Hep B Vaccination

Princess74 · May 18, 2005

I have not got my hep B shots yet but I have to do so very soon.

I do know that when my brother got his 2nd and 3rd shots they made him sick for a couple of days. I am dreading them!!

I hope you start feeling better soon:)

explorer · May 18, 2005

Hope its ok that I post this. Just wanted to first let everyone know that I am starting my EMT class next week, then this fall im going into nursing and want to do emergency nursing.
Anyway, this morning I had my second round of my Hepatitis B vaccination so I can do clinicals in the hospital this summer. I have now had flu like symptoms all day. I tried to eat something today, but have not been able to keep anything down, and now im so hungry im starting to get dizzy and starting to feel faint. I am also running a fever. But I know that if I eat something my body will not agree with it.
Im just curious, is this normal after getting the vaccination? I never had it after my first round. And I never felt/was sick before getting the shot today. Thanks.

I have already had the complete Hep B shots and I didn't have any flu like

symptoms at all.

Princess74 · May 18, 2005

I hope I'm that lucky. But either way its better to be sick for a couple of days and be protected than to end up with hep.

I think I'll go get my 1st shot tomorrow. How long between shots??

cardiacRN2006, ADN, RN · May 18, 2005

Hope its ok that I post this. Just wanted to first let everyone know that I am starting my EMT class next week, then this fall im going into nursing and want to do emergency nursing.
Anyway, this morning I had my second round of my Hepatitis B vaccination so I can do clinicals in the hospital this summer. I have now had flu like symptoms all day. I tried to eat something today, but have not been able to keep anything down, and now im so hungry im starting to get dizzy and starting to feel faint. I am also running a fever. But I know that if I eat something my body will not agree with it.
Im just curious, is this normal after getting the vaccination? I never had it after my first round. And I never felt/was sick before getting the shot today. Thanks.

It's normal to feel a little sick after any vaccination as your immune system is firing up in response to an antigen. I always get a low-grade fever, but dizzy and faint are a little odd. I wonder if it is due to you not eating anything...

Also, because your immune system is 'busy' responding to this vaccine you are slightly immunocompromised. Some little microorganism that you could normally fight off can just slip in under the radar.

Mistify · Jun 7, 2005

I got my second hep B shot yesterday and I am a little sore but nothing like when I got my first shot. I got the first hep B, tetorifice(it had been almost 10 years to the day since my last) booster and my TB test all in one day, big mistake. I was sick for three days after; nausea, mucsle soreness, low grade fever, headache, etc... No matter how much you want to get it all done at one time, space them out, your imune system will thank you later.

Gompers, BSN, RN · Jun 7, 2005

How long between shots??

Unless things have changed - after the first shot, you get the second one a month later, and the third one six months after that.

When I started at my last job they checked my hep B titer and it was low, so I got another "booster" shot of it, and then the titer was fine a few months later. My dad has had the full 3-shot round of hep B vax twice and it's never budged his titer, so they've given up on him.

lil'nurse · Jun 7, 2005

I was sick after each shot too. My sx were a little less with each vaccination.

TMPaul · Jun 7, 2005

I hope I'm that lucky. But either way its better to be sick for a couple of days and be protected than to end up with hep.
I think I'll go get my 1st shot tomorrow. How long between shots??

It's not unusual for some people to experience flu-like sxs (better than HEp B though!). The series is 3: 1st one, 2nd one 1 month later, 3rd 6months after the first with a titer following at 8 weeks after the last dose. :)

Tina, MSN,RN,APRN-BC

Occupational Health Nurse Practitioner

rjflyn, ASN, RN · Jun 7, 2005

Personally I had a positive titer after the first 2 shots- had a needle stick about a week prior to shot number 3. The third one caused S/S as noted by the other posters. It bodes well for one having a positive titer as I know several people that have had to take the series twice and still were negative and stopped right there.

I also had and Ocupational Health nurse inform me that one should have a titer checked at regualar intervals to see if immunity is maintained. In my case I had it done 3-4 years ago. It had been about 12 year post series. She suggested that I have it checked every 5 years or so after that.

Rj:rolleyes:

It's not unusual for some people to experience flu-like sxs (better than HEp B though!). The series is 3: 1st one, 2nd one 1 month later, 3rd 6months after the first with a titer following at 8 weeks after the last dose. :)
Tina, MSN,RN,APRN-BC
Occupational Health Nurse Practitioner

nicuRN2007 · Jun 8, 2005

Salty1 · Jun 8, 2005

i just had my first round of hep b vaccines too, and i feel like i'm going to ! i also have a really bad headache and feel really dizzy. and i have class from 5:30 - 10:00 tonight.

okay, i'm done whining ...thanks.

i sympathize with you. many years ago shortly after heptavax was first available (now no longer on the market) i had my first dose about 2 p.m. and by 10 p.m. while at work in icu became ill necessitating a visit to the er with s/s n&v, diarrhea, sweats, elevated temp, headache. i was finally able to drive home at about 4 a.m. where i remained all day. i was sufficiently recovered 24-36 hours later to return to work and reported the matter to employee health. about a week later i was contacted by the pharmaceutical company manufacturing heptavax whose representative wanted to assure me that they had not received any other reports of adverse events and that the etiology was no doubt from some "bug" i may have picked up in icu. yeah, sure! notwithstanding their assurances, i declined any further heptavax immunizations and filed an adverse event report.

hope you feel better soon.

salty