Flu Shots
 

I'm just curious if anyone has been getting flu shots since being diagnosed with MS. I use to get it annually, but since diagnosis I have been reluctant. I have heard the pros over ride the cons, but it still makes me nervous. I have been lucky and have not experienced the flu since diagnosis, but I know I may not always be so lucky.

I really don't know but for the last two years I didn't get the flu shot and I didn't get the flu -- When I was getting the flu shot I had the flu e*ery year :eek: -- It doesn't usually do anything for the flu thats going around in the year you get the shot anyway and so I just don't get it -- They say it's not risky but who are they anyway :D

I got the flu shot every year prior to my diagnosis. Last year I got my flu shot on a Friday and by Tuesday I went from having VERY mild symptoms to being paralized on the left side from my face to my toes. I lost all bladder control. I was unable to sit up or transfer to a wheel chair and was hospitalized for over a month.

I know that I was already flaring and that the shot may have had nothing at all to do with my rapidly diminished state but it scared me enough to never take a flu shot again. If there is ANY possibility that the shot contributed to what I went through it is not worth the risk in my estimation.

I know the literature does not suggest there is any reason to avoid getting one. I suppose like many decisions we face with this disease you have to weigh the pro's and con's and make the best decision you can with the information you have based on your own personal circumstances.

I get the flu shot yearly as do my children.

It is recommended those of us with MS get flu shots. We cannot use the flu mist. The flu mist is a "live" but the flu shot is "dead."

Here is some information about the flu shot and MS.......
http://www.va.gov/ms/default.asp?action=article&ID=321

Both my MS specialist and family doc have me get it. Got it Friday along with pnuemonia and tetanus which also has diptheria along with it. I was kind of puny Saturday and Sunday but OK now.

I used to get it (before and after diagnosis) and always had a severe site reaction followed by days of weakness, vision and bladder problems, weakness. The last time (2001) I went into a full blown relapse that lasted more than 6 months. My docs are now advising I not get it again. Apparently the severe local reactions are from a sensitivity to eggs I did not realize I had. I'm talking swelling of the arm and a red, hot raised area up to 8 inches in diameter for 3-5 days after injection...not just a sore arm and achiness.

The recommendation is still to get the shot if you have not had serious side effects in the past. Two or three days of "flu-like " symptons post injection is not a reason to avoid the shot and the actual flu can literally kill a person with MS. Very few of us with MS who get the flu can avoid a lengthy hospitalization. People "think" they get the flu after the vaccine in some cases but true flu generally lasts with fever and extreme weakness for a minimum of a week and not just a few days. True flu is not like a cold. It feels like you are dying for days on end. The one time I got it, I was out of commission for more than two months.