Flu vaccine and remicade

Crohn's Disease Forum

Help Support Crohn's Disease Forum:

Switalski

Switalski

Joined
Oct 4, 2011
Messages
104
Starting Remicade in 10 days. Doctors in my part of the U.S. are just starting to give patients their yearly flu vaccination. Have any of you on remicade been advised to either have or not have the vaccination?
 
I am on Remicade. My doctor advised me to get the flu vaccine for sure, because Remicade lowers the immune system and our ability to fight off an infection or illness. It is perfectly safe to get the flu shot, as long as it is not the live vaccine. That's what I've been told. However, you'll be better off discussing this with your doctor rather than with me.

Good luck with the Remicade infusions. I hope it works for you. It works really well for me! :) There is a huge and obvious difference in my bowels. Good stuff!
 
I have never been a believer in the flu vaccine. There are simply too many flu viruses every year for one vaccine to be successful, and it is really not that bad of a virus. IMO. Aside from that, there is no guarantee that the vaccination will prevent you getting the flu, so I don't see the point.

Sometimes, the illness is easier than the potential harm from the vaccine. JMO,YMMV.
 
You are right Slim, there are many, many flu strains out there.

The idea of the Fluvax is not to try and immunise you against all of them but rather the 3 or 4 most deadly that circulate that flu season. It is also true that there is no guarantee that you won't contract one of the strains that was contained in the vaccine but there is every likelihood that it won't kill you.

Just my two cents worth. :wink:

Dusty. xxx
 
Since healthy adults have been killed by the swine flu, and the vaccine includes protection against that strain, I am certainly getting it! If swine flu wasn't about, I may think twice, but I am not in a good state health wise and getting flu would be very hard on me. So I would probably take the protection from the 3/4 strains, better than none.

EDIT: I'm not on Remacide :)
 
Last edited:
Hi
My son is having his flu jab this afternoon, as he is on Azathioprine & Remicade.
My winge today is that Bailey has had 3 remicade infusions & still no better.
He is in agony everytime he opens his bowels & cramps for a few hours after.
He is only 14 & missing so much school, i mentioned to his consultant if he should go on Modulen for a few weeks to give him a break.. He is being scoped on November 3rd to see whats going on inside.
There answer was go to local hospital & ask duty doctor!!! What, the doctors that told him for 6 months his illness was in his head!!!!!!
ok Winge over.... any suggestions on how long more we give Remicade & need help with his pain & cramps!!!
Use heat pad, paracetamol, buscapan..... Morphine at its worse... still no relief

Thanks everyone xx
 
i thought you weren't supposed to get any live vaccines on remicade.

i never got flu shots and was healthy as a horse. a few years ago i decided to get one, and had the flu 3 times that year. :shifty:
 
Does anyone here take Methotrexate to break down the antibodies to Remicade? I've taken Methotrexate for three years, and I'm under the impression that any antibodies I might build to the flu vaccine will be broken down by Methotrexate.

Any info or thoughts on this would be helpful, I'm so confused lol!
 
Don't know about that Mountaingem....I do get the flu vaccine every year - a couple (few?) years ago now I got pneumonia, think I had the flu shot that fall too...other than that, no problems with the flu - EVEN when my daughter AND husband had it at the same time!....oh boy was THAT a fun (NOT!) few days.....
 
DustyKat said:
You are right Slim, there are many, many flu strains out there.

The idea of the Fluvax is not to try and immunise you against all of them but rather the 3 or 4 most deadly that circulate that flu season. It is also true that there is no guarantee that you won't contract one of the strains that was contained in the vaccine but there is every likelihood that it won't kill you.

Just my two cents worth. :wink:

Dusty. xxx
Click to expand...

Dusty, you strengthened my point about the vaccine only covering 3-4 viruses. Last time I checked statistics of the Flu, was around the time SARS was the scary cold. The influenza virus only kills ~12% of people who contract it. Most of them being elderly, or infantile. SARS was ~10% fatality rate.

I have also heard, like others have posted here, that they will get the vaccine, then get the Flu. Sometimes I suspect the vaccinations are the cause of the outbreaks. Maybe I'm nuts...!:yrolleyes:
 
yeah I'm with Slim, honestly I used to get it every year and still have gotten the flu tons of times. Now I'm just not getting the shot and I honestly don't care. If I get the flu it won't be the end of the world (I get it practically every year anyway), I really don't care enough to go pay the pharmacy $40 and get another needle jabbed in me.
I'm just using Humira as an excuse to not get one even though I have no clue if it's a valid argument. But when people yell at me for not getting the flu shot, I pull the "I'm on immuno-suppressants" card and it works. Don't ask me why cause I'm pretty sure that makes no sense :)
 
Just remember to wash your hands... often! You should be fine. Besides, the flu is a nice break from the day to day crohns lifestyle! *insert sarcastic icon here*
 
LOL Slim! A friend of mine takes Azathioprine-200 mg daily- for another autoimmune disease and was told to take 1,000 mg of Vitamin C during regular season and 2,000 mg during flu season by her GI. She works full time and never gets sick, I'm gonna gove this a try!
 
I got a flu shot every year, for about 5 years in a row. Half of the time I was on remicade and 6MP, and never got the flu. The other half I wasn't on any immune suppressing drugs, and never got the flu.

Then I didn't get the flu shot for several years, on and off medication, and still didn't get the flu.

I guess I just have a strong immune system? Even when I'm on the drugs?

FYI: Getting a flu shot this year, my insurance covers it so I don't have to pay. The shot has never made me sick, so I figure it can't hurt. Especially having two kids in the house who are in school. But honestly, this summer everyone in my house got sick except for me. Maybe having a compromised immune system makes people like us more careful about handwashing and limited contact with people who are sick. Not being exposed is the best medicine!
 
How long are we suppose to wait before we get a flu shot when on Remicade? I can't remember exactly, two weeks after of before next one, is what I remember. I could ask a nurse, but I will just forget again. This way I have it saved. Thks,
 
i've read in places that people with autoimmune diseases have overactive systems, and that when on immune suppressants it makes your system normal, instead of suppressed.

on a related side note, i saw something on the news last night about a study in norway on chronic fatigue syndrome. people being treated with immunosuppresssive cancer drugs and going into full remission. interesting.
 
riversilt said:
How long are we suppose to wait before we get a flu shot when on Remicade? I can't remember exactly, two weeks after of before next one, is what I remember. I could ask a nurse, but I will just forget again. This way I have it saved. Thks,
Click to expand...

At least two weeks after the infusion. I asked my GI this after my last Remicade infusion a few weeks ago :)
 
We dont do flu shots, most immunocompromised people likely can not develop antibodies from the vaccine anyway.

I do vitamin C and D all winter long. I have only had the flu once, when I was 15 years old. There are hundreds of viruses that can cause flu like symptoms and most are not even influenza.

Also there has never been any studies done on giving adjuvents to the autoimmune populations, which seems like a terrible idea, IMO as adjuvents are chemicals which invoke a hyperactive immune response to the anitgens being injected, with what ever proteins in the serum, which on the surface can look similar to the proteins present in your own body.

I dont get any vaccines at all, because of their link with autoimmune disease.
 
My gi has required me to get the flu shot as I will start remicade soon. I work in health care and am usually recommended to get it every year anyway - and since work supplies it to us at no cost, I usually comply.

It may not protect me against the flu totally, but I figure exposing my system to as many versions of the virus as possible will only help when the inevitable flu pandemic comes!!

I also had to have a current Mantoux test to see if I hae been exposed to Tuberculosis as well as having my antibody titre for Hep B redone. GI also is testing for Hep B core antigen to see if I was actually exposed to hepatitis. I also had to check and make sure all my other immunizations were up to date - tetanus, diptheria etc.
 
StarGirrrrl said:
Since healthy adults have been killed by the swine flu, and the vaccine includes protection against that strain, I am certainly getting it! If swine flu wasn't about, I may think twice, but I am not in a good state health wise and getting flu would be very hard on me. So I would probably take the protection from the 3/4 strains, better than none.

EDIT: I'm not on Remacide :)
Click to expand...

Your chances of getting hit by the falling German Satellite are probably greater than catching swineflu. I'm never again getting Flu vaccine or Swineflu. I did both and got sick 3 days later with the flu like everyone i ask who get's a flushot. I'm not on remicade but 6mp. My 2 cents worth. Do what you want with your own bodies of course :D

P.S. ironically i was diagnosed with Crohn's a few years after getting an MMR booster shot.
 
What's weird about the way the doctors are acting about these vaccines now is that my sister in law is an infusion nurse at a major Los Angeles based hospital. She gives meds like Remicade, some chemo drugs, blood, etc. and she was telling me up until two years ago they had a very strict protocol on who should take these vaccines, and at what point in the treatment was it advisable. She said less that 5% of her patients met the necessary health requirements, and now the doctors say just to give it to everybody.

She has had many pregnant patients who are healthy miscarry after taking this new vaccine; a few weeks ago she had 8 on her floor, and a total of 20 since the flu vaccinations started. She has complained to her administration and the union. I'm curious as to why the medical community is so quiet about it.
 
I called my GI this morning about the flu shot, and his advice was if you're in the middle of a flare up, don't get the flu shot. Reason unknown, but just thought I would pass it along.
 
The one year I didn't get the vaccine, I had the flu. After that, I will never go without getting the vaccine again. That was misery. It isn't like a bad cold. It is much, much worse. I was almost admitted to the hospital from that flu. My husband works in public health, and not for a drug company, and he honestly recommends as many people who can get the vaccine to get it.
 

Similar threads

CrohnsKidMom
Remicade with low dose Methotrexate. Should we stop the Methotrexate?
Replies
9
Views
1K
asadmom
A
C
Your thoughts, please. 10 yr old.
Replies
12
Views
832
wenkren21
W
B
Another biologic to be added to Humira?
Replies
1
Views
244
my little penguin
my little penguin
G
Infliximab and Psittacosis (not me, my cockatiel)
Replies
2
Views
590
GillyB
G
M
Active flare with Scleritis
Replies
1
Views
608
my little penguin
my little penguin

Latest posts

Back
Top