My daddy gave it to me. (He gave Jeff his last week, but waited for mine to be cleared by my doctor, then gave me mine next time I remembered to ask for it.) (Yes, he's a doctor.)
I hate flu shots. Not because of the prick; no, that's not bad at all. Not because of the ache as stuff is pushed into my muscle, which I get with all shots; no again, I could live with that if it subsided within a couple of hours like it does with tetanus shots. It's the reaction I have to flu (and a couple of other) shots. I get achy all over. My whole arm swells up. Luckily I no longer get fevers like I did as a child, but that doesn't really make me feel much better. I feel miserable all over. My joints and muscles all hurt. Every one of them. I can barely type-- I'm doing most of it one-handed because one arm is so sore, and slowly, because the other one hurts, too.
I hate getting flu shots.
Even though I have asthma and am considered "high risk" and high priority to get a flu shot, I usually skive off and chicken out when I'm not pregnant. But being pregnant this year, my dad, doctor, and husband pretty much guilted me into it.
I hate flu shots.
Posted by JennaDean (Member # 8816) on :
Poor KQ, I know how you feel. I had a horrible reactions to the Rubella shot. I was innoculated as a child, but for some reason I came up as "not immune" when I was pregnant with my first, so after he was born I was given the shot. I had a high fever & was so sick I just lay on the couch with the baby & couldn't move, could barely even feed him. Then when I got pregnant with my 2nd they said I was "not immune"! I refused to have the shot after that baby, since it didn't work anyway and I wasn't going through the process of not being able to care for my children again!
Posted by Valentine014 (Member # 5981) on :
Everyone I know that had the flu shot had pretty much the same reaction as you, kq. Sore. Sore. Sore. Myself included. As yucky as I felt, I still prefer it to the actual flu.
Posted by Belle (Member # 2314) on :
Wow - finally someone who reacts to flu shots like I do! My arm swells up too, I get a hard knot under the skin and it's hot to the touch.
When I told my doctor that he said don't get any more, I might be allergic. But I don't think so...most people who react to flu shots are also allergic to eggs which I'm not.
I certainly sympathize, kq, and I have to go get mine on Thursday. Posted by SteveRogers (Member # 7130) on :
I haven't had a flu shot in five years. Not because I didn't want it or anything. My parents just forgot. The rest of my family gets a flu shot, but I get forgotten. Everytime we drive by a shot station they'll say, "We need to get your flu shot sometime." And that is that.
Anywho, if it is any consolation I am expierencing excruciating back pain. I think its from my backpack.
Posted by romanylass (Member # 6306) on :
(Whoa, I really am beginning to think JennaDean is my double!)
My Gram has always had that reaction to flu shots, and as a result I have just never gotten one. She and I have similar biologies- if she reacts to something, I avoid it like the plague.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Jeff says HIS didn't hurt at all. Posted by pfresh85 (Member # 8085) on :
I never get flu shots. I've heard that if you get a flu shot once, you're better off getting them every year, and if you haven't got a flu shot, you're better off never getting one. My brother told me this; I believe it was something he got from one of his biomedical engineering classes.
Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
I need a flu shot because I have minor asthma and will have the same stupid cough for 2 months without one.
Posted by El JT de Spang (Member # 7742) on :
I've never, to my knowledge, gotten a flu shot.
I've never gotten the flu either.
I consider myself lucky on both counts.
Posted by maui babe (Member # 1894) on :
I've never had a problem with flu shots, but this year I got flumist, which is a live attenuated flu vaccine given intranasally instead of intramuscularly. High risk folks (pregnant, chronic illnesses, etc) are not eligible, and at this time it's only licensed for people aged 5 to 50, but it's supposed to be more effective than the shot, since it stimulates IgA antibodies in the mucous membranes. I had a mild runny nose and headache for about a day after I received the vaccine, but that was all.
Posted by mackillian (Member # 586) on :
romany, I have the same thing with my grandmother. She's got a wonky metabolism and reacts oddly to all kinds of drugs. So I take what she takes and avoid what she avoids. Weird, the things you inherit.
KQ, I'll trade you a cortisone shot for a flu shot.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Oooh, mac, I hate those, too. But at least I don't react like this. Deal.
Posted by romanylass (Member # 6306) on :
The problem is I can't get anyone to give me Demerol now. I want to see the little people my Gram saw!
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
Well, at least you didn't get the Fake Flu Shots in Texas that some Exxon-Mobil people were given....
FG
Posted by ClaudiaTherese (Member # 923) on :
quote: 14 residents of a suburban nursing home were injected
This is evil.
Posted by Xavier (Member # 405) on :
When I went to the pulmonologist yesterday, they offered me a flu shot, and were very surprised that I turned it down.
I've had the flu only once in my life, and that was when I was a kid.
Boy did it suck, but the small chance I get it this year didn't seem worth it.
Posted by mackillian (Member # 586) on :
KQ, awesome. I still need a flu shot. >_<
Posted by Lupus (Member # 6516) on :
I got the shot a couple times when they gave it to students for free. I've never had a problem with the flu, but I figured free is free. It didn't bother me at all...but my immune system has always been good so maybe that kept the shot from making me feel sick.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
I think it's more to do with I have wacked out reactions to shots than other people have really good immune systems. *sigh* For instance, my aunt, who has lupus, heart problems, and ten gazillion other things wrong with her, doesn't react at all, same as Jeff.
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
I don't think most people should get it. There doesn't seem to be enough to go around.
I get it when I can, because I am a teacher and am exposed to more germs, because my kids have asthma and end up in the hospital almost every time they get sick, and because my wife, also a teacher, has no spleen.
Some years, though, I never really get a good opportunity to get it. (Read "an opportunity to get the flu shot without making a dotor's appointment.")
I got it this year, though.
-o-
You know, it's funny, FG, when I got the shot this year, I joked to my wife about how they could be injecting us with saline or whatever at $20 a pop and we'd never know it.
I wonder how they caught this woman.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
She probably bragged to someone. *sigh* People are not only evil, they're stupid sometimes.
Posted by Traceria (Member # 11820) on :
If you all don't mind, I'm going to bump this thread because for the first time our office is offering free flu shots on site. I've never gotten a flu shot before (and hate shots in general, though that's not a serious consideration), and was hoping to get some input on why someone may or may not want to get one when it's free and extremely convenient.
Suggestions anyone?
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
Oh my stars. I didn't even see the dates. I was wondering why I didn't know that KQ was pregnant right now.
Posted by Traceria (Member # 11820) on :
quote:Originally posted by katharina: Oh my stars. I didn't even see the dates. I was wondering why I didn't know that KQ was pregnant right now.
Oh gosh, that's too funny. Sorry about the confusion!
Posted by Orincoro (Member # 8854) on :
quote:Originally posted by ketchupqueen: But being pregnant this year
Wait what?? You've been pregnant for like 5 years now. Didn't you just start a new baby thread like 4 months ago or something?
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
Wow - I didn't realize it was bumped until I saw I had already made a comment on it that I didn't remember making...
Sorry, Traceria -- I have nothing to add. I avoid the shots, myself; and I'm not in a high risk group.
Posted by Orincoro (Member # 8854) on :
Ok, that makes more sense.
Posted by Tstorm (Member # 1871) on :
I didn't give the unannounced KQ pregnancy second thought. It was the post by Mack that caught me off guard and prompted a date check.
It's strange, the way different people cue on different environmental changes.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
*laugh* Want to identify a Hatrack regular? Have them read this thread. A real regular will think, "KQ is pregnant again? And hey, look, Mackillian! Um, what...?"
Posted by DDDaysh (Member # 9499) on :
I did the exact same thing! I was like, wow, I must have missed an announcement!
As far as flu shots go, I think I'm going to suck it up and get one this year. I've never got one before, but I'm thinking my luck may be close to running out.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
quote:Originally posted by TomDavidson: *laugh* Want to identify a Hatrack regular? Have them read this thread. A real regular will think, "KQ is pregnant again? And hey, look, Mackillian! Um, what...?"
A real regular would notice that a thread with 20+ posts had magically appeared since 10 minutes before and check for fishiness.
Posted by Xavier (Member # 405) on :
A lazy regular would miss the other clues since he was skimming this thread and then be jolted by a post they made 4 years ago.
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Oh gosh, that's too funny. Sorry about the confusion!
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