Pain in arm after flu shot

Hi everyone - Thanks for continuing to write in and let us know your experiences.

Canadian - When I was treated for Frozen Shoulder (not caused by a shot) the physical therapy caused additional pain. I switched to a less aggressive therapist, which helped, but there still was additional pain.

Cathy - A couple of people have mentioned getting deep tissue massage, and they said it was helpful.

Greg - The FDA does provide a list of ingredients. The single-dose H1N1 vaccine does not have preservatives; the multi-dose version does. You can find the FDA ingredient information here: http://www.fda.gov/BiologicsBloodVaccines/Vaccines/QuestionsaboutVaccines/ucm186102.htm

Anon - Thanks for mentioning that the anti-inflammatory diet helps. Is there a good one you would recommend to others?

Gemini - No, you're not alone, unfortunately. Thanks for joining us and sharing your experience. I hope some of the information you read here will be helpful.

Take care everyone, Pat

Well I am glad I am not the only one. Everywhere I read it says a sore arm is normal but my arm has been sore for over two months. I had a regular flu shot in one arm (no pain) and H1N1 in the other. The H1N1 hurts from the shoulder to the elbow and who ever said it feels like joint pain is right. Its deep. I sleep with a heating pad on my arm everynight and its still sore the next day.

It has been over four months since I received the injection. I have forced myself to increase the range of motion and the pain is more bearable. An anti-inflammatory diet makes a noticeable difference as well. When I don't adher to it the pain is much worse!

I've heard a lot of speculative talk on the media about the dead virus itself or the Thymerisol (mercury) preservative. One radio discussion mentioned 80 ingredients in the vaccine serum. Does anyone know if the pharacuticals or US gov. release information on the ingredients in these flu vaccines beside chicken egg white? If true how much, how many and why so manny ingredients?
This question of total ingredients seems to not get asked or discussed that I have seen.
Thanks,
Greg

Hello all,

I have written before and wanted to share an update with the group. My symptoms were quite severe like everyone else. My MRI showed no tearing or other damage. The doctor then said that it is likely a toxin from the serum that has lodged in the muscle, causes the pain and swelling, and does not respond to a darn thing! It would just take time for the muscle to purge the toxin.
Hearing that I had no physical damage, I went back to the gym and started a workout routine again. 30-45 minutes on the treadmill, and as painful as it is, doing the arm weight machines. Believe it or not, the pain subsides and range of movement is better on days I work out. On days I skip, pain worsens. I am hoping this is helping flush out the toxins more quickly. I have regained motion to be able to put my arm above my head and to put weight on it. I still cant reach behind my back without some pretty bad pain, but things are looking up.

I am also thinking about a deep tissue massage, as this is supposed to help muscles release toxin. Has anyone tried that?

Cathy in Florida

Hi Pat. It was while I was doing my assigned physiotherapist exercises for frozen shoulder that my arm symptoms seemed to worsen. Like 'shock' pains especially in my forearm. There is a Canadian forum that I have a link to where a number of people of arm pain as well but none seem to be as severe as mine. Several media reports, however, about GBS.

I am returning again with an update - yesterday was 15 weeks from my H1N1 shot. After following exercises at home from my 2nd physiotherapy appointment for frozen shoulder, I started experiencing shock-like pain in my lower arm. Also it sometimes feels like my muscles are being pulled from my bone, and also jabbing pain in upper part of arm. I phoned the physiotherapist office after a week and they told me to go see my doctor.

I knew all along I needed to have my arm symptoms treated before frozen shoulder - which by the way, the physiotherapist said frozen shoulder does not develop from inactivity. I still believe I was using my arm as I work part-time, tried to the chores around the house, help with my grand-daughter, etc. It's a puzzle to me how this happened????

Now appointments are being made to see a nerve specialist and for a MRI of my arm. It will take many months for the MRI, I don't know about the nerve specialist. I feel like I am going from bad to worse.