flu shot side effects

"Jane" <[email hidden]> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I'm curious to know if you can have side effects from the flu shot. Last
year I happened to be at doctor's in November and he talked me into
getting the shot. I hadn't had one before as I consider myself to be
pretty healthy. I also have had an arthritic condition since child hood
that was pretty much under control. I would have flares that were pretty
painful but they were usually of short duration. I also had significant
morning stiffness at times. Anyway since getting the flu shot I
developed what seemed to be the arthritic symptoms but they also acted
differently - duration of attack, response to drugs was variable, time of
worst symptoms (previously in the morning, now in evening), and so on. I
did ask my rheumatologist about it and she didn't think it was the flu
shot. After months, the symptoms are pretty much under control again but
I do feel rather reluctant to get a flu shot in case this was the problem.
Any thoughts?

you can have side effects from a flu shot- mostly due to an already low
immune defense at the time.
the flu shot simulates an attack by a (inactivated) virus and stimulates
your immune system to make a proper defense against that virus. you might
experience some mild effects similar to a flu a few hours after the shot,
this is temporary however and usually does not occur if you are in good
health when you get the shot.

in the case you mentioned it could be that your immune system was already
down so much that the flu shot was the last tip to the scale, but i must
admit that i am mostly guessing here- sci.med.nutrition might not be the
best place to ask this kind of question.