Vaccine side-effect

[Rolfe]

Since this topic is so topical, I thought I'd share the story of my cousin's wife.

Beth fell ill while on holiday three or four years ago. Some sort of viral condition. The upshot was, ME. At one stage she was so weak her husband had to hand-feed her while she lay in bed. However, she has made slow but steady progress. They moved to a ground-floor flat, and every time I see her she's better than before.

Then, in November, she was eligible with others of her age-group, to receive the new pneumonia and meningitis vaccine. The vaccine knocked her back quite a bit. She had to stop embroidering the tapestry she was making for me for a birthday present, and was confined to bed for several days. Her doctor wasn't especially surprised by this, it had been discussed, and it was felt that the benefits of immunity (the vaccine lasts for 10 years) outweighed the risk of a transient adverse reaction.

And it was transient - in less than two weeks, she was fine. But more than that. When I went to visit just after Christmas, she looked completely normal. As if she'd never been ill at all. ME? What ME?

Well, it's not that simple, obviously. She's still not 100%. But she's massively better. So much so that she asked her doctor whether it was possible that the vaccine might have kick-started something. She felt as if, while she was recovering from the vaccine reaction, that the recovery just went on happening until she was a lot better than she'd been before the vaccination.

The doctor said, maybe. "There has been a study in Japan. I thought it might be possible something like this might happen." But on the other hand he said it could be pure coincidence, and that the time was coming anyway for her to recover naturally from the ME.

Who knows. But it does illustrate that not all suspected vaccine side-effects are adverse.

Rolfe.

 

[Deetee]

The doctor said, maybe. "There has been a study in Japan. I thought it might be possible something like this might happen." But on the other hand he said it could be pure coincidence, and that the time was coming anyway for her to recover naturally from the ME.
Rolfe.

Of course it was co-incidence.
Everyone knows that when a bad thing happens after a vaccination it is a side effect, and if a good thing happens it is co-incidental (or because of something else like woo-woo incantation under a pink pyramid in mexico!)

 

[Rolfe]

Of course, note that the doctor did freely admit it might be coincidence. When did we last hear of a woo-woo admitting that an improvement after one of their nostrums might be coincidental? No way!

Beth, of course, is as solidly convinced that it was the vaccine as any woo-woo ever was that it was the herbs what done it.

By the way, I got the tapestry, finished and framed, a lovely cross-stitch of a tabby cat (what else?).

Rolfe.

 

[Desdemona]

Of course, note that the doctor did freely admit it might be coincidence. When did we last hear of a woo-woo admitting that an improvement after one of their nostrums might be coincidental? No way!

Beth, of course, is as solidly convinced that it was the vaccine as any woo-woo ever was that it was the herbs what done it.

By the way, I got the tapestry, finished and framed, a lovely cross-stitch of a tabby cat (what else?).

Rolfe.

I do not have an opinion but in medical conditions like ME we cannot dismiss anything as coincidental.

The discussion about vaccination is very interesting. None questions its benefits in Greece because licenced doctors and pharmacists are those who impersonate the magician of the village.

 

[CurtC]

Rolfe wrote:
The upshot was, ME.

The cause of her illness was YOU? I honestly don't understand.

 

[Rolfe]

The cause of her illness was YOU? I honestly don't understand.

Working on that "honestly" part, I'll apologise for using an unexplained abbraviation. Myalgic Encephalitis. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is a better name. Once called "yuppie flu".

Not that Beth ever was a yuppie. But interestingly enough, her youngest daughter had the same problem many years before when she was at university. She is long since recovered, married, and has two children.

Rolfe.

 

[The Don]

[deliberate insensitivity to achieve cheap gag]
I think this demonstrates that swinging the lead is heredetary
[/deliberate insensitivity to achieve cheap gag]

 

[Jon_in_london]

Vaccines are known to somtimes give the immune system a good kick in the arse.

In fact, theres talk of using vaccines theraputically- ie if theres a half-decent HIVaccine, give it to HIV+ people to try and get their immune system to stop lying around drinking beer and watching TV and get of its fat arse and do something about it! (figuratively)

ref: Expert Rev Vaccines. 2003 Dec;2(6):739-52.

The potential role of the HIV-1 immunogen (Remune(R)) as a therapeutic vaccine in the treatment of HIV infection.

Fernandez-Cruz E, Navarro J, Rodriguez-Sainz C, Gil J, Moreno S, Gonzalez-Lahoz J, Carbone J.

 

[Rolfe]

Vaccines are known to somtimes give the immune system a good kick in the arse.

[DEEP SARCASM MODE]
But don't you realise? Vaccines DESTROY the immune system!
[/DEEP SARCASM MODE]

Rolfe.

 

[Rolfe]

Last week, my mother had the same meningitis/pneumonia vaccination. She's 87, by the way.

She'd heard so many warnings that the vaccine might cause a transient illness, and heard from one acquaintance to whom that had happened, plus she knew about Beth's experience.

She phoned me yesterday, worried. She felt fine. Minor ache in her arm at the injection site, but slight enough that she could still sleep on that side. Otherwise, nothing.

So, was the vaccine not "taking"? Would she not be immune?

You can't win.

Rolfe.