Why Are Cases of Shoulder Injuries From Vaccines Increasing?

[LiberalArkie]

http://www.wired.com/2015/09/cases-shoulder-injuries-vaccines-increasing/



ELISABETH CASSAYRE GOT a shot at her local pharmacy, and the pain in her arm began that night. It refused to go away. Days, then months passed as she couldn’t lift her right arm, couldn’t hang up clothes, couldn’t pick things up. “I remember thinking: I’ll never be able to make an apple pie for my grandchildren,” says the retired schoolteacher.

Doctors now have a name for Cassayre’s condition: shoulder injury related to vaccine administration, or SIRVA, caused by a vaccine injected too high up on the arm. The prolonged pain and stiffness of SIRVA is distinct—in other words, much worse—than typical soreness from shots.

While very rare and still little-known, SIRVA cases settled in the government’s so-called vaccine injury court have shot up in recent years. Under US law, all vaccine injury cases come before the Office of Special Masters of the US Court of Federal Claims, rather than the usual state or federal courts. Since 2011, the court has ruled to compensate 112 patients for SIRVA, with more than half those cases in the past year, according to an analysis in the Wall Street Journal.

A month ago, the government proposed an obscure rule change that has big implications for SIRVA. SIRVA would be added to the Vaccine Injury Table, a list of known vaccine complications for which getting compensation is easier and faster. The addition of SIRVA—after years of review—is confirmation that the scientific evidence is valid and the suffering of victims is real.

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[Liberal Veteran]

1. Wouldn't this be essentially "injection related shoulder injury"?

Is there any reason a steroid or Depo-Provera shot wouldn't cause the same kind of injury if improperly administered?

[zappaman]

2. Sounds like they are injections in the wrong place.

Not what's contained in them.

[MuseRider]

3. Perhaps they should not let

aides in the pharmacy give shots? A person who stands to lose their license and has had training (although it is not exactly rocket science to give an injection) might maybe, just maybe do a better job because at least they are made aware that it does matter where you plunge the needle?

JMO

[jwirr]

4. That was my thought. We have just recently begun to

let the pharmacy give these shots instead of the nurse at the doctors office. And the way they advertise it I would assume that they make a profit. Many more people are getting their shots in pharmacies because there are no lines, no appointments to be made and they may have been going there to shop anyhow.

I wonder if there has been any studies done to determine the connections.

[MuseRider]

7. I am pretty sure

the person giving the injection is ID'ed on the sheet? I can't imagine they are not, when I was nursing we were sure that we could be ID'ed for what we did. I don't care if they teach someone off the street really, like I said it is easy to do but they should know some basics about doing it and then sign the record that they did it.

It really makes me a bit nervous. I know that they no longer have to draw up the correct med with the correct dosage, that is a huge relief but there do need to be some accountability practices. I just do not know what they do.

I get mine at the pharmacy all the time, so far so good. I look at it with an eagle eye though. I had my pneumonia shot too early once and the entire side of my arm and body turned red, hot an painful. I do not want that experience because of someone else's mistake it was entirely my mistake.

[ananda]

5. Hmm...

This is good to know. I didn't realize that could happen.

Two years I got a round of several vaccines at my doctor's office.
The nurse gave me the shots. The DTAP in my right arm caused
pain for a few days, but it went away.

Last year, I got my flu shot at CVS, no problems.

I hope shot providers are aware of this problem now so that
they will administer shots correctly.

[LiberalArkie]

6. I think they should do it the but myself. It is hard to met up.

I wish I could reach around enough to give my shots in the but instead of the thigh. I went to the hospital years ago and had to have an iv started and the nurse stabbed me 5 times and missed the artery each time. I looked over at one of the older nurses with a begging look and she stabbed me first time. She said she could probably hit one of my arteries across the room. I have very visible arteries.

I had to go to Walgreens to get 2 vaccines and the girl did something wrong in each arm, they hurt for months afterward. My doc told me I had to go to a pharmacy as THOSE vaccines are only covered by pharmacy insurance instead of medical insurance. So I guess it goes back to the insurance companies.

[haele]

8. More people getting vaccinations beyond the childhood ones?

Adults don't deal with soreness as well as children typically do.
With the yearly flu shot, pneumonia shots, pertussis and tetnus boosters, all the other shots that doctors now prescribe, more adults are getting shots as more often than back in the day, when adults only got immunization shots when travelling or if they joined the military. An adult has a greater chance of getting SIRVA the more shots in the arm s/he gets.

Poorly trained or out of practice technicians giving shots? Any GP nurse or phlebotomist can tell you that giving injections is an art that requires regular practice; every patient is different. Will the CVS pharmacy tech "on duty" who just graduated from DeVry and had practiced on grapefruit and mannequins be competent enough to give you a shot?

There's quite a few causes, not to mention the occasional bad reaction. But - if you're a teacher, someone who's immune system is compromised, or someone with school-age kids working a critical job, do you risk the inevitable month down with a bad case of the flu, or take the yearly shot and get your immune system cranked up to keep any seasonal case you do get fairly mild? With immunizations covered under most insurance, most people I know go ahead and get the shots.

Haele

[Liberal Veteran]

11. I don't think techs actually administer the vaccine.

They do up the paperwork and can draw up the vaccine, but I'm fairly certain that only the pharmacist is allowed to administer the vaccine.

[Heddi]

13. Medical assitants, CNA's, LPN's and RN's can give shots

Only specially trained pharmacists, such as in CVS and Rite Aid, can give immunization shots. It is not part of their standard training, so it is the rare pharmacist that can give a shot, not the norm.

Heddi--RN

[uppityperson]

9. 2 reasons. Growing awareness and being given in the wrong place.

No matter what facility gives you the shot, make sure you wear a sleeveless top so they can see your entire shoulder, don't just roll up your sleeve.

SIRVA is unusual among vaccine injuries in that the cause is not the contents of a vaccine but how the contents are injected. Any vaccine normally injected into the muscle can cause SIRVA. But properly trained nurses, medical assistants, or pharmacists can easily prevent it. “You have to feel where the needle is,” says Marko Bodor, a physician who wrote the first case study on SIRVA. “You feel it pop through the skin. The fat is like butter, and the muscle like steak.”

So why the sudden increase in cases? Lack of standardized training may be one factor. And getting vaccinations has gotten much easier in the past decade, with many shots available at pharmacies. “At a pharmacy, you don’t take your clothes off, you just pull your shirt down a little,” says Bodor. “That’s only going to expose the top part of your shoulder.”

(Clip)

Growing awareness is also fuelling the rise in SIRVA cases. After the court began compensating for SIRVA cases a few years ago, Pop redesigned his law firm’s website to list shoulder injuries. “We’re still talking about a very, very small number of people in total,” says Pop. “But the more it’s out there on the Internet, the more they can find it.”

[xmas74]

10. I get my flu shot done every year at a local university

where they offer a very low cost shot in exchange for their nursing and lab/med tech students to be given a real person to practice on. I pay $5.00 and I get a shot. I also get a soda or a lemonade or tea and each year is different: pizza, tacos, burger and fries-whatever was donated by a local business. So for that price I get a vaccination and a meal. The students get real life experience and it is all observed by instructors and nurses currently practicing in the field. They also ask that you wear a tank top to the clinic for easy access and even have folding screens for the sake of modesty. They do full vitals also for practice and take a full medical history, also for practice.

I had it done once at a pharmacy. They really messed it up. Since going to the nursing students I've never had a problem-even the bruising is at a minimum and I bruise easily. It's a win-win all the way around. They are talking about doing other one day clinics for some vaccines. I'd recommend it.

[REP]

12. I can see that happening

The nurse who gives me my vaccines is a pro, but I've hurt myself with a teeny weeny insulin needle. I can see what a big-ass needle meant to penetrate muscle could do (plus I used to get regular steroid injections in my shoulders and elbows).