Hi there. I am a newbie to CLL. I have a long history of health issues, very bad ME/CFs from 1995, then 6 years ago diagnosed with a rare blood cancer polycythemia. I have not been having my flu or pneumonia jabs as previous ones for I cant remember what had caused me to have a bad reaction, this was a good few years ago, in the mean time I cant remember having had flu. I am scared of jabs because of the bad memories, but I do recognise that I now have a challenging health issue with CLL. Any wise word please.
Thank you
Mal
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Mal42
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Your doctor would be the best one to advise you on vaccinations. What I think your doctor would tell you is that by virtue of your impaired immune system due to Cll, the risk of you having potentially very severe illness from the flu or pneumonia far, far outweighs the risk of any bad reaction to a vaccine.
I absolutely agree with cajunjeff - because of our compromised immune systems many CLL patients die from infections, especially lung infections whether bacterial, fungal or viral. So you should work with your doctor to chose the best vaccines and scheduling to reduce the risk of adverse reactions and get the maximum benefit. While side effects may be worrisome, they are rarely as dangerous as the disease they mitigate.
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You can read some of the past discussions by finding the box on this page labeled:
Also here is a link to the 342 previous postings that included the word vaccination and UK - some are discussing the COVID-19 vaccines, but the flu and pneumonia are also included:
I had my Haematology appointment this week and was strongly advised to have it ASAP. I have been on Watch and Wait since 2016. Hope this helps
Hello Mal
I am sorry you are faced with all this, there can’t be too many people who have dealt with both ME and two kinds of cancer.
I can’t tell from your post if you still have ME or if it was in the past, I’m assuming still current.
If this isn’t too obvious to say, as well as taking on board what others have said here from CLL perspective, you could also check with your ME doctor if you have one, or a similar forum for the expert opinion from ME perspective, and the same for your other cancer. Then at least you have as much information related to your situation as you can get.
If you’re concerned about a bad reaction of ME then it’s something to consider, obviously weighed against the risk of infection. A relapse isn’t life threatening like an out of control infection, but is potentially a lot of exhaustion, pain and misery. That is a factor and possible risk that in the end only you can weigh up against the infection risk with CLL, also taking into account your lifestyle.
As others have said, hopefully by talking to all your specialists and also your GP (maybe they would even have a record of what happened before, that might be helpful or reassuring), they can help you assess your situation.
I hope you can find a solution that is right for you.
Thank you all for your help. I doing research and obviously need to think seriously about it. The ME kicks in now only if I get really exhausted, beyond the new fatigue of CLL, and that of PV. Oh joy.
I know I need to think about pneumonia jab as well, there seems to be 2 sorts but my doc only has one kind. How far apart do they need to be taken. ?
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