It's Flu Shot Season!

sbelizabeth

I've been extremely blessed to not have struggled with lymphedema, and sometimes I forget the rules. I got a flu shot in the wrong arm. The reaction to the injection was remarkable--a hot, red blotch, that grew bigger for a couple of days and then disappeared.

Initially I thought cellulitis. Again. But no fever or body aches, just a sore, swollen, red stain on my arm.

So be careful during this flu shot season, and remember to get your jab in the correct arm!

Kicks

I got my flu shot last week. Hubby gets his next week.

I do deal with LE and you can 'bet your sweet bippy' (OLD saying from Goldie Hawn and Laugh In days) that my right arm does not get attacked at all for any reason. Well other than medically necessary TXs when I have done something 'tupid to it like when I slipped on a dog bone and did a major mess to that wrist 5 yrs ago and last Feb when I succeeded in doing a small tear to my rotator cuff and a fracture under arm.

I am a firm believer in getting vaccinations. However, I do know that not every vaccine will work for every person. Unfortunately I learned this first hand - MMR shots do not work at all for either of my sons. Unfortunately, both Sons, even though they were more than current on MMRs during the 1991 Measles Epidemic in SW FL, did get measles after younger son was exposed while in the waiting room for a 'well kid' appt.at MacDill AFB. Long story a bit shorter - younger Son came down with measles, older Son also and was not expected to live - he did. (Their Dad was deployed and on an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf/Desert Storm.). Bottom line - they did get immunity from the measles they had - however even after many MMR shots (including the newer versions), titres show neither has gotten any immunity to mumps. With that said - I am a firm believer in getting vaccines - it is true that for an infintestimonal few it may not work, but for the vast majority it works. If one doesn't get a vaccination - there is no way that it can work as does for the vast majority of people.

sbelizabeth

Kicks, what a terrible story--your poor kids! I can't imagine dealing with that while hubs was deployed and away.

The fact that your son was so critically ill is a good testimony to getting vaccinated. It apparently didn't provide sufficient immunity for your boys but I'm sure it protects the vast majority,

Smallpox, polio, whooping cough, diphtheria, tetanus--many, many children died of these diseases in the pre-vaccination era. Ask a parent whose little one was paralyzed by the polio virus and in an "iron lung" how they feel about a polio vaccines.

tsoebbin

uggghhh... I have LE on both arms! What's a girl to do? Darn DMX!

ksusan

tsoebbin, a medical office can give the injection in your thigh. That's what I do, though everyone on my team says back of the arm should be okay as well.

Katiejane

I have my flu shot every fall in my hip! I am totally off base with both arms even though LE has only officially been DX'ed in my R arm! I'm not too crazy about the thighs even though they work just as well. katiejane

Kicks

Tsoebbin - as others have said - vaccinations can be done in other sites - not just arm. BPs. can be done on leg and blood draws/IV meds can be done via foot/leg veins. You have to be your own best advocate and stand your ground that the other parts of your body are what they MUST use - bottom line.

sbelizabeth

After giving (and receiving) lots of injections throughout the years, I've come to believe the hip is less painful than the thigh.

And yes, I've had lots of pushback on using just the left arm--better veins over there. Nope. It's my body and I'm calling the shots. So to speak.

Lita57

Both my husband and I came down w/Whooping Cough (WC) back in Jan 2011 during that WC epidemic. Both of us were in our early 50s and we had received our DPT boosters before we went to kindergarten, but heck, that was more than 45 years prior!! The dr at the time told us that vaccines don't last forever, and since DH got it first (he works for public trans.), he probably caught it from some kid whose IDIOT mother refused to get their kid vaccinated. (Thank God they've changed the law out here DEMANDING that kids be fully vaccinated b4 they go to public school...for home schooled kids, it's a different story.)

We have a lot of those "new age," "holistic-even-if-it-kills-someone-else" types out here in California. Vaccinations do NOT cause autism...if they did, we'd ALL have autism, for criminy sakes!! I will concede that I wouldn't have my 3 month old infant get two or three shots at the same time...I'd wait until she was a little older and spread them out to see if she had any reactions, but other than that, the baby would get vaccinated for sure.

Lots of people DIED from WC the year we got it. Measles can kill people, too, as Kicks can testify. My husband lost consciousness TWICE when he had WC, and dr said if we were both older, we could have died from it, too. I actually fractured TWO RIBS because of the horrible coughing. And codeine does NOT work for the coughing. We were sick for months.

Get your immunizations, ladies, even if you have to get it in the butt to spare your LE arms.

Lita

Bigdogzmama

So, absolutely don't use arms if had BMX??. I had single in 2008 and now going back next week for round 2 of cancer in my right....job mandates flu shot...

cp418

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/time-change-fl...

Do flu shots still work?

Interesting discussion about flu shot and patients who take statins in this article.

ksusan

I just called around to some places with flu clinics next week. Some are only set up for the deltoid injection, so be sure you check (and alert the office in subsequent years in case they need to set up your non-deltoid dose. BTW, is "hip" a euphemism for "butt"? I was told last year that the flu vaccine is better injected into muscle, not adipose tissue.

sbelizabeth

I just got back from a flu vaccine event--my student nurses and I gave 104 flu shots in a tent on a Navy base. What a day!

The flu vaccine should be injected into muscle. The deltoid (arm) is the most convenient place, but the hip (butt) works just fine. At our clinics we're prepared with screens if someone wants their shot in their hip. Bigdogzmama, if you had your underarm lymph nodes biopsied during surgery, you should be careful with that arm, and if both underarm lymph node fields were biopsied, you can absolutely request your shot in your butt.

And, as an afterthought, everyone needs a TDAP -- adult tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis (whooping cough). Your childhood immunizations can wear off and like Lita said, whooping cough is on the rise. It's a miserable and serious disease for us grown-ups but can be rapidly fatal for babies and children. No one should even come close to a grandchild if they haven't been immunized.

There, that's my commercial for the day. Healthy autumn, everyone.

ChiSandy

If you’re over 55 and/or have asthma or other lung problems, pneumonia shots are also a must. Pneumovax at 55, 60 and 65; Prevnar at least once (but not the same year as Pneumovax). Just got my flu shot (non-LE arm) last week, and despite it being the “high-dose” quadrivalent (recommended for 65 and older) caused no reaction whatsoever—the regular-dose trivalent vaccine I got last year made my arm so sore that I couldn’t lift it to shoulder height for a couple of days. When I go to my PCP for the “statin talk” after my next cataract surgery, I’ll get my 5-yr Pneumovax booster shot.

Even the “faux-flu” reaction I got from Zometa reminded me that no way do I want to go through the real flu.

minimi

Has anyone tried the intradermal flu vaccine? I got one and it hurt more than I thought.

I'm apprehensive of the MMR vaccine, particularly because it's a live vaccine. That is not something I want near me, especially if I am immunocompromised. I have heard about more people getting MMR titer testing to gauge their immunity to MMR before getting vaccinated and it seems like a sensible strategy if you can get access to the lab testing through online sites like that one.

Fortunately, many of the vaccines are still inactivated which gives me more comfort