2nd round of vaccine—side effects but worth it

Hi all,

This is truly a meaningless drivel post.  No big message intended or implied.  I am just venting my own train of thought.

Yesterday I got my second COVID vaccine (Moderna) and today I am paying for it.  Without trying to make this a cider pressy post, I am solely reporting my experience today—I hurt!!  I feel like I have a bad cold/moderate flu, head hurts, chills (no fever), all my muscles, bones and joints ache and my head feels like it is in a cloud.  The first round was similar but less painful and only lasted till shortly after noon.  It is 3:00pm and the general body ache is going strong.  

My wife got the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine a couple weeks ago and she hurt worse than me.  I am glad she is over that part.

I wish the best for all others who get the COVID vaccine and if you are looking for one, I hope you can find it soon.

Thanks for listening to me vent and good Luck,

Eric

Hi, Eric.  Sorry you feel so crummy.   Just a side note, if you feel your legs get week, get to a hospital as soon as possible. Week legs are a possible sign of a serious life threatening event. This symptom has been reported in a majority of the more serious anaphylactic cases.

Hi Arthur,

Thanks for the tip.  My legs are no worse than any other part of my body today but that is good to know.  I should probably just buck up and take it, but it’s nice to vent too so thanks.

Eric

Eric, I can't offer much other than to say I hope you get to feeling better soon.

I've never had a flu shot much less this one.

I hope this will brighten your day!

Anne,

The good wishes are good enough—in this case particularly!  But seriously, I do appreciate the sentiments.  At the moment, OTC pain meds are working and who knows, maybe I am starting to get over the worst part.

Again, thanks,

Eric

Thanks for sharing your experience! I especially appreciate it when regular posters do so. Easy to see there's no agenda, just personal experience.

May help people make their own decision and/or prepare for getting their own. Or help a loved one recover.

Wishing you a quick recovery with an effective result. :)

Hey Eric. Hang in there man!

Hi Sonja,

Thanks for the happy thoughts.  As I type this it is about 6:00 pm.  It seems as though the worst part is over.  I still have some symptoms but I am definitely feeling better than I was at 3:00pm.  Looking back on the day, I rose this morning a bit before 3:00am.  I am an early riser but this morning I just hurt too much to stay in bed so I got out, went downstairs and drank some coffee.  

My aching got steadily worse till about 9:00am and the period from 9:00am to 3:00pm was the worst.  I did take ibuprofen and Tylenol but the aches just kept coming.  I was feeling pretty miserable during midday.  

By 3:00 things seemed to get gradually better.  At the moment the worst part is the itchy nose and eyes, but Benadryl mostly took care of that.  I don’t see myself staying up too late tonight so maybe a nights sleep will improve things.  

When my wife got her second shot (Pfizer), she felt pretty awful for the first day (probably worse than I feel) but on the second day she was better though not perfect.  I suspect I will go through something similar.

Once again, thanks for listening Sonja.  I do get some measure of relief just by being able to kinda talk out the discomfort so you have brought me some relief.  And who knows, maybe someone else will read this before or during their vaccine recuperation period and get an idea of just what it feels like and know that they are not alone.

Thanks again,

Eric

Thanks Douglas!

It’s about a quarter to 3:00 am and I am once again awake.  Like yesterday my back was too sore to sleep so I just went ahead and got up.  I thought I would update my experience since my last post.

Yesterday evening things gradually improved and though the aches never disappeared entirely, they were manageable.  Generally things went well until about 8:30pm.  At about 8:30pm I got the worst fever chills—I really layered up the clothing trying to bundle up but my teeth still chattered incessantly.  I climbed into bed essentially fully clothed but the bed has never felt so cold.  My wife could feel my forehead and despite my shivers, it was obvious to her that I had no fever.  Somehow I did fall asleep freezing cold.  

This morning the shivering is gone and the aches and pains are mild and tolerable.  I might take Tylenol or ibuprofen in a couple of hours but I am in no rush at the moment.

I will keep this updated but hopefully there won’t be much to report.

Eric

After my first dose of Moderna my arm was pretty sore for several days, after the second it was less so. Only difference after second was an itch at the injection site that only went completely away a couple days ago. In two more days I'll be two weeks out from the second.

From what I understand I can still get COVID but if I do I probably won't even know it. They don't know for sure yet that if that happened if I could give it to someone else so I will keep being careful and wearing my mask.

I'm not quite old enough to be in that eligible group but I work at the vaccination clinic. I was looking forward to visiting my older brothers and sisters who didn't get vaccinated till after I did but I'm gonna hold off a little longer to go see them. Last time any of us got together we roasted a turkey on the outdoor fire pit at Thanksgiving.

We had a woman at out clinic who tested positive two days after her second shot. We found out that three days before she was in close, prolonged contact with someone else who was quite sick.  She knew that but mistakenly believed her first dose had already protected her, she didn't get very sick but enough to shed virus.  I wonder if having the actual virus and the second dose at the same time gives her some kind of super duper immunity.

Its about 7:00am now.  My aches and pains all seemed to retreat to to my spine, but a good dose of ibuprofen and even that seems to be minimized.  All in all I am doing a LOT better than yesterday at the same time.

With a bit of luck today is just a mild version of yesterday which is approximately what my wife experienced when she got her second dose.

I will keep this updated,

Eric

6:00 pm and only the very slightest of symptoms.  A slightly stuffy nose, an odd ache here or there but very tolerable and virtually no OTC pain meds today.

So I guess the main troubles for this round are over.

Eric

Thanks, Eric. So glad you're feeling better all the time!

Can you summarize how long after you got the shot that your symptoms started, how long the bad stuff lasted, etc?

Oh! Congrats on your vaccine and sorry you're feeling unwell. I can't wait to get mine, our whole household is on pins and wishing for needles. XD

I know some who've had no side effects and some who've been laid up for a few days but no more. It seems like it mostly coincides with what side effects people get for other shots, especially flu shots.

We have plans to have each member of the house get it on a different day so there's no day when we're all laid up, that way there's always someone to handle the farm animals.

Sonja,

So I kinda summarized everything in my various posts but I can probably tidy things up here.

Friday 2/19.

I got the vaccine on Friday, 2/19 at about 1:00 pm.  I had no symptoms the rest of the day aside from some very mild soreness around the injection site—trivial.

Saturday 2/20.

I woke up at about 2:30 all achy and couldn’t get back to sleep so I just got up a little before 3:00am.  I felt pretty sore and aching and that grew worse from 3:00 am till 9:00 am.  

From 9:00 am till 3:00 pm was the worst.  I felt really awful by this point.  I had taken ibuprofen and Tylenol but neither was working particularly well.  During this period I was really wondering what I had gotten myself into.

Starting about 3:00 pm. the general aching and feverish feeling started to wane.  I was feeling better by the hour.  Definitely not at 100%, but far better than the awful 6 hours from 9:00 am till 3:00pm.

At about 8:30pm I was exhausted and getting ready to crawl into bed (I had been up since 2:30am).  Unfortunately I got awful fever chills that overwhelmed me.  I shivered and my teeth chattered.  I piled the layers on me and climbed into bed at about 9:00 which felt freezing cold.  Somehow I fell asleep.

Sunday 2/21

I again woke at about 2:30am.  This time I was HOT!  After all, I was wearing several layers of clothing and covered with multiple blankets.  Again, my back ached but not as bad as on Saturday.  Also I had very little discomfort in the rest of my body.  I came downstairs, got a cup of coffee, sat in a chair that reclined but still had back support and I was back asleep before 3:00am.  I slept till about 6:00 am. when I woke up for good.

Overall there has been very little discomfort through Today/Sunday.  I would say I am about 95% back and I expect that tomorrow I will be just fine.  Today is just so markedly different from yesterday, especially that awful 9:00am to 3:00pm period.

I hope this helps,

Eric

C,

I think that getting the vaccine on different days is a very sound idea.  Maybe you and your family will get the vaccine and basically no symptoms appear.  Or you might feel like I did.  Mileage may vary.

I wish you the very best.

Eric

I thought I should add one other point that went totally unmentioned in this thread.  That point would be how I became eligible for the vaccine in the first place.  

Neither my wife nor I am old enough to qualify for the vaccine by age or health reason.  Both of us qualified by occupation.  My wife is a doctor so she was among the very first in the region to get the vaccine.  She got hers several weeks ago.  I am a teacher so I qualified for the second round.

I don’t know when/how the general public will simply be able to get a vaccine at will, but they become available and if you want one I wish you the very best.

Eric

I haven't had the vaccine yet - looking forward to it when I get offered though!

Back in the days when I was being treated for my allergy to bee venom I was getting weekly, and then monthly, injections of venom. The injection sites themselves never really hurt, but I was predictably achy, tired and just generally feeling grotty for about 24 hours each time. Worth it though, as I'm now back to keeping bees properly and have since survived serious numbers of stings that would probably have killed me in the past.

My worst vaccine story was when I was due to travel through Asia as a teenager, going to Australia first. My mum - a doctor - promised to sort out my travel vaccines, but forgot until the day I was due to travel. She got hold of them at the last minute and jabbed me in the arm minutes before I caught the bus with my huge suitcase to the airport. My arm was so bloody sore I couldn't lift my bags properly, and sleeping on the flight was tough. Very awkward.

Hello Eric.
I think many of us are very wary of getting the C-19 shot.  I found your posts and updates very informative.

Could you continue to post a weekly update over the next month to tell us of any sudden changes?  I am particularly interested 3 weeks to over a month timeframe.  If anyone else has a similar vaccine story, I would really appreciate  your updates as well.
Thank you for all the information.  Have a great day.

Stephen,

I suppose I could post weekly updates.  For the moment I can tell you all the side effects that have happened to my wife following the first two day after injection—none.  Like me, she got her vaccine (both) on a Friday.  Aside from injection site tenderness, there was no reaction on Friday afternoon/evening.

All of my wife’s symptoms started on the next day (Saturday) where she went through essentially the same symptoms I did, but she probably felt even worse.  On her first round, like me, the symptoms were relatively mild and came to an end roughly around noon.  The second dose, again like me, was much worse and lasted all day.  Sunday was not exactly a perfect day but certainly much better than Saturday.  From appearances she left for work Monday maybe a bit tired (understandable considering her weekend) but otherwise not worse for wear.  

She got that second dose 3-4 weeks ago and I can’t see any lasting side effects and she hasn’t mentioned any.

Today, Monday, 2/22, I feel normal.  I thought I might feel a little bit fatigued owing to feeling/sleeping so awful this weekend (on top of all this, I have some pretty terrible insomnia) but actually I feel just fine.  The only side effect I have is just a little lingering injection site tenderness.  That tenderness feels kinda like a bruise but not a bad one and unless I am thinking about it, I don’t notice it.  

I will try to keep it shorter, but I will keep a running update.  Honestly I don’t expect anything to change other than the injection site tenderness clearing up, but if anything changes, I will let you know.

Hope this helps,

Eric

Stephen Chled wrote:Hello Eric.
I think many of us are very wary of getting the C-19 shot.  I found your posts and updates very informative.

Could you continue to post a weekly update over the next month to tell us of any sudden changes?  I am particularly interested 3 weeks to over a month timeframe.  If anyone else has a similar vaccine story, I would really appreciate  your updates as well.
Thank you for all the information.  Have a great day.

I do not personally have a vaccine story but I know a lot of people who have!

A doctor I know in LA got their shot and had vomiting and aches for one day on the first shot, no vomiting but more aches and nausea on the second shot for 2 days. This person has reactions to the flu shot.
One person I know who qualified for health reasons got serious symptoms for one day after the first shot and mild for two days. Second shot was serious symptoms for two days mild for two days. Symptoms included pain, brain fog, a mild cough, nausea and insomnia. This person also has reactions to the flu shot.
My sister and her husband were in the pfizer clinical trial. They both had moderate arm pain and swelling with the second shot for 2 days and mild for 1. This also tracks with their usual symptoms for vaccines and my own - radiating injection site pain is very common in my family as a reaction. This is the reaction I'm expecting to get.
Several people I know in healthcare got both shots without reporting any symptoms. A few said they had a single day of feeling tired and achy.

My sister had her vaccines before Thanksgiving so it's been more than 3 months and has reported no other symptoms outside of those first few days after each shot. Nobody else I know is having more symptoms afterwards either and many of the people were in Phase 1 and it's been weeks to months since they go their shots. Most of the people I know got it from being teacher, healthcare workers or serious health conditions. Nobody I know has an age based qualification yet.

Almost every person I know who has gotten their shot and had serious side effects noted they usually have similar (albeit less severe) side effects to other vaccines especially flu shots, so that may be a good way for you to gauge how the shots will go for yourself.

It’s a little after 6:00pm on Monday and I am virtually symptom free.  The symptoms I do feel are very mild and in normal circumstances hardly worth mentioning, but because of some interest in the developing thread I thought I would comment on even the trivial stuff.

I guess the biggest of the trivial stuff is the injection site tenderness, but this is getting better by the day, and it really is very mild.  I estimate it will take another couple more days to eliminate completely.

I did have a slight headache today, but I frequently have headaches and I can’t even positively attribute this headache to the vaccination.  It is also much more mild than my usual headaches.

The last symptom was a slightly stiff upper neck.  Once again I don’t even know if this is a part of the vaccine or just a normal ache/pain feeling.

One last thing to mention:  my wife asked what I was typing about yesterday and I showed her.  She gave me a slightly disapproving look and told me that I exaggerate (for the record, I articulate but never mind).  She further told me that a large chunk (most?  I don’t know the exact number.  I didn’t ask) of her patients who have had the vaccine (both Pfizer and Moderna) have had few and mild symptoms and that she and I were the outliers.  

The purpose of this thread was/is to report on the symptoms.  I just wanted to make clear again that I am not trying to make a persuasive argument.  Everyone can make their own decision about whether or not they want the vaccine.  Like the title of the thread says, I definitely had side effects, but I consider them worth the temporary discomfort.

I will keep this updated and of course invite the very friendly commentary that has been the norm.

Eric

Quick update:  It’s Tuesday and I don’t feel any symptoms.  I will update again on Saturday (1 full week) or sooner if symptoms reappear but at this point I highly doubt that will happen.

Eric

Thanks for the posts. My wife and I go in on the 3rd for our second shot. We will hope for the best and plan for the worst. We are getting some easy to fix meals in order, will fill up the feeders and water in the am, and do any other preemptive measures we can think of.

Eric, glad to hear you are feeling better.  It seems so random as to who gets symptoms from it and who does not.  I had nothing at all after the first 48 hours post-shot, and my symptoms before that time was up were very mild compared to yours.  Because of my work environment, we have had several hundred people vaccinated.  No serious allergic reactions, very few people with the type of symptoms you experienced.  I have two friends that went through approximately the same type things as you, but the vast majority had arm soreness, a strong sense of fatigue for a day or so following the shot, mild headache, and not much else.

Stephen asked about side effects weeks after the vaccination.  I personally know dozens of people that had the shot and I haven't heard of anyone having any symptoms more than a week post, and very, very few having any symptoms after the first two days.  My second shot was near the end of January, and I have had zero symptoms since 48 hours or so post-vaccination.  That is in no way definitive, just the experiences of myself and the people I know.

Trace, everyone,

Per Stephen’s request I will keep this updated weekly for the next 3 weeks on Saturdays.  But maybe as a preview, if the next two weeks go like this last week has gone, I really don’t see any problems.  My personal experience (which varies from everyone else’s experience) is that the overwhelming majority of side effects came within the 1st 72 hours of getting the actual injection.  Even then, speaking only for myself, the bulk of side effects were finished within 48 hours.

Like I said, everyone has their own experience and I can only comment on mine, but this Friday morning I feel no side effects nor have I for several days.

Eric

Too late for you guys, but they now think that getting a different vaccine for the second shot helps, and theres a trial on for that in UK.

rowan eisner wrote:Too late for you guys, but they now think that getting a different vaccine for the second shot helps, and theres a trial on for that in UK.

Who thinks this? I read an article about a week ago (either WaPo or the Guardian, I think) that said the opposite. Can you remember where you saw this?

Ok, here comes my first weekly update!

Nothing!

But one point that I want to make before finishing this post.  The longest lived side effect of my vaccination was the injection site tenderness, but I want to redact all but the first two days of tenderness (Saturday and Sunday).  Here is my reason:  I think that the very minor tenderness was not a symptom of the vaccine, but rather the normal result of a needle stick into tissue.  I was LOOKING for any possible symptom to report and if I poked the EXACT spot of the injection site, sure enough, I felt a slight soreness at the exact injection site and only as long as I was poking it.

There was one other reason this was a spurious reaction—the injection did not go in at the right spot in my arm (deltoid muscle).  The day of the vaccine was cold and I wore a long-sleeved, close fitting thermal undershirt under my T-shirt to the clinic.  I could not roll that sleeve up enough so the injection went below the main portion of the muscle.  I am thinking that if it had gone in normally I would not be able to detect the injection site at all by now.  I am thinking that the trivial tenderness I have felt since Monday is mechanical damage being repaired and not actually vaccine related.

So putting aside the extremely trivial, virtually nonexistent tenderness at the exact injection site, I have had no side effects of any types since Monday when I had a slight headache and slight stiff neck.  And even those two symptoms were so mild they were not really above the normal ache-and-pain of daily life.  If we discount those two symptoms, the last time I had a symptom directly attributed to the vaccine itself was on Sunday and those were relatively mild.

So to summarize, the side effects this week:

Nothing!

Eric

Eric Hanson wrote:Ok, here comes my first weekly update!

Nothing!

...

So to summarize, the side effects this week:

Nothing!

Eric

Such good news, Eric. Thanks for taking the time to post all this. I think hypervigilance about reactions is probably par for the course, as far as this scary virus is concerned. Thanks for starting this thread, because it's good to hear feedback from folks about how we're all reacting.

i got my second shot of the Moderna vaccine last week and had a very small localized reaction, slight itchiness and warmth and swelling at the injection site.  Same as the first one, no other symptoms other than that.  Aside from a craving for fresh brains, that is.....

Sandy

Happy Monday everyone - the brains comment above was a joke!

Sandy