Here's your Public Service Announcement of the day: Don't get the FluMist vaccine! It made me sick!
Here's the story: I got FluMist one week ago, thinking that two puffs of an attenuated virus up my nose would be better than a painful shot into my muscle. How wrong that turned out to be. The next day, Tuesday, I noticed that when I was doing my Pilates, my body felt weaker and not as sharp. I felt weird the next day too, and decided to nix Pilates until I got my usual strength back. I felt kind of off all week last week, and the mild sore throat that was left over from my illness the previous week was worse.
Then on Saturday, two days ago, everything went downhill fast when a really bad head cold developed. This was unlike any head cold I'd had before because it was accompanied by dizziness and shakiness. It was kind of scary. It felt a little like what I would imagine a mild stroke to feel like. The cold was worse on Sunday, plus my appetite had completely vanished. By Sunday evening I'd developed flu-like symptoms (fever over 100, exhaustion, dry-heaving/vomiting (sorry!)). Today I was recovering at home all day, my appetite and strength slowly beginning to return, but the sore throat worse than ever, and generally feeling as fragile as a baby bird.
I wish I had researched FluMist better. It's a live virus in there--it's weak, but it's alive! There are more side effects with FluMist than there are with the flu shot. Unfortunately I was one of the unlucky ones to actually get sick from it. And I don't for one second think it was a coincidence. I don't plan on ever getting FluMist again. It is ridiculous to be vaccinated against something and to then quickly get sick with the very thing that you were vaccinated against. What a waste. In the future, I'll take my chances.
I'm not saying that FluMist will make everyone sick; obviously it doesn't do that or it wouldn't be on the market. My 7-year-old son got FluMist at the same time as me and he didn't get sick. But based on my experience and some of the other research I've since done online, I don't recommend it!
