This is a question many of us with autoimmune conditions ask ourselves every winter.
I am a believer in vaccination and for several years always had the flu jab. My thinking was that flu is something I’d very much like to avoid and the vaccine provides a good chance of being protected against it. My job involves going into schools (germ factories) and mixing with many different adults and children and I figured taking precautions to avoid flu was a good idea. In addition, I am aware that if everyone who CAN have the vaccine does so, this helps to protect others who can’t have it.
Then I began to have a reaction to the vaccine, which became worse each year … a kind of mini-flu! Two years ago I had the vaccine, the mini-flu then an MS relapse. I can’t say that the vaccine triggered the relapse but that is how it seemed to me. Many MSers describe a similar experience. Doctors tell us it’s a coincidence and there is no link, however the truth is that no one really knows the root cause of MS and everything that can trigger a relapse.
After that I took the view that as my immune system tends to act in unpredictable and unusual ways, it was probably a good idea not to provoke it. Last year I didn’t have the flu jab.
This year I am having a lot more contact with doctors and they keep nudging me towards the jab! Following a long conversation with a GP last week, I agreed to give it one more try.
So, on Monday I braved the needle and went for the jab. This time I’ve had no mini flu at all, just slight tenderness at the injection site and a bit of sickness the next day. Hopefully that’s it!
Keep your fingers crossed for me that there isn’t a relapse on its way and let’s hope, for all our sakes, that the flu vaccine is for the right strain of flu this winter and we are all spared ??????