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Do You Get A Flu Shot?

luvs2eat

By luvs2eat
in Coping with Celiac Disease

Recommended Posts

luvs2eat Collaborator
luvs2eat
Posted

I've never had a flu shot. I go thru this every winter... wondering if I should have one or do what I've always done... become OCD about handwashing and trying hard not to touch my face.

We were all allergic to eggs when we were babies... so I sort of thought I shouldn't have a vaccine that's been incubated in eggs. But I had all the vaccinations kids have... and those would have been incubated in eggs too, right? Even my sister, who was the most allergic of all, gets flu shots w/o incidence. No one in my family has celiac but me.

Then I wondered that because I have an autoimmune disorder and was tested a few years ago for LUPUS after a high ANA (which turned out to be nothing)... I'm wondering if I should NOT have one because of autoimmune issues?

My GP doesn't give me the answers/reasoning I believe my fellow celiac sufferers will give me.

Thoughts?

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bartfull Rising Star
bartfull
Posted

I never have never gotten a flu shot, and I have never gotten the flu. I am fanatical about washing my hands, and I keep my face away from people, even healthy people, so they don't breathe their germs on me. I may have mentioned before, I am a bit OCD. :lol: I don't like doctors and avoid them like the plague (or flu, as the case may be.)

I may be playing with fire, but so far, so good. Maybe when I am old(er) and sick(er) I'll consider it. But for right now I will continue doing what I've been doing.

Alwayssomething Contributor
Alwayssomething
Posted

I have gotten a flu shot for years, but last year when I was having all my DH issues and still undiagnosed I was afraid too and when I asked my Dr. he told me I should be ok and then ended it with "don't make a liar out of me now" so I chose not to get one. In the last two years I have added 2 autoimmune diseases to my lifestyle and I always have an elevated ANA so Lupus and a few others are tested for every 6 months.

I talked to my GP and inquired about the perservative free flu shot (it is what they give pregnant women and children and is in a single dose dispenser) and he thought that was a great idea. I had it yesterday. This is the first shot I can remember not being sore from as well as not feeling a little off the next day from. This will be my shot every year now. (I will add that the company I work for dispenses the shots for free but does not give the perservative free one so I went to Target)

nvsmom Community Regular
nvsmom
Posted

I've heard, although I am far from an expert, that those with lupus and other rheumatic AI's should avoid the flu shot. I can't remember if it's because it gets your immune system going too much and causes a flare or what. Sort of like the fact that rheumatic AI sufferers are told not to consume garlic, echinacea,and melatonin because it boosts the immune system.

I do know those with Lupus should get the pneumonia vaccine every few years because they do not fight off viruses as well as the average person.

I don't know if that theory would apply to celiacs though since the gluten trigger is what puts a celiac's immune sytem into overdrive.

I tend to avoid the flu shot because whenever I do get it, I end up with a fever and flu-like symptoms...like in a flare. It's like a guarantee to feel bad in my case. I am currently getting tested for Lupus or other rheumatic AI's.

If Lupus, RA, UCTD, or MCTD are possibilities for you, you might want to look into vaccines connections to those AI's. i've never heard of it being an issue with celiacs. Best wishes. :)

shadowicewolf Proficient
shadowicewolf
Posted

The last time i got it was before i got really sick with the flu that triggered everything else. So no, i no longer get them.

Adalaide Mentor
Adalaide
Posted

I've always gotten a flu shot. My husband is diabetic so his doctor won't let him not get it. Because I've always worked with the general public and because me getting sick will put him at risk I get it for him. I am the world's biggest baby about needles. I whine, close my eyes, hole my breath and generally complain the whole time. I wasn't really thinking very clearly when I was at the doctor's office for my cold on Friday or I would have asked for one then. May as well pile on the misery.

Anywho, no one has ever told me it would be a bad idea to get one. I don't know about the egg thing, I don't have egg problems so it's never been an issue for me. I'd ask your doctor what he thinks about that. Besides that I don't know of any reason we should be avoiding them.

mushroom Proficient
mushroom
Posted

I get a flu shot religiously. My lungs are so bad I can't risk flu or pneumonia (again!). That's how come I ended up in ICU with aspiration pneumonia this summer :blink:

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1desperateladysaved Proficient
1desperateladysaved
Posted

I would encourage anyone who thinks they want a vaccine to ask their physician (or the Center for Disease Control) website what is in them. The physcian receives the informations which each batch of vaccine.

To avoid the flu I carefully wash my hands with homemade soap frequently. We eat an organic, natural food diet, and get some sunshine. If someone in the family is sick all of us wear Tea Tree Oil, or Eucalyptus oil to kill germs in the air. Illnesses rarely if ever go through the seven of us in our household anymore.

I hope you will all be well this flu season.

Diana

squirmingitch Veteran
squirmingitch
Posted

I'm not allergic to eggs. I don't have any other AI diseases that I presently know of. I have been getting a flu shot every year for the past 30 years; ever since I got the flu when I was 25 & it kicked my ass!!!!!!! At 25 yrs. old!!!!!! Last year I got the flu shot even having just discovered I have celiac disease. I will get one this year too.

icm Apprentice
icm
Posted

Here's an interesting video that talks about the benefits of 5000IU of vitamin d3 a day. I'm doing the protocol and never plan to have the flu shot in the future.

ncdave Apprentice
ncdave
Posted

I used to describe how i felt when i had got glutened as feeling like i had the flu. I got the flu winter before last, it was like a 3 day cake walk compaired to being glutened.

archaeo in FL Apprentice
archaeo in FL
Posted

luvs2eat, ultimately the decision will be up to you. I encourage you to research the science behind vaccines - no amount of any vitamin or herb or supplement is going to vaccinate you or keep you from getting ill if you contract a virus that your immune system can't fight on its own.

I never got flu shots before, but I recently started a job that requires me to travel, and I now work in a building with about 60 other folks in a cubicle environment (after leaving an office with only two other folks, where any of us might commonly also work from home), and since I changed jobs I have gotten the flu shot. I haven't had any flu or flu-like illness since I was a kid, but vaccines are only effective if a lot of us (ideally most of us) get them.

Remember that even if you are successful at fighting off a virus, you can still spread it. I don't want to pick up a flu virus at work and share it with my elderly parents, and if the vaccine helps kill the virus any faster it's worth it to me.

I had a reaction to an egg-based shot when I was a child, and haven't had a negative reaction since.

mushroom Proficient
mushroom
Posted

I used to describe how i felt when i had got glutened as feeling like i had the flu. I got the flu winter before last, it was like a 3 day cake walk compaired to being glutened.

Dave,if you got over flu in three days you were one very lucky dude :o

Adalaide Mentor
Adalaide
Posted

Yeah, three days is a walk in the park. If I could do the flu in three days I'd skip the shot. I do the flu in about 2 to 4 weeks and have never once managed it without an argument with my doctor about whether or not I need to be hospitalized. Seriously, unless I'm literally dying I would much prefer to be miserable at home thanks. Although to be fair I usually turn my flu into pneumonia. I never do anything halfway. B)

ncdave Apprentice
ncdave
Posted

I didn"t exactly get over the flu in 3 days, i was just using that number for the cake walk! Mine turned into bronchitis, thats the beginning of a long story.

ravenwoodglass Mentor
ravenwoodglass
Posted

I never have gotten one and won't this year. I wash my hands a lot and haven't gotten ill since the year I was diagnosed and hope that continues. (knock wood)

I was a bit nervous about catching it when I went back to college and then started working with the public but so far so good.

BabsV Enthusiast
BabsV
Posted

I've gotten them religiously every year for over a decade -- ever since a really bad case of the flu knocked me out for 3+ weeks (10 days in bed -- literally could not get up...it scared my room-mate to death at the time!) I do not have a problem with eggs so that's never been a consideration.

Also, after my diagnosis last August one of my doctors gave me the Pneumococcal vaccination which was amazingly painful BUT I did not have either of my winter colds turn into respiratory infections last year. For years any time I would get sick it would move into my chest and then it was always a course of antibiotics plus prednisone on a couple of occasions. And boy do I HATE taking prednisone!

lovegrov Collaborator
lovegrov
Posted

I ALWAYS get the flu shot. The last time I didn't was the year that I started with what I think was the flu and then went into my full-blown untreated celiac reaction, which landed me in the hospital for 11 days and out of work for 10 weeks. IOW, I think the flu was what triggered my bad breakdown, although I know I had celiac disease symptoms before that. Anyway, that was the only time in the past 26 years I didn't have one and the only time in 26 years I've had the flu.

richard

jmb002 Newbie
jmb002
Posted

I can't speak for the gluten part of the flu vaccine because I am just starting to wade through all of this (was just diagnosed as having DH last week :blink:); however, if you are allergic to eggs (you said you were when you were a baby) then you should NOT have the flu shot. I am in nursing school and that is one of the big things they tell us, but it doesn't seem to pertain to other vaccinations. I will do some research if you would like, but I wouldn't get the flu vaccine if you are allergic to eggs. You should probably verify that with your physician to see if he thinks you can, but if it were me I wouldn't.

Hope that helps :).

Jenn

joolsjewels Newbie
joolsjewels
Posted

My parents and brother all have either diabetes or RA, but they still get flu shots. Do not ask me why. It seems like the craziest thing to me. They all get sick! I refuse to get a flu shot and have not had the flu since elementary school, knock on wood really hard;). Ya'll can keep your flu shots for all i am concerned.

squirmingitch Veteran
squirmingitch
Posted

I can't speak for the gluten part of the flu vaccine because I am just starting to wade through all of this (was just diagnosed as having DH last week :blink:); however, if you are allergic to eggs (you said you were when you were a baby) then you should NOT have the flu shot. I am in nursing school and that is one of the big things they tell us, but it doesn't seem to pertain to other vaccinations. I will do some research if you would like, but I wouldn't get the flu vaccine if you are allergic to eggs. You should probably verify that with your physician to see if he thinks you can, but if it were me I wouldn't.

Hope that helps :).

Jenn

There is no gluten in the flu shot.

burdee Enthusiast
burdee
Posted

Years ago I got annual flu shots. However, I always reacted with nausea and gut pain. People told me I got a mild case of 'flu'. Yet I never got the traditional 'flu' symptoms of muscle aches and respiratory distress. 5 years ago my ELISA test results showed I was allergic (IgG mediated) to egg whites. No wonder I reacted badly to flu shots which are cultured in egg whites. I no longer get flu shots. I have NEVER gotten the flu even since I stopped taking flu shots 10 years go.

kristenloeh Community Regular
kristenloeh
Posted

I need to get the shot since my immune system is so weak. Instead of getting the flu this year, I got Meningitis! *ugh* Gotta love being me!

lovegrov Collaborator
lovegrov
Posted

Let me emphasize as well -- there is no gluten in any injectable!!

PS, just got my flu shot 50 minutes ago. Glad to have it.

richard

GwenO Apprentice
GwenO
Posted

I used to avoid it but my job now requires me to have it done. I was quite resistant to getting it but didn't nitice any ill effects.

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