Flu shot

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FireKracker
FireKracker Member Posts: 8,046
edited June 2014 in Life After Breast Cancer

I never took the flu shot before I got the beast.

My Internist didnt push it because she,her husband nor her kids take it.

Once I got the beast she told me U have to take it.

I read an article on Facebook where many seniors died from that stupid shot.

Just wondering who takes it and who doesn't

I also took the pneumonia shot but got it anyway.

I don't want to take it this year.

Help!!!!

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  • sheila888
    sheila888 Member Posts: 25,634
    edited September 2013

    Granny...I never took Flu shots until the year I was DX

    Followed by 2 more years..then i stopped

    If I had other health issues maybe I would've taken it

    Hugs

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  • dogsandjogs
    dogsandjogs Member Posts: 1,907
    edited September 2013

    I don't take it because I always get the flu from it.

    `

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  • dogsandjogs
    dogsandjogs Member Posts: 1,907
    edited September 2013

    Why would having had cancer make you more vulnerable for the flu? I think your doc just wanted the money LOL

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  • FireKracker
    FireKracker Member Posts: 8,046
    edited September 2013

    My Dr said my immune system is way down....and it's betta to be safe then sorry.

    And yes my immune system has always been way down...only the rads brought it lower.

    I don't think I'm gonna take it

    But

    I am around my young GGrand kids.

    The older one got the shot but the younger one gonna be 2 did not.



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  • wintersocks
    wintersocks Member Posts: 922
    edited September 2013

    GD, 

    I got the flu shot last year on the advice of my GP. 3 days later I was very ill with it. I was told there was no connection, but I find that hard to believe.

    I won't get it this year.  

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  • FireKracker
    FireKracker Member Posts: 8,046
    edited September 2013

    After doing lots of research and asking my bc sista (btw is my mentor)

    I Will No Be Taking The Flu Shot.

    Thanks for the input.

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  • Annabella58
    Annabella58 Member Posts: 2,466
    edited October 2013

    I certainly won't.  I'm allergic to it.  Little kids rarely get the flu all caregivers in daycare and most teachers and health workers are required to get it.

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  • exbrnxgrl
    exbrnxgrl Member Posts: 12,424
    edited October 2013

    Whether one gets the flu shot or not is a decision we all need to make. I'm not sure that an article on Facebook is a credible source and "many seniors died" is a bit fuzzy, statistically speaking. My parents live in a large senior community and virtually all get flu shots. None of them have died. Can people have adverse reactions to shots? Yes, of course! Do most? No. Maybe a more valid comparison would be to look at how many die from the flu vs. how many die from the vaccine. At stage IV and working full time as an elementary school teacher, I'll take my chances with the shot.

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  • Moderators
    Moderators Member Posts: 25,912
    edited October 2013

    Here's a post on the Breastcancer.org blog from earlier this year, that talks about the early 2013 flu season, although the advice applies to other years.

    • The Mods

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  • Blessings2011
    Blessings2011 Member Posts: 4,276
    edited October 2013

    I get a yearly flu shot because my asthma is so bad I could easily die from an upper respiratory infection. When I get sick, I can't clear an airway. So I wear a mask at the doctor's office, practically bathe in hand sanitizer when I go out in public, and yes - get my flu shot as soon as they are available.

    This year, with the new formula, I had my first "adverse reaction."

    Got the shot on Saturday morning - the first day it was available in our area. Hurt like #@^^. The cotton ball was soaked with blood under the BandAid when I got home.

    By Sunday night, I had a dark bruise the size of a dime at the injection site (not unusual, I know) and below that, farther down my arm, a huge, raised, hard swollen area of skin that was bright red, and hot to the touch. It wasn't around the injection site, but rather adjacent to it.

    Went to see my PCP, who said she'd never seen anything like it. She said it wasn't infected, didn't look like an allergy, but was definitely one of those "adverse reactions." She frowned and shook her head, and said "Your arm is not happy."

    (It was also apparent that the nurse shot the needle in at a weird angle and possibly missed the deltoid muscle entirely.)

    Almost four days later, the bruise is still there, the lump is still there, but the redness is fading.

    Leave it to me to have the weird reaction! Undecided

    Today I talked to the Nurse Manager in charge of the Flu Shot Clinic. She took my info, and said she wanted to look up my records, so she could contact the CDC and report not only my reaction, but the exact manufacturer and batch number of the flu vaccine I was given.

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  • FireKracker
    FireKracker Member Posts: 8,046
    edited October 2013

    Changed my mind

    I will get the flu shot..do I want to but I will

    Why

    1-breast cancer brings down the immune system

    1-I had major surgery in March.lots of different antibiotics also brought my immune system down.

    3- I'll be watching my GGrand kids 2&31/2 2x a week.

    My dear friend who had bc yrs ago doesn't get the shot but she told me in my situation(age included) I should get the shot.

    Soo after changing my mind everyday I will get the shot?I'm goin to the dr.on Oct 10.

    Thanks for the input...

    Grannydukes

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  • RMlulu
    RMlulu Member Posts: 1,989
    edited October 2013

    Hi y'all



    I get a flu shot every year...best thing no more bronchitis !

    Last year shingle shot...hubby got shingles and I was terrified. Several BC warriors have broken out with shingles during treatment.



    Highly encourage just non SND or AND arm.

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  • juliaanna
    juliaanna Member Posts: 1,043
    edited October 2013

    Blessings,

    It does sound like the nurse missed her mark.  From your description, it sounds like the vaccine leaked into your tissue instead of going into the muscle.  I've given over 5000 flu shots in my career and never had anything like that happen.  Did I understand you got the 4-strain vaccine (quadvalent)?

    FC, you might ask your doctor if you should get the high-dose vaccine, if you are over 65. Sealed  I work at an Assisted Living-last year 95 of our 100 residents got the flu shot.  (Five had egg allergies).  We had one case of pneumonia.  No flu and no reactions/deaths from the vaccine.

    I missed getting a flu shot one year...had the flu....flat on my back for 2 weeks and I was in my 20s.  Never missed one since then and no flu.

    The flu shot can be given in the "rear" if there is a concern with lymphedema. 

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  • Ariom
    Ariom Member Posts: 6,197
    edited October 2013

    I have had several tries over the years with the Flu shot. Every single time, I have been terribly sick as a result.

    I take steroids all the time for Rheumatoid Arthritis, so I have a very compromised immune system

    I have had the same Doctor for over 30 years and he didn't believe it in the beginning, said it was a coincidence, but after so many bad reactions he finally said I should just forget it. That was even after trying a half dose, but still had the same reaction.

    I don't have an egg allergy, but apart from a raging dose of the Flu, I get a red hot, swollen arm too.

    I am a rare case, but it does happen.

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  • Blessings2011
    Blessings2011 Member Posts: 4,276
    edited October 2013


    juliaanna - I think it was the Fluarix Quadravalent by GlaxoSmithKline.


    What's funny is that DH and I were standing in line, and I was hoping I didn't get the little nursing student who was giving shots on the left side of the table. (No offense to student nurses, but I didn't want to be a guinea pig.)


    Well, DH got the student nurse, felt nothing, and had no reaction at all.


    I got the Staff Nurse with the badge, and for the life of me, I can't understand how she missed the mark so badly! I'm just wondering if her name or initials went anywhere on my record so the Nurse Manager could see it.


    The good news is that even though the vaccine didn't get into my muscle, it still got into my body, so I don't need another shot!





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  • ruthbru
    ruthbru Member Posts: 57,235
    edited October 2013


    I got a really, really bad case of the flu many years ago and was so sick (like I know why perfectly healthy young people die during flu epidemics, because I would have had to gotten better TO die), that I have gotten a flu shot every year since then, with no SEs and no flu. I always take an aspirin about an hour before the shot as a preemptive strike against any soreness. After treatment, especially for those of us who have had chemo, our immune systems need any help we can give. My GP also made sure I got a pneumonia shot and the shingles shot too. Yes, do any shots in your 'good' arm. And, of course, there are exceptions like Ariom, but for most of us it should be a go.....just had mine today, in fact :)

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  • Timbuktu
    Timbuktu Member Posts: 1,906
    edited October 2013


    The first time I got the flu shot, way before bc, I was so sick I was in bed for 3 days and ran a fever. I determined not to get another one. But my dil, who is a dr, explained that that reaction was my immune system working, not the flu. The virus is dead so it can't cause flu. The body's immune reaction is to run a fever and make you feel lousy for a few days. There was no respiratory reaction, which would have been a sign of flu.


    I've had several flu shots since and never had that reaction again. It's wonderful not getting getting the flu. I used to get sick so often!


    One thing, my dr gave me a DPT shot a few months after I was done with chemo and I was sick for 10 days! I could not believe it.


    After chemo, I think you have to be careful with vaccines,

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  • TinaT
    TinaT Member Posts: 2,300
    edited October 2013
    Funny this popped up as I usually only check my flagged threads. Just got my flu vaccine today. I am allergic to Thimerosol and try to get the preservative-free so I always go early in the season before places run out. I get the vaccine every year and have never had any adverse issues.
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  • Leah_S
    Leah_S Member Posts: 8,458
    edited October 2013


    Next week my local clinic will have the flu shots, and I'll be there to get it. In my thigh.


    For the past few years I've gotten the "flu-like reaction" (and thank you Timbuktu for the explanation of why it happens!). So I make sure I go in when I'll have a few days to stay home and feel sorry for myself.


    But skip the shot? No way. I also have asthma and now a compromised immune system and there's NO WAY I want to risk getting the flu .


    Leah

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