Rob took off yesterday afternoon from work to help me out and get me to the doctor's office. He called the pediatrician's office (where we received the flu shots) and told them my problems. They wanted me to be seen that day and recommended an internist in the building. On the bright side, I now have a regular doctor in this area. On the down side, the shot really screwed my body up something fierce.

The area of the shot is red, swollen, and hot to the touch. It also hurts like hell and today it's itching as well. Saturday I felt fine. Sunday afternoon I started getting a very bad migraine that was different from my usual migraines. Instead of being behind one or both of my eyes, it felt like there was pressure all inside of my head. All of my muscles ached as well. By Sunday night my headache and muscle aches were horrible and I was super dizzy, shaking, and nauseous. Monday morning it was worse and I took an Aleve. That aided my head and muscle aches and even a bit of the dizziness.

I told the doctor all of this and he checked me out. I'm having a bad reaction to the preservative in the shot. I don't know if any of my prior flu shots were the preservative kind or the preservative free kind or not.

Anyway, it's a very good thing I went in when I did. My muscles were swollen and my brain had begun to swell as well. I'm on an intensive NSAID therapy for the next month. If I hadn't have gone in, I probably would have ended up in the hospital with a hole drilled in my head to let the pressure out. The muscle aches are from them swelling so much. The dizziness, disorientation, slurred speech, etc. is from my brain starting to swell. The nausea is from the dizziness.

Today I'm still really dizzy and feel like hammered shit, but it's not as bad as it was. I'll keep up with my NSAIDS for the whole month and by the time it's done everything should be back to normal. Phew. Talk about catching something in time.

My Mom is coming out here today to give me a hand with Gabriel and to make sure that I can get some rest. Next week Rob has three days off for Thanksgiving and Donna is coming into town, so I should be able to rest then as well.

I was told that because I'm asthmatic, the flu shot in general is a good idea, but if I ever get one again it has to be the preservative free kind. I don't know if I'll ever get one again or not. Call me nervous about that.

So yeah... this sucks. It scares me to think what might have happened had I been stubborn and not seen the doctor. If I would have passed out here (which is what would have happened when the brain further swelled) I wouldn't have been able to prevent Gabriel from climbing into the loft and I wouldn't have been able to get help for myself. Scary thought. Okay, so I'll admit, sometimes swallowing my stubborn streak and getting into the damn doctor is a good thing. This time it was a very good thing.

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