I'M SORRY

[xkatyx]

this thread has proberly been done to death, i really do appologise.

I'm freaking out about the flu/swine flu jab.

I know it is only my choice but i feel alone with it and would like to just talk to anyone who is struggeling with the same choice.

I've just had it. Dr said he thought it was the best thing, that they were treating swine flu in the area and he had had one pregnant lady get it.

I will probably worry the other way now. It's very difficult. The media do a good job of scaring you.

I have booked myself in for the jab, am getting it tomorrow. Not entirely convinced it is for the best, but my family are pressuring me a little.

Hehe- I totallyagree sh77. I do take your point about mentioning the fact that they obviously can't be 100% sure that the vaccine is safe... but in the current climate I agree that it's wise to focus mainly on the point that swine flu IS proven to be harmful to women and babes-in-tummies

Does anyone know how many pregnant women were hospitalised/died from swine flu last year? I'm struggling to find the figures. I remember seeing them in Jan/Feb and being quite surprised because there weren't as many as you would have thought given all the media coverage.

I was given the H1N1 vaccine during the 2009/2010 pandemic (it was almost exactly a year ago). I'm now 21 weeks pregnant. I've read the Dept Health letter dated 17.12.10 to the Royal College of Midwives and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. I'm a bit confused as to whether I require the vaccine this year... according to the flow chart attached to that letter I do not require it because I've had it and I'm not in a "high risk" group. In the letter "high risk" appears to mean maternal smoking, obesity and pre-existing asthma. However, the Dept Health also uses the term "high risk" to mean pregnant women per se. Does anyone know whether I need the vaccine? I'm sorry I haven't trawled the entire thread for answers as we still have no frozen turkey and my dh is agitating to go out on a night mission to find one. Why it must be frozen is beyond me. Thanks everyone for this v useful thread.

Yoey - my understanding is that the advice has changed and now you are recommended to have it this year even if you had it last year. I had it last year and have had it again today (17 weeks). My only regret is that I didn't have it sooner.

Based on the (admittedly limited and occasionally verging on the crack pot) research I have done I have decided not to have the vaccination - yet (no one has actually offered it to me but I have 1st midwife appointment next week and wanted to have thought it through). My reasons are:

• swine flu very far from epidemic/pandemic proportions so far
• no reported cases in our area
• like another poster I have limited contact with public as do not use public transport, have own office not open plan and limited face to face contact with clients
• between weighing up the risk that I might get swine flu, and then if I did it might lead to complications (which is by no means certain) and the risk of miscarriage of having vaccination in first trimester, I'll do anything to minimise the risk of MC. Put it this way - if I had the swine flu vaccine next week and had a MC the week after, I would forever blame the vaccine and myself. I might well be mistaken to do so, but I would.

Without wanting to sound inhumane or blase, thousands of people get one of dozens of strains of flu each year and some of them have complications. I could have the vaccine, get a different strain of flu and still have complications. The risk hasn't reach tipping point for me.

saw my gp this morning cause i've had a bad chesty cough for weeks, now blocked sinuses on top of it. by the time i left the surgery i'd been given the all clear and the flu jab. am feeling rotten with this cough/cold but much happier having had the flu jab. really don't want to risk catching anything worse than i've got at the moment, plus i have a 1yr old and 2yr old so don't want them catching anything off me. has only taken 35 weeks for a medical professional to tell me i need it cause i'm pregnant.

In a rush, so haven't read the whole thread, but Tangle I am so sorry.

I was exposed to swine flu and am now on Tamiflu post exposure prophylaxis. Yuk, yuk, yuk. I'm 28 weeks pregnangt, so luckily the chances of teratogenicity to the baby are low, but I regret being too busy to get the vaccine before when I had planned to.

I've now had the vaccine, it's a walk int the park compare to Tamiflu.

Hi all - am new to this thread - but am 26 + 2 and booked to have the jab tomorrow. What I'm a little cross about is that as well as being pregnant I have an auto-immune disease (Addisons) and no-one (midwife/doctor/consultant who I've been seeing regularly due to other complications) has mentioned me having it. It was only at the weekend, due to the amount of publicity this has been receiving, that it really came to my attention and I rang our surgery, who consulted with the doctors, and then advised me that it would be recommended - so hence I'm having it tomorrow afternoon. Was wondering if I was doing the right thing, but on reading your thread, it has reassured me and convinced me that I am - so thank you. Tangle - so sorry to read your story, but thank you for being brave and sharing your experience x

Everyone on here appears to whole-heartedly support the injection.

However, I dont.

Im not saying that there is definitely a risk but I think everyone needs to make an informed choice.

I know that a lot of people, including medical personnel, have chosen not to have the swine flu jab ... because of the suspision that it has been rushed through before full tests (and Im not saying whether it is safe immediately after having it, but the longer term affects for mums and babies).

I used to work as a litigator for the medical profession and I have first hand knowledge that they can get it wrong.

Medical trials are not perfect. We really don't know the full affects of this vaccination on anyone, nevermind unborn babies.

The figures suggest that the vaccination is perfectly fine but they have been wrong before ... and we simply don't know of the side affects long term - have you heard about the problems with the anti-baldness drug at the moment, which was passed by all the regulators, but its being withdrawn for some patients as it causes serious side affects ... yet it was trialled, tested and passed by the FDA.

I have recently refused the standard flu jab this year as it includes the swine flu element ... its just not worth the risk for me .. but thats my choice.

Whatever you do decide is clearly your choice ... but there are risks on both sides ... its just a matter of considering those risks and opting for the one you feel is the least problematic. But you do need to know both sides of said risks.

i went to see nurse today for my jab.

all very confusing off putting tbh.

i was discussing it with nurse last week who was taking my bloods that mw had failed to get at booking in.

She thought i should have it but didn't know if it was specific swine or general flu i needed to check with mw. i asked at reception they said 'no its just one combined jab don't worry'

anyway..finally at docs this morning at 10wk pg. Nurse was really offputting said no research into taking vaccines in pg woman was i sure i wanted or even needed it.

Ive been strugging with MS and been medicated for it. i couldn't face flu and reading stories of pg women hospitalised is real and scary so yes i did want it!! Felt totally drained after all that.

I did have confirmed swine flu - but still wanted the flu jab (which includes the SF) because I am asthmatic as well, and the pneumonia that I got as a complication of the SF has left me with permanent lung damage, so if I caught ordinary flu, especially whilst pg, it would be very dangerous for me.

I weighed up the risks/benefits, and IMO, having 3 dc already, and being 36+wks pg, it is safer for me and my family for me to be vaccinated.

tangle - I'm so sorry for your loss. But it is stories like yours that validate my decision to have the vaccine. Thank you for sharing.

And so far, the only side effect I seem to have is a very sore arm. It's a price worth paying IMO for my health and the health of my unborn baby, and for the good of my family.

I had the jab last year at about 36 weeks. Apart from a sore arm (felt bruised for a few days) nothing bad happened. I felt better about it because I spoke to the doctors that I trusted and they all unanimously (sp?) said they would have it in my position. Yes, I would have it again, definitely.

I am being treated as high risk for this pregnancy. I saw my extremely eminent obstetrician and high risk MW yesterday and neither mentioned the SF jab. I won't be opting for it but am surprised it wasn't raised....

sorry I've not read the whole thread and I'm not pregnant but I would like to say that swine flu (unlike standard flu) kiolls a different patient population - ie not just the elderly and infirm.

At the hospital I work at we have opened more critical carre beds to cope with the rise in swine flu cxases this year. Last year a women in her early twenties died with swine flu shortly after giving birth.

I too haven't had time to read all the comments, but I got the swine flu jab at 8 months pg last year. I was working in close contact with people in places where there had been many cases and felt it was too risky not to. I had a bit os a sore arm for a couple of days, but absolutely no ill-effects to me or the baby. Now I am in my first trimester and would like the flu jab as soon as I can, as, again, there is a lot of it going around our small town.

I wonder does anyone here realise that pregnant women are also in the 'at risk' group for seasonal flu? Before all the swine flu publicity would you have rushed out to get a seasonal flu vaccine? Probably not, unless you had another underlying medical condition. The only reason that people are panicking now is because they are hearing about it on the news every day and it makes it difficult to put it in perspective.

Why is everyone getting repeat vaccines? Do you not think it worked the first time? Loudlass, i understand that you wanted protection from the other strains and swine flu just happens to be added this year but why are other people getting the vaccine again?

Bubbleyummy I'm getting the vaccine again because despite having read the Dept Health flow chart I'm still not sure if I require it (because the Dept Health do not define who amongst pregnant women is "at risk" or whether all pregnant women are "at risk") and the nurse at my surgery says I do, so I will- it's the only professional advice I can get as I cannot make an informed decision based on the Dept Health. I would rather make my own decision as after speaking to the nurse I realise that she's as confused by the Dept Health as I am!

sorry Bubbleymummy I didn't read your name properly- bit tired!

I got the injection last winter while pregnant and had no side effects to either myself or DS.

Didn't know that pregnant ladies are "at risk" of seasonal flu and would ordinarily be offered that jab... might have made it easier for me to make my decision last year if I had known.

have had it at 27 wks and very glad to, last pregnancy was in hospital with bed chest infection after a bad bout of flu because they wouldn't give me flu jab then. Also am planning to get my 2.8mth old jabbed as she always seems to get chest infections after colds and anything stronger, well worth getting as no side effects for me.

There was a recent study reviewing all previous research on flu vaccines by the Cochrane Library. It found that there was absolutely no value to ANY flu vaccine. And in fact, due to the weakening of the immune system by the adjuvants, they found that you were actually marginally MORE likely to catch the flu if you had the jab.

preventdisease.com/news/10/121010_no_value_flu_vaccines.shtml

Also there is this website - very thorough. I certainly would never ever have a flu vaccine - and if pregnant you'd have to tie me down to have it.

www.vaccineriskawareness.com/My-Fight-For-Health-After-Vaccination

www.vaccineriskawareness.com/Vaccine-Information-For-Pregnant-Women

www.vaccineriskawareness.com/Swine-Flu-Epidemic-H1N1-Vaccine-Deaths-and-Injuries

www.vaccineriskawareness.com/Swine-Flu-Vaccine

www.vaccineriskawareness.com/Flu-Vaccines

Very interesting perspectives. I am being treated as high risk in this pregnancy. I saw my very eminent obstetrician and high risk MW yesterday and neither mentioned the vaccine. I am opting not to have it but surprised it wasn't mentioned. As with previous poster, I am limiting contact with people and travel on the tube completely at the moment.