Bad reaction to flu and pneumonia innoculation

[Wing42]

I had pneumonia from Feb. to Sept. this year, and thought I was over it. On Tuesday PM, I got inoculated for both influenza and pneumonia. My arm was swollen and sore that evening.

I woke Wednesday AM with a very sore arm and general body aches.

By Thursday afternoon, my temperature was 103, I hurt all over, my PN pain (esp. shooting pains) was off the chart, it was hard to think clearly or talk, and I was shuddering too much to drive.

I saw a doctor on Thursday afternoon. The doctor wisely did nothing but take a chest x-ray and make an appointment for me to return on Friday morning. The fever broke on Thursday evening, and I slept the night.

To my surprise, the x-ray showed that I still have pneumonia, though it looks better than my previous x-ray from July. So my immune system is working pretty hard, not the best time to get an inoculation more less two.

I'd do it again, but just one inoculation at a time. Flu is a major killer and flu inoculations provides excellent protection most years.

There was a problem back during the first Bush administration with the swine flu vaccine occasionally causing the very serious Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD), but that is no longer a risk according to my physician. A flu inoculation actually reduces the risk of RSD because influenza itself can cause RSD. RSD can result in serious and debilitating PN. DUKE's postings in the OBT board on the topic were heartbreaking.

I hope you all protect yourselves and your loved ones by getting a flu inoculation, a pneumonia inoculation, and the new shingles inoculation...just not all at once while you're ill. :rolleyes:

[jccgf]

David...so sorry to hear you've been sick, and still suffering pneumonia. Hope it finally clears completely soon.

Oh... it is that flu time of the year.... with the annual pros and cons of vaccination. It is certainly good for everyone to make their own decisions based on their own reading and circumstance.

I opt out. I never routinely had them to begin with, and the one year my daughter and I had one was the only year we ever got the flu, and my daughter had fever for a week and was very sick. That was likely coincidence, but the vaccine didn't protect us from it. She actually has some immune system quirks and it has been recommended since that she not get vaccines.. too overwhelming for an already stressed immune system. Apparently her immune system is still actively fighting her childhood immunizations. A bit controversial, I know.

I suppose if I was hit hard a couple years in a row, I might think about vaccination. I'm lucky in that it never seems to hit us...knock on wood. My mom and dad do get their shot every year.

I haven't really studied this following article, so I won't comment on it....it just came through my email recently from a friend so because it is recent, I thought I would share.

British Medical Journal Jan 2006
Influenza vaccination: policy versus evidence
http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/short/333/7574/912?ehom=

Cara

[Brian]

Hi David
That seems a long time to have pneumonia, was you on antibiotics all that time ?, still having pneumonia which of course you didn't know and having the flue & pneumonia shots must have had been just far to much for your system to handle, all at the same time.
I believe its a good idea to try to protect yourself against the flue every year and especially when your getting older, a shot for pneumonia is wize.

I get an influenza shot every year these days,and take lots of vitamin C, after an episode of having the flue and being asmathic i got a hell of scare when i couldn't breath properly one year, dame awfull, so i haven't missed a shot in about 8 years and thank god i have not had the flue since.
Sometimes i get what feels like the start to a flue but only lasts a day or so then goes away.
I didn't know about the RSD connection and i didn't know about the shingles shot, my uncle been going through hell for the last 5 years because of dame shingles.

[Wing42]

Cara,

I posted specifically to start a discussion on the topic. In my opinion, flu can be bad enough so that people should decide to either get inoculated or not, rather that just forget because it's under the radar.


Hi David
That seems a long time to have pneumonia, was you on antibiotics all that time ?, still having pneumonia which of course you didn't know and having the flue & pneumonia shots must have had been just far to much for your system to handle, all at the same time.
...
I didn't know about the RSD connection and i didn't know about the shingles shot, my uncle been going through hell for the last 5 years because of dame shingles.

The main symptoms were weight loss (about 25 lbs.), weakness, fatigue, non-productive cough, periods of clammy sweating, and low grade fever. I had two courses of antibiotics back in July that made things much better but didn't cure it.

A CT scan showed a large mass in my upper right lobe. Two biopsies, two more CT scans, and then a PET scan showed no cancer. The lung specialist believes I have "necratizing pneumonia". The doctor said I'll not be 100% healthy until the lesion is resorbed, a process about a year long. The lesion is getting smaller. The CT scan looks similar to the left side of the picture at http://www.archbronconeumol.org/images/6V36N10/6366012.JPG , except the golf ball size lesion is in the middle of the lobe . Articles describing the disease are at http://www.drkoop.com/ency/93/000121.html#cont , and http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3225/is_n5_v44/ai_11666504 .

Articles in the google search mention many different breathed in agents that can cause it. Even yeast can cause it. I did breathe in a lot of dust, including mold infested dust and general construction dust for several weeks just before this started. It doesn't seem to take much to make me sick again. I remain weak and tire easily.

The shingles inoculation is new this year. Talk it over with your doctor before just asking for it. The inoculation is with live, attenuated virus. If his immune system is compromised, like happens with steroid therapy, there is a chance of catching chicken pox from the vaccine and getting very sick. On the other hand, I can immagine the vaccine ramping up the immune system and stopping his shingles. The doctor would know a lot more about it than I do.

"Shingles" sounds so harmless, but the disease is such a horribly painful thing. He has my sympathies, hopes, prayers, and wisher for getting well soon.

[Brian]

Thats one nasty illness you was unlucky enough to get, no wonder it takes so long to get better, i hope you can get on top of this terrible health issue ,real soon, and thanks for your well wishes for my Uncle, he's 85 and has got plenty of other health problems to deal with, now its a prostate problem, it never ends.
I have not heard anything about a vacine for shingles over here yet, but if it goes as it does normaly over here, we won't have the option for it for about 5 years after your people have give it the thumbs up, its unreal.
all the best
Brian :)

[darlindeb25]

The doctor I work for recommended that I not get a flu shot, he never has either. He says the flu shots are not able to protect you from any new strains of influenza simply because there is no way to be protected against something new. He says with my immune system in the shape it is because of celiacs, it may be even more damaging to get the shot, than not. It is strange, I rarely ever get viruses anyways. I work with the public and often times I think you slowly build an intolerance to viruses.

I do not think I would ever get a shingles shot, I would be too worried I would get shingles from it and shingles is a very painful virus to have and it never leaves your body, that is even more scary.

[mrsD]

Well, that is just terrible...this long seige!

I think you are referring to Luke and his battle with GBS (not RSD).

Were you evaluated for sarcoidosis?
http://www.lungusa.org/site/pp.asp?c=dvLUK9O0E&b=327833

more:
http://benicar.legalview.com/prweb/164144/

http://sarcinfo.com/phorum/read.php?f=1&i=925&t=924

There is a link to high Vit D intake and sarcoidosis.. which is on the 3rd link.

[jccgf]

I did breathe in a lot of dust, including mold infested dust and general construction dust for several weeks just before this started.
Interesting possibility. There are so many environmental influences we encounter.

David, I think you are right. People should think about vaccination before discounting it or signing up, whether for our children, ourselves, or even our pets. And we need to think about them individually.

I've also heard it recommended to be vaccinated for things singly with time in between, rather than combo shots, and to avoid vaccinations if you are not well (should be healthy for 30 days prior).

Cara

[nide44]

David,
I'm so sorry you've been ill. I didn't realize it until I saw this post.
I've been kinda distracted lately.
I truly hope you rebound back, and feel well very soon.
I was thinking of getting the shingles (Zostavax...sp?) vaccination when I see my doc in early Dec for a follow up (regular) visit...now I think I'd better talk it over with her, first. Maybe it would be better to wait, since I really want to get the flu shot at that visit.

[dahlek]

JOYS of having a long term pneumonia.. It was my 10 week long bout of it that later gave me the 'present' of PN -just as the residual cough gave up the ghost. BTW, my lung x-rays now show scarring as a result.

I hope you get better and stronger daily! Feeling like you are having dinosaurs stomping on you perpetually is not my idea of life.

Thank goodness, I guess, that I get the IVIG monthly so pneu. shots are not an issue.

Mentally sending you a pre-heated laprobe and a gallon of OJ. - j

[BEGLET]

David,
First, sending good thoughts that you continue to show that pnuemonia who is boss!
And, totally agree with you about the vaccinations. Until I got PN - the sickest I ever got in my life was every few years with the flu - after starting getting shots (worked in administration at a hospital and they kinda made us get them) - found I went for years without getting sick when I got my shots every year - they seemed to really help.

Also had a pneumonia vaccine once after we lost a family member in 5 days from complications of the flu that turned into severe pnuemonia - and I had a bad reaction to it for a couple of days - red swollen armband - but - I feel protected now and glad I did it....

I know lots of people think that the shots give you the disease - but its not true of course (side-affects maybe).... I hope all that can get vacinated! (now that I'm on IVIG no shots - they IVIG "juice" takes the place of the shots)

Hoping you feel better and stronger each day.....:)

[Wing42]

Well, that is just terrible...this long seige!

I think you are referring to Luke and his battle with GBS (not RSD).

Were you evaluated for sarcoidosis? ...

MrsD,

I think you're right, it was Luke who had GBScaused by a flu innocualation, not RSD. I hope he's doing better.

My memory is as bad as anybody's in my family. The difference is that I know it. I think that all of our perceptions and memories are personal constructs that have at best a very weak correspondence to "objective" reality.

What I have looks nothing like sarcoidosis. The upper lobe of my right lung has (or had, I hope) one large coherent lesion right in the middle that looks a bit like an octopus, about 5 cm at the widest point. It is surrounded by what looks like emphasema in the CT scans. A thin needle biopsy and a broncheospcopy failed to nab an actual piece of the lesion. The PET scan was then ordered to see if an open chest biopsy was called for.

While there is increased metabolic activity around the lesion, the elevated metabolic level is consistant with the white blood cells the biopsies turned up in the area rather than with cancer. I feel confident that its not cancer because of the moderate activity level in the area, the absence of cancer cells in the biopsies (one cell was "questionable for adenocarcinoma", but only one cell), and the fact the the lesion is shrinking rather than growing.

My PN has been very aggrevated by all this, but isn't nearly as incredibly painful as during the first two years of having it. Another painful thing is wasting months of prescious time just vegging. I didn't have the energy to walk, work, cook, or even participate in the OBT forum during that period. Things are better now, but nowhere near 100%. Its funny how we focus on one thing, like PN, and get blind sided with something else that was totally unexpected.

[dahlek]

connected, we just never learn the how's or when's till later, don't even ask about the WHY's!

So, anxiety levels are raised? No brainer. So, there may be connections? No brainer. Can you prove anything? Absolute NO BRAIN-er! As you have taught many, and well, get to that acceptance point and simply 'Go and do the things that need to be Done' [Garrison Kellior]. Can I make you some PHC Powdermilk Biscuits to help ya thru?

That and a couple of pain-free moments? - Good thoughts always, j

BTW Don't put all your trust in all the testing, your instincts are more fine tuned than most people they get...don't let them blast you off if you call their call w/the 'What Abouts?'.
I can say that what I call 'PetScan-Land' is a big fat fuzzy blanket that may or may not help-don't want to put salt in a raw area, but I've my doubts both pro and con?