This year's flu vaccine wiped me out

I get a flu shot every year. Got this one back about 2 months ago with no reaction at all. I've had reactions every once in a while but not this time.

OP Did you by chance take the one with more adjuvants, formulated for older persons?

Same here, R1. I've had 'flu shots every year since 2006. I've had a couple of mild reactions that lasted less than 24 hours, and one bad reaction that was basically like getting the 'flu. No problems this year. My last mild reaction was 2017.

R2 I dunno maybe they did give me the old folks version! I'm 56. Or maybe 56 is reason enough to be wiped out nowadays. ☠️

I'm R1 and I got the shot for oldsters. No reaction.

This was the first year I've gotten one. All my lymph nodes on the injection side painfully swelled up for two weeks. Seems I have a really strong immune response. Makes me afraid about the Covid vaccine since an overly strong immune response to that kills people.

Well, I never in all my life.

I get a sore arm for a day after the shot but that's all. I've been getting the vaccine for years.

R4/OP I think it's marketed for older people. Sometimes I don't think there are any explanations that can be scientifically proven. Some say if you haven't had much sleep, or are otherwise run down, side effects can be worse, but I think it's probably the opposite. If you're immune system is mounting a strong response, you'll feel it more. Some say their allergy symptoms are worse when they take vitamins and antioxidants, and that makes sense to me for similar reasons: more immune response.

If you have been taking the COVID vitamin and supplements protocol, perhaps you have really supercharged your immune system. Hope you feel better, and get some rest. If you're tored, you should sleep.

^ your immune system

Hope you feel better soon.

I had my free jab in September over here in the UK. No issues.

Just had jab for first time. No reaction other than a mildly sore arm for the first night.

I had one for the first time this past Monday. No reaction that I noticed. Hope it worked.

I got the souped-up old peoples' flu shot this year, having turned 65 in the Spring.

First time a flu show has hurt me -- felt like I had been frogged in my shoulder for about a day.

I got mine in early October and had no problem at all.

No reaction from my flu shot. Of course I am a very young 64 years old. ;)

r2, I received the dosage for seniors. I had certain side effects for three weeks. It is like mild flu symptoms but no fever. Some headaches and fatigue. I already had an allergy infection which happens yearly, but that wasn't further agitated. The injection site was sore for a few days.

I got the impression the flu vaccine was too potent.

Mary, you are going to die. Put on the Golden Girls re-runs now so you can go in peace. Apply caftan around arm as needed.

It's good news OP, it means it's working and your immune system is at work; you needed that particular vaccine. Better to create antibodies from a little bit of the pathogen than getting the disease full on. Imagine if you'd caught that flu, you'd be knocked down for weeks.

Years where the vaccine doesn't create any immune reaction that you can tell means you're probably already immunised against that type of strain.

The last actual flu I caught I was miserable for three weeks total, 2008. In my bed for 10 days straight. I was in my twenties at the time. I remember VERY well. My doc at the time said well, you should be good for ten years now. After that it's a crapshoot, the disease mutates. I feel like I'm too young to get vaccinated but maybe it's a mistake. The flu is awful.

Miss R9, What is the COVID vitamin super charger regiment? TIA

I stopped getting flu shots for a couple of years because I felt so terrible after getting them, one with a mild allergic reaction and rash at the injection site, the next one making me feel like I had a mild case of flu for two weeks. But then I got flu last winter and made an appointment to get a flu shot, only to have to cancel because now I'm in quarantine because the bf has COVID.

This is the worst damn year.

I got the quad and all I had was a sore arm - a bruise popped up the next day.

I got the high-dose quadrivalent this year. I rarely have had any reaction to flu vaccines other than an occasional mild arm soreness. However, this one made me feel awful about 24 hours later. It resolved pretty quickly, but I felt awful for the evening.

I got my first flu shot ever last month and had zero side effects. I get allergy shots on a regular basis that hurt and cause the shot site to swell and be sore, and I was expecting the same thing for the flu shot. Then...nothing. I feel a bit silly having avoided them for all these years.

R9- Do tell.

Have been getting flu shots for the past few years. This year's was OK. In the past, have felt wiped out from the flu shot, though.

Responses all over the map. Vaccine reactions are a crap shoot I suppose. I rallied about 1pm. I went tree shopping and bought a station wagon full of plants at 75% off. I also bought three 300-400 dollar tress for 75% off. One is a quite tall Chamaerops Excelsa.

I went to 3 garden centers and they are clearing out all stock, holding nothing over the winter it seems.

I heard Switzerland might ban the sale of these Chinese palm trees because in Italian speaking Ticino they are now considered an invasive species! Global warming!

Also - shopping centers were MOBBED. MOBBED! We're all going to get COVID.

Capitalism!

I've been nervous about getting the flu vaccine because I got the long Covid. I had some immune tests recently and all my globulins are on the low side, so maybe it wouldn't even work for me. I got the flu shot last year and still got the flu, and then 6 weeks later I caught Covid which I am still recovering from.

Yikes R29. How wrecked are you by COVID?

I was very happy I had no reaction at all this year & I got the extra dose.

Last year my arm blew up & hurt for a week.

If u wear mask for covid u don’t need flu shot

If u be retard u no flu shot but covid shot no ready so die

I was sick for 3 days...headache, upset stomach, general weakness.

I learned to get the thimerosol-free vaccine. That way, just have a sore arm, and don't feel like crap, for a week.

I get a flu shot every year and never have a reaction. However, this year I turned 65 so I got the double dose flu shot, and I also got my pneumonia shot on the same day for which I became eligible this year. I was wiped out that night and part of the next day. Also had a pain in my arm that night due to the pneumonia shot. I recovered within a day, but it knocked me out, very tired, lethargic. But now I’m as immune as I can be.

Same here. I got the shot on Friday and I’ve had a horrible headache and nausea the last two days.

I rally for a 6 hours and then feel sickly again. Well at least its not the flu flu, just my immune system thinking its the flu.

My pharmacist explained that it's not fully effective until a couple of weeks after the shot.

It’s so funny you say that.. My 74 y/o Father and I took the shot a few weeks ago and I was wiped out for two days after and he had no issues with it

this Family Guy moment slays me as many on the show do.

ah crap; I meant to post the above in the Caitlin Jenner thread.

My bad.

Me too. My bones ached for a few days afterward, and I was lethargic.

Unfortunately, OP had this blind bat of a nurse injecting him. No wonder it hurt.

You need your proper sleep before you get vaccinated - at least for a week. Sleep affects the immune system. You need a healthy immune system on the day you get your vaccine. Insufficient sleep in the week before getting a flu shot can lead to the production of less than 50% of the normal antibody response -- a reaction that would render the flu shot largely ineffective. There are continuing studies on the role if sleep and the immune system.

My flu shot this year resulted in no side effects. I may have been tired but I also got my pneumonia shot at the same time - different arm. No soreness. I may have been tired cause I walked to and from the clinic and this pandemic has ashamedly rendered me pretty much a couch potato.

Quadrivalent flu vaccines contain two A viruses and two B viruses. I got mine at Kaiser and asked if it was the quad for older people and they said that was what they were giving to everyone.

Is the quadrivalent flu shot a live virus? A live attenuated influenza vaccine (FluMist Quadrivalent), which is given intranasally. This vaccine is approved for people 2 through 49 years of age. Live attenuated influenza vaccine should not be given to people who are pregnant, immunocompromised persons, and some other groups. Oct 22, 2020

So I guess not in the regular flu shot. It does not give you the flu.

For 2020-2021, all flu vaccines except one are quadrivalent. The only trivalent flu vaccine available this year is Fluad, an adjuvant vaccine for people aged 65+. (Confusingly, Fluad is available this year in both trivalent and quadrivalent forms.) Kaiser gives Flulaval.

Two weeks later (this past week) I got both my Tdap (tetanus, diptheria, pertussis vaccine AND my shingles vaccine (Shingrix). Two different arms. The Shingrix is administered IM and muscle pain at the injection site and surrounding area developed within a few hours. By that night it was worse and I couldn't sleep on it - that lasted a few days. I don't ever remember that kind of residual pain from a shot before. I wasn't crying but it did affect my movement and use of that arm and it really HURT.

R20 & R25 and others....Several docs recommend Vitamins B Complex, C, and D3, along with Zinc, NAC, and some I know have been taking Elderberry prepetations like Sambucal.

A sixty-two year-old asthmatic friend was diagnosed with COVID on Halloween, and only experienced a tickle in the back of her throat. She attributed her good fortune to this protocol she had been taking since late February.... She also takes Astaxanthin, an antioxidant, but that isn't specifically part of the COVID protocol. It probably can't hurt though.

Regular dose, sore arm for a couple of days, same as usual.

R29 Have you been taking vitamins, or other supplements? Zinc definitely plays a role in preventing the virus from replicating, as can NAC.

Ugh, I got a flu shot yesterday & in addition to a sore arm (not as bad as tetanus, but surprisingly sore), I'm under an electric blanket even though it's nearly 70 degrees outside. My bones actually ache and I've got a headache that won't go away.

R49 I'm sorry. I am OP. I was out of whack for a few days. I hope you feel better soon.

That’s strange. I had absolutely no reaction at all this year.

people who received the high-dose vaccine were more likely to develop side effects after getting the vaccine

The high dose vaccine combines 4 strains (quadrivalent) of the flu versus 3 strains in other vaccines

I've been having the shot for at least 20 years with only site soreness for a couple of days. And I haven't gotten influenza in that time either.

I got the flu shot and had a bit of soreness but that's about it. I was fine.

My sister got it (she has to for work) and ended up in the hospital because she had a nasty reaction to it which has never happened before.

[quote] You need your proper sleep before you get vaccinated - at least for a week. Sleep affects the immune system.

You don’t need to ritualize yourself for a flu vaccine. Just get it. Some years it swells up & hurts, sometimes you get a sore throat, sometimes you don’t & you’re fine. Just get it.

[quote] Ugh, I got a flu shot yesterday & in addition to a sore arm (not as bad as tetanus, but surprisingly sore), I'm under an electric blanket even though it's nearly 70 degrees outside. My bones actually ache and I've got a headache that won't go away.

So take some extra strength acetaminophen or some ibuprofen.

[quote] A sixty-two year-old asthmatic friend was diagnosed with COVID on Halloween, and only experienced a tickle in the back of her throat. She attributed her good fortune to this protocol she had been taking since late February

She’s lucky. Period. As for your supposed dr friends recommending vitamins & elderberry - there are no evidence based peer reviewed studies saying vitamins or herbal preparations prevent or treat covid. There have been no clinical trials resulting in any of these things being recommended by the evidence-based medical community. You can believe inside your head that there it has been shown that any of these things work, but it doesn’t mean they’re real any more than believing having sex with demons when you’re asleep causes disease.

I had it administered this week and didn't have any problem. I rarely do though. One year it didn't take and I got the flu anyway that year, but most years I'm fine and it works well.

Speaking of flu shots, I was quite surprised to read this research (obviously as they say it's just a correlation, but still worth keeping an eye on).

Because that vaccine is 11 years old OP, get something newer, it says 2009 right on the syringe.

If you feel bad after a vaccine, it means that it’s working.

It’s causing an inflammatory action in you, which is the point of the vaccine

Wow I was starting to feel guilty about not getting one this year (I’ve always been skeptical and never gotten one). After reading this thread there’s no way I am.

[quote]If you feel bad after a vaccine, it means that it’s working.

No, it means that you have a weak immune system. Strong, healthy people don't get sick from a flu vaccine. It's one of the mildest vaccines available. The biggest side-effect a healthy person should get is a slightly sore spot were you were injected.