H1n1 Injection

[Guest tearose]

So yesterday I got the H1N1 since I don't handle flu fever well at all.

The nurse was excellent and massaged the arm muscle while injecting so it takes longer but leaves fewer muscle pains....it takes 5 minutes to deliver however.

While sitting there chilling out, suddenly I felt a flush of heat go across my sternum area. I FELT my body responding to the incoming serum. I then feel my entire body flush, I FEEL and KNOW my blood pressure is dropping. I start seeing snow...

I am still NOT anxious or feeling worried, I just feel the drop in blood pressure and my heart is now starting to quicken...

I notify the nurse who says, "you are probably just feeling anxious, anyone would." I said "No, I have no fear I do feel slight pain at the injection site but this is my body taking over, my mind is relaxed and meditative." I then see tons of cotton balls in my vision and know I only have about thirty seconds to do something or I'm going down in faint. I then kicked off my shoes , needle still in my arm and brought one knee up to my chin. I immediately feel my blood returning to my brain. I then bring the other knee up to my chin and start to feel the all snow lift and almost normal! Again, needle sill in my arm. I remained in a ball while she finished.

This was such a validation of how we can feel the physiological changes separate from the emotional and I for one, am doing extremely well! I started to think about how we are so misunderstood as being all emotional or anxious. We don't give ourselves enough credit!

tearose

[sue1234]

Are you having any after-effects from the vaccination, as far as normal side effects?

[Guest tearose]

Last night I was wiped out and needed a lot of sleep... Understandably from the POTS flare and major drop in bp with subsequent lack of O2 to the brain. Today it took longer to come up to good bp.

Now, I am feeling back to "normal" with a slight headache in my center brain. I have a slight ache in the muscle.

I am glad it is over and know that dealing with this is better than trying to deal with and survive a bout of flu.

tearose

[Maisie87]

Amen tearose. validated.

nice vivid description of your experience too! glad you're feeling back to normal now.

[iheartcats]

Thank you for sharing. I can feel completely calm and relaxed and have a POTS flare. I know its not anxiety. I know what anxiety is! Wish more people would try to understand us.

Glad your flu shot only gave you a day or so of annoyance - better than a weeks bout with H1N1!

[yogini]

Ugh, that sounds awful, and the nurse's response makes it worse. A couple of years ago I got a tetanus shot and I felt faint/ shaky for a few hrs after, slept it off and was fine in a day or so. Maybe we should request all of our shots lying down!

I would love to hear how you fare in the long run from the H1N1 shot. A few friends' kids have gotten them and seem to be doing fine. Always reassuring to hear success stories.

[Tachy Phlegming]

What planet are these aliens from?

I think we have to ask them whether they don't see blood pressure drops all the time from whatever they are doing (they don't but as long as they pretend we have anxiety like everyone else, we're entitled to come from a place where we think everyone gets low blood pressure from a shot and say something just as idiotic back to them), explain the mechanism (don't worry if you don't know the exact science of it, they obviously have no idea of the science of it either), and ask where they went to school (that's the gratuitous insult for the "anxiety" comment).

And tell them not to be so flip with the "art" of medicine explanations. They're supposed to be professionals and know the science. If they can't deal with people with certain diseases except to engage in meaningless psychobabble about unimaginable fear of shots, people with those diseases should be separated out to go to people who know the science involved.