Covid-19 vaccination experiences

I had the usual feeling of having taken a stimulant the day after my jab on Monday, plus a couple of hours of feeling alternately warm and then cold last night. Other that that, nothing—I just got a bit more done than usual because of the extra energy.

 

Forgive me if I’m in the wrong place for this. I’ll move it if so….

I have a letter recommending I get flu vax, Covid booster and pneumonia vax, there may have been something else too I can’t remember.

Anyone had pneumonia vaccine or know anything about it’s effects on people with ME or general side effects or effectiveness?

Thanks.

 

Thanks!

I do really want it.

They have suggested it as important for the medication I am on, I didn’t know about that until I saw the letter.

But from my own point of view I have asthma quite badly since COVID, I live in fear of complications I think that steroid inhalers can increase risk for bacterial infections quite a bit, so a jab would make me feel a bit better about this too.

My problem is that I am someone who handles my vaccinations poorly. Very poorly. I lose all the residual strength in my body l’m unable to think for months afterwards.

I got to test this repeatedly with all my COVID boosters. Very reliable deterioration. I know different vaccines produce different reactions. But adding in all the vaccines and subsequent negative reactions I have had just before and after I became ill with ME I’m not feeling optimistic about my ability to comfortably handle any.

The pneumococcal vaccine is recommended for babies, older people, and people at higher risk of getting seriously ill from pneumococcal infections.


For the last group which is the one which could apply to me, it says you might have to have a few doses or regular boosters. That would be particularly difficult. So I think I’ll speak to the dr and check if they really think I need it. Could just be a clerical thing to tell everyone on the med to get it.

 

I had the pneumococcal a couple of years ago. I don't usually react badly to vaccines, but I did feel quite tired for a couple of days after this. Nothing else though, and no increase in ME symptoms.

As well as some types of pneumonia, the surgery told me that the jab may also help protect against meningitis and sepsis. I can't remember to what extent, but for me at least it seemed worth having. I was jabbed because of my age, I'm in my 60s and they recommend it for older people.

 

[if this was already shared, my apologies then] Quickly sharing this recent interview with Prof. Akiko Iwasaki, Sterling Professor of Immunobiology & Creator of the Center for Infection & Immunity (CII) at Yale University, recorded 9/26/23: "Autoimmunity, Reactivated Viruses & How the Vaccine Might Cause LC Symptoms | W/ Prof. Akiko Iwasaki"

Prof. Iwasaki: [on post-vaccination LC] "...the kinds of symptoms they are dealing with, is incredibly similar to Long COVID itself."

"It is happening in the subset of people that we're studying. It's important that we understand the scientific basis for this disease so that we can prevent this from happening in the future."

"People who have these diseases, in fact they went and got the vaccines. They're not anti-vaxxers. They want to be protected. They want to protect the community, but unfortunately have these issues with them."

"At the Keystone Meeting, one of the two consensus was that there appeared to be this reactivation of Epstein-Barr virus in a significant subset of people with Long COVID..."

Mod Note
for more on reactions to vaccines discussion here

 

Interesting thanks, I wonder if this could be my issue too…

 

Thankfully, the gov't in British Columbia has seen sense and as of October 3, 2023 masks are once again mandatory in all hospitals, health care settings, and care homes. Plus there will be screeners asking whether or not people have any symptoms of being sick, and if yes, they will be denied access.

 

Our province is still asking people to wash their hands and use bug spray because of, you know, West Nile virus.

 

In early September I had what seemed to be a mild cold, but it might have been mild because I used several supplements that almost always help me with viruses. I briefly had a cough, congestion, and increased fatigue.

A couple of weeks later, I woke to a nosebleed, which I stopped by pinching the soft part of the nose above the nostrils. Later that day, I had a more severe nosebleed, which took extended pinching to stop.

I went to my ENT, and she said she thought I had a sinus staph infection and that staph is notorious for causing nosebleeds as well as systemic effects. She cultured me, and the culture did confirm staph. In addition to the nosebleeds, I passed large blood clots from my sinuses and nose into my mouth for over a week. I always spit them out, but it's possible I swallowed some during sleep because my digestion was off, and it's really bad for the digestion to swallow blood.

I started medicine for sinus staph: Tobramycin sinus rinses and Mupirocin nasal swabs. I'll get another culture this week to see if it's gone and if I can discontinue treatment.

The reason I'm posting this is that it's possible the mild cold I had in early September was actually covid. If that's the case, staph can be a secondary co-infection.

Well, I didn't know that! And it didn't occur to me to test for covid when I had the cold symptoms because they were so mild. When I had covid a year ago, I felt like a truck had run over me. But, of course, some people get mild symptoms.

I had a covid antibody test a couple of days ago. If it's positive, then I probably did have covid in September since it's been a long time since I've had a covid vaccine.

If it turns out I did have covid, I would have done things differently had I known. I would have isolated, even though I always wear a mask in public, and I would have rested more. The timing of all this was bad because I had to cancel a flight to see family.

Anyway, from now on if I get even a mild cold, I'll test for covid.

 

My partner went for his flu jab, but also got the Covid one, because of me! It's weird that I didn't get it, but I'm pleased for him. It may also be the best outcome for me. He's my main (almost only) conduit with the outside world, so it'll lower chances of transmission, but also I'm not doing well with jabs. Almost a month after my flu jab, I'm still much more achy than usual, including bones, & have abdominal inflammation & pressure on my spine, which I had for months after one of the Covid ones.

He's not the only person I've heard of, where they actively looked for reasons to give them the Covid jab. It just seems to be luck if they do that.

(I posted this on adverse reactions first)

 

I found out that I have high covid antibodies, so probably did have covid in September (arghh!!!). I've read so many different recommendations on how long to wait to get a covid vaccine after the onset of a covid infection. The most common recommendations I've seen are 2-3 months.

The timing might work for me because although Novavax 2023 has been approved in the U.S., I haven't been able to find it available in Texas pharmacies yet. I'm hoping it will be more available in the next couple of months.

I hope I won't have trouble finding it. In Austin, only a limited number of pharmacies do Novavax vaccines, and one said they will not carry Novavax 2023 because the number of doses in a vial mean that some vaccine will be wasted, whatever that means. A vial of Novax has 5 doses. Patients get 2 doses, with the 2nd dose separated from the 1st by 3 weeks.

Maybe the pharmacy that will not carry it means that the number of doses in a vial should have been even since it is a 2-dose vaccine? FDA instructions to healthcare providers giving Novavax 2023 say not to pool excess vaccine from multiple vials. I'll ask a pharmacist about this.

 

I think you can find Novavax by typing in your postal code here:
https://www.vaccines.gov/search/

 

Thanks, @Mij, but the vaccines link showed no pharmacies within a hundred miles of me. The Novavax 2023 approval in the U.S. is very new here. What about in Canada? Do you guys have the updated Novavax available there?

 

@perchance dreamer

My understanding is that Novavax has not been approved by Health Canada yet.

 

According to my doctor (who isn't an antivaxxer) it was a lie we were told that the covid vaccines would protect other people from transmission of the covid virus. You can be fully vaxxed and still pass the virus on. You can also be fully vaxxed and still get sick with covid.

 

We were intentionally lied to about v's protecting transmission...?

And now we're supposed to trust this same system with the v's and the possibility of adverse effects it may cause for those who use them..?