Four Vaccinations in Five Months - Ouch!

Having worked in health care for thirty years, it was a mandatory requirement to get the flu vaccine - or you couldn’t work. Since then, I always got the shot when I worked at the Library of Congress. My husband would get his shot at a drug or grocery store. This year we both got the flu shots in September before we took a two week trip to Wisconsin. It was good to get it over with, but both of us caught some awful bug while we were there. For my annual check up in June I got a pneumonia vaccine because I hit the magic age that it is recommended. And I’ll need another one next year. On top of that, shingles vaccines were also recommended. I got one a couple of months ago at the Giant grocery store - our “go to” place. But you need to get another one within two to six months. So we decided to go ahead and get the second booster yesterday. I recall some vague discomfort with the first shot. If anyone is going to have side effects, it’s going to be me. Last night I had the chills so bad they wouldn’t quit throughout the night. I was also nauseated, had a headache, a racing heart rate, aching joints, and a very restless and sleepless night. Today I’m just plain exhausted - so much so that we decided to stay in today because going out for lunch would be a waste of time. So I had two pieces of toast and some bubbly ginger ale to settle my stomach. I’ve always said the two worst sensations are nausea and headaches. Having them at the same time is disgusting. So I looked up the side effects and I had every one of them. My poor left arm is ever so sore too - four shots in five months is overkill - but necessary.