Feeling unwell after flu shot

[Rose2020]

It has been a couple of weeks since my flu jab. I was ok at first, not even a sore arm but over the days I feel very unwell. Nausea daily, great tiredness and dragging myself through the day. What is happening and has anyone else had this?

Each year I feel I ought to have the protection against flu but always I get weeks of such fatigue and feeling the life sapped out of me. I am just glad I am retired as I would never be able to go to work. I know real flu is much much worse but this is so lousy!

[Diagoras]

Your immune system is working - that’s the simple answer. Giving your body a ‘weakened’ version of a harmful virus stimulates a rather complex system to start protecting you. Just like a war between countries, this takes up a lot of resources and energy, and there’ll be some collateral damage (neutrophils* cause this) - but nothing nearly as bad as if you caught the full-strength ‘flu.

If you can find ten minutes to watch this, it’s an accessible explanation of your immune system.

* The neutrophils I mentioned turn up at around 3 minutes, if you wondered what I was on about!

https://youtu.be/lXfEK8G8CUI