# Flu shot reaction question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 17, 2006, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flu-shot-reaction-question/376711 "2006-10-17T00:26:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2006, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flu-shot-reaction-question/376711/1 "2006-10-17T00:26:29Z")
First of all, the issue is resolving, but I’m curious. I’m curious because I have consulted two doctors, a dermatologist that I work for, and my own primary care Dr. So not really looking for medical _advice_, per say, but opinions. On Friday at noon I got a flu shot at work. Within a few hours the site was red, swollen, hot, and intensely itchy. I mean _intensely_, not just a little bit. I spent all weekend scratching it like mad, and now on Monday at 5:00 it’s subsided a lot, maybe due to the Novacort cream I got from my employer, and appears to be going away. Neither of the doctors I asked about it could tell me what kind of reaction this is. Apparently not a systemic one as I have no other symptoms but local. Google shows nothing about flu shot site reactions and itching. I did wear a bandaid for a couple of hours and have sensitive skin. I wondered if the MA that gave it somehow missed the muscle, as I have none of the typical soreness of the deltoid, and the fluid became trapped right under my skin. But then I thought, no, I just have an overactive imagination- my deltoid is well-developed and I don’t have saggy skin. Does anybody have any suggestions as to whether this means that I am allergic to the flu shot, and should not have it again? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2006, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flu-shot-reaction-question/376711/2 "2006-10-17T00:38:37Z")
I get a bad reaction every year, very swollen, painful and itchy, and it lasts several days. Other people get no reaction at all. I’ve heard that if you get a bad reaction, that means you “need” the shot, but that makes no sense to me, whatsoever (how could you “need” it before you’ve been exposed to the virus?). So I assume it’s some sort of allergic reaction. ---
**Author:** ![Bobotheoptimist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/919ad9/32.png) [@Bobotheoptimist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobotheoptimist)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2006, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flu-shot-reaction-question/376711/3 "2006-10-17T02:11:27Z")
I am not a doctor, and have admitted to being an anti-social killer, but it could maybe just possibly be an allergic reaction to eggs, which I hear is used to make the stuff. An allergest could answer for sure. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2006, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flu-shot-reaction-question/376711/4 "2006-10-17T03:06:59Z")
99% of the population find these shots to be immensely beneficial. You, unfortunately, are part of the remainder. Them’s the breaks.