Covid-19 vaccination experiences

I had my first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine over 3 weeks ago.

Within 12 hours, I experienced transient limb paralysis and became unable to even sit upright, let alone stand or walk. The headache was akin to the most intense migraine I have ever had, accompanied by nausea and retching. It was a rough night.

Symptoms began to slowly recede the following day. The recovery then stalled and I have been left at a far lower functioning baseline than pre-vaccine.

A doctor friend has advised that on no account should I have AstraZeneca again.

On the other hand, my GP surgery has all but ignored my attempts to contact them. I have tried email, phone and letter, asking for their advice but, to date, have had no direct communication with a GP.

I did, however, receive a courtesy call last week from a member of their office staff, in response to an email, to reassure me that its "perfectly normal" to feel a little under the weather following a vaccine and that they recommend I go ahead with the second dose of AstraZeneca.

I asked where it listed "transient limb paralysis" under either "common side effects" or "less common side effects" because l couldn't find it? No response was forthcoming. I didn't think I was asking an unreasonable question.

I have reported my reaction to the Coronavirus Yellow Card website.

 

Late yesterday afternoon, I had the Johnson and Johnson vaccine. My side effects included some mild, temporary overall itching and fatigue. The biggest side effect I've had is a lot of sinus congestion, which interfered with my sleep. I'm sure the congestion will resolve soon.

But I'm thrilled to be vaccinated, and the J&J is the one I wanted. I'll still wear my mask and try to socially distance, but it is reassuring that after a couple of weeks, I'll be at much less risk of hospitalization or death if I were to contract the virus. But it's going to be a long time before I'm comfortable enough to get on a plane.

The pharmacist who vaccinated me said he's really frustrated that Texas has so much supply now, but there are still many in our most vulnerable groups who haven't been able to get vaccinated. Some people don't have internet access or the ability to go through the gyrations required to get an appointment. On Saturday Night Live, they compared scoring a vaccine to competing in the Hunger Games.

 

Getting the most vulnerable vaccinated has been a big issue here in Canada too. Over 200,000 Seniors over 70 and persons living w/disabilities with mobility issues have not booked appointments because they have difficulty booking online, don't have family to take them to vaccinations centers , can't stand in line ups for hours, become overwhelmed easily and are afraid of catching COVID while out.

They have arranged rides to take them there, but seniors and the most vulnerable feel more comfortable going to their GP for the shot. I hope they start distributing the vaccines to doctors offices and mobilizing units for home visits soon when vaccines become more available.

 

I got my vaccine at a compounding pharmacy, and it was administered by a pharmacist. It was a comfortable situation: Chairs provided for waiting and only 3 or 4 people scheduled at that time. I would not have been able to stand in a long line. These smaller venues are worth looking into.

 

I have severe ME and had my first AZ vaccine about ten days ago now. For the first 48 hours I thought I’d got away with it as I felt pretty normal (for me), just a bit more sleepy in the afternoon than normal but I’ve been sleeping badly anyway so I can’t be entirely sure what caused the sleepiness. But then on the Saturday afternoon (I had the jab first thing Thursday morning) I started to get a red, hot reaction in my upper arm where I’d had the injection and a sore throat, which for me is a “48 Hour Incoming PEM Warning” reaction and sure enough, on Sunday night I got exhausted in the early evening and needed to go to bed much earlier than usual. Monday to Friday last week I was absolutely wiped out and really sore and stiff, but with no headache, no temperature, no other symptoms other than my sore throat and “normal” ME stuff, and my arm was fine after that initial funny afternoon where it got hot and red. Luckily, though, I started to pick up to my normal level of crap over this weekend and today I’m pretty much back to my usual severe ME level.

I have to admit, I was very scared about having the jab as I’m one of those people who don’t seem to get standard reactions to viruses and bugs, as in I don’t get the symptoms you would expect. Although I’m sure I’ve caught the actual viruses that cause them, I haven’t had cold, flu or stomach bug, (or anything virus-related) symptoms in the twelve years I’ve been ill with ME despite having school, college-age and now twenty-something kids - I just get a worsening of my ME symptoms, like a kind of PEM, I suppose. So I was worried that the jab might tip me permanently into even more severe ME, which is something that haunts me, and I’ve not had a flu jab since I’ve been ill for the same reason. Every relapse I’ve had, and that has been more than a month or two has left me with less functionality than I had before it so it’s a reasonable worry for me, but luckily this time it seems my fears were unfounded. And I’m more scared of getting COVID and ending up in the same position but with organ damage on top so it was a no-brainer, really, to get the jab. We live with risk all the time and sometimes you just have to roll the dice and cross tie fingers.

As it turned out, I actually ended up having less of a reaction than both my husband and daughter who had theirs at the same time - both had temperatures, and a day or two of feeling like I normally do and my poor daughter had full-body aches and a bad headache as well, but they were both better within 48-72 hours, luckily. I suppose given past experience with everyone else in the family either sneezing, coughing or throwing up (luckily not usually all at the same time) when they’ve been sick and me just feeling worse than usual, I should have expected that. Anyway, I’m definitely feeling better over the last couple of days than I was.

So all in all, it was a lot better than I feared but I’m still completely puzzled as to what my immune system is actually doing!

 

I'm relieved to hear this happened to others, I felt like a bit of a freak when most seemed to have very little reaction at all, or an exacerbation of ME symptoms. I'm hoping – although not expecting – that it'll happen again next month when I have O-AZ #2. It was lovely while it lasted!

 

Good advice. I hope she is doing well.

 

I'm not sure where to post this. NIH begins study of allergic reactions to Moderna, Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines.

https://www.niaid.nih.gov/news-even...ons-moderna-pfizer-biontech-covid-19-vaccines

 

Ah yes, pick your poison so to speak. I'm definitely getting a COVID vaccine. No question about it. I'm also quite allergic. When news came out about some with strong allergic reactions to Pfizer and Moderna, I hoped for the AZ vaccine. Now rare blood clot occurrences have been tagged to the AZ vaccine. Egad! My hope is for one of the first vaccine models, and watch for an immediate, exaggerated allergic reaction, as opposed to concern about a blood clot that could happen over the space of 3 weeks.

 

@DokaGirl

I'm waiting for the J & J, so will probably wait until after May or June. I don't want to take vaccines away from the essential workers, teachers etc so I don't mind waiting.

 

I wonder if spring/summer and time for more active allergies will have any impact on the vaccine allergy reactions? If there will be an increase in the next few months or if it is unrelated to that kind of allergies?

 

From friends there seems to be a correlation between being on HRT and worse reactions .
Totally anecdotal but interesting.

 

I'm in my late thirties so haven't been called to be vaccinated yet. I've been umming and ahhing about contacting my GP and asking if I can have the vaccine due to my ME (I would send him the ME Association letter). I've been housebound for about 6 years and just about manage the basics. I'm a bit worried that the vaccine will cause a decline into more severe. I am definitely going to have it when I'm called but haven't been able to bite the bullet and ask for it given that in the best case scenario it'll probably be a few days of feeling rough and worst case could be a relapse. I'm lucky that I'm able to shield pretty well so it's not been desperate but it would definitely make my life easier to be able to see people. I've thought from the beginning that I'd rather have one of the the RNA vaccines (Pfizer or Moderna) as I just had a feeling that AZ might cause worse side effects. Anyway, with the news today that under-30s are able to ask for non-AZ due to the risk of blood clots, I'm wondering if that would make it easier for me to ask for non-AZ. But having read this thread, I'm not even sure if that's better now. I wish there was data on which is giving pwME worse side effects. I'm pretty scared of a worsening of my ME. Sorry, this is not a very helpful comment, more of a sharing of indecision.

 

Couple things you might want to consider:
Since you got M.E, have you had reactions to other vaccines?
What’s your risk profile for Covid? If you are under 50 and not overweight, your risk is much lower than in the opposite case.

 

2nd shot plus 6 days. So whacked I can’t type out the effects. Exhausted is not a great enough word.

The stories of ‘this wonderstuff produced a remission in a bunch o lucky folks’ sound like a lotta turning anecdote into evidence.

 

Pfizer? AZ? Moderna?

 

@Sisyphus

Are you of the subset that gets a lot of viral reactivations? Do you catch colds or flus easily?

 

Dunno if u are replying to me, but Pfizer. I’d say it’s more about me than the vaccine, someone in halfway normal health would not have my issues. But ... someone else at S4me might. I’m expecting the knockdown to wear off, don’t know when. Certainly more than a week, probably less than a month. I hope.

- further info: For the 2nd shot I was careful to conserve energy otherwise; got a wheelchair to use at the vx site, that saved considerable standing and walking. Prbly bc of that, I’m less not more whacked after shot #2 than 1. But still 85% non-functional.

 

I don’t seem to get colds or flu much now. When I do I’m exhausted but have a less of the miserable sore throat, cough and so forth than previously. I do get the flu shot every year and that seems to also make colds shorter and milder, as in the years I’ve skipped the flu shot I’ve had more and more miserable cold/flu/whatever, regardless of whether it was a bad flu year. Totally different virus so it’s not a direct effect; the jab seems to have non-specific effects as well.
I don’t have any trouble with flu jabs, this batvirus jab is unlike those.

Net: This one ain’t like most others, you may have a reaction to it even if flu shots don’t bother you.

 

Thanks for replying and I hope your symptoms ease soon. I've not had any vaccinations since I got ME. I'm not in a high risk group but my concern is not that I would get severe covid but that any level of covid would worsen my ME long-term. I feel there's less risk for me getting the vaccine than getting covid. I'd just rather no risk at all so I'm putting off asking for the vaccine. I think I'm going to email my GP today though.