2006 Flu Vaccine

Hi Maureen,

It says right in the Flu Vaccine insert that comes to the doctor’s office that Vaccine can cause GBS and GBS patients should not have the Flu Vaccine because there is a chance of recurrence of GBS after taking the vaccine. Plus the vaccines on the market every year do not cover every flu virus that is circulating in the public.So you can get the flu anyway. I have asthma and will never take another flu vaccine or pneumonia vaccine ever again since both of those shots put me in a hospital bed for 10 days with triple pneumonia. It took 5 months for the pneumonia to finally clear up in both my lungs. My Drs told me never to take those vaccines ever again. As you remember, Frank’s GBS was caused by the flu vaccine and he was told by his 2 Neuros and Primary Care Docs never, ever take it again.

I also had a severe reaction to the Polio vaccine, where I was paralyzed from the waist up.

maureen. i am 5 years post gbs. i have had the flu shot every year since my onset [B][I][U]PER MY PRIMARY AND MY NEUROLOGIST’S [/U][/I][/B]instructions. i too have asthma. i also get a pneumonia shot every 5 years. i have had NO ill effects from the shots. i also have NOT gotten the flu. alot of people on this site, do not agree with me about getting the flu shot, but i see a neuromuscular speicalist who wants me to be protected. he saved my life and i don’t think he’s going to put me in jeopardy now. stay well.
deb

Frank’s one neuro was a Neuromuscular Dr who specialized in GBS and CIDP out of Philadelphia and he told Frank never again take the flu vaccine. In the 6 years after diagnosis, he never got the flu. This is a personal decision only one can make for themselves. Everyone just gives their opinions on how they feel, but the flu vaccine inserts say [B]Do Not take if you have ever had GBS, reocurrence can happen, it also states that the flu vaccine can cause GBS.[/B]

yes. i got my flu shot about three weeks ago. i have not had any side effects or the flu or a relapse of gbs. i feel fine. (the body parts i can feel that is) :p my asthma is fine too. i take advair to control that. i even went for a pulminary function test before my hysterectomy in april and my lungs are doing very well. so even the surgery under general anesthesia went well. there are (small) risks in vaccines, surgery, viruses, etc. i got my gbs from pneumonia the first time and an upper respiratory infection the second time. so needless to say, i now keep anti bacterial hand gel in my car, purse, etc., but i still get a flu shot every year. whatever you decide to do, i’ll stand by you and your decision.
stay well.
deb

hi maureen, i was given the choice of getting the vacc or not by my pcp. i chose not to get it ever again, but my husband does get it to help keep the chances of me getting the flu from him on the low side, of course i have 2 kids who can give it to me but that is the chance i feel i have to take. i will not vacc my kids, i probably won’t vacc them for anything in the future either, i just can’t take the risk of them having a problem afterwards. getting the flu vacc is a very personal choice, not one that anyone can tell you yes or no to-not even your drs. the drs tell you not to get it because their insurance tells them they have to tell you there is that chance of getting gbs again. it is in writing and they know what the warnings are, they are just doing their job thouroghly. my dr is fine with my decisions, and i also have asthma, and prone to penumonia, pleurisy and have other autoimmune diseases. prior to gbs relapsing/remitting, i got the flu and penumonia vaccs all the time, my dr wouldn’t let me out of the office without those shots, but now he leaves the decision up to me-which i take command of.
in my opinion, it is better to take a chance on getting the flu, then getting gbs or relapsing (for the 8th time, for me) from the vacc that might not of been the right strain for this season. one way i try to lower my risk of getting the flu is to stay away from public places during the cold months, when people are out in the malls or movie theaters or other enclosed places, and to keep washing my hands, and keep my hands away from my face. at home i change the hand towels every other day and make sure the laundry is kept up and drink plenty of water and oj juice. so far i have had the flu only once since aug 05 when i came down with my first gbs paralysis event, i came through the flu just fine and it was very mild compared to what the rest of my family endured. i did come down with penumonia last oct which put me into a relapse but i came through it in one week and it ended in aseptic menigitis-reaction to ivig. we all have to take charge of our bodies and make the right decisions based on all the info we can absorb from different sources. keep an open mind and gather enough info so you can make the decision and feel good about your choices. nice to see you back on maureen. take care.:)

I’ve had GBS once and it wasn’t caused by a vaccine. I started a similar thread a few months ago about the safety of vaccinations in general, and I got similar comments to the ones here and I’m really grateful to those people for sharing their advice and experiences.
I also did a bit of research on my own and made my own decision.
However, if you’d like to know what research I found, it is a medical journal article which is supposedly the definitive article on the subject to date. [url]http://jnnp.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/73/3/348[/url
It studied patients who had previously had GBS and then had vaccinations, and it found that less than 3.5% of them had any reaction following the vaccinations, and those “reactions” were mild recurrences of symptoms, not a full-blown GBS relapse, so none of them required treatmment or hospitalisation.
Of course, any study is open to criticism, but it is the most concrete form of evidence I’ve found so far as getting any firm answers from anyone regarding GBS is like getting blood from a stone!
BTW, new legislation means now every vaccination now carries a warning of a “possible non-proven link” with GBS, so make of that what you will!
I hope that is useful.
Take care x

I was told by primary and neuro not to get the flu shot. I think it depends a lot on other medical conditions if they recommend it or not. If you have other underlying medical conditions that would warrent the flu shot vs risking getting the flu such as Deb then its different I think than many of us who have only GBS or other conditions that dont consider us at a higher risk of getting the flu. Primary and Neuro need to make recommendations but you can still insist otherwise as its your health… or if you are set on getting one no matter what your primary or neuro says then you could always go to a flu clinic.

The upside to this is that I was telling my boyfriend that he should get one because he could bring something home and I am only a few months post GBS so I am at high risk still. He refused saying that he didnt need it because he doesnt get the flue. I explained that he can have the virus, never know it, and still spread it to me and he still refused. He went to his doc for a knee problem he was having and my recent hospitalization came up, his doc told him that he wasnt going to let him leave the office till he got his flu shot because I am at a higher risk than either one of us even realizes. 😀