I have to take a Yellow Fever shot?!
Question: ok, so I need to take a yellow fever shot. I live in Brazil and I'm going back to the states for a 2 week vacation (yay!), and Yellow Fever is breaking out a bit around here. So, if I want to go to the states I HAVE to take this shot.
well, moving on to my question. does the Yellow Fever shot hurt? like, a lot?? has anybody had a yellow fever shot? argh, I hate shots! =(
Answers: ok, so I need to take a yellow fever shot. I live in Brazil and I'm going back to the states for a 2 week vacation (yay!), and Yellow Fever is breaking out a bit around here. So, if I want to go to the states I HAVE to take this shot.
well, moving on to my question. does the Yellow Fever shot hurt? like, a lot?? has anybody had a yellow fever shot? argh, I hate shots! =(
It isn't very painful! I have had the YF shot and it was not very bad at all. I don't like shots, even though I am a physician. I love giving them though! muhaha :-)
You will be fine, I promise. Make sure the nurse or healthcare professional pulls back on the little syringe plunger to make sure they don't inject into a blood vessel! This is called "aspirate before injection," and it is standard practise that I see ignored way too often. When the needle is placed in the arm, and the administrator pulls back on the plunger, there should be NO BLOOD flashing back into the syringe. If there is, the needle needs to be withdrawn and repositioned and the process repeated. I get a flash of blood when administering injections myself in only about 1 in 300 people.
You will be fine. Just make sure the healthcare giver aspirates BEFORE injecting, and to reposition and repeat if there is a flash of blood back into the syringe. Not aspirating before injecting is a HUGE pet peeve of mine. Grrr. Rawr.