Had flu vaccine Thursday at 4pm. Now I feel like shite.

[HaveIGotAClue]

I woke up sneezing this morning. Pains in my bones. Headache. Bleary eyed. Lethargic. Feel hot in my face and inner ears. Feel like I have, a high temperature. Took two paracetamol at 3pm; not due more until 7pm.

Nurse stated the usual 'you may experience muscle pain and fever and if so, take paracetamol'.

Have I got a cold or are these normal side effects? I need to be able to function on Monday. If they are just side effects, how long will they last?

Felt rather proud of myself yesterday; apart from the pain in the injection site, I had nothing unusual.

PS - never ever getting it again.

PPS - what the fuck is the point of taking something that gives you pretty much the same effect as the thing you're trying to prevent!?

In fact certainly not even almost.

The vaccine takes a couple of weeks to build up flu immunity so you could have caught flu just before it and then it happened at same time as vaccine, but vaccine didn't protect you yet.

In had an immune reaction when I had it and was pregnant. I assumed it was something to do with my immune system being overloaded or fed up with all the extra work it was doing. You're not up the duff are you OP?

The flu vaccine will not make you sick.
You can have a low grade fever as your body builds an immunity against the non-live vaccine which cannot in a million years give you flu.
Even if you get immunised you can still catch a plethora of other viruses which can make you poorly. You might even still get flu but having the jab can help it to be less severe.
If you are as ill as that after the flu jab it is a coincidence and you were probably already brewing something.
I know lots of people say the same especially elderly relatives - most of the people moaning about side-effects have never had flu.
My DH has asthma and used to skip getting his until I got it one year and now he never misses it.
Sorry for the lengthy post but this really gets to me!

I felt dreadful after the flu jab this year - like proper flu. I have it every year (offered by employer) but have never felt so ill as I did after this one. Think I will give it a miss next year.

Even if you feel as bad as getting the flu, I can see why you'd say "take your chances" but remember you are also less likely to get the flu and be able to pass it to someone else who won't survive the flu (newborns, people going through chemo).

So even if it's "the same" to you, it's not to others.