your sleeve in the crook of your arm. Then wash your hands. The advice may be aimed at keeping viruses off your hands, Vincenza Snow, MD, director of clinical programs for the American College of Physicians, tells WebMD,
• Avoid close contact. Stamm jokes that this advice means “fly first class.” In a more serious vein, you should avoid crowded public places. And if you do feel ill (flu is characterized by rapid onset of fever, chills, and horribly aching bones), stay at home or keep your child at home. Do not go into work. Do not even run to the emergency room unless you have trouble breathing or a sky-high fever develops. In the hospital, you and your family will be surrounded by infectious people! “People with the flu feel so terrible, they usually don’t go anywhere,” Snow notes.

How to Dodge the Flu Without a Shot

Even without a flu shot, you can still do something to protect yourself.

Preventing the Flu Without Shots continued…

Other recommendations include getting plenty of rest, eating a healthy diet, drinking plenty of fluids, and getting plenty of exercise.

According to the American Council on Exercise, research has shown that moderate exercise (such as brisk walking) brings about measurable changes in the immune system, sending white blood cells zipping around the body to find intruders and kill them. But after a few hours, the immune system returns to normal so it’s best to exercise regularly.

Rita Beckford, MD, a spokeswoman for the American Council on Exercise, also cites studies that show that those who exercise four to five times a week are less likely to get colds or other viruses.

What to Do With the Flu

Most healthy people will recover from the flu in seven to 10 days and luckily, the worst symptoms go away within four days. Most drugstore regimens aim to lessen these symptoms.

If that’s not enough for you, consider an antiviral medicine. Most people are unaware of three antiviral medicines peramivir (Rapivab), oseltamivir (Tamiflu), and zanamivir (Relenza) available from your doctor, which can cut the severity of flu and shorten the duration of symptoms. But these only work if you start them within two days of contracting the flu virus.

There is a “needle-less” option for people 18-64 years old:  the jet injector vaccine with Afluria, which uses a tool with high pressure to deliver the vaccine. 

In addition, web sites and drug stores are filled with herbals, vitamins, supplements, and other remedies that claim to treat the flu or improve symptoms.

Some swear by homeopathic remedies, but others scorn them. Both Stamm and Snow do not recommend this approach. “Speaking personally and not for the American College of Physicians,” Snow says, “I think that if the government does not regulate a substance, you don’t know what it contains.” Proceed at your own risk with these. Stamm and Snow also did not endorse echinacea, Zicam, or taking increased doses of vitamin C.

Once you get the flu, most experts recommend bed rest, plenty of fluids, over-the counter fever reducers and ache alleviators, a light diet, and good old chicken soup!

Fitness instructor Beckford also recommends that you not exercise until you are well.