I'm sorry you had such a bad experience with your flu shot; I had the exact same thing happen to me last year (and I've had the flu shot annually for YEARS!), and the pain does go away. My shoulder/arm took 3-4 months to start feeling OK to sleep on, and then another 3-4 months before there was no pain.
I'm happy to hear that you tried to advocate for yourself, and call the clinic. Are you able to physically go in-person to the clinic, and ask how to file an "adverse event" report?
I spoke with one of my nurses whom I dearly trust, and told her of my incident last year. She said that is unfortunately common: an injection is given too far into the shoulder/arm, and causes lingering pain. I am still trying to figure out if there is a bulletin of some sort that can be sent to all of the Nursing Schools, or the FDA, or both, to let them know of this occurrence, as it is definitely causing people to shy away from the shot.
Please know that you can advocate for yourself AGAIN, and next time you choose to have a flu shot (or any injection), is to let the nurse know about your previous experience, and to double-check the exact site and angle of the needle, so that you do not have unnecessary pain.
I did get another flu shot this year (seasonal and H1N1) since I am high-risk (pregnancy), and I am really glad I did...no pain, I advocated for myself and the nurse took extra care with me. I probably will no longer go to any clinic, but to my regular doctor's office where they would need to respond to my situation. I hope you make your future choices to have/or not to have a flu shot based on knowing that you can choose a different nurse, know the benefits of the flu shot, and not choose based on a one-time bad experience that may not happen again.
Just my two cents! I do understand where you're coming from, though, as last year I completely swore off injections also, but then I realized it was scary to live in that fear, because if I ever NEEDED an injection, I wanted to make sure that I could talk with the nurse about HOW to give the injection to me.
Comment Reply
I'm sorry you had such a bad experience with your flu shot; I had the exact same thing happen to me last year (and I've had the flu shot annually for YEARS!), and the pain does go away. My shoulder/arm took 3-4 months to start feeling OK to sleep on, and then another 3-4 months before there was no pain.
I'm happy to hear that you tried to advocate for yourself, and call the clinic. Are you able to physically go in-person to the clinic, and ask how to file an "adverse event" report?
I spoke with one of my nurses whom I dearly trust, and told her of my incident last year. She said that is unfortunately common: an injection is given too far into the shoulder/arm, and causes lingering pain. I am still trying to figure out if there is a bulletin of some sort that can be sent to all of the Nursing Schools, or the FDA, or both, to let them know of this occurrence, as it is definitely causing people to shy away from the shot.
Please know that you can advocate for yourself AGAIN, and next time you choose to have a flu shot (or any injection), is to let the nurse know about your previous experience, and to double-check the exact site and angle of the needle, so that you do not have unnecessary pain.
I did get another flu shot this year (seasonal and H1N1) since I am high-risk (pregnancy), and I am really glad I did...no pain, I advocated for myself and the nurse took extra care with me. I probably will no longer go to any clinic, but to my regular doctor's office where they would need to respond to my situation. I hope you make your future choices to have/or not to have a flu shot based on knowing that you can choose a different nurse, know the benefits of the flu shot, and not choose based on a one-time bad experience that may not happen again.
Just my two cents! I do understand where you're coming from, though, as last year I completely swore off injections also, but then I realized it was scary to live in that fear, because if I ever NEEDED an injection, I wanted to make sure that I could talk with the nurse about HOW to give the injection to me.
December 20, 2009 - 2:41pmThis Comment
Reply