How much longer will I be sick from having the flu shot?

Jeeze- my friend got the flu shot and got sick with a flu to bad cold reaction.
Go gently about yourself. Be careful what you eat. Sleep and fluids. Feel better.

This should be the last day of your problems.
If I were you… I’d drink gallons of water and pee a lot, and sleep under hot layers of blankets to sweat this out.

@rojo some people do get a bit sick. It depends, but what ever he has now is just his immune system building itself up to fight what ever brand of flu might come around. What ever he is experiencing now is a fraction of having the actual flu. I’m assuming he gets the shot because he is in a high risk category. I don’t take it because I am not.

I get them every year and have done for as far back as I remember. My wife works in the medical field and, in addition, I am now 60 so they worry about me. I have heard that some people have a few problems with the shots but the worst I have ever had is a sore arm for and hour or so.

If I ever wake up with a headache and feel hungry I immediately make me a pot of coffee, have at least two cups and a couple of pieces of toast and am fine from then on.

My guess is that @talljasperman is dehydrated (hence the headache) and hungry for the normal reasons. I think he needs to take better care of himself. @talljasperman When you post things like this, I just want to show up on your door step and look after you. You really bring out my ‘momma-gene’.

I think you should feel better today. If you still feel badly Monday you can check with your doctor. It would be nice if he reported it, but the chances are slim.

It’s also normal to feel crappy after laying in bed with nothing to eat but a few taco bell tacos for three days.

@talljasperman – go. Outside.

Aw man. I never like to be dismissive regarding what someone believes about a med they took or an illness they might have. I agree eating a little is a good idea, that can cause a headache, but headache and general aches is a known possible side effect of the vaccine, why would we question the OP on how he feels following the vaccine? It doesn’t sound like he expected to feel like shit and willed it.

I don’t like when doctors dismiss my aches and pains and when I tell them a drug caused me a bad side effect, I certainly don’t do that to other people. Everything counts, and there are rarely coincidences.

So sorry you’re ill. I’ve been getting flu and shots for years and never had the slightest reaction. Suggest you check with your doctor to be sure nothing else is going on.

I used to react badly to flu shots, I’d have about 5 bad days of nasty symptoms. It was either a reaction to the vaccine itself (not the flu, I know, but I had all the markers of a nasty secondary, brought about by some component in the vaccine).
All the advice to force fluids and eat is good, and rest, this shall pass soon.

The absolute statements that some are making about it being “psychosomatic” are just silly, in a system that has been immune-suppressed, or altered by meds, a sudden jolt to the system can cause adverse reactions.

@talljasperman I hope you are feeling better by now.
I have never had a bad reaction to the flu shot but my mom had a bad reaction every single year that she had the shot. It was many, many years so it obviously was not psychosomatic. She had to get the shot though, according to her doctor, because she had lung issues including COPD and lung cancer.

@chyna I went shopping today and got some fruit juice and bacon and eggs. I cooked the bacon on my new electric fry pan and had two of 20 strawberry kiwi fruit boxes. I’m feeling better. The six eggs were on sale and I will cook them quick today. It all costed $13. I’m waiting until I get paid soon.

I’m glad you’re feeling better.

@jerv I disagree with you this time.

@talljasperman Great! It sounds like things have run their course. Keep yourself fed, hydrated, and at least moderately active like that and you’ll be 100% in no time!

You’re not sick from a flu shot. A flu shot has killed virus. You can’t get the flu from a flu shot. You can, however, get a sore arm.

As a minor correction, not all flu vaccines have virus in them. The “shot” may or may not have inactivated virus, or may be prepared in mammalian cells or by baculovirus. The later is the so-called “egg free” shot. That said, getting “sick” from the flu shot is a myth.
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/protect/vaccine/how-fluvaccine-made.htm

CDC possible adverse reactions or side effects from the flu vaccine

The OP didn’t say he caught the flu, he said he was sick. Sick can just be a descriptive word for not feeling well.

The only reason I harp on it, is because some people do feel crappy after the flu vaccine, and to say it’s impossible is a mistake. Remember jca got GBS following a vaccine (I don’t remember which vaccine) and the first doctor she saw didn’t figure it out. Most people are fine after the flu vaccine, but a few aren’t.

It is wonderful to see @shilolo here. It’s been a long time.

Thank you for the link, @JLeslie. This is the same information that my real, in-person, physicians have given me, it’s good information to have.

Someone telling us that our concerns are invalid is, unfortunately, not unusual.

@JLeslie @canidmajor “Overblown” is no the same as invalid. I’m not 100% reaction-free when I get my flu shot either. In fact, I have the same reaction OP does; a little warm and snacky as my body burns calories to give my immune system the energy to handle the “infection” that just got squirted into my bloodstream. Though it doesn’t feel good, it’s as normal as gravity making objects hit the floor/ground when you drop them.

@rojo‘s first remark (now modded) referred to a psychosomatic reaction, and @Rarebear said, flat out, that the OP is ”...not sick from a flu shot…”

I don’t remember what your comment was, @jerv, but being dismissive because your experience does not mirror someone else’s is very narrow minded.

@canidmajor ”[B]eing dismissive because your experience does not mirror someone else’s is very narrow minded.”

It’s also rather narrow-minded to assume that my experience doesn’t mirror someone else’s. If I acted dismissive, it was because I’ve been there many times myself.

@jerv Well shit, if you have the same reaction, what the hell are you being so dismissive for? Why not say, “I feel crappy after the vaccine also, and making sure I stay fed and hydrated helps me.” Instead of wording your answer like the OP has a psychosomatic illness. Which again, I didn’t take the wording the OP used as any more than he feels like crap following the vaccine. He didn’t say he caught the flu from the shot.

When someone says they feel sick it can mean anything. It can me the roller coaster was too much for them and they feel like they might throw up. It can mean their throat is irritated, but it winds up being from yelling too much the night before. It can be a headache from ragweed. It can be feeling lethargic from a drug.

Too many people here are getting hung up on the wording – not unusual for fluther – and quick to pounce on anyone who seems anti-vaccine. I’m certainly not anti-vaccine, but I am a little vaccine shy for myself depending on what vaccine we are talking about. No one here told the OP not to get the vaccine again. No one is discouraging the vaccine.

@JLeslie We’re not close enough friends for me to tell you, especially not in public. But check your inbox for a clue.

I didn’t receive a PM.

It took me longer than expected to write.