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Flu jab

Invisible Woman

Senior Member
Messages
1,267
It's a no for me. I considered it but as I have a lot of trouble with allergies my doc & I discussed it and decided against.

On one side getting the flu triggers a really bad ME flare up. That can cost me a month plus.

On the other hand the jab isn't effective against all flu strains.

I know some pwME who have it every year & done who avoid it like the plague cause they say it caused a relapse.
 

charles shepherd

Senior Member
Messages
2,239
I think the MEA has advice on this @charles shepherd may be able to point in the right direction. Its been discussed on other threads in previous years I think. But no clear answer. One factor I think I remember being discussed was the chance of picking up flu if someone is too ill to go to places where they may get the flu.

The MEA info leaflet on flu vaccine is being updated for the 2017 - 2018 vaccine

It should be available on the MEA website later in the coming week

CS
 

Wonko

Senior Member
Messages
1,467
Location
The other side.
No, had it once, didn't enjoy it at all.

4 buses, 10 mile round trip, taking 3 hours including over an hour standing waiting for buses, just to end up laid up for several days.

Nope.
 

rosie26

Senior Member
Messages
2,446
Location
NZ
No from me also. I've never had one and never will.

My mother had a serious reaction a couple of years ago to a flu vaccination. The day after the vaccination she was bedridden for six weeks with vertigo and went deaf in one ear.
 

*GG*

senior member
Messages
6,389
Location
Concord, NH
No from me also. I've never had one and never will.

My mother had a serious reaction a couple of years ago to a flu vaccination. The day after the vaccination she was bedridden for six weeks with vertigo and went deaf in one ear.

I had one a few years before coming down with this illness due to Mono.

One of the winters when I did get the Flu shot, I was healthy then, not diagnosed with anything, but would come home from work 1 day a week and sleep for about 12 hours. Changed jobs and got the flu shot with my new employer, mentioned it to the person coordinating that effort, and she said she had the same experience, weird!

GG
 

rosie26

Senior Member
Messages
2,446
Location
NZ
I had one a few years before coming down with this illness due to Mono.

One of the winters when I did get the Flu shot, I was healthy then, not diagnosed with anything, but would come home from work 1 day a week and sleep for about 12 hours. Changed jobs and got the flu shot with my new employer, mentioned it to the person coordinating that effort, and she said she had the same experience, weird!

GG
Yeah.

My mother had being getting a flu shot for a few years beforehand and had not had any notable reaction. So things can change. I still take the risk with tetanus vaccination and seem ok with that one for now but I do feel the flu vaccination is definitely not for me.
 

*GG*

senior member
Messages
6,389
Location
Concord, NH
Yeah.

My mother had being getting a flu shot for a few years beforehand and had not had any notable reaction. So things can change. I still take the risk with tetanus vaccination and seem ok with that one for now but I do feel the flu vaccination is definitely not for me.

No tetanus for me now for 20 years, heard the shingles vaccine is good to consider though, wonder if we might have more info on that eventually?

GG
 

IreneF

Senior Member
Messages
1,552
Location
San Francisco
I talked about this with Dr. Montoya. He said a flu shot was ok, but not a shingles booster because I'm on antiviral meds. (I'm assuming Valcyte and Famvir don't affect the flu virus, but do affect herpes family viruses.)

I had a flu shot about 10 days ago, for the first time. The only reaction I can attribute to it is a sore arm. No major crash (a doctor visit is enough to cause a day of PEM), no aches, not much of anything except a very sore arm.
 

Jennifer J

Senior Member
Messages
997
Location
Southern California
Yes for me with apprehension (cause I'm prone to allergic reactions to things).

Here's a thread from earlier this year. In quotes below is my response on that thread.

http://forums.phoenixrising.me/inde...et-immunized-for-hep-b-flu.49995/#post-824859

I'm considering getting a flu shot next year. I have too many things that make it so I can easily get pneumonia, also I can't do antibiotics if things get worst and I need that treatment. And I'm too laid up as it is, can't afford at all to be knocked down several more levels with a flu. The shot doesn't guarantee you won't get the flu (more than I can go into right now) but it does increase the odds of a person not getting it. Then again we each need to weigh out how it may affect us and our ME/CFS.

I get mine done at a kid's clinic. Theirs doesn't contain thimerosal, the mercury-based preservative. Some doctor's offices have it without too. Need to ask them for it.
 

ladycatlover

Senior Member
Messages
203
Location
Liverpool, UK
Yeah.

My mother had being getting a flu shot for a few years beforehand and had not had any notable reaction. So things can change. I still take the risk with tetanus vaccination and seem ok with that one for now but I do feel the flu vaccination is definitely not for me.

I was offered the flu shot on Friday when we went to our GPs' practice open day. Refused it, explaining I had ME. Husband took advantage of the offer though. He figures if he's protected it's safer for me.

As to tetanus, I had that done earlier this year as I still live in hopes of being able to do more gardening again. A few years ago I was an active member of a (UK) gardening forum, one of the members got tetanus and it damn near killed her - was in hospital for several weeks. We'd all been wondering where she'd got to as usually she was a frequent poster. So that was a bit of a wake up call that I should renew the tetanus shot!

I'm pretty sure I'll go for the shingles jab when I'm offered it - have to be over 70 I think, so that'll be next year. I do think pretty hard about any vaccinations, as I believe the HepB jabs I had when I started in the lab may well have been a forerunner to me getting ME around 4 years later.

Some of this stuff is prob a bit off topic, but I do find the whole vaccination topic of interest, not just the flu jab, though of course that comes up every year, and it's different every year too.
 

Judee

Psalm 46:1-3
Messages
4,461
Location
Great Lakes
That's a resounding No. Many people I know, myself included, get sick after having the flu shot. I discussed it with my environmental allergist and he said it is because it creates immunity overload. If, unbeknownst to us, our systems are already fighting something, we all of a sudden have to fight something else (the vaccination) as well and then we get sick. It seems to make some sense to me. Plus, the other ingredients in the vaccinations are questionable and, I think, would create additional immunity overload (MCS) issues.