Several times in the last few weeks and months I have written about ME/CFS, Swine flu and the wisdom or danger of getting a vaccination. (See more posts about ME/CFS in children and young people later on this week.) Recently out of the UK, there is more news about these topics.
I encourage you to do 2 things: search this Health Matters Show blog/podcast and website for all of the entries on the appropriate terms. Then check out this new link at the ME Association. See their QuickLink tabs on the left.
Researchers in the UK are taking note of the correlation between getting a Swine Flu vaccination and the reactions of people with ME/CFS. Your reaction and your symptoms are important to them. The researchers only have 16 replies and they need a lot more.
What’s fascinating to me is that some people who submitted to the Swine Flu vaccination have had no reaction to getting it at all. “However, three people (3/16) have reported a more prolonged and serious exacerbation/relapse of their ME/CFS.”
Of particular concern is a single report of a previously fit adolescent who has developed a number of ME/CFS type symptoms four days after his vaccination. Whilst this link to the vaccination may be pure co-incidence, we do know that ME/CFS can occasionally be triggered by vaccinations, including the normal flu vaccine.
This case is being reported to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Authority (MHRA) by The MEA on the Yellow Card reporting system. And it is very important to make sure that doctors in the UK report all suspected adverse events to swine flu vaccination to the MHRA.
If you’re reading this from the UK, please help by reporting your experience with the Swine Flu vaccination and your ME/CFS symptoms. New symptoms or a worsening of symptoms is bad enough in adults; in young people it can be tragic and alter their entire futures. This is not the first time that a vaccine has been implicated in such damage in young people. Read the story of a young girl named Kenzie.
Thanks for dropping by and best wishes,
Cinda Crawford, host of the Health Matters Show
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
healthvending 04.21.12 at 10:19 pm
It wasnt until after I finished that I realized how bad things were. By the time I got home it was scary. Spent the rest of the day/evening in the ER getting fluids and zofran.