Hi,
My father has had polymyositis for about 3 years now. He has gone from a
very strong and active 75 year old to a weak and frail old man with a puffy
face and glaucoma from the steroids he has been put on.
His polymyositis occurred shortly after getting the first flu vaccine he
ever had in his life. He lives in an adult community in NJ and he did a
survey of the residents and found that there are many elderly people there
who have this diagnosis (which in itself is rare since this is supposed to
be a younger-person's disease) and that all of them, without exception,
developed their symptoms within a short time of getting flu vaccines.
I would like to know if either of you remember if your parents got a flu
shot within a short time of getting sick with polymyositis. BTW - with my
father, he began to feel ill shortly after the shot, but was not diagnosed
for about 8 months - it was a slow degeneration from the time of the shot to
the diagnosis.
Take care,
Meryl
