Experiments in Immunology: Don't Try This At Home

So I wrote the earlier post about 3 hours after I got the rabies shot. By the time I got back to campus (t plus 4 hours), I was going down like a sick cow. Fever, shivering from chills, stiffness in my neck and both arms and legs, sore lymph nodes in my neck and armpits, dizziness, nausea, dry mouth, and most strange of all, the hair on my arms and neck were completely raised up. All of this within hours of getting that shot. I managed to make it through lecture (t plus 5 hours) then asked some of my peers for help.

I was not having an allergic reaction to the rabies vaccine. Do not mistake my symptoms for any kind of histamine response. I was having a full-out immunological response to it. My body was throwing the entire fucking immunological arsenal at those killed virus proteins. Danger, Will Robinson! Intruder alert! Faster, pussycat! Kill! Kill!

Upon reflection, using myself as a lab rat, getting the flu shot on Tuesday then the rabies shot today, was probably not such a good idea. My immune system was primed and ready from the first shot, and it went just a teensy bit overboard when the second one arrived 48 hours later.

My peers recommended ibuprofen. I resisted at first because I simply didn't want to put anything else into me, but I finally gave in and took 400 mg (I always carry ibuprofen with me). And it really helped. Within half an hour (t plus 6 hours by then), the ibuprofen kicked in and started tamping down some of the more severe symptoms. It didn't eliminate them, it just made them less uncomfortable. But the hairs on my neck and arms remain raised. So very weird. I was at least able to stay and complete nearly all of the microanatomy lab.

I am now at home looking forward to a night of doing nothing at all except cooking a decent meal, playing with my dogs, and going to bed early. Oh, did I mention how vet school forces you to evaluate how many hours of sleep you really need versus how many you think you need? I've shaved nearly 1.5 hours off my normal sleep schedule--that translates into valuable study time.

To be clear, most people who have to get multiple vaccinations do not have this kind of reaction. And to also be clear, the vaccines themselves are not the problem: not the adjuvant, not the killed virus proteins. The problem lies entirely in how my delicate-flower immune system responded.  I did not give myself autism. I am not sick--I don't have the flu or rabies. My immune system is just rather flamboyant in its response to all of these new antigens. A good night's sleep and I'll be just fine tomorrow.