Covid-19 vaccination experiences

Some people aren't getting a reaction from the vaccine until several weeks after having got the jab. I thought I was coming down with something at first as my reaction didn't start until five days later.

 

It was suggested when I had a reaction to the vaccine that I go for testing just to be sure it wasn't covid. My test was negative.

 

That's interesting. If my PCR test comes back negative then yeah it may be a vaccine reaction.

I did get some similar symptoms after the first dose, but they started a few hours after the jab, and only lasted less than one day!

And I kind of assumed that this time around, now that the swelling on my injection site has finally gone away, I was done with side effects. But maybe not!

 

Thanks @Sarah94 @OverTheHills @TigerLilea @Nellie @JemPD and everyone who acknowledged. x
I went to see mum this morning at the hospital. Very nerve wracking travelling with covid outbreak. But travelled in the bus with only one other passenger so that was good. Mum is slowly improving but will be in hospital for awhile. She has had two covid tests and both negative. So it looks like we both caught a very nasty cold. It was so good to see her.

I had my 2nd vaccine dose and have been surprised that I didn't get as strong a reaction to the second. My arm is not as sore as the first dose and the only thing I noticed with the second dose Pfizer was a more intense headache but not really too bad at all. I also didn't feel as sleepy with the second dose.

So to sum up, the first dose vaccine gave me more side effects than the second but all well worth the slight discomfort.

I'll probably just come in and read and 'like/acknowledge' posts when feeling up to it. Hugs to all.

 

PCR test came back negative.

I'm feeling a bit better, so hopefully whatever it was (likely either a vaccine reaction or some other virus) is on its way out

 

Was feeling a bit better yesterday but now feeling really rotten again today.

Sneezy, shivery, runny nose, generally feeling ill.

I think it is most likely a vaccine reaction, given that (a) I rarely catch viruses since having ME, (b) my parents don't have any symptoms, (c) my chances of catching any virus are much lower than usual due to masks etc.

Still absolutely worth getting the vaccine though. I imagine that any reaction to the vaccine (except for the temporary arm pain of course) is a milder version of what you'd experience if you actually contracted covid.

And I have to do another PCR test (at home this time) tomorrow as I've been asked to participate in a study, and apparently my negative test from 2 days ago doesn't count!

 

I'm ok now.

 

i got my first vaccine - Pfizer 2 weeks ago. At first i felt ok but after 1 weak i started to feel weak, kind of heart weakness and i feel big lactate accumulation.
Especially that lactate accumulation is very unpleasant. Doos anyone has the same experiances?
I am not sure if i shoul take the second jab

 

The lactate accumulation is a big part of ME. It may be that the vaccine has lowered your anaerobic threshold so you are in a flare or it could be an ME flare that isn't associated with the vaccine, typical ME unknowns! A delay in PEM is normal so you could be reacting to the strain of getting the vaccine rather than the vaccine effects.

Getting the second vaccine depends on your risk of catching covid as many people deteriorate permanently after a serious infection like flu so covid could do that.

Resting as much as possible is all we can do in a flare unfortunately.

I hope you recover soon.

 

Just noting that COVID also causes myocarditis at higher rates than vaccination.

 

2 days post my second shot of Pfizer. Very slightly sore arm for a day. But NO PEM!!!!

For years now, without exception, this amount of travel plus all the sitting upright and talking to people would have been punished by at least a week of solid PEM.

I did experience some immediate exhaustion as well as my usual mild "pre-PEM" symptoms starting 4 hours post-exertion. But that whole next-day sledgehammer of full-blown PEM just didn't happen. By 24 hours I actually felt a teensy bit better than my usual baseline. After the first shot this delightful state of affairs lasted about a week. Hoping for at least as long this time.

So, very happy with this outcome. But also brimming with questions. Why does the vaccine affect us so differently? Could this tell us something about the immune system in different subgroups? Is anyone looking at this? And at trying to predict who is at risk of a bad reaction? Etc. So few answers...

Maybe some of this has been discussed; I haven't been able to keep up with all the posts. But I did register that some people are having a really bad time after their vaccinations - I hope you improve very soon!

 

I’m considering having my first Pfizer later today at a drop in. How did other people make the decision if you were well enough on a given day? Do you think your symptoms at the time influenced the side effect reaction/lack of reaction?

I’ve been waiting for a day I don’t have swollen lymph nodes/virally type symptoms. Today I don’t have sore throat type symptoms but I’m quite achy in my neck, joints and have a mild sinus headache. The trouble is if I put it off much longer I’m going to catch covid again because rates are quite high in Scotland, and my other half is going to need to start going into work occasionally. She’s a lecturer and students are a likely risk (though fortunately she’s managed to be allocated the continuing online students).

For context I caught covid March 2020 (no test available) and had a long covid reaction. It was briefly scary but it seems like some pwme react more to the vaccine than I did to the virus itself. An immunologist has previously told me not to have vaccines, which makes this feel like a big deal.

 

I was getting ready to go to the vaccine drop in, then had allergies to a newly washed jumper as I put it on so I chickened out for today. Think my histamine, inflammatory response is too volatile today.

Try again tomorrow.

 

I had my first Pfizer end of June and second jab end of July. I have been experiencing a vestibular virus for almost 2 years and been quite sick with it. The day of my jabs I had fever blisters and swollen glands. I didn't have any negative reaction to both jabs, only a sore arm for one day.

 

Can you ask this immunologist or another doctor if that advice applies to Pfizer as well, what with Pfizer being a totally different kind of vaccine?

 

That doctor will be retired now or I would have asked him. He’s the only immunologist I’ve seen with a ME interest - after that it switched over to the CFS Centre where there was no doctor, but that as we know is a whole other depressing story.

On Health Rising various ME doctors have given their opinions. https://www.healthrising.org/blog/2...-chronic-fatigue-experts-coronavirus-vaccine/

I think generally the sense is that covid is too hard to avoid, so the risk of it is greater than the risk of a bad immune response to vaccines. It’s weighing up the risks. All vaccines will be experienced as an immune event that our bodies can have an unusual response to (live vaccines probably more?). Initially I saw something that indicated AstraZeneca might be better for us, but from polls it seems like pwme react more to that than Pfizer.

Previously it was more about changing behaviour to avoid the risk. That immunologist got me to change volunteer roles instead of getting the Hep B vaccine. When I asked the ME Association years ago about travel vaccines the advice was more about trying to avoid situations where you’d need to be vaccinated.

I had been taking more that advice for covid (I’ve only been in another building once since it started and that was a hospital). Now I’ve accepted that herd immunity just isn’t happening, even double jabbed people are spreading it which is the worst situation for me, because others are returning to normal behaviour. I need to be vaccinated too.