One year, yes. It was miserable – fever, chills, aches. Like when I went to bed, it was agony wherever the sheets were touching my body. I have had the actual flu, and if that was a 10 on the feeling rotten scale, the “flu-like symptoms” following the flu shot were a 9. The only saving grace is that they only lasted for about two days.
I’ve continued to get the shot annually, though, and haven’t had those problems again. I know that getting the flu for real would be worse.
Had the quadruple strain flu shot last week. Felt blah and fatigued the day after my arm was very sore but I was pretty run down from stress and overwork when I got it. Only lasted a day. Beats the hell out of the flu which I had about five years ago.
I got the same flu shot as Clarisse. Beyond achy arms in the past, this year is the first time I had any of the “mild side effects” beginning the next day, mainly a headache for 4 days and some intestinal upset, both of which are amongst the most common side effects. Still much better than getting the flu, though.
This year’s was pretty innocuous. For some years I was forbidden to get them, having had Guillain Barre’ at age 25, and would duly get the flu most every winter. Finally talked my PCP into saying it was ok, and while usually there’s a mild after effect (and three years ago I got a really cool purple all over rash), it’s SO much nicer than getting the actual flu.
The pneumonia shot knocked me for a loop. Phew.
I’m pretty sure I had a mild reaction once, about 10 years ago. 24 hours, almost to the minute, after I got the shot, I felt achy and feverish. This lasted about 2 hours, and then I was fine. That was it.
My dad believes he got the flu from a shot he got in 1957, and it was not an option at the time because he was in the Army. It was probably 40 years before he would get another one.
*Another individual (somewhere) has willingly injected himself with this “flu shot”. *
There’s gotta be something better to “shoot up” with!!! Yeah, I took the flu shot last year. I’m a 40 year old, 6 ft 1, 185 pound, healthy woman who doesn’t get sick; but 2 days after the shot, I became violently ill for approx. 4-7 days.
Thank God I didn’t get the flu, right? SMH.
Well, this time around, I’ll just take my chance. I get the whole concept on how and why the flu shot works that way, but do the vaccinations for H1N1, HIV, Shingles, Pneumonia virus, etc., work that way too?? Too bad, I’ll just take my chance
It’s taking longer than we thought.
I’ve never had the slightest reaction to the flu shot and have been getting them for as long as they’ve been available, so maybe twenty years, maybe more.
If people get ill after having the shot, I think it’s usually because they already had the bug before the shot, or it’s just a cold or other virus that the flu shot doesn’t cover, because there are lots of viruses and the shot doesn’t claim to cover them all.
There are exceptions, of course, but usually they’d be more like some people on this thread have described where it’s more obviously an allergic reaction rather than the flu itself.
I was exhausted and achy for two days and got laryngitis for about a week last year. My doctor said it was a good immune response. It was definitely better than actually getting the flu.
No. You don’t get sick from a flu shot.
No. Being poor and having less than stellar insurance, and since between my current GP and me my allergies/asthma are under really good control, the insurance company won’t authorize a visit to a specialist (we’re trying to save you money and prevent over-treatment!) and I don’t have the resources to pay for one on my own.
I won’t go into detail on the two over the phone ninnies I’ve encountered over the years who urged me to “just try a flu shot again” under the theory that I probably won’t have a problem, and if I did, then my bad reaction would then be documented. Apparently, they’re clueless about why someone might want to avoid anaphylaxis and why in many ways it can be worse than gettign the flu.
It is highly unlikely that thimerosal is the problem because, first of all, I’ve had other vaccinations that probably contained it without problem. Second, although I can eat eggs without problems on blood tests I seem to have a lot of anti-egg antibodies, which can indicate an egg allergy. My theory is that my body knows the difference between eating egg proteins and having them injected into the body, but I’m a layperson so what do I know, right?
Or my past reaction was a one-off fluke but honestly, risking allergic shock is not something I want to do.
clarification- you won’t get the flu from the flu shot. you might feel bleh with some very mild symptoms afterward, but those are from your immune system getting to work.
Could you speak to your GP about this next time you’re there and ask them to document it? If they doubt their version of events, your medical records will be out there for them to find, somewhere. Or have you tried this already?
No, never. Sometimes I wonder if my immune system works properly, but I’ve never had an allergic reaction to anything (including one exposure to poison ivy, but I am not going to push my luck). My wife did have a bad reaction just once, but we get flu shots every year. One year, I had a mild version of flu and when I mentioned it to my doctor he told me he had had the same thing.
I usually want to go to bed early, the day that I get them. Other than that, no.
I’ve never had anything more than a very slightly stiff shoulder after the flu shot.
I had the flu back in the H1N1 days. It sucked. I’d still get the shot even it made me feel like I had a cold for a day. At least I’d have control over when it happened, and it would be mild compared to the real thing. But…I don’t have to make that choice, because it doesn’t do that to me.
I sometimes get a sore arm, depending on the nurse’s aim. I always get a headache. I just take Tylenol before getting my shots now.
Had I not noticed this thread again, I would not have remembered I had a flu shot yesterday. Total non-event. As usual, no feeling of illness. Also, no pain around the injection site. (So when I’ve felt pain before, it must have been the other vaccinations such as tetanus.)
All I’ve never noticed is the injection site being a little itchy for a day or so.
I think the examples in this thread say otherwise.