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Pregnancy

Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

offered swine flu jab...

51 replies

goodlifemummy · 11/06/2010 09:05

Morning! Got a letter from my GP offering me the swine flu jab, I am 12 weeks tomorrow. I am usually quite fit and healthy and don't tend to get really ill. Just wondering if anyone has any opinions one way or the other, I am leaning pretty strongly towards not getting it. I didn't get my two 5 year olds done either. Thanks!

OP posts:
BexieID · 11/06/2010 09:10

I didn't have it when pregnant, neither did my 4yo when offered. I didn't want something that wasn't tested properly and couldn't subject Tom to it if I wasn't having it.

beanlet · 11/06/2010 09:13

I was offered it -- couldn't be bothered, and I was pregnant over the winter too. Swine flu has been majorly hyped; I wouldn't worry about it.

mumoffourgirls · 11/06/2010 09:18

I had swine flu when i was pregnant and also got the vaccine. Had a really sore arm for about a week, really sore to the extent I couldnt move it or lie on it so I didnt get my DD vaccinated when offered

japhrimel · 11/06/2010 09:40

Just be aware that your immune system is suppressed when pregnant, so how you cope with illness usually is no indicator of how you'd cope with swine flu when pregnant. If you're going to avoid busy places, commuting and being around schoolchildren (all risk factors for getting swine flu if it becomes an issue again) then you're less likely to get it anyway.

MagnumIcecreamAddict · 11/06/2010 09:47

Swine flu has massively declined and the risks not as high as once thought, though undoubtedly a bit higher in pregnancy. I work in a hospital and had contact with a few patients with swine flu when pregnant (currently 40+3) and still opted against the vaccine.

There is no evidence that the vaccine causes problems in pregnancy, equally there is no evidence that it is safe - just hasn't been tested.

No right answer, you have to go with what feels right for you. There are unfortunately loads of bad bugs you can catch when pregnant and this is just one of them.

barkfox · 11/06/2010 09:47

I was automatically booked in for it when I was just short of 12 weeks. I was fit and healthy with no underlying health conditions, and also work largely from home (no commute, rarely in busy places etc). I simply didn't see the need given my circumstances, so rang back and cancelled. Maybe I'd feel differently if I had existing health problems or a different lifestyle. And I'm not remotely an 'anti-vac' person at all, I just thought this one was unnecessary.

DetectivePotato · 11/06/2010 09:59

My DS has had it, as have all my friends DCs. I have just been offered it and I have recently found out I am pregnant.

Once I am further along I am going to have it as I have a few health problems anyway and as I see it, it was good enough for me to give to my DS so it should be good enough for me.

Hevster · 11/06/2010 12:58

Spoke to my GP at length about it and she recommended that I have DD done as she goes to nursery and it was a good way of minimising the risk without having the jab myself when pregnant. Don't want the jab myself as the risk of catching swine flu is minimal at the moment but no one knows if it will kick off in the Autumn again or not

ArthurPewty · 11/06/2010 13:18

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MrsGangly · 11/06/2010 13:31

The swine flu vaccine contains a tiny amount of mercury and we know that fewer people die of infectious diseases since vaccination was introduced. (I'm assuming you allow your family to eat fish, LeonieDelt, which also contain mercury.)

All viruses go quiet over the summer and it is not clear what will happen during an expected second wave over the winter.

The difference between swine flu and 'normal' flu was that it was healthy young people who were at most risk of dying, rather than older people with other health problems.

The risk of being admitted, needing artificial ventilation and dying were also much higher in pregnant women.

I had my swine flu vaccine done the week I fell pregnant. Better a sore arm for a day or two than the risk of a dead mother and baby, I felt.

DetectivePotato · 11/06/2010 14:24

"The risk of being admitted, needing artificial ventilation and dying were also much higher in pregnant women.

I had my swine flu vaccine done the week I fell pregnant. Better a sore arm for a day or two than the risk of a dead mother and baby, I felt."

My thoughts exactly.

rockinghertosleep · 11/06/2010 14:34

I agree with MrsGangly! Granted I have asthma and am therefore in a higher-risk group for complications anyway, but when given the advice to have it from my GP when I was 5 weeks pregnant, I looked at DD and thought, better to have the jab and minimise the risk of not being here to watch her grow up than to worry about the risk to the fetus. Am 33weeks now and have scans every 2 weeks because of underlying health conditions and baby is growing just fine, with no abnormalities detected btw...

withorwithoutyou · 11/06/2010 14:38

I agonised over this as got pregnant in October. Decided not to have it in the first trimester and was going to ask for Celvapan in 2nd trimester.

Caught swine flu in first trimester (confirmed by private swab) so never bothered with the vaccine. Incidentally, I've never been invited to have the vaccine despite being both pregnant and asthmatic

heymango · 11/06/2010 14:47

I had the vaccine over the winter when pregnant with DD. I wasn't keen to have it but weighed up the pros and cons and decided it was worth it - DD appears unscathed!

I'm not so sure I would bother now though as there doesn't seem to be an epidemic imminent.

LuluF · 11/06/2010 14:49

I'm not a scientist nor medically trained, but I understood that the science behind all flu vaccines was the same year after year and tried and tested - it's just the only the strain that changes.

I vaccinated all my children. I shall have it if/when I'm offered. The chances are it will be back in the autumn and I don't want to be on a ventilator - I want to see my children grow up.

LuluF · 11/06/2010 14:52

And the other thing - flu makes no distinctions about whether you are usually fit and healthy. It is indiscriminate. I'll admit I was slightly obsessed with the swine flu hype in the summer - but reading about previous pandemics - often fit and healthy people are the first hit badly. For me, it's not a risk worth taking.

lucybrad · 11/06/2010 14:56

I had it no problem. Theres mercury in your fillings so that no reason not to have it. Swine flu may be lying low at the moment, but it'll be back, and they are saying that the winter flu for 2010/11 will likely be swine flu. Why risk it? Has anyone actually heard of anyone having a problem with the vaccination???

ArthurPewty · 11/06/2010 14:57

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LuluF · 11/06/2010 15:55

LeonieDelt - in what way is the mercury we eat different to the mercury in the vaccine?

Tangle · 11/06/2010 17:11

I was pregnant last year, due late January this year. I declined the swine flu vaccine, figuring I was pretty healthy and didn't do lots of the high risk things - and that even if I caught it the disease was usually mild, even in pregnant women.

Unfortunately for us, the gamble didn't pay off. I started showing symptoms on the 27th December (although we didn't realise what it was at the time), and was admitted to hospital for dehydration and low blood pressure in the early hours of New Years day (swine flu can cause D&V - I couldn't keep water down all day). When we got to hospital they couldn't find our baby's heartbeat with a sonicaid, and 2 subsequent scans confirmed she'd died. I had to be induced a few days later, once I was healthy enough to give birth. SF was confirmed by swab.

Knowing what we know now, SF had been round the entire village over Christmas but the symptoms were no where near what was publicised and so most people didn't recognise it as such. My presentation was apparently pretty classic (according to the lead SF MW) - a bit of a sniffle and a cough for a couple of days, then I felt extreme lethargy (slept for most of 24 hours), D&V starting on the 4th day leading to weird vital signs (BP 60/30, oxygenation 50%, pulse >150). I didn't start a temperature until the evening of the 4th day when I was having a D&V fit mixed in with attacks of rigors (classic flu shivers and shakes). The temperature then came and went over the next few days. The discrepancy in symptoms and the knowledge that I shared them with most of the village makes me think that the cases of SW last winter were vastly under-reported, but also that it was much milder than feared in the majority of people infected.

All that said, I know I was very unlucky - my MW knew 3 other women who'd had swine flu while pregnant, and all of them came through with no problems. And a 4th lady who caught seasonal flu and had the same outcome as me. Part of me wishes I'd had the jab, but I've heard it isn't particularly effective (don't know if that's just people trying to make me feel better!) so I may have been in the same place even if I had. I can't say, hand on heart, that if I could do it again I'd have jab.

Everything in life is a risk, and even more so when pregnant. You can't avoid them all - just choose which ones you're prepared to take.

LuluF · 11/06/2010 17:27

Tangle - I'm so sorry to hear your story.

ArthurPewty · 11/06/2010 18:35

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goodlifemummy · 11/06/2010 18:42

Tangle, I am so sorry, what an awful thing to happen

OP posts:
LuluF · 11/06/2010 19:13

LeonieDelt: yes

ArthurPewty · 11/06/2010 22:37

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