Flu jab

[Sunshine Star]

I'm concerned about getting the flu jab for a couple of reasons. My father has had them in the past and every time he is very ill for at least a week afterwards. Secondly a consultant friend of mine states it only works on 2% of people.

I've never had the flu myself, but understand my immune system is lower whilst pregnant however, that said I'm not sure I want to potentially make myself I'll from the jab if it is not an exact deferent. *need to do more research.

If you feel so ill from an invirulent form of the virus can you imagine what it'd be like if you got the real thing? That's what you should be thinking about. Your consultant has misinformed you. It's incorrect to say that it only eorks on 2% of the population. If you're carrying it and don't get sick (meaning you're a host) it'll ptevent you from getting others sick. If you catch the form of flu that's in the vaccination, you simply won't get sick. It both prevents you from being a host and from you getting sick. It's really irritating to hear a health consultant giving such bogus information. Is she an anti-vaxxer by chance? What's her education? No one with a degree in health sciences should be disseminating that sort of misinformation.

Thanks for your response 2have4. I understand everyone's point. I just want to make the best decision for me and my baby. My friend is a highly qualified GP and one whose advice I value. He is also a qualified engineer. Many degrees.

The other thing that concerns me is: The FDA lists influenza vaccines as either Pregnancy Category B or C biologicals, which means that adequate testing has not been done in humans to demonstrate safety for pregnant women, and it is not known whether the vaccines can cause fetal harm or affect reproduction capacity.

But as I said I need to do further research to make an informed decision for me and baby.

 

[tommyg]

Sunshine Star.
The last time round I was very nervous of the flu jab and its unknown effects. However if you do end up really ill with flu and your life is on the line I can guarantee that you will not question the testing or safety of drugs you are given.

However if you are doing some prior research. You might want to check out a cocktail of drugs including a 10 day course of tamiflu and 3 lots of antibiotics. That is what I ended up with. I'd actually forgotten the detail until I looked up an old thread.

 

[tommyg]

https://babyandbump.momtastic.com/p...bour-after-pumonia-swine-flu.html#post8710151

Please read. The answer to my first post is I did have a lovely calm water birth and my crazy boy was ok. But I wasn't alone that year taking seriously ill with flu.
I have just realised I gave birth a month to the day after that post.

 

[2have4kids]

Sunshine star, if he's an engineer I'd prob stick with that profession instead. It would interest me to know where he got the information that the flu vaccine only wofks on 2% of the population? If he's telling you these things and you're believng him it'd be worth your time to ask a few questions about his sources. Any doctor worth his salt should happily give you those answers - but it's up to you to ask questions when you hear bizarre things like it only works on 2% of the population. He's missed the point completely! And got his numbers wrong.

Here's an American source for facts on just how many people in percent it helps prevent getting sick from flu: https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/qa/vaccineeffect.htm
And here's British-based medical information based on pregnant women getting the flu jab and consequences for those pregnant & fetus who wind up with flu during pregnancy: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/pages/flu-jab-vaccine-pregnant.aspx

Evidence-based British scholarly articles on fetal & maternal outcomes of vaccinated pregnant women:
https://www.evidence.nhs.uk/search?q=pregnancy&ps=50&om=[{"men":[" influenza vaccine "]}]

Tommyg a few years back I too got really sick when H1N1 hit us. It spiralled into pnemonia in less than a week. I had 30% use of my right lung and 50% of my left. I could barely stand up and was crawling to the bathroom. They put me on the harshest antibiotics known to man, they gave me terrible heartburn. It was a pretty bad time. Since then I've always had my flu vaccine and never had a really bad one since. Herd vaccinations like flu and whooping caugh protect newborns & the vulnerable (elderly, & immuno-comprimised like cancer and other people struggling) and they work to prevent the flu in 50-60% of the population who get the vaccine (not to mention stops the spread to those who are un-vaccinated). I'm highly irritated with people like my mother who don't understand this concept or carry around misinformation (and tell others). With my mom, it's more conspiracy theory than bizarre ideas in what I coin 'anti-vaxxer web facts'.

 

[tommyg]

2have4kids
I was never given the details until after the event but my parents were taken into a room and told "her lungs are full of fluid, her heart is racing, her kidneys are struggling, her blood is full of acid, the only thing it hasn't affected is her liver but we think we have got her in time".
I do remember them X-raying my lungs and them trying to assure me that "baby will be fine, we worry more in 1st & 2nd tri but we will put a lead apron over the bump!" And they wouldn't let me get a drink as they were worried about having to deliver baby by c-section "to take the pressure of my lungs"

I did struggle with heartburn while I was in hospital but it never occurred to me that it could have been the antebiotics. At the time I put it down to "normal at 8mths pregnant".

Sunshine if your friend knows so much maybe ask him about the risks of X-Ray in pregnancy too. And the risk of having a Caesarean section while you are seriously ill? I remain curious would that option have been to save my baby rather than me.

 

[2have4kids]

Tommyg I'm sorry you went through that, I'm lucky I had it when I wasn't pregnant. I think many people have to have been sick to the point of hospitalization to completely understand how bad it can be; to be more fearful of the vaccination than the sickness itself. In India they still believe polio vaccinations are which craft and just killed one of the leading doctors advocating for polio vaccinations.

 

[skris4]

tommyg and 2have4kids, so sorry that you had such scary experiences.

As for me I am definitely taking it as soon as my doctor asks me to. In 2013 I was affected by flu an didn't get out of the bed for almost 5 days. I had to be carried to the loo. Oh and I need a course of antibiotics . The worst part was that it took me 60 days to get back to feeling like myself.I just felt so weak afterwards for so long.