Flu Shots - Do You Or Don't You?
 

Just wondering who here with MS gets the seasonal flu shot / pneumonia shot each year. Now there's the H1N1 shot as well. That's available in a nasal spray and an injection. I think I read somewhere that people with MS should not take the nasal spray.

I got my regular flu shot a couple of weeks ago, and I'll get the H1N1 injection when they have it at our local health department. My MS neuro said we should get both when he was speaking to those of us in the infusion room the past few months. Before I was on Tysabri he also said I should get flu shots because if an MS patient gets the flu it can pretty serious with complications.

I just watched this video that mrsD referred to in another forum. It goes for over 9 minutes and takes some time to load, so if you decide to watch it I suggest you start the download and go back to it when it's finished.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnaiubVJv8E&NR=1

This is not necessarily my own view on the subject but I found the topic interesting, and while it's a discussion about all vaccines and not just swine flu, the speaker mentions MS among the auto-immune diseases he feels have worsened as a result of past and present vaccinations.

I got my regular flu shot already and I'll get the swine flu shot asap. My neuro strongly suggested them. My son's Crohn's doc really wants him to have both too.

You're right about the nasal spray, Kelly, we shouldn't get that type of vaccine. I think it's because the spray has the live virus in it.

I will most likely get my reg flu shot in a couple of weeks. My Doc usually favors it. I will see what he has to say about the hini shot?

I just got my flu shot yesterday. My neuro strongly suggested it since I get sick alot.

We don't have the swine flu shot yet but he also wants me to have that. I got the pneumonia shot last year, but I just got over 20 days of that so obviously it didn't work for me!!!:mad:

I will decline H1N1 but Himself will have it so as not to bring it home to me.

There is currently a patient in ICU who had the vaccine on the first day of release (week and a half ago?) and is now suffering swine flu. I don't know...

She must have had the nose spray, which is the live virus..:eek:

The nasal vaccine is what was rolled out first. I think Omaha gets the actual shots this week. I have a relative who does the vaccines for one of the local hospitals. She didnt like giving the nasal vaccine...people always wanted to hand her their kleenexes...even if she was wearing gloves, she's like ewwwww!

I'm not getting a flu shot of any kind this year. I've decided to stop poking at my immune system with vaccines, since it seems like everytime I get a vaccine, I get some sort of flare a few weeks later.

we don't have the nasal spray in Oz as far as i know. so the ICU person would have had the jab.

I got my regular flu shot about 10 days ago -- no problems other than a sore shoulder. I will get the H1N1 shot too if it is available. My neuro said I should while my pcp said it would depend on their supply. I think they are going to try to have it available at school too for faculty with chronic conditions.

I got my seasonal flu shot in September.

My neuro told me NOT to get the H1N1 vaccine. Perhaps it's because I'm on once a month pulse steroids.

I am getting my regular flu shot tomorrow but this little piggie isn't getting a swine flu shot. :p

No flu shots for me, H1N1 or seasonal. I think they're perfectly safe and all for most people, it's just that I (along with my doctors) believe that because I'm not in a high risk category, I can take the risk of going without the vaccine. There have been instances where - live virus or not - a flu vaccine has precipitated MS disease activity in some patients.

And no, I don't have any links to share on that, I just know that Randall Shapiro made reference to it at a seminar I attended and we (my family doc and neurologist) generally subscribe to his school of thought when it comes to MS.

:)

i get a flu shot every yr and do well with it. it's strongly suggested by both my pcp & neuro and the national MS society.

i just turned 60 and got the shingles vaccine. i had to think about that one but the consensus was that it would be worse to get the shingles than to get the shot. i did it and no effects.

the above advice was also given to me concerning the H1N1. when it's available i hope to get it.

under no circumstances should anyone with MS get the nasal vaccine. it's a live virus and not safe for us.

everyone, be well this winter.

Jim got his flu shot Friday and will get the H1N1 shot on the 27th if it's available. His doc feels he should have it.

We were informed his pneumonia shot is good until he's 65.

Here's the NMSS' position on the flu vaccines.

http://www.nationalmssociety.org/new....aspx?nid=2115

The schools here tried to make is mandatory that the kids get the n1h1 vaccine. Last time I got a flu shot I ended up 2 weeks later in the ER with a different strand of the flu, which kicked my behind, went away for a week, came back the doctor caled it "The Super Flu", which turned into bronchitis before it started to go away and then the sinus infection portion hit. In all I was sick for almost a month. I vowed never again. Neuro is mad at me for refusing the shot.

Got a regular flu shot for the first time ever...just felt in my gut that I should. My neuro and pcp told me to also get the H1N1 vaccine...since my DH and I are with his parents so often, I think it's a good idea that we're protected for them as well...of course, DH hasn't bothered yet:mad:

I've never had a flu shot, and do not get the flu even if everyone else does. I thought I was coming down last year, year before? But felt crummy like a day, then fine.

Even if I was thinking about doing it, after reading Becca's link, would not get H1N1. If there is limited supply, would save that for people who need it more.

Judy - Have not looked into shingles vac. But mom, had shingles, says to get the shot if it's safe. It has to be better than shingles she says, still giving her problems a couple years later.

Seems like with ms, there are two things to consider - the ms itself and whether you take one of the abcrt's. I still think that has a lot to do with what you catch and how you recover from it.

I got a flu shot once. Also got the flu that year. Not since. I've probably had the flu a couple times (including last August) but if that's all it is - bbbbbbfffff. I guess that looks like the sound I just made...

I work at NASA. Your co-worker sneezes - everybody points to the door and tells him/her to leave. Paranoid peopleoids... They kicked me out of the office for 3 days last August and I just went and played golf, with lots of tissues...

I have an aversion to needles, which is probably the biggest sub-conscious driver to not getting a flu shot.

They were giving flu shots today for free in the mission control center (I work at you know where - Johnson space center place). I declined, but I did flirt with a few of the girls in line... It was a long line...

Tom

I went to my Neuro today and he highly recommended me to get the flu shot asap and then the H1N1 as soon as it is available. He said that the flu takes such a huge toll on MS patients that it is not worth the risk of skipping it. I'm really not looking forward to another shot....the daily copaxone is bad enough and every time i've gotten a flu sot, it feels like a tetnus!

I'm also in a flare right now and have to start an "industrial" dose of steroids tomorrow (1000 mg for 3 days) I sure hope it works to stop the double vision.....I had not had any problems with my eyes until last Friday and I have been having over 10 episodes per waking hour of seeing double since it started. This sucks.:(

Dont get a flu shot while you're on steroids! They lower your resistance.

I get my flu shot every year per my doc's suggestion (his suggestion is "ok, I will get your flu shot now, you need one")

I doubt I will get the H1N1 this year. I got my seasonal flu 10/1 this year.

yes, i got the regular flu shot a few days ago. My neuro suggested it. I have been taking them for years though. I think it helps me. But now I Am going to pay attention to my MS sx to see if they are affected.

My CO neuro advised against me getting the H1N1 since I am on Tysabri.

knock on wood cause when I say this then you know I will get it lol

but I have only had the flu once in my lifetime and that was the year I got a flu shot.... maybe nothing to do with it... but all these years with no shot ever and same all years without getting it... I have five kids, and who also have never had the flu shots... and guess what have never had the flu... have we been exposed to the flu... oh I am sure many of times....

sometimes I wonder about vaccinations, just like germs too... the more we avoid germs I wonder if it makes us more succeptable to picking up things...

knock on wood the kids, hubby and I have been pretty lucky with illnesses... well other than occasional colds for me... think sinus stuff usually...

good luck all no matter which way you go, hugss,sarah

Tom, it is pretty unlikely what you had was the flu last year. I caught it in San Antonio in 2007 and it was terrible. I was working as a supervisor on an outdoor construction site for the first 3-4 days and all I wanted to do was lay in my truck with the heater on. When I got back to Houston I missed 3-4 days of work. When my wife caught it from me, she was off work for a solid week, and it took both of us another week or two to really start feeling normal again after that.

Needless to say, I got a shot a couple of days ago.

I was watching Inside Edition tonight and they had a story of a lady (she was young....probably early 20's) who had a flu shot then developed severe dystonia. She could barely walk - but what was so strange is that she could walk backwards just fine. And she could run. But walking forward was almost impossible. Her speech was affected, too. Except when she was running and then she could speak normally. Strange! :confused:

Here's the story:

http://www.insideedition.com/news.aspx?storyId=3525

I just saw an interview with an MD on some TV show. They are saying its pyschosomatic for her. Sheeesh! :eek: dont you hate when you show up really sick, and they say "just calm down sweetie, its just anxiety!" I wanted to crawl thru the screen and punch her in the head!

The woman used to be a cheerleader, and is clearly suffering. I would be freaked out!

It affects everyone differently.

A couple years back, my entire family got the flu. Dh, dd, (live with me) mom, bro and family, sis and some of her family. They ranged from 7-10 days feeling horrible. Dh never calls off or misses work, not for anything. Even he was in bad shape though. We were really worried about mom, took her to the doc twice.

I had a mild fever - 99 - for about 4 hours, felt nauseous, ached all over. Really thought I was getting what they had. Fell asleep and woke a little crummy. But by the time I had my coffee I was fine.

This is as sick as I get any more. I started feeling like something was coming on while I was in FL - achy, fevery, sore throat, stuffy nose. One of the guys dh works with was same way. I was fine by next day, the other guy took a week to get over it.

I used to get every bug everyone else got, the same way they got it. My kids got pink eye, and we'd all be at the doc's, getting a RX.

Have not caught it in years even with close exposure.

Some people just fight stuff off better than others.

I read somewhere that they are using squalene (sp?) which is an oil based adjunct that triggers your immune system. And they were saying that in studies they did with lab rats that squalene caused these rats to develop MS like symptoms with their hind legs draggin behind them before it killed them. That is some scary stuff.

Even more scary is that I asked my pediatrician her opinion of the flu shot for DD. I was told "unless she is high risk (ie asthma) I am not willing to give her either flu shot". She proceeded to go on to say that the H1N1 shots are not being properly tested, they are being fast tracked onto the market and that this is the study that is being performed they are giving this drug to upwards of 5 million people to see what happens. And that is not a risk we should be taking with our children. She also told me the reason she is against the flu shot is because of the adverse effect it has on a childs immune system. It is better for the child to develop their own antibodies to certain infections the flu being one of them.

Which makes total sense for people like brain who have caught every bug brought home throughout their life to have a much stronger immune system as an adult.

I'm the same way you are, Brain. I just barely get whatever is going around....just enough to know something is up.......then it's gone.

But....when I do get a full blown illness I really do it up right. :rolleyes: I got back to back bronchitis in 2005 a few months before I was dx with MS. I sometimes wonder if it caused the terrible flare that earned me my dx. :confused:

Legzz - I completely agree with you not getting the dd a shot, after reading that.

I get that this is a serious flu, but it is just the flu, not the plague. Most people stand a better chance against this thatn who knows what in this injection.

I understand why they fast track it, because there's no point getting it out after the flu has hit everyone. But they should already have a WAY better grip on how to make a safe vaccine than they seem to.

This is why we have an immune system, and we do have to train it to fight. The better we work it out, the tougher it is - until it malfunctions.

Kitty, I think partly mine is built up, but more it seems to malfunction to my benefit. I should not still be immune to all forms of cold or flu and I figure this is going to reverse on me at some point.

My nephew's wife sent me this article. They've got three little girls and no one in their family is getting the flu shot or H1N1 shot for that matter. I'm not sure if her kids get the other vaccinations that they have to have for school. She home schools so I'd venture to guess that they don't. This is some scary stuff:

http://www.naturalnews.com/027258_va...u_vaccine.html

I just heard a Scientist, on 60 Minutes, state that the HiNi virus is related to the 1918 flu and has found that most people born before 1950, have built up immunities against it.

That's why us old folks are not on the must have list, for the HiNi flu vaccine. Finally, a positive reason to be OTH! :D

BTW, he also said that the HINI vaccine is safe and all should get it..

I thought I'd be off the hook since I had the Swine Flu when I was about 7 but noooooooooooo, they say that's too long ago. Ugh. I'll ask my doc today. The VA wants me to have it since I am a caregiver. I'll get it if they say I should. Chris, my oldest, teaches at a school so if he brings anything home I want to be protected.

They also said on 60 minutes that individuals with neurological diseases and those with immune compromised systems should get the vaccine. My neuro also recommended it. I do plan on getting it if it becomes available. I am around too many college students. I also prefer to listen to the scientists and specialists advice on this matter.