Flu Shot Woes

[Dan Murphy]

Ramblingmad, I’ve had the pneumonia vaccine, but apparently it’s a different type of pneumonia.

There are two pneumonia vaccines, PPSV13 and PPSV23. The former protects against 13 strains of pneumonia, the latter, 23 strains. There are more than 36 different strains. I had pneumonia after having had both vaccines. I had one that was not one of the 36.

 

[Nora03]

Wow Dan! What luck. I’ve actually had pneumonia a few times, but I think once you have it, it’s easier to get it again. My immunity is just not as good as I age. WDW is not the best place for that as we all know. I’m so careful about germs, washing my hands, etc., and I still catch whatever is going around and whatever germs the grandkids bring to me. Youngest grandson is here now, staying overnight, and is sick!

 

[apartment j]

Wow Dan! What luck. I’ve actually had pneumonia a few times, but I think once you have it, it’s easier to get it again. My immunity is just not as good as I age. WDW is not the best place for that as we all know. I’m so careful about germs, washing my hands, etc., and I still catch whatever is going around and whatever germs the grandkids bring to me. Youngest grandson is here now, staying overnight, and is sick!

 

[Dan Murphy]

[

I do wonder if @Dan Murphy meant to say that he had a strain that wasn't part of the 23, instead of posting 36?

What I meant was that between the two different vaccines, if you have had both, you would be protected against a total of 36 different strains of pneumonia. The pneumonia that I had, which did put me in the hospital for 3 days, was one of the many strains that there is not yet a vaccine for, one that was not one of those 36.

 

[apartment j]

[What I meant was that between the two different vaccines, if you have had both, you would be protected against a total of 36 different strains of pneumonia. The pneumonia that I had, which did put me in the hospital for 3 days, was one of the many strains that there is not yet a vaccine for, one that was not one of those 36.

OH! Thank you for explaining! I mistakenly thought that the second shot you mentioned contained the elements of the first shot plus more.

 

[Disney_Alli]

Since DH got his transplant, we all get the flu shot. The shot, not the nasal. Both DH and I had super sore arms, and about a week later, we both had a 24 bug (nausea, vomiting, hot flashes, chills, no fever though).

A few days ago, DSoiL#2 noticed a rash on his side, and it started become pustular (is that a word, lol) and hurting yesterday. So he goes to the ER (can't get in to his PCP). He has....shingles! Yep, at the grand old age of 27. He had chicken pox as a child, about age 2 (same as when DD#2 got them, which she promptly shared with me; about 2 weeks before the chicken pox vaccine became available to the public). He had his flu shot about 2 weeks before, nothing to do with shingles, obviously, other than timing. Poor guy.

I worked with a guy a few years ago who got shingles at 25 so it happens but it's so rare! We called him our little old man lol.

 

[Ariel484]

If you tense up at any time during the shot you will bruise and it will hurt. The shot goes into the muscle.

I just learned this recently. My husband got his flu shot before I did, at a different hospital than I did, and he was sore for a couple of days - he was not told to relax his arm. When I went to get my shot a few days later, the nurse administering it specifically told me to completely relax my arm and just let it hang there. That worked for me - I'd been psyching myself up for a couple days of discomfort and in the end I had almost zero soreness.

 

[KPeterso]

I get the shot every year. I can get it for free at work (or use my insurance at the pharmacy and get it with no copay). I always feel a bit blah and achy for a couple days after, but that is just the body doing what it needs to do.

 

[gillep]

I worked with a guy a few years ago who got shingles at 25 so it happens but it's so rare! We called him our little old man lol.

I am only 34 and have had shingles four times. It is actually becoming more common for people to get shingles younger, for a variety of reasons known and unknown. My husband just had his first bout at 35 after taking some meds that lowered his immune system. I have known multiple people in their 20s and 30s who have had shingles.

 

[RamblingMad]

I am only 34 and have had shingles four times. It is actually becoming more common for people to get shingles younger, for a variety of reasons known and unknown. My husband just had his first bout at 35 after taking some meds that lowered his immune system. I have known multiple people in their 20s and 30s who have had shingles.

That’s strange. You should be young enough to have had the chicken pox vaccine.

I had chicken pox, and it really sucked. But I can’t get a shingles vaccine until I’m over 50. That sucks too.

 

[gillep]

That’s strange. You should be young enough to have had the chicken pox vaccine.

I had chicken pox, and it really sucked. But I can’t get a shingles vaccine until I’m over 50. That sucks too.

I was 11 when the chicken pox vaccine was licensed in the U.S. in 1995, most of my friends and I had the chicken pox long before that.

I can't wait until I can get the shingles vaccine! Although, my boss recently had it and she felt horrible for almost a week, so I am not looking forward to that.

To the OP, whenever I get a vaccine I move my arm a lot that day, I call it 'doing windmills' I am sure I look ridiculous, but it works. I think more people probably get a low grade fever than report it, I just don't check my temp very often, unless I feel truly horrible. Especially if I had just had a vaccine, I would assume it was low grade and fine and not worry about finding my thermometer.

 

[Christine]

Well, happy to report that I'm a lot better today! That one dose of Motrin I took yesterday seemed to just right all the wrongs going on. My low-grade fever dropped to 99.5 and, this morning, out of curiosity I checked it and I was back at a good old 97.9 on waking up, which I think is pretty good for me when healthy! I have actually checked my temp. over my life for various reasons (fertility, thyroid levels, and recently this year due to some ongoing intestinal issues which I suspect may be autoimmune). Anyway, I'm at work but feel pretty normal today. Arm hurt quite a bit this morning but seems so much better this afternoon.

Well, my first flu shot was a doozy, I think, compared to dTap! Glad I did it on a Friday.

 

[Dan Murphy]

happy to report that I'm a lot better today!

Time to start packing for that trip, Christine. That Grand Floridian in your signature looks pretty darn good.

 

[Christine]

Time to start packing for that trip, Christine. That Grand Floridian in your signature looks pretty darn good.

Yes! I *cannot* wait.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I worked with a guy a few years ago who got shingles at 25 so it happens but it's so rare! We called him our little old man lol.

My sister had shingles at the ripe old age of 7 (yes, seven). The other two kids in the family had chickenpox at the same time as she had the shingles.

 

[Disney_Alli]

My sister had shingles at the ripe old age of 7 (yes, seven). The other two kids in the family had chickenpox at the same time as she had the shingles.

OUCH! I remember when my sister and I hat the chicken pox together at 4 or 5 (yay for twins) but I can't even imagine it with three and one being shingles!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

OUCH! I remember when my sister and I hat the chicken pox together at 4 or 5 (yay for twins) but I can't even imagine it with three and one being shingles!

And to top it - my dad had recently been sent overseas, and my mom was cooped up with us in a station wagon driving from New York to Kansas.

 

[Disney_Alli]

And to top it - my dad had recently been sent overseas, and my mom was cooped up with us in a station wagon driving from New York to Kansas.

Kinda reminds me of the winter my dad spent the month of February in Asia on business and it snowed more than 4 feet that month alone. My mom had to shovel our full driveway twice a day so the full sized bus could turn around in it as we lived on a very long dead end street...

 

[Katie Dawn]

I used to get a really sore arm until I discovered the trick of moving it around a lot right after the shot. I look like a fool I'm sure, I'll swing my entire arm in circles, up and down... I do it a lot in those few minutes after the shot and then every time I think of it for the rest of that day. No more really sore arms.

And a low fever isn't a bad thing. A vaccine tricks your body into thinking it's fighting an illness even though you aren't actually fighting it. A fever is something your body does on purpose as it boosts your ability to fight an infection, so it's totally reasonable that your body would react this way. Glad you got the shot this year!

 

[Christine]

I used to get a really sore arm until I discovered the trick of moving it around a lot right after the shot. I look like a fool I'm sure, I'll swing my entire arm in circles, up and down... I do it a lot in those few minutes after the shot and then every time I think of it for the rest of that day. No more really sore arms.

And a low fever isn't a bad thing. A vaccine tricks your body into thinking it's fighting an illness even though you aren't actually fighting it. A fever is something your body does on purpose as it boosts your ability to fight an infection, so it's totally reasonable that your body would react this way. Glad you got the shot this year!

I did all that arm moving thing too. Vacuumed, wind-milled, etc but it still really hurt. I think I just had a significant immune response to the vaccine. Just a few months early, I had a tetanus shot that was really mild when it came to soreness. For that one, I thought the worst would happen because several of my friends had recently had one and they all complained how their arm hurt really bad for a week. I went into the flu vaccine thinking the same thing but I had a very different response (and the pharmacist giving the shot did a great job with it, I didn't feel it at all). I think that maybe since I've never had the flu shot, it must have been a novice reaction.