Side Effects of Flu Vaccines

The flu vaccine may mimic symptoms of the flu. Check with your health care provider for any side effects from vaccination. Some side effects encountered are:

Allergy reaction with rash, shortness of breath/asthma, swelling

Fever, chills. malaise

Sore arm with redness, swelling, bruising at injection site

Muscle aches and headache

Nausea, vomiting

Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) muscle weakness and sometimes paralysis

There have been no reports of the more serious side effects in the small studies conducted. Which poses the greatest risk - the flu or the vaccine? It is up to you and your health care provider. Be informed so you can make the best decision for you.

Best health!

by J. L. Richardson, MD family physician, patient advocate, and author of Patient Handbook to Medical Care: Your Personal Health Guide, the book that tells you how to be your best advocate from medical records to medical exams to medical tests and more.

http://www.mypatienthandbook.com/
www.twitter.com/MD4U

H1N1 Update

The US Center for Disease Control (CDC) has reported 593 deaths to date (compare to 170 at the end of June increasing from 17 at the end of May). All 50 states have been affected. Mass vaccination is planned starting some time in October. Over 2,800 have participated in vacccine clinical trials http://is.gd/3cVSf . Though reported to give immunity in over 90%, many are already reluctant to get the vaccine.

Thank God, H1N1 is not chicken little and the sky is not falling. Best health!

More references:

Preventing the Flu http://short.to/q651 wash hands, cover mouth when cough, consider vaccine
H1N1 map of cases around the world http://is.gd/1Kxtj


by J. L. Richardson, MD family medicine doctor, and author of Patient Handbook to Medical Care: Your Personal Health Guide.

http://www.mypatienthandbook.com/
www.twitter.com/MD4U
www.blogtalkradio.com/drjfpmd

Potential Pandemic Pandemonium: Swine Flu Who's Who

I wrote this comment to post on a blog post entitled,"Get Ready for Pandemic" in May. At this time there was evidence that people will be left out of treatment. Now with the new swine flu vaccine, the designated list of who gets it first has been made known. That alone may be enough to fuel pandemic pandemonium as new cases and deaths erupt daily. (** Thanks to the AC 360 blog for moderating on my comment. Posting it on this blog may reach more people.)

Dr. Flynn & Dr. Redlener, this is a great assessment and all so true. After seeing the actual response, and reading the “unfinished” (states Stage 3 is in progress) 336 page HHS Pandemic Flu Guide, The Pandemic Toolkit from Roche (makers of Tamiflu), pandemicflu.gov, and much more, we have so much more to do.

It would be nice to know that the national stockpile has more than the 50 million doses* for a 300 million plus population, many who are not able to afford it.
Add to the pandemic flu all the other natural disasters occurring daily, and it is easy to see that the health system and all systems will have a tough challenge to keep all safe. As you say, individuals must take responsibility and communication must be ongoing.

Thanks for this great article.

My footnotes added here:*Doctrine of HHS Pandemic Influenza Plan circa 2005, page 6,"
4. Quantities of antiviral drugs sufficient to treat 25% of the US population should be stockpiled." (how did they get this number?) and "8. At the onset of the pandemic, antiviral drugs from public stockpiles will be distributed to health care providers for administration to pre-determined priority groups." (who exactly is this?)

Are we ready for a pandemic? Or pandemic pandemonium?

by J.L. Richardson, MD family medicine doctor, and author of Patient Handbook to Medical Care: Your Personal Health Guide, http://mypatienthandbook.com/ .

More emergency information at Emergency Exchange, http://emergencyexchange.blogspot.com/ .

**http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/05/05/still-unprepared-for-a-lethal-pandemic/