Category: Health and Wellness
Hi, I just got a flu shot today. This is kind of a big thing for me, as I hadn't had a shot since high school. I have an appointment with a pulmonologist next week, and on the paperwork it asked when I'd had one last. Well, the shot itself wasn't too painful, but now my arm is pretty sore, and I think I might be running a fever. Anyone else had this happen, and how painful did you think the shot was? I hate needles, but, it kind of seems like the side effects are worse than the shot.
I would agree with you from everything I have heard. I just wash my hands and do what I can to keep the flu at bay.
Eddie
I have heard of that happening to people before. It should improve. Obviously talk to your doc if symptoms worsen or do not improve in a couple days. Sorry you are experiencing side-effects. Ugh. No fun.
This is why I did not get the shot, cause our school was offering them, and a lot of kids ended up getting sick afterwards. Don't worry, you'll be ok
These are normal side effects. I had the H1M1 shot and my arm was sore for 2 or 3 days and I had some fever type symptoms that same day, right as rain after that.
A few people experience a bit more symptoms on the 4th and 5th day, I didn't.
Cheers
-B
A fever? Isn't that a symptom of the flu? It makes sense that one would get the flu or symptoms of it after receiving the vaccination for it. It's better just not to get vaccinations. Most people don't explore what's in them; and if you don't get the shot and take good care of yourself, you're much more likely not to get these different viruses that are going around.
Aah better not to get the flu shot? Tell that to the 45 kids in Montreal who have died of the flu, or the 60 in NC and so on, vs 30 people who had complications out of 6 million vaccinated, none of which were lethal.
Yes, that is a very smart advice.
Hi, I think I'm pretty much done with the fever, but my arm is pretty sore. I don't remember being that tense when I got the shot, and my friend who was with me said I didn't look overly nervous or flinch when the nurse gave me the shot. Maybe, she just hit a nerve, or it could just be a reaction from the medication. I would like to travel to Africa, and my friend and I are looking into it. I'm definitely gonna have to space those shots apart. I felt the needle stick more than I remember from the last shot, but still, it really wasn't that bad. One of the required vaccinations is for Tetanus, and I'm really scared of that shot, though I've heard it isn't that bad either. I guess I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.
I pretty much avoid synthetic medicine except for stuff like Advil and the occasional Nightquil. Usually, things can be cured naturally, either with herbs, rest, soup and tea or with ready-made naturopathic preparations. I also avoid antibiotics unless it's something very very serious. Sure, there are some people who truly need synthetics, because they have things that natural medicine hasn't found a cure for yet, and there are times, like surgery etc when it's an absolute necessity to take them. But for most things, I prefer keeping drugs out of my body. lol Caffeine is enough. Vaccines can be dangerous if a person's medical history and health isn't reviewed, and I do think that people should have more of a choice whether to take them or not. As for the flu shot, yeah. I've heard that some people do have symptomes but they disappear within a few days.
Hi, if I'm gonna travel overseas, not only will I not be able to enter some countries without propper vaccination, I'd rather not spend my time looking for a natural cure for say, Yellow fever or or malaria. I understand why some people are hesitant, but I think the risk of very serious complications is very rare (though not nonexistent). I just wanted to get the shot before the pulmonologist bit my head off for not having it. I've never met the guy, so he probably wouldn't do that, but you get what I mean.
Traveling abroad, especially in places where it's easy to catch dangerous things that don't often affect people in America or other Western countries, is a bit of a different story. lol I know what you mean but I'm not afraid of doctors. If it weren't for their patients they wouldn't have jobs and they're just as human as the rest of us.
It depends on what kind of flu shot it was. The complications are not caused by the vacination, you don't have the flu, they are caused by your immune system. A fever is not a symptom of the flu or any other disease, a fever is a mechanism your body uses to fight off diseases. Viruses do not like heat, thus your body heats up, to kill viruses. A flu shot, unless it is the h1n1 vaccine, is made of dead viruses, they are not active, thus do not attack your cells, thus do not give you the flu. Your symptoms will pass in a few days when your body realizes its not being attacked, and the antibodies are created and know what the flu looks like and how to kill it.
No one, and I repeat, no one, has ever died from a vaccine, not polio, not smallpox, not the flu, nothing has ever killed anyone in a vaccine form. Sometimes you may have an alergic reaction to the fluid they carry them in. If they use horse syrum for instance, some people in third world countries get sick because they eat horse meat, it weakens the immune system, but that is not the vaccine, and that is easily treatable. Also, any doctor who has gone through about a week of medical school, will not give you a shot without your medical history being examined. why do you think you fill out the paperwork first, thats what they look for. they know what they're doing.
As for natural medicine, you do realize that I could go into my front lawn, pick some grass, put the grass clippings in capsules, and legally sell them as a cancer cure? Natural medicine is not legally restricted or tested by the FDA, and many of them do contain little more than grass. Also, I've talked with many herbologists, and none of them can decide what herbs do what. True, some herbs can do some things, some are good for healing cuts, some are good anticeptics, but thats all. You can't cure lime disease with lime grass, and you can't cure anything more than a bad smelling house, by sniffing rose petals. The reason some of those things work, is because you believe them to work. Its the same as being given a sugar pill, and being told its a headache cure. Its not the medicine doing anything, its your body chemistry saying, "ok, lets not hurt anymore". It would have happened in a little while anyway.
Has anyone ever noticed that countries that use western medicine, are usually not the third world countries, and the ones that don't, usually are the ones that don't have very healthy people? Thats enough evidence for me.
besides, most medications nowadays, are made from things found in nature, just processed into medicines. Antibiotics are all natural, penesillin, is a bacteria that grows naturally. All vaccines are, aspirin is made from a chemical found in aspin bark (hense the name), all of these are natural, just processed into a convenient form.
so take natural medicine if you want to, but if you ever hear an herbologist say, "if you believe it will work, it will work, and if you believe it won't, it wont'", then you should probably question it. You ever noticed that antibiotics work whether you believe in them or not?
The shots are not so bad, as I recall. Sometimes they can put multiple shots into one doze so you may not need to get that many needles.
The stiffness I had from H1M1 vaccine too, as did my sister, who is wrapping up her studies as a nurse. Apparently it is just a side effect of the needle.
I've had tens of injectsion in the last couple ofyears while I was being treated for cancer (successfully, thank goodness) and I realized one's fear of needles is way more than the pain fro it justifies. It is very little pain, you'd hardly notice it if it happen randomly, say you poked yourself while sowing, but the anticipation of it is much worse.
Tiff makes a good point here though, anti biotics should be used very sparingly, due to their over use and people not following the regiment, stopping halfway through because they feel fine again, we have a lot of drug resistent bacteria by now, and that can create huge problems for the future.
So avoiding them unless absolutely necessary is not a bad sstradegy really, as long as you realize when it really is necessary.
The problem with natural medicine is definitely not that it never works, but because there is no quality control. Anyone can claim to be a natural doctor or specialist in such cures without being examined by any sort of neutral board or having to go through any type of institution. So whereas there probably are a lot of experts with plants who can give effective cures, there are even more people who are out there to scam you and make use of your faith in natural healing, and it is very hard for people to tell the two sides apart.
Can you explain that child who had a vaccine and then suffered a severe reaction to the point where her mental ability was impaired for the rest of her life? I myself didn't follow the case, but Grandma had the television on one day and they were talking about it for quite awhile. That's where I learned about the dangers of vaccines for certain people. Apparently, it was a pretty big case too and they didn't examine her history because the vaccine triggered some kind of disease. Have you spoken with naturopaths who went through medical school and who deal only in science-based remmedies, people who studied herbs nonmedicinally and happened to learn a few things or the fly-by-nighters who just wanna make a quick buck? It definitely makes a difference. The FDA's approved things that weren't safe and that they've later had to take off the market. Look at the side affects of some synthetic medicines. Some of them have lists so long that it's ridiculous, others could cause symptomes to worsen or add new ones and some could even be fatal. Of course, not everyone gets these side affects, but why should I take a cold medicine that could cause runny nose, sneezing, coughing etc? Isn't that what I want to eliminate in the first place? This is not to say, by any means, that natural medicine should be taken lightly. While the side affects are usually less, if they exist at all, it's always important to research any herbs before taking them if not under the guidance of a doctor. It truly saddens me how many people think that natural cures are just the mind/body tricking itself. They take a bit longer to work, granted, but it's certainly not all the mind/body. Yes, penesillin is natural, and it's one of the maybe two antibiotics that I trust. Fortunately, I can use it because I'm not allergic to it and hardly ever use antibiotics, so I'm not immuned to it. Let me reverse it then. If these synthetic medicines are made from natural things, why not use the actual herbs etc in a traditional form like a pill or a liquid? They do it with Pepto Bizmol and Brioski. The latter is a completely natural heartburn remmedy that's been around for about 125 years. I've never heard any reputible naturopath or herbalist say that about medicine working and I'd certainly question anyone who did.
Well hello there. I just recently had a flu shot as well/ The same thing happened to me. My arms swelled and became sore. Now although I didn't feel any pain when I was injected. I did manage to run a fever.
Some states don't even allow licensing of naturopathic physicians and this can be a real problem due to the quacks out there. However, there are at least two schools in the United States, both accredited, which have courses and degrees in natural medicine. Also, there are two separate national boards that certify these physicians, and some states have their own. Even if your state can't license them, you can always check if they've been approved by the boards or possibly are licensed in other states and if they have the necessary medical credentials to be considered true physicians.
Hi, flu shot alert!! When I woke up this morning, my arm was still sore, and I'm not kidding, I had a welt-like area on my arm that was at least two inches in diameter, and perfectly round. It slowly went away, but it was kind of weird, and it was uncomfortable, cause I couldn't lay with my arm flat on the couch. I spoke with my older sister, who used to be a phlebodomist, and she says my reaction may have had something to do with the protein they use to suspend the virus in. I'm gonna bring this up to the doc on Wednesday, cause, perhaps there is another vaccine without the irritating substance, if this is the case. I don't know how much this matters, but maybe the person giving the shot was a bit more, forceful. The actual stick wasn't that painful, but I did notice a bit more pressure than before. Now, if only I could conquer a blood test. I haven't had blood drawn since I was five, and I'm 31. One thing I absolutely not do is a finger stick. I don't care what finger it is, they're all off limits, including thumbs. That's a huge no-no. I'll play let's make a deal with whatever doctor wants to try that. Just the thought of that makes me wanna hurl. I read braille, type, and use my hands a lot. I don't care how the lancet is, it's just not gonna happen. I'd make a horrible diabetic, for this reason. I know now, they have all kinds of meters that don't require a finger stick. I'm really working on weightloss, and diet, so hopefully this won't be an issue in the future. Wildebrew, so glad you're okay. My aunt went through breast cancer last year, and the chemo and radiation she had to endure was exhausting and excruciating for her. You're right, our fear of needles is so much worse than the pain. yeah, I know fever is an immune system thing, and since I was just shot up with all kinds of foreign antibodies, that's probably a normal reaction. But, this arm thing really sucks. Not to mention, I had to leave work early yesterday. I just really felt like crap. I hope all shots don't make you feel this way. My MMR shot in high school didn't do this. I know all injections are different though.
I can't really understand a fear of needles in general. I mean, I certainly don't love them, but once I actually find myself getting one (and 99% of the time, it's drawing blood for a given anual test or something) I find that it's not as bad as I anticipated.
As for finger sticks, they honestly don't hurt that much. It's a slight pinch, and you should be all right for reading Braille as long as you don't do it right away. But then again, everyone has a different pain tolerance, and I know I have a high one. I also play guitar, so maybe I'm just used to uncomfortable sensations caused by reading Braille after a lot of practicing. As for tetanus shots, when I got one, it didn't hurt any more than any other shot I ever received, but again I think it's really a matter of how much pain you consider too much. And the side effects for that flu shot definitely have to suck. I know it's gotta suck to experience side effects from something that's supposed to help you avoid feeling like crap in the first place.
Now, I don't know a lot about this natural vs. synthetic medicines, but I have one point to make. If there's no mind-body connection when you take medicine, whether it be synthetic or natural, then why are placebos used in clinical trials? Obviously something has to be said for what you believe will or will not happen when you take a substance.
Sorry screaming turtle, I don't mean to ignore you, How do I unignore you. That must have happened by accident, don't know how it did though
whatever healing you have, either thrue the scientific matter, or thrue other matter such as holistic approach, is mainly mind that playing the trick to your body. yes, there's alot to do with placebo effect, either thru the normal medication, or thru any other natural or so call 'holistic healing' way.
it is like everything else, when you elieve and have faith in something, you will more likely to adept to it, compare to when you are not being torerent to whatever that it come.
when come to treatements, i guess, it is all come to belance. you can't rely on medicine alone, as well as you can't rely on natural healling itself.
it is the belance of everything. any shot. it is the step of prevention, and reduce the risk to the lowest that is possible. after that, it is someone respondsible to make sure oneself is safe from whatever. just like, if you know there's a risk of having STD, and you prevent it by waring condoms when having sex.
the idea for natural medicine is good, but don't forget, maybe, there's more deadly camicle in plants and hurbs in the modern society than the camicle itself compare to what is in a synthetic medicine.
I would agree with Season. The FDA does not regulate herbal medicines. Who knows what compounds in a plant would interact with whatever medications one is taking. I'm not dicouraging natural medicine all together, but I really thik the subject needs to be studdied a lot more.
oh these people who say not to get vaccines make me very tired. I have had pneumonia numerous times and almost died twice. therefore I'm in the high risk category. Flu has the potential to send me to the eternal club med, which is a place I'm not ready to visit.glad you have the option of whining. i'd rather be alive and well and able to listen to you and have the strength to disagree.
you didn't say which flu shot you got. i've had both. believe it or not, the seasonal one gave me more trouble then the dreaded h1n1.
oh as for the tetanus shot, they give it differently than they used to. now it is injected with a long fine needle. this limmits the swelling and discomfort greatly.
as for natural remedies, if you want to get herbal stuff and have the means to do so, get it from germany. it is the country that has the strictest controls on what goes in the fever few tablets or ekinacia pills or whatever. ok smart ones. if natural remedies are so wonderful and we should go back to them, I have one question. how come in the early 20th century our life span was 40 years. today it is in the 80s. pneumonia and influenza were the number one and number two killers followed by strep and/or scarletina. wanna go back to the good ol' days? maybe my placebo effect ain't so hot, but if I've got a 104 fever and a strep infection, bring on the antibiotics.
screaming_turtle, you've made a few very valid points. Certainly there's a connection between belief and getting well and it shouldn't be discounted. But, prayer/sending good energy etc. aside, if that's the only way that a medicine or given treatment is supposed to work, it should definitely be questioned. And no, I'm not one of those who thinks that praying or believing that you'll get better will do the trick on it's own, but it does help many people. On the flip side, if you're so down that you completely give up on life or believe that nothing will work at all, then it probably won't, including synthetic medicine. I also agree with you about pain tolerance. I once had a very minor cavity drilled with novacaine and everyone couldn't understand how I did it. I wouldn't do it for a major one, of course, but that little one didn't bother me. Bravo season, for mentioning condoms and stds! I wish more people took them seriously and used precautions. to blw1978, just because the FDA doesn't approve something, that's no reason to discount it or be afraid of it. There are journals of natural medicine as well as people who study it very seriously. If you speak with someone knowledgeable in the field, they would know about the positives and the negatives of herbal substances. Otherwise, they couldn't be licensed as physicians or couldn't be researchers. The medical industry is a multi billion dollar business. And despite what we may think, for many, it really is just a business. So it's in the economic favour of the big shots to not help people and to not produce cures for either common ailments or even more serious ones. Does that mean that all mainstream scientists are bad and that all herbalists are good? No. You'll find good and bad anywhere. But it does mean that the likelyhood of the pharmaceutical companies and so on to withhold information in order to keep their jobs and thei money flowing. turricane, I'm sorry that you have all of those problems and truly wish that there was something that could be done to improve your health. As I said, some people need the synthetic stuff, and I wouldn't disagree with that. This is also true in life-threatening situations, like your 104 fever sinario. But people today are using antibiotics if they sneeze once. They're also being used in meats along with hormones just to make them fatter or change their colour. Ppesticides are all over vegetables etc. This is why people who consistantly eat factory beef and other meats instad of free range and organic food have a higher tolerance for antibiotics. They eat them every day without even knowing it. Even those of us who try not to often do when we go out or are forced, out of financial necessity, to buy the "normal" stuff. Thanks for the tip on Germany. I'll definitely keep it in mind. Remember that at the beginning of the 20th century, people weren't studying natural medicine as they are today. We have blood tests and a clearer understanding of medical things now than we did at that time. Also, with transportation grately improved, it's far easier to get imported things, whether for study or for use in patients, so that if you really did need something to cure you that was only found in another country, you could get it overnight if necessary. this option wasn't available 100 years ago.
there's lots of evident shows that antibiotics are no longer give to patient that have flue, unless it is necessary. in fact, 9 out of 10, if you see a doctor in Australia, they will not prescribe you with antibioticcs, and will take that as the last resources for your flu.
regarding natural healing, yes, that can help, but it is more a placebo effect than any other thing. all this anergy transfering, this and that, just another way of doing business, in the so call 'spiritual' way.
but, by saying that, we can't deny the contribution of natural medicine. however, it have a long way to go.
no matter what you do, what you take, either you believe on the modern medication or believe in other alternative way of healing, it is all about belance, just like every single thing.
I only brought up energy transferring etc as a back-up to be used with actual medicine. When I say natural medicine, I'm talking much more conventional treatments like herbs, rest etc not distance or faith healing. In any case, I hope that everyone who did get a flu shot is doing okay. My boyfriend took one and I'm very glad of it, since I was worried about him getting sick. An idiot told him last year that he didn't need it because he's older and I was shocked. I've always heard that older people need them even more.
depends on what sort of flu shot you talking about, some virus, when you get to certain age, it will authomaticly imuim in your system, and you no need to have any prevention shot for it, cause it won't stay, and it definitely have no effect.
btw, that reminds me of something else... anyone have hepetitis shot before? some people told me it can desolved itself in about 10 years time, and you need to get another series of shots... anyone experience that before?
Long needle? I had the regular seasonal flu shot. I'm not against vaccines, but I think I am a bit traumatized. Oh well, I'll get over it. As far as the Hepatitis shots, I was researching this, and I think the Hep. A. shots you only need two of (at least in the States). The Hepatitis B. shots are a series of three shots, and you only need them every ten years, or sooner, if you're a medical professional. Long needle?? I'm most concerned about Hep. A, cause it can be transmitted from food and water.
yes it is a very fine long needle and it dgets the vaccine in to your system better. much less swellling and such with tetanus shots.just has one and i was impressed. also hurts a lot less too.
with the seasonal flu shot, age is important. it hits people over 50 harder. for h1n1 it is the younger people and kids who get hit hardest.
Yeah, he's 64. That's why I was completely shocked when he was told that. And it was by someone who's now a doctor!