I got a flu shot for free at work today (yay!) and after a pain-free window of about 30 minutes, my upper arm started to ache. I’ve had plenty of shots in my day and they all hurt or don’t hurt to their own degrees.
What is weird to me is that there was a delay. I would think that if the shot was, say, acidic or something it might burn, but that would start right away. What about the flu shot causes the ache, and why the delay?
Maybe the needle cutting through your muscle? IANAD.
The shot this year is a stacked inoculation for at least a couple of flu variations. I was told that it causes some achy arms.
After my wife got her shot, her arm ached for 2 weeks. Mine didn’t bother me at all. I heard the same thing that Chefguy did.
My arm hurt for several days. That hasn’t happened to me with past flu shots.
It always has 3 different strains of flu in the shot. And this year one of them is none other than H1N1
Isn’t H1N1 a fairly common subtype of influenza A? I don’t know why it would be different this year. It was certainly subtype of the 2009 Swine flu, and that subtype was in last years vaccine.
IANAD or any kind of scientist, but it seems logical to me thtat there would be a delay before the ache. As I understand it, the pain (other than in the tiny area that actually touched the needle) comes from the inflammation response to the injected solution, which takes time to a) diffuse into your nearby cells, b) trigger your immune response, which involves swelling, among other things, c) start hurting from the swelling, which amounts to your cells squishing each other as they crowd up.
It is still curious that the same kind of shot could be painful one year and not another year. I had this experience with tetanus boosters. I had these in 1976, 1986, 1996, and 2006. The one in 1996 cause my arm and surrounding area to be very sore for a week. The others, not so at all.
ETA: One hunch is, in some cases, it may have to do with how fine a needle they use. My 2004 flu shot was done in an institutional setting, where I think they used cheaper (not-so-fine?) needles. That was mildly painful, at the time of the jab and for a few days thereafter. All the other flu shots I’ve had, including the H1N1, were not like that.
Not only does my arm hurt… I usually get a big goose-egg knot in the armpit of the injected arm. I assumed it was a inflammatory thingie having to do with the actual process of immunization, i.e, my lymph node was freaking out, “OMG it’s the flu, send help!” then realized it wasn’t a live virus.
You aren’t going to get the shots in EXACTLY the same place every year. The inner workings of the human body are complex indeed!
The injected material could end up next to a nerve, a small blood vessel could have been broken, there are many reasons why you have different reactions.
You can get a hard knot, pain, fever, several different responses to any immunization.
If you are throwing up, passing out, or develop an abscess at the injection site, see your doctor. Otherwise take Tylenol or ibuprofen, and be nice to yourself.
~VOW
This makes the most sense to me; thanks.
Any other thoughts? Anyone else have arm pain after this year’s flu shot?
I think this could also contribute to the differences year to year. Your immune system isn’t a constant thing. Many factors can effect it’s response. Perhaps one year you are under a lot of stress, your immune response is dampened, you don’t get very sore. The next year, you are at the peak of health, your immune system is primed to go, so you end up quite sore due to a larger inflammatory response.
Any drugs on board at the time of the vaccine would also influence the response, particularly anti-inflammatories.
I have a sore arm and a headache after every year’s flu shot. I usually take a Tylenol before the flu shot now to ward off the headache.
Got this year’s shot exactly two and a half hours ago, and it’s just now starting to ache. Moral of the story: My immune system is lazier than most of yours.
I got my flu shot in the early afternoon and had no problem until that everning. I guess it ached about 24-36 hours–not too bad. My son had the same reaction I did. As for the shot itself, didn’t even feel it.
Seeing as you actually can get sick temporarily from the shot, and the sickness is your immune system’s response, it seems clear to me that not being a “live virus” doesn’t necessarily stop the immune response. And swelling and inflamation (and thus pain) are one of those.
With inactivated virus vaccines (a virus was never alive, hence it can’t be “dead”), your immune system often needs to be stimulated by the addition of adjuvants, because its response to the antigen alone would be too weak.
Yes. In other words, if it hurts, that’s actually a sign that it’s working.
Yeah, my shoulder hurt for about a week after the shot - moreso closer to the first couple of days, then it tapered off. (But still hurt if I rolled over and tried to sleep on it.) Felt rather like one of those deep bruises after a while - it didn’t hurt unless you pressed it in some way.
First time I’ve ever gotten the flu shot.
25 hours after my shot, it’s like **Snickers **describes – doesn’t hurt unless I lean on it or press on it now.