Strange side effect from vaccine trial
 

I am wondering if any of you had this happen during the vaccine trial. My last vaccine was August of 2013. Since my diagnosis and treatment, I do not consume much alcohol. However, on occasion I will have some alcohol. About 2 months ago, we bought a case of wine for friends for Christmas. Trader Joe's only has this type of wine once per year. My husband kept a half case to have at the house. I had 2 half glasses of that wine (a red blend). In the middle of the night I woke up with 1/2 golf ball size welts on the arm where they administered the vaccines. There were 2 shots for each vaccine, and there were 2 welts where vaccines had previously been injected. Last night we had friends over and our husbands taught us how to play poker. I had one glass of white wine, a salad with Balsamic vinegar and a couple of low alcohol beers over the course of about 5 hours. Again, I woke up with these welts. I am going to Mayo on Friday for a blood test and echo for the trial and I will ask about this.
Do you think this means that the vaccine that is supposed to target over expression of Her2....recognizes that "little" amount of alcohol as something it needs to react to? Or do you think it is reacting the sulfites in the wine. Balsamic vinegar also has sulfites? The next day in both cases, the welts were gone.
Has anyone else had this experience with welts reappearing at the injection site after a drink of alcohol?

Re: Strange side effect from vaccine trial
 

I am doing the Mayo vaccine trial in Rochester right now, three down, three to go. While I had at least one rum drink on vacation in the Caribbean last month, my prior injection sites did not swell. However, all injection sites swelled and started itching within an hour of getting the flu shot. The sites remained swollen and itchy for about two weeks. The research oncologist said she felt sure it was an immune system response. Please keep us posted on what your doctors say about the reaction.

Re: Strange side effect from vaccine trial
 

Oh I had that. I actually can't drink alcohol anymore. It has a horrible effect on me. My trial nurse told me to just stay away from alcohol until I am completely done with the trial, then wait a year. I don't drink much so it's not a big deal to not drink at all

Re: Strange side effect from vaccine trial
 

My treatment team has said to not drink any alcohol and they are adamant about it. The research discussing the link between breast cancer and alcohol is just too compelling for us to minimize it. That being said, I had two glasses of wine last night with a fabulous meal cooked at home with my fab husband.