Vaccine Reaction

[avd3875]

I need help from all the wonderful brains on this board. DS had his 6 year check-up 11 days ago. He received the seasonal flu shot and the chicken pox booster (live virus). 6 days ago he received the H1N1 shot. Over the last several days his appetite has been off. He's still eating, but not as much as usual. This morning when we arrived at school he said he didn't feel well. He said his throat was dry and sore, and just overall didn't feel well.He has had no fever, and his throat (in my non-medical opinion) looks normal. I brought him home and made sure he was very bored the whole time he would have been at school - just in case it was all because he didn't want to go back after 5 days off. Shortly after we arrived home he said he felt fine, and was upset to be missing school. DS is a high energy kid, and he did seem a bit calmer than usual today.
So, does this sound like a reaction to one of the vaccines? Could he be fighting something? At this point I'm planning to send him to school tomorrow, but I would hate for him to really be sick and expose the entire Kindergarten.

TIA

[sariana]

Could it be allergies? Here in SoCal the Santa Ana winds have been driving me crazy. I have had a sore throat off and on for over a month now because the air has been so dry, winds or not.

I know San Francisco does not get those weather conditions, but could something else be affecting him? Did you travel at all over the holidays?

It sounds like a normal bug to me. There are other viruses out there besides what is covered by the flu vaccines. The recent vaccines could have lowered his immunity somewhat as his body adjusted to the new "invaders."

I have a similar dilemma about whether to send DS to school. Monday morning his eye had some gunk in it. I cleaned it out, and the eye looked fine otherwise (no redness). I sent him to school but told his teacher what had happened. In the evening there was a bit more gunk and a bit of redness, but nothing major. So I am worried about conjuctivitis, which he, DD, and I all had last fall, accompanied by horrible illness. So I would like to avoid that this time around.

I'm hoping his eye was irritated by something (those darn winds again?) and will be fine tomorrow.

[wellyes]

That sounds like a normal, not-serious bug to me too. For kids that age I'd probably measure it against what I'd do in terms of work..... if I felt overall blah, and my throat was a little off, I'd still go in.

[sste]

I don't think a sore throat is a vaccine reaction. Every kiddo in my son's daycare is at some stage of sick or run down right now!

[bubbaray]

IME, vaccine reactions usually involve a fever and some sort of rash. I wouldn't associate a sore throat with the vax.

Hope he's better soon. We have weird bug in our house right now. Super high fever and no other symptoms. Lasted 2 days with DD#1. DD#2 has it now. Makes them uber crabby. Super-di-duper!

[avd3875]

Thanks for the responses. I just dropped DS off at school. He seemed fine this morning - ate breakfast, behavior was normal. As he got in the car he said, "Mommy, that feeling is coming back". I said, "It will go away once you're at school". I guess maybe it was nerves about going back to school after the long Thanksgiving break.

BTW, just like SoCal, it has been very windy here lately. We've also been running the heat a lot since our house is so cold. I guess those two things could have contributed to the sore throat.

Thanks again for the help!