2nd round of vaccine—side effects but worth it

Oof, I'm envious of you all! India decided that second dose of Oxford-AstraZeneca will be after 12 weeks (3 months) rather than the original 4 weeks :( so that makes me wait till the end of June for the second dose.  

I'm also concerned that there's such a vaccine shortage now that I might not get my second dose even after waiting patiently for 3 months. Ugh! I've known a few people who got ill in this terrible second wave despite having had the first dose. A close cousin of my housemate, in her late 40s, even died despite one previous dose, but I suspect she may have gotten infected right after the dose, not enough time for the immunity to kick in.

So I'm isolating at home with my housemates and just gardening and not going anywhere, until this second wave recedes a bit and/or I get my second dose.

Kevin David wrote:I got the J&J vaccine almost two weeks ago. The first night I was awake the entire night. I was sweating through most of the night, but I’d get chills and shiver if I took off the  blankets. So I preferred to sweat.

This was my experience with J&J too—one pretty miserable night of unmanageable chills. I got the shot at about 4 in the afternoon, and clearly I should have taken Tylenol before I went to bad that night to stay ahead of the chills. I was draggy all the next day (possibly as much from sleep loss as side effects) with headache, chills, and low energy, though taking generic Tylenol really helped. At about exactly 24 hours after getting the shot, I started feeling much better, and I was back to normal by 30 hours, with maybe a bit of a lingering sore shoulder but no other symptoms. In the intervening weeks (I'm a teacher and so I was able to get the shot a while back), my health has been excellent.

My wife got Pfizer and had a sore shoulder after #1, then had some headache and fatigue about 24 hours after she got #2. Those symptoms lasted maybe 8 hours, and then she was fine and has been fine since.

My wife got the Pfizer shot.  She has had diarrhea, feaver chills, and  throwing up for 5 Weeks.  The doctors say there is nothing they can do and tell us to keep her hydrated.  The shot is not worth it for something that is just a very bad flue.

2 weeks on from second AZ jab.  Both hubby and I had no real side effects.  My arm was a little sore locally for a day or so, but otherwise we are just grateful to have a bit more protection.

Been a few more weeks and still nothing. No, I'm not magnetic either. XD I have, however, been enjoying being mask free in a lot of environments and hanging out with friends again!

(edit to add to Rebecca Norman)
Hang in there, maybe they will change course again and offer the second dose sooner once more vaccine is shared amongst countries.

My experience with the first vaccine dose (Moderna) wasn't too bad. Arm soreness for a few days and then feeling tired for a few more. Though the tired could be unrelated. But this second dose is rough. Got it yesterday at 10 AM and felt fine, if a little off and sore in the arm for most of the day. By the time I went to bed, I felt so exhausted I could hardly stand and started shivering so bad my jaw was chattering. Muscle aches and spasms everywhere along with a wicked headache. The worst and most disconcerting though was the heart palpitations, which continue. All night I kept waking up feeling either overheating or freezing. Today is a bit better, but I feel wiped out, have a fever and still the heart palpitations. I've also found myself riddled with self doubt. I still think getting vaccinated was the right call, but there are a lot of mixed feelings. I had initially felt insistent that I wanted to get vaccinated at an actual health center by a nurse or whatnot. But then our city lifted the mask mandate suddenly and I felt like I had to get vaccinated faster. So I did what I had avoided and went to a mega pharmacy chain cause they had appointments that day. The lady that gave me the first one was very reassuring (I have a needle phobia) and had excellent bedside manner. She told me what she was doing, asked me questions and encouraged me to ask any I had. The second dose was given to me by a pharmacy intern who didn't really seem like she knew what she was doing and didn't really talk to me. I think she stuck me in the wrong spot, much higher in the deltoid than the first one and way more painful. She did not inspire confidence or treat me like a person.
I suspect my experience would've been far better if it'd been someone else giving the shot. I really believe that bedside manner makes a big difference in healthcare outcomes and I wish I'd been in a place to give her some constructive feedback so she could get better. If I had it to do over again, I would've trusted my gut and asked to have someone else give me the second dose. Or maybe tried to talk to her more about my discomfort and anxiety before she gave me the shot.
Hopefully the heart palpitations pass without issue and in two weeks, I can hug the people I love without fear again.

Hi Heather,

How are you doing now?

While I was happy to have only a bit of a headache after my second dose sometimes I almost wish my response to the second dose was a bit stronger as it's a demonstration that your immune system has been very well activated.  I'm guessing that I'm well protected, but for everyone that had a strong response for several days after the second shot, please take some solace in knowing that your immune system has been strongly activated against this beastie.  

Greg, I do take exactly that solace!

In fact it was precisely that knowledge that inspired the “but worth it” portion of the title for this thread.  Even though I went through a pretty rough day, I was comforted knowing I had a high degree of resistance to the COVID virus.

Eric

Went with  the J&J on Thursday around noon.  No side effects that same day, but Friday woke up feeling lethargic and a bit stiff throughout all muscles and a bit in the  joints.  This morning (Saturday) feeling still a bit tired, but better than yesterday.  Overall about the reaction that was expected...... and got a free annual state park sticker out of the deal to boot! :-)   If the situation arises where I need to produce a blood sample for other medical work in the weeks ahead, I may have a portion sent to see if the response to the vaccine was good.

John F Dean wrote:Hi Heather,

How are you doing now?

Hi John! Thank you so much for asking! Mostly back to normal now. Thankfully the heart palpitations stopped. That was the part that really freaked me out. I still feel more tired than usual, but that makes sense since my immune system obviously did some serious work learning how to deal with the covid beasties. Now that I'm out of the rough part, I am back to being excited and grateful to be vaccinated.  

Greg Martin wrote:While I was happy to have only a bit of a headache after my second dose sometimes I almost wish my response to the second dose was a bit stronger as it's a demonstration that your immune system has been very well activated.  I'm guessing that I'm well protected, but for everyone that had a strong response for several days after the second shot, please take some solace in knowing that your immune system has been strongly activated against this beastie.  

That makes sense and is comforting to know. Thank you for sharing that, Greg!

I'm grateful too for this thread. Reading about what other people went through helped me feel better about it. Without the dangers of reading stuff elsewhere on the interwebs and getting freaked out. It also quelled some of the self doubt I was briefly experiencing in the thick of the side effects. Most people I know have gotten vaccinated, but a few are super against it. They're welcome to make their own choice of course, but their voices felt extra loud and a bit judge-y of my choice when I wasn't feeling so good. This thread helped counterbalance that. Thank you Eric for starting it and for everyone who has shared about their experience!

So my kid and I came up to the US to get our shots (because otherwise, full vaccination for both of us is looking to be maybe by the end of the year. Hospitals in Brazil are still full and I figured it was time to take some action, since I could). We specifically wanted the Pfizer, and it was super easy to figure out (in fact we took one dose in NY and another in PA thanks to the magic of mega-pharmacies).
First dose, only site soreness for both of us.
Second dose, my kid had a day of fever and chills, and a few days of tiredness. I was a bit tired the following day, but a week after the second dose had a full day of serious vertigo, exhaustion, and just not-in-my-head. Luckily it was Sunday, nowhere to be, and I just spent the day in bed.
I had Covid last year, and my symptoms were exactly that plus fever (a week unable to do much of anything), so it's interesting to see how the immune system reacted the same way. Now back to normal.
We are headed back to Brazil this week, where my husband (who is a bit older than me) just got his first dose last week, but there it's similar to how Rebecca described: second dose only in September, possibly later.
Super grateful, glad we did it, and it meant we could spend some time with family (we missed out on that last year).

Off topic a bit, but related....I interlaced my COVID shots with shingles shots, another 2 shot vaccine.  I had my first shingles shot before my COVID shots, then had both of those, then waited a good while (you have up to 6 months between shots for shingles) then last week I got the second shingles shot.  Sore arm that day, then the next day I was feverish, shivering, mentally foggy...made it really hard to go fast with my nail gun (I'm redoing the siding on my home due to mistakes that were leading to damage from whoever did it the first time).  I didn't get very far....best laid plans and all that!  :)

Anyhow, By the day after I was feeling fine again.  Seems like the same phenomenon....first shot sets the immune system trigger, second shot sets it off and strengthens it for future experiences.  Hoping to never have to worry about shingles....uggh!

I searched for last year's covid-memes thread and couldn't find it after scrolling through almost a year of Meaningless Drivel so I'll put this here instead.

BTW I was able get my second dose at the exact 3 month mark. It's astrazeneca (but Indian version) but I had no side effects from either dose and am concerned about the cold chain here so... I'm considering getting a pfizer on my next trip to the US. It would be exactly like a booster, and from what I've read, sounds like it would be safe. Greedy, but I'll probably go to the US for a memorial service for a 95 year old relative and I don't want to go down in history as the one who brought a new variant to a bunch of octogenarians!

Kinda lost track of dates to update this thread. Derp. But I got my first shot in March and it is now august. I can’t say I’ve experienced any side effects since the immediate post shot issues. Nobody I know has either and literally everyone I talk to regularly has gotten their vaccine so that’s a big number of people. Dozens?

This week was Lughnasadh, a weird holiday about bread, and some friends came over to eat bread and play lawn games. We’re all wondering if masking is gonna be reinstated for the sake of all the people that are unvaccinated. We still feel totally comfortable as a vaccinated group though.

Gotta say, I've never heard of Lughnasadh being referred to as a weird holiday of bread. My understanding is it is the first of the three harvest holidays which makes total sense for an agrarian society.

That said, no problems with the vaccine, nor anyone in my family.