I get a flu shot every single year, even when they are limited or scarce, and have for many many years [pretty much since I was about 12/13] because i fall into more than one "risk" group.

It is generally recommended to me that I be healthy when I get the shot. I've generally been feeling pretty crappy and rundown lately like the past few weeks] so I kept waiting on getting the shot, hoping for a solid three days or so when I felt reasonably normal and could go in for the shot. Before i knew it, it was November and my body had been struggling for a few days to try to fight something off. Then ultimately I got really sick and turns out, surprise!- it's the flu.

Anyway, like every year since I started paying attention to such things [going back to high school], I go pretty whacky in the fall. My mood gets generally unstable and I tend toward something possibly resembling a mixed state. I'm usually out of it by the end of November, but with school by that time the damage has been done.

It doesn't usually start until, conveniently i just realized, around the time i get a flu shot... Octoberish.

this year?

Didn't really happen.
I've been stressed, maybe a little sad.
But I've felt physically poor due to many issues and I have a lot of life stressors right now- my reaction of "maybe a little sad" is pretty normal to everything and it lasted like three days, after which point I kind of declared "OK done with this crap" and tried to just go about my business.

Still haven't gotten the shot, and didn't get treated with antivirals.

Still don't feel like I'm losing my mind.

The reason I've come to see ANY of this [coincidence or not] is that when discussing antivirals with my GP we talked about how they rarely have a significant mood effect... and I have a tendency to have ALL the crazy mood effects with stuff like that. [antibiotics too, oddly enough?]

Since it was pretty much outside the window of highest effectiveness at that point we opted to wait it out.

The correlation between spectacular life disintegration and flu shot occurred to me.

Anyway:
Thoughts, opinions, anecdotes?

All appreciated.

I'm not considering that the correlation is really evidence of ANYTHING at this point, and considering how this has knocked me out, not getting a flu shot in the future isn't really an option.

I've never had the nasal vaccine, I have no idea if that would even matter.

Anyway, any thoughts on the matter are appreciated.

[healingme4me]

Still Grumpy A Week After Shots, Is This Normal? - Circle of Moms

If you scroll down, to the comments section, a mother of twins states that her pediatrician mentioned mood swings in children. So, no, your wonderment, doesn't seem off the wall.

About the nasal vaccine, I am also a 'high(er)' risk category, need my flu shot. Behind, this year, as well, have had an on and off cold, myself. I was told, I cannot have the nasal vaccine. You'd have to ask, with your own category, whether that's even an option.

That is also when people with Seasonal Affective Disorder start having problems do to shorter daylight hours. Have you considered the possibility that this might be SAD?

I have, but it's not very likely it's SAD- for one, it's pretty likely it would have happened like clockwork, this year the same as any other year.

Another thing- I did try light therapy. It helped to some extent with energy levels but didn't much affect my mood explicitly. It's been pretty doubtful that SAD is really an issue- light messes with my circadian rhythm, which in turn might mess with my mood because of sleep- but generally light doesn't affect my mood directly.

...ha, which can get complex and tricky when trying to sort through all of this crap.

[kindachaotic]

Am dx'd BP II and antibiotics mess with my moods.
Almost get into the hypo type feeling with anxiety, yuk.
So, for some of us, there does seem to be a correlation.