Lupus and the flu vaccine

Lupus is a problem of the immune system.

Vaccines, sometimes also called immunizations, are formulated to stimulate the immune system to produce antibodies to fight a specific disease.

They discovered immunizations because back when everybody was dying of smallpox, the milk maids were not getting sick and dying along with the rest of the population.  The milk maids commonly caught cowpox from their cows, and somebody finally noticed that people who had gone through cowpox did not get smallpox.  When the body fought through cowpox (a relatively mild disease), something happened to its internal chemistry that made it able to fend off smallpox afterwards.

Extrapolating, scientists developed vaccines (immunizations) for many diseases.  Using very small amounts of toxins and introducing them to the bloodstream through shots, they could stimulate the body to build up defenses against dangerous viruses.

So you see: vaccines, which I think are actually a very good thing and a very good idea, generally, are a way of working on the body's immune system, stimulating it to go to work and build up defenses against diseases.

However, since lupus is a condition that stems from a broken and malfunctioning immune system, it is my theory that immunizations for people with lupus may be a bad idea.

In lupus, the immune system has gone wild.  Rather than attacking the things that are actually harmful to the body, the immune system of a person with lupus attacks various parts of the body itself.  You do not know what it is going to attack.  It may attack the joints, the blood, the heart, the kidneys, the eyes, the skin . . . the list goes on.  It is a rogue band of warriors, armed and dangerous and out to destroy whatever is unfortunate enough to cross their path.

In my experience, the best way to keep my lupus quiet is to avoid stimulating the immune system.  Therefore, I think it would make sense not to get immunizations, especially the flu shot, for fear of waking up the immune system and causing a lupus flare. 

Before I was diagnosed with lupus, I had the flu shot twice in my life.  Both times, I had a mild reaction following the shot (low fever and slight achiness).  Both of those years, I also contracted the flu.  I did not contract the flu immediately following the shot.  Although I do not remember exactly, I know I had the shot in the fall, probably October, and I know for certain that once I was sick with the flu over Valentine's Day, and I think the other time I had it in March.  So I am not saying that the flu shot gave me the flu, I am just saying that I got the flu both years when I got the flu shot.  The flu shot did not protect me from getting the flu.  Of course, they say that it only protects against a few varieties of the flu, and defend it by telling you that you were just unlucky enough to contract one of the strains that it doesn't guard against, however . . .

Outside of those two years when I got the flu shot and also contracted the flu, I have only had the flu one other time in my life.  Now that I am 49, statistically speaking I can say this:  I contracted the flu in 100% of the years when I was immunized for the flu, while I contracted the flu in 2.1% of the years when I was not immunized for the flu.  That's the math.

Since having the flu--or another virus--is a major trigger for lupus flares, it is my goal to have the flu absolutely as infrequently as possible.  For me, that means declining the flu shot.  I think that even the low-level reaction that I got after each flu shot would be likely to plunge me into a lupus flare at this point in my life.

As an alternative to the flu shot, I take 4000 IU of vitamin D3, daily.  Since I have been taking D3, my resistance to viruses has been little short of miraculous.  I contract respiratory viruses very infrequently, and when I do get them, I am able to fight them off in 2-3 days, even when they come on suddenly and with severe symptoms.

My key for stemming the tide of lupus is to tiptoe around my immune system and do everything I can to avoid waking it up.  "Let sleeping dogs lie," as the saying goes, or, since we're talking about lupus, "Let sleeping wolves lie."

I am not a medical professional of any kind.  I only write about my own experience, what seems to work for me, and what seems to make sense to me.  I do not have a doctor I can trust to take care of my lupus (my PCP is better than any rheumatologist I've found, but she won't prescribe hydroxychloroquine), but if you are blessed with a trustworthy doctor, be sure to speak with him/her before you make any changes to your routine.