Flu Shot Danger
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By -
I would like to share a terrible experience that I have been battling for the last 11 months and feel so strongly that people should be award of "transverse myelitis" is the name.
On Nov. 9, 2006, I got up that morning feeling just as good as I ever felt. I went to the bathroom, then went to the front room, sat down in my chair, turned on the TV for the news and weather. All at once the back of my thighs and buttocks began to tingle and feel numb. I didn't sit very long because I knew something was wrong. When I stood up and started to walk, my feet and legs weren't operating right.
Living alone, I was scared. I called my son-in-law in Fort Wayne and asked if he'd come and take me to my family doctor in Fort Wayne. I had a walker I used in the summer from a broken bone in my foot. I used that and walked across the kitchen and went to step down into the breezeway, and my legs just folded under me and I fell.
When we got to the doctor's office, I said I won't try to get out, just go in and tell the nurses and ask the doctor to come out to the car. The doctor was with a patient, but the nurse said you get her to the hospital right away, she may be having a stroke.
We hurried to Parkview Hospital. In the first day and a half, I had four MRIs plus dye in the brain and spine, plus many other tests. But when they tapped my spine is when they found the cause. I had had a flu shot just two weeks to the day before it all happened.
There are different signs and symptoms of transverse myelitis. It may develop rapidly over hours to several days or more slowly over one to two weeks. 1. Pain often begins suddenly in your neck or back. Sharp shooting sensations radiate down your legs or arms. 2. Abnormal sensation of numbness, tingling, coldness or burning below the affected area of the spinal cord. 3. Weakness in arms or legs like stumbling, dragging one foot or heavy legs. Others may develop severe paralysis. 4. Bladder and bowel problems.
Prognosis: Recovery, should it occur, may take up to two years. About one-third of people with transverse myelitis fall into each of three categories after an episode of it, ranging from no or slight disability to severe disability where the person remains wheelchair bound.
It's difficult to predict the course of transverse myelitis. It is extremely rare. The statistics are it will strike 4.6 people per million in the United States. About 1,400 people a year develop transverse myelitis. I have taken flu shots for years, thinking I was doing the right thing, but this is one I wished I had never taken. I would have much rather had the flu.
I spent seven weeks in the hospital and four months in a rehabilitation center at Fort Wayne. I've been home now for five months, still having 24-hour care, rehab three times weekly, a bath lady twice weekly and a nurse at least one time weekly. I'm in a wheelchair, wear a brace on my left foot and leg, enabling me to walk some with a walker. Hopefully, one day in the future, I'll be able to walk again on my own. I couldn't even move my legs at first. I have to take muscle relaxers for relief and to sleep.
This was written due to the time of year for flu shots to start. I wouldn't want anyone to go through what I have. The numbness, tingling, burning, pain, bladder and bowel problems, etc. Just think twice before you, your older loved ones, your grandchildren, etc., decide to take a flu shot. Just wanted people to be aware of the possible happenings.
Delores (Shirey) Harman
Palestine
Editor's Note: This letter was edited to conform more closely to the 500-word limit stated in our Letters Policy.[[In-content Ad]]
I would like to share a terrible experience that I have been battling for the last 11 months and feel so strongly that people should be award of "transverse myelitis" is the name.
On Nov. 9, 2006, I got up that morning feeling just as good as I ever felt. I went to the bathroom, then went to the front room, sat down in my chair, turned on the TV for the news and weather. All at once the back of my thighs and buttocks began to tingle and feel numb. I didn't sit very long because I knew something was wrong. When I stood up and started to walk, my feet and legs weren't operating right.
Living alone, I was scared. I called my son-in-law in Fort Wayne and asked if he'd come and take me to my family doctor in Fort Wayne. I had a walker I used in the summer from a broken bone in my foot. I used that and walked across the kitchen and went to step down into the breezeway, and my legs just folded under me and I fell.
When we got to the doctor's office, I said I won't try to get out, just go in and tell the nurses and ask the doctor to come out to the car. The doctor was with a patient, but the nurse said you get her to the hospital right away, she may be having a stroke.
We hurried to Parkview Hospital. In the first day and a half, I had four MRIs plus dye in the brain and spine, plus many other tests. But when they tapped my spine is when they found the cause. I had had a flu shot just two weeks to the day before it all happened.
There are different signs and symptoms of transverse myelitis. It may develop rapidly over hours to several days or more slowly over one to two weeks. 1. Pain often begins suddenly in your neck or back. Sharp shooting sensations radiate down your legs or arms. 2. Abnormal sensation of numbness, tingling, coldness or burning below the affected area of the spinal cord. 3. Weakness in arms or legs like stumbling, dragging one foot or heavy legs. Others may develop severe paralysis. 4. Bladder and bowel problems.
Prognosis: Recovery, should it occur, may take up to two years. About one-third of people with transverse myelitis fall into each of three categories after an episode of it, ranging from no or slight disability to severe disability where the person remains wheelchair bound.
It's difficult to predict the course of transverse myelitis. It is extremely rare. The statistics are it will strike 4.6 people per million in the United States. About 1,400 people a year develop transverse myelitis. I have taken flu shots for years, thinking I was doing the right thing, but this is one I wished I had never taken. I would have much rather had the flu.
I spent seven weeks in the hospital and four months in a rehabilitation center at Fort Wayne. I've been home now for five months, still having 24-hour care, rehab three times weekly, a bath lady twice weekly and a nurse at least one time weekly. I'm in a wheelchair, wear a brace on my left foot and leg, enabling me to walk some with a walker. Hopefully, one day in the future, I'll be able to walk again on my own. I couldn't even move my legs at first. I have to take muscle relaxers for relief and to sleep.
This was written due to the time of year for flu shots to start. I wouldn't want anyone to go through what I have. The numbness, tingling, burning, pain, bladder and bowel problems, etc. Just think twice before you, your older loved ones, your grandchildren, etc., decide to take a flu shot. Just wanted people to be aware of the possible happenings.
Delores (Shirey) Harman
Palestine
Editor's Note: This letter was edited to conform more closely to the 500-word limit stated in our Letters Policy.[[In-content Ad]]
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