Teresa Valenti, 42, from Sarnia, Canada contracted Guillain-Barre Syndrome after recieving a flu shot.
Valenti said in an interview "it's important people know the risks before they get the shot".
She had never heard of GBS (Guillain-Barre Syndrome) before she went with her husband and their two sons to get the flu vaccination, as a precaution before a trip to the Caribbean in March 2009.
She had gotten the flu vaccine previous years without any side effects.
Three weeks after the vaccination she felt a sensation of pins and needles developed in one of her feet and the next day she got the same sensation in her other foot and she soon started tripping over her own feet.
A doctor at a local clinic suspected diabetes or a B-12 deficiency and ordered blood tests, but before she could get them her arm became limp.
She then went to the emergency and an alert emergency physician asked if She had received a flu shot recently.
"He pinpointed it right there. He said he thought I had Guillain-Barre Syndrome."
Valenti was put into cardiac care at Blue Water Health.
That afternoon, five days after returning from the Caribbean, she lost all sensation from her waist down. Several tests including a lumbar puncture and an MRI confirmed it was Guillain-Barre Syndrome.
After a week in the hospital and several days of treatment to stop the immune system from attacking her nerves she was sent home still paralyzed.
After receiving steroids intravenous every day, she could after two weeks take a few steps with a walker, and it took two months before she could take small walks. She has now been off work for six months.
Source: The Sarnia Observer
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