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I've just emailed my GP in order to refuse the 'flu jab. Here's why.
During a trip in my van to Tenby in May last year, I had a vile sore throat. On arriving home, my feet and hands became very cold and felt as if they had been stung by nettles. One day later, my hands and feet were tingling and I had to wear gloves as my hands were still very cold and were extremely sensitive. Jennifer took me to my GP. He didn't know what was ailing me. The next day I couldn't walk! Jen took me to the outpatients clinic at my local hospital and the duty GP there diagnosed Guillain Barre Syndrome.
I was immediately admitted and stayed in hospital for 8 nights. I couldn't walk at all, paralysed.
The neurologist confirmed a MILD case of GBS.
It is now seventeen months later and I consider myself 95% back to normal. I can now walk, jog, swim and use a pen again, but I still experience a tingling sensation in my hands and feet.
Nobody knows what triggers it, it could be anything and the chances of getting flu is a lot more than this ailment as bad as it was for you.
ray.
______________________________________________________________ A man goes into a bookshop and says, ´Have you got that new book for men with really small willies?´
The assistant says, ´I don´t think it´s in yet.´
´Yes, that´s the one!´ Says the man.
Very glad you are almost recovered, and with the greatest sympathy for your misfortune, I hope our members will not be frightened by your post.
If you caught the disease in May it seems unlikely that it could be linked to a flu jab, which you may or may not have had the previous Autumn.
My concern is the irresponsible scaremongering by the Daily Mail, who never allow the facts to get in the way of a good scare story!!
Worried members should note several factors, including :--
1). The article you refer to was in the Daily Mail, so it must be 100% accurate.
2). It was published on 15th August 2009
3). It concerned a Swine Flu vaccine used many years earlier in the US - not the normal annual flu jab used in the UK.
4). Quote - "It refers to the use of a similar swine flu vaccine in the United States in 1976."
5). Quote - "25 people died . . . . More than 40million Americans had received the (Swine Flu) vaccine by the time the programme was stopped after ten weeks." That's a 1 in 1,600,000 chance of getting it then.
6). A comment from the Association of British Neurologists says, "However, it is thought that one in a million people who have a seasonal flu vaccination could be at risk and it has also been linked to people recovering from a bout of flu of any sort." (My emphasis)
Very selective reporting by the Daily Mail (no surprise there then ) and significant misrepresentation. No mention of the lady at the end of the article having had the swine flu jab - just a hyped up tale of her illness, with the implication carefully left unsaid.
None of this detracts from GG222's horrendous experience of course, but it is very easy erroneously to link an effect to a cause, and become quite frightened without any significant reason for concern.
With only an admitted 1 in 1,600,000 risk involved, I think those are odds that most people would regard as acceptable.
I have no medical training (only simple logic) so who am I to say, but the NHS link quoted by Ray says very positively, "The exact cause of Guillain-Barré syndrome is unclear. There is no way of identifying who is most at risk."
I to have sympathy with your experience but I have been having the jab for 10 years now and I know it has really helped me.
It saves thousands of lives in older people.
______________________________________________________________ Barry
Although some cases occur without a known cause, some cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome are related to:
a virus, such as the cytomegalovirus (a member of the herpes group) or the HIV infection
a bacterial infection, such as infection from Campylobacter bacteria
Hodgkin's lymphoma – tumour of the lymph glands (the small, bean-sized organs that carry white blood cells)
Vaccination has also been linked to Guillain-Barré syndrome. However, studies suggest a very low risk of developing the syndrome after receiving a vaccine.
For example, since the swine flu pandemic in 2009, around 6 million doses of the vaccine Pandemrix have been given in the UK. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), which monitors the safety of vaccines, received 15 suspected reports of Guillain-Barré syndrome during the pandemic. The diagnosis was not confirmed in any of these cases."
Nobody knows what triggers it, it could be anything and the chances of getting flu is a lot more than this ailment as bad as it was for you.
ray.
GBS and the 'flu' jab? Maybe nothing, maybe something. As you say Ray, the exact trigger is unknown.
Medical opinion is undecided, but any virus can cause it.
Some may well wish to dismiss the article as scaremongering, others may well wish to take note.
You make your own choice.
______________________________________________________________ "Ay up, ow at, oraight I ope"
John (Ex - GG222).
"The pellet with the poison´s in the vessel with the pestle; the chalice from the palace has the brew that is true!"
Some may well wish to dismiss the article as scaremongering, others may well wish to take note.
Absolutely. Only the person concerned can make such a potentially important decision.
GG222 wrote:
You make your own choice.
But not on the basis of a Daily Mail article I would suggest.
There's plenty of information available from the NHS and other highly reputable British sources, which tend to be far more equivocal than some of the American websites!!
Dave
P.S. Hope nobody finds anything too alarming. We had our jabs last Monday!!
The comments in the Daily Mail article can be found on numerous websites. To denigrate the article just because it is published by the Daily Mail is unfair in this case.
There are numerous websites that state the possible connection between GBS and the 'flu' jab. Indeed the NHS site states:
'Vaccination has also been linked to Guillain-Barré syndrome. However, studies suggest a very low risk of developing the syndrome after receiving a vaccine.'
An article by Dr Laura Price states:
'... A Canadian study of Guillain-Barré syndrome admissions also showed a small but significantly increased risk after vaccination (risk ratio 1.45 (95% confidence interval 1.05 to 1.99; P=0.02), although no such increase in risk was seen in a smaller UK study. Several studies showed an increased risk of adverse events after flu vaccination, with 0.7 reports of the syndrome per million vaccinations from 1990-2005, although these studies relied on case reporting so may be unreliable... '
She does state as well...
'... I do not know whether my illness was an idiosyncratic autoimmune phenomenon or whether I am predisposed to similar events in the future. It has been suggested that those who are still within six weeks of the onset of an episode of the syndrome or those whose episode was initially precipitated by vaccination should avoid the vaccine, which seems sensible. In view of the potential risks of and likely exposure to flu infection as a healthcare professional, the lack of relapse of the syndrome in a sizeable number of people who have had the flu vaccine, and the lack of a persistent causal association, my current view is to consider “having the jab” when it becomes available... '
End of quote.
So, we have to make a personal decision as to just how accurate these studies are.
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UK
the previous Autumn.
