Yellow fever vaccine--@#*! ouch!

I just went to the travel clinic this morning in preparation for an upcoming medical mission trip to Kenya. Along with prescriptions for anti-malaria pills etc. I had to get four shots (hepatitis A, typhoid, yellow fever and a polio booster). The hepatitis A shot, because it is a whole milliliter of vaccine injected intramuscularly, hurt quite a bit going in but isn't bothering me at all now. The yellow fever shot, however, is making my right arm extremely sore right now!! I usually get soreness from flu shots, and this is like ten times worse than that. Not sure why I felt the urge to post this, just venting I guess. Has this happened to anyone else? Supposedly it's a common side effect/reaction.

Hi,
Yes. I had the same reaction two years ago when I had to get the shot before a trip to Tanzania. Felt like someone punched me in the arm - hard!

Yes, my arm was sore for days after my yellow fever shot.

Still have nightmares of the yellow fever shot that I had to get as a kid.

I have to not look and exhale whenever I get shots. Had too many shots way back when I was a wee one when we left the States and went to France, complements of Uncle Sam.

I don't remember having any problem with getting it.

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Originally Posted by sgf726

Hi,
Yes. I had the same reaction two years ago when I had to get the shot before a trip to Tanzania. Felt like someone punched me in the arm - hard!

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I've decided it feels like somebody took a baseball bat to my arm! Now I have a low-grade fever, to boot. That could be from another of the shots though.

I've had that shot three times and each time my arm extremely sore for several days and I was running a low grade fever as well. Hot packs on the armn and occasional aspirin may not be amiss. It won't stop it completely but it may ease the pain some. Good luck and many blssings on you mission.

marni

I'm pretty sure that was the shot that made me sick.... . Don't remember my arm being overly sore afterward, but I had to get a couple different vaccines/boosters at the time.

Were you tensed up when you got the shot? If I focus on relaxing my arm, I don't feel the needle going in and have no after-shot soreness.

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Originally Posted by mickchick

I'm pretty sure that was the shot that made me sick.... . Don't remember my arm being overly sore afterward, but I had to get a couple different vaccines/boosters at the time.

Were you tensed up when you got the shot? If I focus on relaxing my arm, I don't feel the needle going in and have no after-shot soreness.

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Well, I am pretty sure that is the shot that made me sick too! I had a fever all afternoon/evening yesterday and felt generally icky; much better this morning fortunately. The info sheet did say that kind of reaction is pretty common (up to 25% of people who get the shot have "mild problems" like soreness, low-grade fever and/or aches). As for being tensed up when I got the shot, I don't think so. Actually, today the arm with the Hep A shot hurts more than the yellow fever one!

I got very sore when I had a whole bunch of shots courtesy of Uncle Sam a few years ago. My only consolation was that no matter how sore I was it was better than the disease we were preventing.

A few years ago my husband was misdiagnosed with Hep A and I got the hepatitis vaccine. Oh my wowser! I can't imagine getting all the others if that wasn't the worst. I have never had a vaccination hurt that bad, my arm was sore to lift for quite a while.