Info from CDC. A 1-2 in a million risk of this happening.
GBS and the link to flu vaccine
In 1976, there was a small increased risk of GBS after swine flu vaccination, which was a special flu vaccine for a potential pandemic strain of flu virus. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) conducted a scientific review of this issue in 2003 and found that people who received the 1976 swine flu vaccine had an increased risk for developing GBS. The increased risk was approximately one additional case of GBS for every 100,000 people who got the swine flu vaccine. Scientists have several theories about the cause, but the exact reason for this link remains unknown.
There have been several studies of the risk of GBS after flu vaccine and CDC monitors for GBS during each flu season. The data on an association between seasonal influenza vaccine and GBS have been variable from season-to-season. When there has been an increased risk, it has consistently been in the range of 1-2 additional GBS cases per million flu vaccine doses administered.
Studies suggest that it is more likely that a person will get GBS after getting the flu than after vaccination. It is important to keep in mind that severe illness and death are associated with flu, and getting vaccinated is the best way to prevent flu infection and its complications.
Please elaborate...
How effective was last year’s flu shot?
I won the GBS lottery in 1976. I got a swine flu shot and ended up with a mild case of GBS. I missed a couple of weeks work and have been basically free of any severe post GBS syndromes since then.
Decades later, I can still have aching upper jaws, sore neck muscles and mandible aches, when I am really tired.
I call it Nature’s way of telling Old Dave to slow down and to rest. My wife is a great RN. She can tell by the slight changes in my verbal skills that the low grade GBS is still there. Then, I need to shut up, rest and slow down for about 8 hours. A glass or two of a good California red wine works very well in these instances.
Post my original severe GBS onset, My lab values within a few months went to normal across the board. My current FP runs lab tests on me yearly, and they are very normal and boring as per my doctor. He says that I have better lab values than most 30-40 year old guys versus an 80 year old.
Data then and later show that more often GBS appears after getting the current flu bug each year without a flu shot.
3 years ago, a good friend with Parkinson’s got a steroid shot and then he caught the flu two weeks later. Within a week, he was hospitalized with severe GBS and nearly died. 3 Years later he is still in a rest home and has to use a wheel chair. He never got a flu shot before his GBS onset event.
My wife adult relatives and I still take the flu shot every year with basically no problems.