I was out with one of my clients today to see the doctor and the Doc recomended that he get a flu shot, something we were going to do anyways. I mentioned that I missed the free shots my employer gives out and the good Doc said that as I was a health care worker I could get one for free.
So with nary a second thought I got mine too. The arm is a little sore because there was nothing but muscle in my shoulder for the needle to go into. The just below the skin shot for me hits muscle. I wish I had a little fat here and there sometimes.
My profession is one reason for me to get a flu shot and lack of body fat is another. I have no reserves so any extended illness is really hard on me.
I figure that this will turn into a debate so I will put this here.
Next time be like a man and take it in the ass. Uh, that is your butt cheeks (scientific name) probably have more available tissue to handle the shot.
I’ve not had a flu shot since I was in grade school. I rarely get the flu so I don’t see any reason to get the shots. If I worked around sick people a lot I’d probably bite the bullet and get one every year. No debate from me since I agree with you. Sorry.
Back to the OP: Actually, the US Centers for Disease Control are requesting patients to put off getting flu shots this year, as vaccine production delays have caused temporary shortages and they want to have enough vaccine to inoculate the higher-risk folks (elderly, chronically ill, pregnant) first.
From a September 24 article (and I saw a similar article in the Boston Globe just yesterday):
Has anyone else ever gotten sick off a vaccination shot?
I don’t get them, I also rarely catch the flu for some reason. Lucky me.
This was while in the military, so it may have been some experimental drug fronted as a flu vaccination, who knows… but when I was in the Army (training for NoGos) I and several others were forced to take flu shots. Everyone I knew that got the shot was sick, drained, flu-symptoms for about three days. Since then, I refuse to get any vaccination shots. Well, that and I have this phobia of needles.
Any other military folks here? Don’t you just hate when they process you at Basic Training and send you through a line of about five “doctors” with extremely high power squirt guns that shoot the drug straight into your arm and they tell you … “Don’t move” because it will rip your arm open. Very traumatic experience for me. Nothing much to do with the OP, sorry.
BTW, the needle is supposed to be stuck into the muscle, not fat. Hince the term intramuscle, or IM
It sounds like you got a subcutaneous injection, but I thought the flu shot is an IM shot. Are you sure you didn’t get a TB check?
Here’s a trick: Next time you get an IM shot, massage the muscle that was stuck for a few minutes after the shot and keep moving and using that muscle the rest of the day. No Pain. It works.
Willy - did the massage thing. The nurse said it was basically subcutaneous but maybe she was just trying to set me up Needles always cause me some pain but I am not afraid of them.
Kimstu - We haven’t heard anything about a shortage of vaccine here in Canada although I read the article you cited. Like I said, I fall into the category of people who should have one. I work with some people with compromised immune systems and can’t be infecting them, for some the flu could very well be fatal.
I know of a few people who feel a little “off” after their flu shot but this apparently is a fairly normal reaction.
Well, there was always those “swine flu” shots in the early 1970s. Supposedly more people got swine flu because of the shots than got it the old-fashioned way.
Dave Barry once quipped that the Swine Flu “epidemic” was the only thing anybody remembers about Gerald Ford’s presidency, besides Ford bonking his head on everything.
The flu shot use to make you sick sometimes because you were injected with weakened flu viruses. I grew up miliary and I remember my father getting sick almost every year when he got his flu shot. I think that they have made everyone in the military (at least in the marines) get flu shots for many years now.
The flu shot doesn’t make people sick anymore because it isn’t live viruses you are injected with.
I know that there is a name for both types of shots but I can’t remember them right now. I am sure someone will come in with the right words in just a minute.
Needles always cause me some pain but I am not afraid of them.