Egg allergy and flu jab??

[ThirdTimeLuck]

I seem to have developed an egg intolerance, I think that's what it is as nothing happens immediately but when I've eaten egg (lightly cooked mainly as cakes etc don't seem to affect me) I become ill a few hours later. I start off with sweats and chills, I shake a lot, my stomach feel like someone is twisting it and it's agony, then I have diorreah. It lasts an hour or so, then I just feel wrung out and exhausted.

I'm due to have the flu jab, it's the first one since I had my baby which is when the reaction to egg started. I'm worried that my reaction to egg will mean that the flu jab is potentially quite dangerous for me?

Can anyone offer any advice? I haven't been to the dr about my reactions as yet as I've avoided eggs and been ok. I want the flu jab.

[emwithme]

I'm going to ask you what may sound like the STUPIDEST question ever but this is Mumsnet so fuck it Are you on the contraceptive injection (depo-provera)? Whenever I take that I become intolerant to eggs. Within 30 minutes of eating most egg (but, like you, not in cake) I had the most awful stomach cramps, foul smelling farts and diarrhoea with stringy mucus (sorry if TMI).

I was always fine with the flu jab, btw, even when I was avoiding eggs (it wasn't until I stopped taking the depo and the egg-related symptoms abated that I linked the two!)

[Hedgehog80]

Ds1 has a severe egg allergy and is not allowed the flu vaccination injected or nasal

[FormerlyCatherineDeB]

Your symptoms sound like an intolerance rather than an allergy - look at Allergy UK.

Gastric response only is usually an intolerance. I developed a massive shellfish allergy after childbirth - had loved it before but now have an epipen. Get hives, struggle to breathe and it progresses from there.

Speak to your GP.

[Sidge]

The contraindication for flu vaccine and egg allergy is if you have a serious or anaphylactic allergy. The vaccine is cultured on chick cells and contains a very small amount of ovalbumin, so could potentially trigger an anaphylactic reaction.

Having a gastrointestinal intolerance in itself isn't a contraindication to having the inactivated flu vaccine and you may find you have no effects from the injectable vaccine beyond the usual achy arm or feeling off colour for a day or two.

[ThirdTimeLuck]

Thank you for the responses! I've had a look at info on intolerances and allergies and I think I scared myself a bit with thinking that intolerances can get worse and worse until they become allergies. I'd convinced myself that the vaccine would probably be too much and cause a bad reaction.

emwithme no I'm not on the contraception injection but strange that you should mention it as I've been considering it. That's really weird about the link, and it was after pregnancy that my reactions have started.

I think I'll give the GP a ring for a phone appointment to see what I should do in this situation. I'd rather have the jab because I have asthma and 2 small children who pass on every bug even when they don't have symptoms themselves.

Thanks again for the responses, very much appreciated. I'll have a look at Allergy UK Formally.

[ThirdTimeLuck]

Just thought I'd update for anyone in a similar situation. I went to the dr and described my symptoms, he said that gastrointestinal reactions are usually intolerances and respiratory reactions are usually allergies. He gave me a blood test which was back in 3 days and showed that I don't have an allergy. He said because it is an intolerance to eggs, and this is common, the flu vaccine would be perfectly safe for me. Had the test showed an allergy, even if the symptoms hadn't yet become respiratory, the flu vaccine would not have been safe because symptoms with allergies often become more extreme after further exposure. So, I'm off to Google egg free recipes and to book my flu vaccine .

Thanks for the advice mumsnet!