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Posted 1/6/2013 10:05 PM (GMT 0)
Hi,

I've never had the flu shot and my doctor wants me to get one this year. I switched school jobs and in closer contact with the students...and germs...this time around. Along with Crohn's, I also have Rheumatoid Arthritis and on steroids, methotrexate, and orencia. It makes sense to get the flu shot. Although I am worried that there will be a reaction due to the other immune suppressant drugs I'm taking...or just the point that I have autoimmune diseases. My doctor assured me that I'll be fine. I just wondered if there are others who have had any experience with the vaccine: good and bad.
Thanks!
Posted 1/6/2013 10:42 PM (GMT 0)
I no longer get the flu shot, made me sick. But I am at home and not working among school children anymore.
Posted 1/6/2013 10:52 PM (GMT 0)
The majority of members here with Crohn's get a yearly influenza vaccination. I have gotten a flu shot every year for the last 14 years. I have NEVER once gotten ill from getting a shot. Fifteen years ago I got influenza and was very, very ill for 10 days.

Also, I have ankylosing spondylitis and my rheumatologist wants anyone living in my household to also get a yearly shot.
Posted 1/6/2013 10:52 PM (GMT 0)
The flu vaccine does not contain live virus, so there is no additional risk to you from your various meds. Don't get the Flu Mist, that will potentially give you the flu.

I've been getting the flu vaccine for years because I have asthma. There is rampant flu in my state right now and I am SO GLAD that I got my vaccine in October. Get yours ASAP because you need a couple of weeks to build immunities, and from what I see right now, this is likely to be a very busy flu season.
Posted 1/7/2013 1:53 AM (GMT 0)
Thank you for your quick replies.

Anyone on a biologic med (that's the orencia) and take the flu shot?

Kazbern, yes, my doctor made it very clear that I get the shot, not the inhaled mist.
Posted 1/7/2013 2:48 AM (GMT 0)
I got the flu shot last year and was on Humira.  I seriously felt like it made me feel sick and still got sick a few times from what seemed like the flu that year.  However, I have a toddler in daycare and he seemed to bring EVERYTHING home that year.  This year my son has not been sick at all but my husband and I have had our fair share of things (Son got his flu shot, we didn't), so who knows.  Might as well follow your doctors orders!
Posted 1/7/2013 3:10 AM (GMT 0)
Not on orencia, but had the flu shot this year on Humira and Pred and didn't have any reaction. I dunno if being on an immunesuppressant makes you more likely to have a reaction, but the generally immunesuppressed are advised to have the flu shot at my surgery.
Posted 1/7/2013 10:42 AM (GMT 0)
I would get the flu shot this year. They are saying on the news its going to be a bad flu season this year.
Posted 1/7/2013 11:06 AM (GMT 0)
I have been getting the flu shot for several years now and I have not ever had a problem. I always take Tylenol the first 24 hrs and do just fine. My pulmonary dr said there is a potential of the flu being fatal for me so I will take my chances & get the shot. I am on Humira and before that was on Remicade.

Even if I did not have the lung issues I would still get the shot because its not worth the possibility of getting sick. I had the bad flu when I was 16 and still to this day remember how sick I was and never want to go there again.....Susie
Posted 1/7/2013 1:49 PM (GMT 0)
I got the flu shot for the first time in 2012 in early November. The day after taking the shot I had some reactions. Three weeks later I got common cold and this does not have to do w the flu shot. Now, I haven't got even any colds. My GI assured me that I will be fine w the shot and there could be a possibility that the cold I got was reactions of GERD and not a cold. So, go on.
Posted 1/7/2013 3:01 PM (GMT 0)

I got my first ever flu shot this year.  I was always seriously urged to get one in the past, but I never had the flu so I didn't get the shot.  Last year I had the flu so badly it knocked me down most of December and part of January.  I guess moving to a job where there are more folks was too much for my immune system!  We also play Santa and Mrs Claus and I did not want to catch everything that came across my husbands lap.

The only reaction I had was a sore arm muscle and some neck ache in the afternoon of the shot.  Considering I either highly react or don't react at all to most meds, I consider this superior for no reaction to a shot.  Seeing some folks I know already go down with the flu, I am hoping they picked the right strains this year...I don't want to feel like them and lose more work.

Posted 1/7/2013 5:11 PM (GMT 0)
I usually get a flu shot and have no problems, better yet no flu.  This year (just yesterday, actually) I tried to get one and the 40MG of steroids prevented Walgreens from giving me one.  She said since I had been on it for almost a month, it would just be a wasted flu shot, my immune system is shot.  Of course I am also supposed to start Humaria while weaning steroids, same rule flu shot for nothing.  If  your doc thinks you should have one, I would definately get one.  Chrohn's disease is dabilitating enough without having the flu on top of it.  turn
Posted 1/7/2013 6:57 PM (GMT 0)
I've gotten one for the past 5-6 years and have had no reaction. I was on 6mp in past years and on Humira this year while getting the shot with no problems. They have a checklist of questions you have to answer, asking what you are allergic to, if anything. Eggs is the one I remember. They also ask if you've ever had a reaction to any other vaccines or shots previously. If no allergies to the things on the list, shouldn't be much cause for concern. You can't get the flu from the flu shot (though, like other have said, steer clear of the inhaled mist.)
Posted 1/7/2013 11:31 PM (GMT 0)
I've gotten the flu shot for the last few years...been on either humira, remicade or cimzia when I've gotten the shot. Haven't had any troubles other than a sore arm!
Posted 1/8/2013 12:42 AM (GMT 0)
Thank you for all your replies! It eases my mind knowing that others are on these strong drugs and the flu shot is still a good thing to do!
Posted 1/8/2013 2:13 AM (GMT 0)
I was getting an annual flu shot for a while, and then I stopped. This year I asked my pharmacist whether it would make any sense for me to get a flu shot while I'm taking 6MP (which I've been on since 2004). He said that it's highly likely that my immune system is suppressed enough to keep it from responding to a flu shot. In other words, there's a better than average chance that the flu shot simply won't work--and will just give me a false sense of being protected, when it actually hasn't done anything at all. So he recommended that I not bother.

The flu shot isn't a live-virus vaccine, so it shouldn't give anybody the flu. Nobody on an immunosuppressant should take any live-virus vaccine. Breaks my heart, because I can't take the shingles vaccine--and I just know there's shingles in my future.
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