Q: In regard to your column about flu vaccination for the elderly, you should clarify that a flu shot to the wrong person can ruin her health.
My wife had rheumatoid arthritis and within 24 hours of a flu shot she became an invalid who needed constant personal care. She was so sick we thought she was going to die. Now, two years later, she has slowly recovered, but never enough to dress herself or make a cup of coffee. Nobody told her what a flu shot could do if her immunity was low. I know that you as a doctor parroting the safety line will say this can never happen, but in fact it did, with a totally
Read Also
Restaurant blends zero waste, ancient farming
A Mexico City restaurant has become a draw for its zero-waste kitchen, which means that every scrap of food and leftovers is reused for other purposes.
destroying effect to my wife.
A: You do not describe your wife’s symptoms, and so I am really shooting in the dark here, but you do imply that she is weak. I can see that you are angry with the doctors, but blaming someone is part of a grief reaction. You need to get some home help and support systems in place.
It is possible that she suffered from an illness known as Guillain-Barre syndrome. This is thought to be an autoimmune disease where the body’s immune system attacks the peripheral nerves. It starts as tingling and weakness in various parts of the body and increases in intensity until some muscles cannot be used at all.
In severe cases the patient is almost totally paralyzed. In such cases, the patient is hospitalized and put on a respirator to assist breathing, because the muscles of the chest wall may not work.
Fortunately, this disease is very rare, affecting about one in 100,000 people. It is usually triggered by a cold, flu or a gastrointestinal viral infection. Your wife may have got the flu as the vaccination would not have had time to take effect in 24 hours. However, occasionally surgery or vaccinations can trigger the syndrome. It can develop in a few hours or a few weeks. The disease reaches its peak three weeks after the onset. Most people eventually make a full recovery, but it can be slow progress.
No one knows why Guillain-Barre syndrome affects some people and not others.
However, the fact remains that you are still more likely to have complications of any type, including death, from influenza itself, rather than from the vaccination.
The big scare regarding Guillain-Barre syndrome and vaccinations occurred in 1976 after the “swine flu” vaccinations in the United States. Later it was found that there had only been one or two extra cases of this illness per million vaccinations in the 1992-94 study period. Other studies have been done on patients with multiple sclerosis, another autoimmune disorder, and there was no evidence of any type of relapse after vaccination.
Current research is focusing on the fact that certain bacteria or viruses may activate the immune system inappropriately. Some of the proteins found in the viruses may be similar to ones found in the sheaths of nerve cells, so the body’s immune system may not be able to tell the difference.
Write for information to the Guillain-Barre Syndrome Foundation International, P.O. Box 262, Wynnewood, Pennsylvania 19096 or phone 610-687-0131. There is also a good website and support group at http://www.gbs.org.uk/.
