Hope this helps.

Had a couple of influenza injections - the yearly 'normal batch 'flu jab, and the dreaded H1N1 - one in either arm :)

Oddly, my Bear, who because she just happens to be married to me, has had the normal one, but not the H1N1. Apparently, their very strict who they give it to.

How did it go? Well I'd heard a few stories that the H1N1 had been an unpleasant experience for some people, but a little close questioning (I'm good at that) unravelled that most of the neigh-sayers refuse inoculations anyway.

There's a mistaken belief that an inoculation is that you "get a little to save a lot". Probably based on the historic beginnings some 300 years ago when indeed, tiny amounts of live virus where used on unsuspecting victims. Who had a minor version of a similar or same illness, and survived where they wouldn't have before.

Time has moved on. A lot.

The body produces antibodies to viri. You probably catch one virus or another often. Antibodies are produced to fit that virus, and destroy it.

A virus consists of little more than a protein coat containing a little DNA. It, if you like, burrows into human cells, and uses some of the DNA in there to reproduce itself by the million. Time, after time. This damages the cell, and either kills it or screws it up silly. This is why people who have underlying health problems are most at risk.

Your body just doesn't sit there and take it. It produces designer antibodies that fight back, scraps to repair the damage, and uses lots of other devices to defeat the invader, like increasing those antibodies tremendously, raising you temperature, throwing all sorts of other defences against it. That's what 'unwell' is. Fighting the good fight. Most of the time, you won't even know you're under attack.

It would be just plain STUPID to inject live viri, ne'er mind illegal, into vulnerable people. It's called murder nowadays.

I'll not get into here how it works. But antibodies have a very basic purpose, and that is to recognise that protein coat I mentioned, and destroy it. No protein, dead 'flu.

The companies who produce a vaccine multiply the virus, kill the DNA, while maintaining the bits that antibodies recognise. That is stored in a preservative solution that keeps the contents fresh.

So why do some people feel unwell for a couple of days after injections? A tiny percentage don't get on with the preservative. Another tiny percentage have already caught H1Ni or another of the four or five variations of flu before injection. Often, it's just a good old fashioned cold. Has to be said that some people react badly to being a bit 'off colour' anyway (man flu?)

But the main reason is that The Body has a host of other defences that it throws at anything it perceives, rather unintelligently, as a thread, a lot that that can make a person feel unwell for a couple of days. And again, it's all down to a persons personal reaction to feeling off-colour.

How did it affect me? Well, they injected me in my right arm with 'normal multi-flu'. I don't have much feeling there anyways. The left was H1N1. That's been sore for 48 hours, slacking off gradually. I was shattered for 48, but I'm not used to going out much anyways. Slept for 8 hours, and I'm a 4 hours a night fella normally. Bear says I was hot and restless.

Wish I'd suggested the the right arm for H1N1:)