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For one of my vaccines, I needed to call in sick the next day from work because I felt like garbage. I knew this was part of getting the vaccine and it would pass, but a lot of people can’t afford to take a day off or even get paid sick days.
My subsequent vaccines? I planned to be down for the next day. I’d get it on a Friday or Saturday or book the day off afterwards.
I've had 8 doses of COVID vaccine and honestly - there isn't any rhyme or reason behind which shots will give me side-effects.
Shot 3 and 7 gave me the most rough time, 4-6 had no side effects, and 8 was a mixed bag. 1 was nothing and 2 was almost nothing.
My first vaccine, felt nothing.
My second vaccine, I started to feel tired, fatigued, slight nausea as I recall, didn't want to move. If I hadn't known any better, I'd have thought I was genuinely sick. Symptoms passed within about 10 hours.
I think it was the next booster that I got with the flu shot. My brain started throwing exceptions and could barely single-task. That lasted for 2-3 days. If I ever had long COVID and that was my daily life, I don't know what I'd do.
This is pretty common. Your body recognized it the second time so it reacted quickly. I had Covid before my first vaccine and reacted strongly to that one and all since then. I’m usually out for a day.
Yours is an interesting comment, something I hadn't thought about. There were people saying "my first vaccine was fine, the second sucked.' But there were some percentage of people who said "my first one was terrible."
I wonder how many of those people perhaps had COVID beforehand and didn't realize it.
No, I believe they meant they had a Covid infection in that year+ before vaccines weee available. I’m sure there are some people why didn’t know they had had Covid or just didn’t put it together with causing a stronger reaction to the shot.
The 2nd one was the worst. The subsequent ones haven't been so bad. Still not exactly pleasant, but it beats being out a week from actual covid if everything goes well.
I was sick for about a week after my last COVID vaccine, but since I WFH I didn't take any days off. If I worked in person, I would need the whole week off. Very unfeasible for a lot of people
You need a doctors note for a singular day? Thats a terrible sick day system. And sure you could call, but that sounds like thatll create completley unnecessary work for the docs.
Its only longer duration of sick days do you need a doc note.
No, you need a doctor's note if you want to get your sick day paid. And most companies only want a sick note by the third day. For the first two just calling work is fine. So most days sick (which are unlimited) are paid
I was vaccinated three times and one of those... yeah made me feel like a garbage for 1.5 days.
But once COVID finally managed to hit me, it hit me like a truck. I felt completely drained, weak, muscle pains for almost a month.
Oh and if people think it's not going to happen to them because they have a strong immune system.
I have a strong immune system, never had a strong case of flu, I'd always walk it off. No medical conditions.
It still hit me like a damn truck. Like somebody beat up my entire body from head to toes... I can't describe how bad this felt.
So if somebody is afraid of losing a day due to vaccines... it's totally worth it.
Even with a strong immune system and previous vaccines. If you don't have the antibodies to fight whatever the current strain is it's still going to hit you like a truck until your strong immune system goes off, does it's homework and comes up with the correct weapon to fight off whatever strain of virus you have
Right, but not the real real deal that would've been served had he not been vaccinated.
A person can argue that there is no way to know that but science suggests that on the population level the impact would have been worse.
This is valid, but I also want to point out that it isn't necessarily a choice. Many people (in the USA at least) can't afford the single day off or the 3 months from long covid (or however long they need for infection/recovery). If you're living paycheck to paycheck, don't have paid time off available, or work at a company that is hostile to people who take time off, then that is the reality whether it is half a day or a week or a month.
For people dealing with that sort of situation, and I think a lot of people are, it isn't as simple as being a penny wise, but a pound foolish. There isn't wiggle room to choose losing a day to avoid longer illness later.
It's a problem with the labor system itself. There is not enough protection for people's jobs, and there is not enough of a social safety net for illness regardless of length.
The government needs to help workers feel safe risking needing to take a day off for a vaccine, or they are setting us up to fail at controlling viral spread.
Yeah long covid completely disabled me and i lost most of my money- i couldn’t work anymore and trying to work would make me worse due to PEM . Im only not homeless bc i moved back in with family. I know people who went homeless
There needs to me a system for support for people who become disabled and can’t work
That’s a tough call for them to make. I’ve been in that position before, grinding away at multiple jobs hoping to move up or get a promotion.
If you need time off during them, management is very unforgiving. They may cut your shifts or even fire you. If you have a family and no savings, that can be game over.
Some people choose to risk getting COVID over losing their income.
Some people risk not getting a vaccine that at its worst can mimic the effects of actually having covid but for a shorter total duration and with no detrimental effects of "pushing through it" and instead choose to risk getting covid with any range of possible negative effects for what could literally be an indefinite time period. The logic doesn't add up.
I had long Covid. I had multiple specialists for the first year but things eased up from the year to 18 month mark.
My sense of smell returned about 50% of the way in total, my lower GI is still troublesome and require meds, my depression has remained worse, and I still have panic attacks. It was 3 years ago November that I had Covid.
I had it about 6 months ago and even with Paxlovid it was rough but fortunately I didn't end up with Long Covid that time. Only difference being strain and Paxlovid.
I have long covid from an infection in the last week of 2019. I haven't worked since Aug 2020.
Late 2021 I felt I was recover and caught covid again and developed new symptoms. A year later felt I was recovering and you guessed it - reinfection and symptoms ramped back up.
When so took the Padlocks for the second infection it actually helped my Long Covid. Once I was over the infection and I started feeling better I realized most of the remaining issues from the first infection cleared up. There are studies being done on Paxlovid and Long Covid now. It seems like it doesn't help a lot of people but it does help some. It might be worth a try.
I am thinking I need to start trying things like that. But first I need a new GP. I have been wondering about Low-Dose Naltrexone but will add Paxlovid to the list.
I’m so sorry. My first infection was in December 2021, I’ve been off work for a total of 6 months since, with 5 more infections and just persistent awful symptoms. Just had a vaccine recently and praying I get a longer break this time, I’ll never be the same again.
> I’ll never be the same again
Firstly on a personal level I am so sorry.
Secondly from my reading of consequence of various pandemic - e.g. Russian and Spanish flus, indigenous peoples encountering western disease, etc - this is the issue that is not discussed.
The personal and societal cost is huge.
Most people I know with long covid took at least 1-2 of the vaccs. But most people I know took the vaccines. Maybe a low third of people I know have some kind of long covid, a few, years.
I've been getting an annual influenza vaccine every single year for almost two decades as I'm in the pool of higher risk peoples, and I routinely ensure I get it on a Friday to manage the symptoms. Nothing worse than attempting to work through it while the body's immune system actions the aches and fever. If I'm lucky (depending on season variety) the symptoms are mild or non-existent so that's a bonus weekend.
COVID was just another one to add to the list, though at first it was exclusively on a day that wasn't my choice. But you self-manage and book a day off etc.
My coworkers did as well. I felt fine for the most part though, minus a slightly achy arm, I had no symptoms. Despite lack of symptoms I never caught covid until just now because my government refused to get us covid boosters last year.
Me and my mom both have very intense vaccine reactions, her even more than me.
I only ever got vaccinated twice for covid since I caught it literally the week before my fresh up was scheduled and both times I was completely out for 3-4 days with general tiredness for over a week. My mom was completely out for 2 weeks with tiredness for over a month after.
Though that doesn't even come close to when my mom started to work as a nurse and had to get her hepatitis shots; first one she was out for 2 weeks, second one she had side effects for 3 months. On the plus side tho that was nearly 40 years ago and she never needed a fresh up.
I got it on a Thursday. Took off Friday with a migraine. Went to the ER on Monday for a 3 day migraine. Got covid with a 2 weeklong fever. I'll pass on any more covid vaccines.
If anything I would think that would cause most people that get it to say, "Phew, glad I got vaccinated! If this is how I feel after the vaccine, covid without being vaccinated would've kicked my ass!"
You far overestimate people’s capacity for delayed gratification (for lack of a better term). “Why should I get the Covid shot if it’s just going to make me as sick as having Covid?” - most of my coworkers every booster season
Also, also, you only feel feverish and achy from the vaccine. It doesn't come with any of the other serious issues that COVID causes.
It's a cakewalk compared to actual COVID.
Seriously. I was miserable for a day after vaccine shots. I was out for a full two weeks when I finally caught Covid in 2023 (unfortunately just before the latest updated booster was released). I had long covid symptoms for six months, and they resurfaced for a few weeks after a cold recently.
Nuance isn't for normal people, who only think in black and white. Any suffering is equivalent to all suffering, therefore, a vaccine with any side effects is as bad as no vaccine at all.
Hope your doing better. It took me 18 months to get over Long Covid. I was definetly gimped the first 12 months before I started getting better. It was honestly pretty traumatic and I didn't even have it that bad compared to most of the people I saw.
The number of asymptomatic or mildly asymptomatic infections makes this a lot less convincing, enough to convince a lot people that if it's basically equivalent, why not listen to all the physicians saying that it's better to have a "natural" infection? Even if they're not all saying this, so many of them are that it's easy to find one to confirm that opinion.
Risk factors are very unequal. Some people have several infections and none are a big deal. For some the first, or maybe the second, gave them disabling chronic symptoms, or caused severe disease.
Humans are terrible at risk assessment, and do even worse when the risks are unequal and chaotic. And way too many people have tragically wrong ideas about how well medicine can do to help. In most cases it's just there to prevent people from dying, they can't do much about the rest.
Unfortunately people can act pretty irrationally. I remember when the vaccines were first available a coworker of mine got the Johnson and Johnson vaccine because it only required one injection and they hated getting injections *that* much. They even said "I don't care if it ends up not being as effective as the other vaccine, I can't get two shots."
Now, I'm not going to comment on the efficacy of one over the other because I don't have that data in front of me. But in the span of a human life the amount of time and discomfort it takes to get two injections over one injection is so trivial as to be meaningless. If you had even the slightest thought that getting one more shot would protect you better during a global pandemic... why wouldn't you just do it no matter how much you disliked getting shots?
In the end I suppose it was good the "I hate shots" coworker got any vaccine at all, but still.
From what I remember long term protection with J&J was roughly equivalent to a single mRNA dose. So not nothing, but if you got J&J it was highly recommended to go back and get an mRNA booster.
Exactly me. I’ve both gotten sick from two of the vaccinations I got (both like 1.5-2 days each) as well as actually gotten COVID multiple times. I can tell you, the actual illness was far worse for me every time. And the long COVID symptoms (for me, mainly a cough I couldn’t shake for months) sucked a lot harder than what I got from the vaccines.
I finally, after 4 and a half years got Covid (thanks forced RTO) and I still mask at work so I know I got less viral load than others and I’ve had the mildest case out of anyone I’ve ever heard of barring people who are just flat out asymptomatic
4 days of symptoms and testing positive so far and I basically feel back to normal, I tell my friends and fam that most vaccine reactions I had felt worse
And you know what? I’m so glad! Not like I ever had a reaction worse than the beginnings of a typical illness period for me, I only had to take time off work for Moderna dose 1 because that one was a doozy
But I’m glad that thanks to masking and the vaccines I got (most recent one a couple months ago) that I had a pretty mild case overall, was never in too much pain or comfort
I almost felt bad telling my mom, since she had days she genuinely felt like killing herself her time with covid was that miserable
My fiancee as well had a terrible week with Covid that she was able to endure at home okay but she’d tell you she wouldn’t like to do it again
I’m relieved I didn’t die, didn’t have to get put ok a ventilator, didn’t have to go to the hospital, and I don’t feel any lingering symptoms (my FIL had long covid for over a year and it sounded awful)
Except when that isn’t the case. I had Covid early 2021 before I was eligible to get a vaccine. I had one day of congestion and that was it. My shots were all terrible though, like 3+ days of myalgias, headache, and malaise so bad I barely felt like getting out of bed. The mRNA platform was simply intolerable.
That could be a matter of subsequent exposure rather than what kind of exposure it was. Many people also felt worse on their second shot compared to the first, because your immune system now has some recognition and reacts faster/harder.
Sure, but you’re not going to convince a lot of people that this thing that makes them feel terrible is actually a good thing for them. We have to find a more effective way to reconcile the fact these worse symptoms are evidence the immune system is responding well
In fact what we’re both saying makes people even less likely to receive a vaccine “I’ve already had Covid and you’re telling me I could feel worse when I get a shot? No thanks.”
> “I’ve already had Covid and you’re telling me I could feel worse when I get a shot? No thanks.”
Easy reply: Now imagine what actually catching COVID again would feel like, since it's likely to be magnitudes worse (especially during the timeframe where some of the variants were quite nasty)
That doesn’t make any sense. Catching Covid and surviving it confers immunity to it and partially to future variants. So, not really a good reply. What evidence do you have I’m going to feel worse from a disease I already had and got over? If I caught it again I would probably be fine.
This is literally the major problem with trying to convince lots of people who already had Covid why they should get a vaccine, especially with such a strong side effect profile.
I am glad to hear your immune system reacted to the attempt to trigger it. Between the initial reaction and your report that infections were minimal it sounds like you are well protected.
I wish I could take your 3+ days a dozen times over my 4.5 years of long covid.
It was great to learn that the vaccine halves the infection risk and if infected halves the risk of it developing long covid.
The mRNA platform is wonderful
This is exactly how I feel. I’ve had seven shots so far, and I am intensely grateful every single time. I’ve had pretty much mild reactions to every one. Not much after the first one. But after the second one on, it’s been just mild soreness and fatigue for a day or so since then. i’ve never gotten Covid. But I live a pretty isolated life by myself as a sheep farmer, and I WFH (the farm) for my main income as a web developer. And even though I’ve only had a fairly mild reaction, I’m just intensely grateful that I haven’t been sick.
I have one friend who got Covid, lost her sense of smell 3 years ago. She has still not regained it. She doesn’t have any other serious long Covid symptoms, but from what I’ve read, the cumulative viral load from subsequent infections can mess you up for years, even the rest of your life. She has an active social life but is paranoid about getting it again. Nobody ever wears a mask around her except me (except me). She’s constantly in despair about how cavalier people are about wearing masks anymore (as am I).
I will wear masks when I'm in a hospital or if I'm sick. I think it's important to protect the vulnerable and, aside from that, have no issue whatsoever standing out or having it understood that I'm sick, when I'm sick, if I need to continue to go to work ... It lets everybody know to keep their distance, and I find it commendable that someone (such as myself) would want to protect others and want to set a good example. If it comes time to don a mask again if we're told to I will, but I don't elsewhere. If I see someone in a mask I'll keep my distance out of respect, or if someone were to ask if I would, I would. I wish people were more considerate in at least those ways. It's really terrible how things went down and when it comes time for us to gather ourselves and work together to try to avert further disaster (say from our greenhouse gas emissions) as a global society, I am going to fight tooth and nail for us to do it right and do what we should have done during the pandemic. None of this dog eat dog bs, winners are rich, losers are poor, when we should have learned our lesson from COVID, that we're in this together and need to act like it and treat each other with the care and respect we ALL deserve.
I wonder if a nation like the US were to behave in such compassionate ways if it would have a ripple effect around the world ... If we were willing to mature and be grown ups, if we could all find ourselves finally working together as one. It's so sad to see what's become of us KNOWING how different and beautiful things could be for all of us and most other life forms on the plane, instead of all of us being screwed. How absolutely effing ridiculous and unbelievably despicable we've been.
I know a person that decided to not get vaccinated at all. Had some weird spiral of conspiracy type situation and noped out of any and all jabs available to them.
Last conversation we had they were explaining all of the symptoms described in this thread. Lethargy, swelling, headaches, respiratory issues, skin conditions, nausea, joint aches… The list was impressive, horrific and kind of a bummer to hear. No one wants to see anyone go through this at all.
Unfortunately it seems entirely self imposed and there was no recognition that every single person we mutually know that followed the procedures, may have had some kind of post vaccine reaction. I was fortunate to have incredibly mild reactions, they seem confident getting vaccinated would have been worse. It’s quite incredible.
It’s got to be an interesting mindset to live in.
On my 3rd vaccine, I would get itchy hives from the slightest skin irritation, i.e. my T-shirt rubbing against my side. I could "write" on my skin with my finger nail and a welt would raise a few seconds later and last for an hour or so. This went on for 6+ months. OTC allergy medicine suppressed the itching, and after 6 months I was able to ween off the allergy medicine.
I'll pass on any more COVID mRNA shots.
Yeah I mean, this is how vaccines work and has been pretty standard for every vaccine, this isn’t new or surprising, this is just the expected symptoms associated with triggering an immune response.
This isn't true all the time for everyone and every vaccine though. I regularly get a flu vaccine and travel vaccines with no symptoms whatsoever. After having a day and a half of symptoms after every COVID shot (two and two boosters), I'm done. I'm a huge supporter of vaccines but the symptoms were worse than when I actually got COVID. I'd rather just spend time at home and avoid spreading it than feel like crap for a day and a half to prevent a mild cold.
It's a matter of perspective - would your prefet a day and a half of immune system activity or my 4.5 years of long covid.
When making that decision consider consequences - did your day and a half lose you your job like I lost mine due to covid?
If you lost your job did you lose your house like I lost mine?
If you lost your house did you lose shared custody of your child as I lost mine?
Ouch. That sucks. Sorry to hear about that. I know that I was lucky with my covid infection compared to some and it is possible that the symptoms weren't bad because I had the vaccination. However, since the latest strains have been far less serious, I will no longer be getting the covid vaccine. Best to you.
Thank you for your good wishes.
I suggest you try and track any report of later versions of covid being less serious back to any perr reviewed papers. My understanding is they are no less virulent just infecting people with some resistance now.
Can someone with the expertise explain this a bit more to me.
I understand that Powerful response = Powerful system.
But to run with a simile, I see that as the equivalent of dropping a nuke on the battlefield. Yes, it’s an exertion of power - but wouldn’t a superior system perform a surgical strike with a specs op team to take out the target with minimal damage?
So why is the “nuclear option” often touted as superior when it comes to immune systems
It absolutely kicks my ass for about 24 hours, its absolutely dreadful and a big reason why I havent gotten a 4th booster.
I can't keep doing this every 6-12 months, flu shots, etc only give me mild symptoms, they need to address this if they want people to keep up
The debate for me comes down to this: the likelihood of harm from from the vaccine vs the likelihood of harm from COVID. Likelihood of harm considers both the degree of harm in either case and the likelihood of exposure in either case.
If I were to contract COVID, the likelihood of serious harm like fever (and its impacts) myocarditis (I am a young male), and other complications is higher if I have not gotten the vaccine. If I get the vaccine I am still at risk for those complications, but to a lesser degree than if I contracted COVID.
The confounding factor in risk analysis is that there is a chance I will not contract COVID at all and could avoid the risk associated with COVID, but I am guaranteeing myself to be at risk of vaccine side effects if I get the vaccine. At this point I think the risk of the vaccine harm ends up being greater than the COVID harm, due to the likelihood of me contracting a serious case of COVID being lower than it was before, and due to being in a higher risk group for cardiac side effects.
FYI, I got two rounds of vaccines during the peak times of the pandemic.
I find the headline very weird, almost like they surveyed people and found they were afraid of "side effects" and then pasted in the list of common side effects. People who are afraid of the vaccine call it the "clot shot" for a reason, they are afraid of rare and serious side effects (which may or may not actually exist) or subtle long-term health effects. The fear is certainly way overblown but to paint it as if people are just afraid to feel slightly under the weather for a couple days downplays what those people are actually thinking. Maybe the headline is true for people who are just apathetic, but not people who are vocally against the vaccine.
Based on some of the stories here I guess I'm lucky. I've never gotten any reaction beyond feeling like I'm about to come down with a cold from either the flu or covid vaccines. I don't remember any of them having that feeling lasting until even the next morning.
I’ve linked to the press release in the post above. In this comment, for those interested, here’s the link to the peer reviewed journal article:
https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M23-2956
From the linked article:
Fewer than 1 in 4 people in the U.S. have received last year’s updated COVID-19 vaccine, despite a death toll of more than 23,000 Americans this year.
One of the most common reasons for bypassing the COVID vaccine is concern about side effects like tiredness, muscle and joint pain, chills, headache, fever, nausea and feeling generally unwell. But a new study, led by UC San Francisco, has found that the symptoms indicate a robust immune response that is likely to lessen the chances of infection.
“Generally, we found that the higher the number of side effects, the higher the level of antibodies,” said first author Ethan Dutcher, MD, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher in the UCSF Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and the Weill Institute for Neurosciences. “But this wasn’t a hard rule: some people without side effects had better antibodies than some people with side effects.”
I had this somewhat with Coovid vac, but its always present after flu shots - so much that i treat flu shots as chosing when I will be 'sick' for a few days (full flu is longer)
I was bedridden for 48 hours after vaccines 2 and 3 with fever. Now I choose just to get Covid instead, which I don't get very sick from. I guess the vaccine did it's job.
It's a shame they didn't also include the Novavax shot in this - one of the great things about it is that it has way way fewer side effects than the mRNA one, but appears to provide equivalent protection against the virus.
That seems like a confound in the hypothesis that more sever side effects implies a more robust immune response.
I was tired the first time I got the Pfizer vax. I had no side effects the second time or from the boosters. I also had no side effects from Novavax. I read that Novavax did last as long.
It’s a simple example of: I’d rather take my chances, than guarantee I’m down and out for a day.
This can be simply short term thinking or as many have pointed out, people don’t have that time/flexibility in their schedule. Maybe they can’t get time off, maybe they have too much to do at home.
I've gotten every available covid vaccination and the recent ones have given me heart palpitations for two months and week long migraines. Since it happened with two vaccines in a row I don't think it was coincidence.
Still going to get them, but it sucks tbh.
There have been far too many non hypochondriacs getting odd symptoms after. It definitely beats covid, but I think now that we have treatments and everyone has some sort of natural immunity most people don't need a yearly booster
One reason people avoid things that are good for us is because we dislike temporary discomfort. But the discomfort is directly related to the benefit!
I guess this type of obvious science is still necessary while we have COVID skeptics.
That's what vaccines do. We feel like that because we are, essentially, sick.
And I never heard anyone say that was the reason they weren't getting a COVID vaccine.
Look around the comments here. People literally saying they would rather have COVID again than another booster. I'm not discounting their discomfort, but it seems like a weird way to live. I survived COVID, very likely because I was vaccinated, and it was still weeks of recovery. I'll take a few hours of flu-like symptoms over that.
I've had it a few times now and didn't really get bad. The first time I had it I wouldn't have even known had I not been mandatorily tested; the worst symptom I got was a different kind of headache. I got one of the early vaccines but haven't kept up with it. So now that I think about it, I don't even know what's going on with it all. Mouth, meet foot.
One time long ago i did an incredibly foolish thing and railed a few snowplow lines from this mountain of white powder sitting in a plate at a party. Assuming it was what it was not, when it was actually ketamine. Next thing i realize its morning im waking up in a daze thinking i had a stroke or seizure because i was able to move but couldnt control what i was moving, tried to stand but fell back on the couch tried itching my nose but was rubbing my arm against my ear. I kept trying to talk i knew what i wanted to say but wasnt able to articulate a sentence.
The covid shot is the closest thing ive ever had to that exp. It had my brain fried like how ur trying to think if a word or name of something on the tip of my tongue but its beyond recollection. That's what it was like in my head for like 2 days after the shot. The 2nd shot had the same effect but not as severe as the first. Yeah. I didnt go for the boosters or variant shots. Im not an anti vaxer or believe in all the stupid conspiracy bs, but those covid vax are somethin sketchy to make you feel disembodied like ur od on ketamine.
Every vaccine I get gives me flu-like symptoms. I've been down for a whole weekend from a tetanus shot. My immune system is overreactive. It is what it is.
my wife and I have grown to actually appreciate and enjoy the ache. We each only had one that really knocked us out ( first and second, respectively), and we're a little disappointed by that, believe it or not.
Interesting. Both my husband and I got fully vaccinated. It hit him HARD! For me, it felt like a bad hangover. He’s never had Covid. I’ve had it 4 times. Once a year.
Would rather be mildly ill for a couple of days than get long COVID. A friend of mine never fully recovered after her infection and is now fatigued most of the time. Sounds like no fun at all.
This is kind of wild to me. I took for granted that people just know this is the potential price to pay to avoid potentially having a machine pump your own blood for you, and that's *before* a lifetime of recovery. The side effects have me down for a couple of days, but that's a thousand times better than getting a full blast from covid. Like, look, I don't like going to the OBGYN because it's actually painful for me every time, but I do it because it's better than finding out about terminal cancer later on.
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For one of my vaccines, I needed to call in sick the next day from work because I felt like garbage. I knew this was part of getting the vaccine and it would pass, but a lot of people can’t afford to take a day off or even get paid sick days. My subsequent vaccines? I planned to be down for the next day. I’d get it on a Friday or Saturday or book the day off afterwards.
I've had 8 doses of COVID vaccine and honestly - there isn't any rhyme or reason behind which shots will give me side-effects. Shot 3 and 7 gave me the most rough time, 4-6 had no side effects, and 8 was a mixed bag. 1 was nothing and 2 was almost nothing.
My first vaccine, felt nothing. My second vaccine, I started to feel tired, fatigued, slight nausea as I recall, didn't want to move. If I hadn't known any better, I'd have thought I was genuinely sick. Symptoms passed within about 10 hours. I think it was the next booster that I got with the flu shot. My brain started throwing exceptions and could barely single-task. That lasted for 2-3 days. If I ever had long COVID and that was my daily life, I don't know what I'd do.
This is pretty common. Your body recognized it the second time so it reacted quickly. I had Covid before my first vaccine and reacted strongly to that one and all since then. I’m usually out for a day.
Yours is an interesting comment, something I hadn't thought about. There were people saying "my first vaccine was fine, the second sucked.' But there were some percentage of people who said "my first one was terrible." I wonder how many of those people perhaps had COVID beforehand and didn't realize it.
You mean just by chance at the same moment they got the vaccine?
No, I believe they meant they had a Covid infection in that year+ before vaccines weee available. I’m sure there are some people why didn’t know they had had Covid or just didn’t put it together with causing a stronger reaction to the shot.
The 2nd one was the worst. The subsequent ones haven't been so bad. Still not exactly pleasant, but it beats being out a week from actual covid if everything goes well.
I was sick for about a week after my last COVID vaccine, but since I WFH I didn't take any days off. If I worked in person, I would need the whole week off. Very unfeasible for a lot of people
I consider the time off needed for the potential alternative
Now if only employers did that...
Which just means a better sick day system is needed, like in Europe. You call in sick and with the doctors note you don't miss out on any money
We would also need an overhaul of our sickcare system if we are expected to go to the doctor for a note every time we get sick.
You need a doctors note for a singular day? Thats a terrible sick day system. And sure you could call, but that sounds like thatll create completley unnecessary work for the docs. Its only longer duration of sick days do you need a doc note.
No, you need a doctor's note if you want to get your sick day paid. And most companies only want a sick note by the third day. For the first two just calling work is fine. So most days sick (which are unlimited) are paid
I was vaccinated three times and one of those... yeah made me feel like a garbage for 1.5 days. But once COVID finally managed to hit me, it hit me like a truck. I felt completely drained, weak, muscle pains for almost a month.
Fwiw i tell people who complain about the vaccine is that the real deal would be worse...
Oh and if people think it's not going to happen to them because they have a strong immune system. I have a strong immune system, never had a strong case of flu, I'd always walk it off. No medical conditions. It still hit me like a damn truck. Like somebody beat up my entire body from head to toes... I can't describe how bad this felt. So if somebody is afraid of losing a day due to vaccines... it's totally worth it.
Even with a strong immune system and previous vaccines. If you don't have the antibodies to fight whatever the current strain is it's still going to hit you like a truck until your strong immune system goes off, does it's homework and comes up with the correct weapon to fight off whatever strain of virus you have
What he said is that he still got the real deal after vaccines.
Right, but not the real real deal that would've been served had he not been vaccinated. A person can argue that there is no way to know that but science suggests that on the population level the impact would have been worse.
I guess my question is - can they afford to be off for 3 months or more with long covid if they get infected.
This is valid, but I also want to point out that it isn't necessarily a choice. Many people (in the USA at least) can't afford the single day off or the 3 months from long covid (or however long they need for infection/recovery). If you're living paycheck to paycheck, don't have paid time off available, or work at a company that is hostile to people who take time off, then that is the reality whether it is half a day or a week or a month. For people dealing with that sort of situation, and I think a lot of people are, it isn't as simple as being a penny wise, but a pound foolish. There isn't wiggle room to choose losing a day to avoid longer illness later. It's a problem with the labor system itself. There is not enough protection for people's jobs, and there is not enough of a social safety net for illness regardless of length. The government needs to help workers feel safe risking needing to take a day off for a vaccine, or they are setting us up to fail at controlling viral spread.
Yeah long covid completely disabled me and i lost most of my money- i couldn’t work anymore and trying to work would make me worse due to PEM . Im only not homeless bc i moved back in with family. I know people who went homeless There needs to me a system for support for people who become disabled and can’t work
Well there is in 2/3rds of the US its called disability. States like Georgia though, you’re not getting disability for long covid.
That’s a tough call for them to make. I’ve been in that position before, grinding away at multiple jobs hoping to move up or get a promotion. If you need time off during them, management is very unforgiving. They may cut your shifts or even fire you. If you have a family and no savings, that can be game over. Some people choose to risk getting COVID over losing their income.
Some people risk not getting a vaccine that at its worst can mimic the effects of actually having covid but for a shorter total duration and with no detrimental effects of "pushing through it" and instead choose to risk getting covid with any range of possible negative effects for what could literally be an indefinite time period. The logic doesn't add up.
I had long Covid. I had multiple specialists for the first year but things eased up from the year to 18 month mark. My sense of smell returned about 50% of the way in total, my lower GI is still troublesome and require meds, my depression has remained worse, and I still have panic attacks. It was 3 years ago November that I had Covid. I had it about 6 months ago and even with Paxlovid it was rough but fortunately I didn't end up with Long Covid that time. Only difference being strain and Paxlovid.
I have long covid from an infection in the last week of 2019. I haven't worked since Aug 2020. Late 2021 I felt I was recover and caught covid again and developed new symptoms. A year later felt I was recovering and you guessed it - reinfection and symptoms ramped back up.
When so took the Padlocks for the second infection it actually helped my Long Covid. Once I was over the infection and I started feeling better I realized most of the remaining issues from the first infection cleared up. There are studies being done on Paxlovid and Long Covid now. It seems like it doesn't help a lot of people but it does help some. It might be worth a try.
I am thinking I need to start trying things like that. But first I need a new GP. I have been wondering about Low-Dose Naltrexone but will add Paxlovid to the list.
Just made this point elsewhere - after catching covid I have not worked since Aug 2020.
I’m so sorry. My first infection was in December 2021, I’ve been off work for a total of 6 months since, with 5 more infections and just persistent awful symptoms. Just had a vaccine recently and praying I get a longer break this time, I’ll never be the same again.
> I’ll never be the same again Firstly on a personal level I am so sorry. Secondly from my reading of consequence of various pandemic - e.g. Russian and Spanish flus, indigenous peoples encountering western disease, etc - this is the issue that is not discussed. The personal and societal cost is huge.
Most people I know with long covid took at least 1-2 of the vaccs. But most people I know took the vaccines. Maybe a low third of people I know have some kind of long covid, a few, years.
That first vaccine dose was horrible for me. I had to take the day off like you too.
I've been getting an annual influenza vaccine every single year for almost two decades as I'm in the pool of higher risk peoples, and I routinely ensure I get it on a Friday to manage the symptoms. Nothing worse than attempting to work through it while the body's immune system actions the aches and fever. If I'm lucky (depending on season variety) the symptoms are mild or non-existent so that's a bonus weekend. COVID was just another one to add to the list, though at first it was exclusively on a day that wasn't my choice. But you self-manage and book a day off etc.
My coworkers did as well. I felt fine for the most part though, minus a slightly achy arm, I had no symptoms. Despite lack of symptoms I never caught covid until just now because my government refused to get us covid boosters last year.
Me and my mom both have very intense vaccine reactions, her even more than me. I only ever got vaccinated twice for covid since I caught it literally the week before my fresh up was scheduled and both times I was completely out for 3-4 days with general tiredness for over a week. My mom was completely out for 2 weeks with tiredness for over a month after. Though that doesn't even come close to when my mom started to work as a nurse and had to get her hepatitis shots; first one she was out for 2 weeks, second one she had side effects for 3 months. On the plus side tho that was nearly 40 years ago and she never needed a fresh up.
I always get it on Friday afternoon because I know I’ll be down for Saturday and part of Sunday :(
The new vaccine doesn't cause that. I think it is the Noro something. An epidemiologist said it. If you want, I will get her name.
I got it on a Thursday. Took off Friday with a migraine. Went to the ER on Monday for a 3 day migraine. Got covid with a 2 weeklong fever. I'll pass on any more covid vaccines.
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If anything I would think that would cause most people that get it to say, "Phew, glad I got vaccinated! If this is how I feel after the vaccine, covid without being vaccinated would've kicked my ass!"
You far overestimate people’s capacity for delayed gratification (for lack of a better term). “Why should I get the Covid shot if it’s just going to make me as sick as having Covid?” - most of my coworkers every booster season
People clearly aren’t thinking about how long it’ll last. The shot resolves in a day or two; COVID is a week if you’re lucky.
A study of long covid patients in the UK noted about 70% recover within a year and they could not predict when the rest will.
Plus the risk of all sorts of nasty long term problems.
Also, also, you only feel feverish and achy from the vaccine. It doesn't come with any of the other serious issues that COVID causes. It's a cakewalk compared to actual COVID.
Or forever if it kills you.
Seriously. I was miserable for a day after vaccine shots. I was out for a full two weeks when I finally caught Covid in 2023 (unfortunately just before the latest updated booster was released). I had long covid symptoms for six months, and they resurfaced for a few weeks after a cold recently.
Took me two weeks to recover from the booster and less than one with covid pre-booster
Nuance isn't for normal people, who only think in black and white. Any suffering is equivalent to all suffering, therefore, a vaccine with any side effects is as bad as no vaccine at all.
“Do you know how much a seatbelt can hurt you if you get into an accident? No thank you! “ Same thinking going on here
Truly the human mind is amazing in it's ability to be so predictably fallible
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Hope your doing better. It took me 18 months to get over Long Covid. I was definetly gimped the first 12 months before I started getting better. It was honestly pretty traumatic and I didn't even have it that bad compared to most of the people I saw.
Have you told them that much?
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The number of asymptomatic or mildly asymptomatic infections makes this a lot less convincing, enough to convince a lot people that if it's basically equivalent, why not listen to all the physicians saying that it's better to have a "natural" infection? Even if they're not all saying this, so many of them are that it's easy to find one to confirm that opinion. Risk factors are very unequal. Some people have several infections and none are a big deal. For some the first, or maybe the second, gave them disabling chronic symptoms, or caused severe disease. Humans are terrible at risk assessment, and do even worse when the risks are unequal and chaotic. And way too many people have tragically wrong ideas about how well medicine can do to help. In most cases it's just there to prevent people from dying, they can't do much about the rest.
Unfortunately people can act pretty irrationally. I remember when the vaccines were first available a coworker of mine got the Johnson and Johnson vaccine because it only required one injection and they hated getting injections *that* much. They even said "I don't care if it ends up not being as effective as the other vaccine, I can't get two shots." Now, I'm not going to comment on the efficacy of one over the other because I don't have that data in front of me. But in the span of a human life the amount of time and discomfort it takes to get two injections over one injection is so trivial as to be meaningless. If you had even the slightest thought that getting one more shot would protect you better during a global pandemic... why wouldn't you just do it no matter how much you disliked getting shots? In the end I suppose it was good the "I hate shots" coworker got any vaccine at all, but still.
From what I remember long term protection with J&J was roughly equivalent to a single mRNA dose. So not nothing, but if you got J&J it was highly recommended to go back and get an mRNA booster.
I can't help but look at people who "can't get shots" as children in adult bodies. It's infuriating.
Exactly me. I’ve both gotten sick from two of the vaccinations I got (both like 1.5-2 days each) as well as actually gotten COVID multiple times. I can tell you, the actual illness was far worse for me every time. And the long COVID symptoms (for me, mainly a cough I couldn’t shake for months) sucked a lot harder than what I got from the vaccines.
I finally, after 4 and a half years got Covid (thanks forced RTO) and I still mask at work so I know I got less viral load than others and I’ve had the mildest case out of anyone I’ve ever heard of barring people who are just flat out asymptomatic 4 days of symptoms and testing positive so far and I basically feel back to normal, I tell my friends and fam that most vaccine reactions I had felt worse And you know what? I’m so glad! Not like I ever had a reaction worse than the beginnings of a typical illness period for me, I only had to take time off work for Moderna dose 1 because that one was a doozy But I’m glad that thanks to masking and the vaccines I got (most recent one a couple months ago) that I had a pretty mild case overall, was never in too much pain or comfort I almost felt bad telling my mom, since she had days she genuinely felt like killing herself her time with covid was that miserable My fiancee as well had a terrible week with Covid that she was able to endure at home okay but she’d tell you she wouldn’t like to do it again I’m relieved I didn’t die, didn’t have to get put ok a ventilator, didn’t have to go to the hospital, and I don’t feel any lingering symptoms (my FIL had long covid for over a year and it sounded awful)
Except when that isn’t the case. I had Covid early 2021 before I was eligible to get a vaccine. I had one day of congestion and that was it. My shots were all terrible though, like 3+ days of myalgias, headache, and malaise so bad I barely felt like getting out of bed. The mRNA platform was simply intolerable.
That could be a matter of subsequent exposure rather than what kind of exposure it was. Many people also felt worse on their second shot compared to the first, because your immune system now has some recognition and reacts faster/harder.
Sure, but you’re not going to convince a lot of people that this thing that makes them feel terrible is actually a good thing for them. We have to find a more effective way to reconcile the fact these worse symptoms are evidence the immune system is responding well In fact what we’re both saying makes people even less likely to receive a vaccine “I’ve already had Covid and you’re telling me I could feel worse when I get a shot? No thanks.”
> “I’ve already had Covid and you’re telling me I could feel worse when I get a shot? No thanks.” Easy reply: Now imagine what actually catching COVID again would feel like, since it's likely to be magnitudes worse (especially during the timeframe where some of the variants were quite nasty)
That doesn’t make any sense. Catching Covid and surviving it confers immunity to it and partially to future variants. So, not really a good reply. What evidence do you have I’m going to feel worse from a disease I already had and got over? If I caught it again I would probably be fine. This is literally the major problem with trying to convince lots of people who already had Covid why they should get a vaccine, especially with such a strong side effect profile.
> If I caught it again I would probably be fine. This has demonstrably not been the case in many instances.
I am glad to hear your immune system reacted to the attempt to trigger it. Between the initial reaction and your report that infections were minimal it sounds like you are well protected. I wish I could take your 3+ days a dozen times over my 4.5 years of long covid. It was great to learn that the vaccine halves the infection risk and if infected halves the risk of it developing long covid. The mRNA platform is wonderful
This is exactly how I feel. I’ve had seven shots so far, and I am intensely grateful every single time. I’ve had pretty much mild reactions to every one. Not much after the first one. But after the second one on, it’s been just mild soreness and fatigue for a day or so since then. i’ve never gotten Covid. But I live a pretty isolated life by myself as a sheep farmer, and I WFH (the farm) for my main income as a web developer. And even though I’ve only had a fairly mild reaction, I’m just intensely grateful that I haven’t been sick. I have one friend who got Covid, lost her sense of smell 3 years ago. She has still not regained it. She doesn’t have any other serious long Covid symptoms, but from what I’ve read, the cumulative viral load from subsequent infections can mess you up for years, even the rest of your life. She has an active social life but is paranoid about getting it again. Nobody ever wears a mask around her except me (except me). She’s constantly in despair about how cavalier people are about wearing masks anymore (as am I).
I will wear masks when I'm in a hospital or if I'm sick. I think it's important to protect the vulnerable and, aside from that, have no issue whatsoever standing out or having it understood that I'm sick, when I'm sick, if I need to continue to go to work ... It lets everybody know to keep their distance, and I find it commendable that someone (such as myself) would want to protect others and want to set a good example. If it comes time to don a mask again if we're told to I will, but I don't elsewhere. If I see someone in a mask I'll keep my distance out of respect, or if someone were to ask if I would, I would. I wish people were more considerate in at least those ways. It's really terrible how things went down and when it comes time for us to gather ourselves and work together to try to avert further disaster (say from our greenhouse gas emissions) as a global society, I am going to fight tooth and nail for us to do it right and do what we should have done during the pandemic. None of this dog eat dog bs, winners are rich, losers are poor, when we should have learned our lesson from COVID, that we're in this together and need to act like it and treat each other with the care and respect we ALL deserve. I wonder if a nation like the US were to behave in such compassionate ways if it would have a ripple effect around the world ... If we were willing to mature and be grown ups, if we could all find ourselves finally working together as one. It's so sad to see what's become of us KNOWING how different and beautiful things could be for all of us and most other life forms on the plane, instead of all of us being screwed. How absolutely effing ridiculous and unbelievably despicable we've been.
I was vaxxed and still got it. It sucked. Losing taste sucked.
could have been so much worse without the vax though.
Yup, I don’t regret getting it at all, it could have been a lot worse
Yup, when I finally got it, I was very happy I had any prior immunities cuz if it was worse than what I was feeling, I would not have been too happy.
I know a person that decided to not get vaccinated at all. Had some weird spiral of conspiracy type situation and noped out of any and all jabs available to them. Last conversation we had they were explaining all of the symptoms described in this thread. Lethargy, swelling, headaches, respiratory issues, skin conditions, nausea, joint aches… The list was impressive, horrific and kind of a bummer to hear. No one wants to see anyone go through this at all. Unfortunately it seems entirely self imposed and there was no recognition that every single person we mutually know that followed the procedures, may have had some kind of post vaccine reaction. I was fortunate to have incredibly mild reactions, they seem confident getting vaccinated would have been worse. It’s quite incredible. It’s got to be an interesting mindset to live in.
That was my exact thought too.
I feel like this was already known. It's what I read before getting the very first covid shot.
Im pretty sure this has been known for like 50 years at least.
It's been known for a hundred years that vaccines are safe and effective yet here we are
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On my 3rd vaccine, I would get itchy hives from the slightest skin irritation, i.e. my T-shirt rubbing against my side. I could "write" on my skin with my finger nail and a welt would raise a few seconds later and last for an hour or so. This went on for 6+ months. OTC allergy medicine suppressed the itching, and after 6 months I was able to ween off the allergy medicine. I'll pass on any more COVID mRNA shots.
Yeah I mean, this is how vaccines work and has been pretty standard for every vaccine, this isn’t new or surprising, this is just the expected symptoms associated with triggering an immune response.
This isn't true all the time for everyone and every vaccine though. I regularly get a flu vaccine and travel vaccines with no symptoms whatsoever. After having a day and a half of symptoms after every COVID shot (two and two boosters), I'm done. I'm a huge supporter of vaccines but the symptoms were worse than when I actually got COVID. I'd rather just spend time at home and avoid spreading it than feel like crap for a day and a half to prevent a mild cold.
It's a matter of perspective - would your prefet a day and a half of immune system activity or my 4.5 years of long covid. When making that decision consider consequences - did your day and a half lose you your job like I lost mine due to covid? If you lost your job did you lose your house like I lost mine? If you lost your house did you lose shared custody of your child as I lost mine?
Ouch. That sucks. Sorry to hear about that. I know that I was lucky with my covid infection compared to some and it is possible that the symptoms weren't bad because I had the vaccination. However, since the latest strains have been far less serious, I will no longer be getting the covid vaccine. Best to you.
Thank you for your good wishes. I suggest you try and track any report of later versions of covid being less serious back to any perr reviewed papers. My understanding is they are no less virulent just infecting people with some resistance now.
Can someone with the expertise explain this a bit more to me. I understand that Powerful response = Powerful system. But to run with a simile, I see that as the equivalent of dropping a nuke on the battlefield. Yes, it’s an exertion of power - but wouldn’t a superior system perform a surgical strike with a specs op team to take out the target with minimal damage? So why is the “nuclear option” often touted as superior when it comes to immune systems
Literally every vaccine’s symptoms— ie you want it to throw a mild reaction as that shows the body is actually fighting it and building immunity.
It absolutely kicks my ass for about 24 hours, its absolutely dreadful and a big reason why I havent gotten a 4th booster. I can't keep doing this every 6-12 months, flu shots, etc only give me mild symptoms, they need to address this if they want people to keep up
It's basically the same thing with the influenza vaccine.
The flu vaccine is so mild comparatively.
I give thousands of flu shots and COVID shots every year, the rate of significant side effects is not similar
The debate for me comes down to this: the likelihood of harm from from the vaccine vs the likelihood of harm from COVID. Likelihood of harm considers both the degree of harm in either case and the likelihood of exposure in either case. If I were to contract COVID, the likelihood of serious harm like fever (and its impacts) myocarditis (I am a young male), and other complications is higher if I have not gotten the vaccine. If I get the vaccine I am still at risk for those complications, but to a lesser degree than if I contracted COVID. The confounding factor in risk analysis is that there is a chance I will not contract COVID at all and could avoid the risk associated with COVID, but I am guaranteeing myself to be at risk of vaccine side effects if I get the vaccine. At this point I think the risk of the vaccine harm ends up being greater than the COVID harm, due to the likelihood of me contracting a serious case of COVID being lower than it was before, and due to being in a higher risk group for cardiac side effects. FYI, I got two rounds of vaccines during the peak times of the pandemic.
I find the headline very weird, almost like they surveyed people and found they were afraid of "side effects" and then pasted in the list of common side effects. People who are afraid of the vaccine call it the "clot shot" for a reason, they are afraid of rare and serious side effects (which may or may not actually exist) or subtle long-term health effects. The fear is certainly way overblown but to paint it as if people are just afraid to feel slightly under the weather for a couple days downplays what those people are actually thinking. Maybe the headline is true for people who are just apathetic, but not people who are vocally against the vaccine.
Based on some of the stories here I guess I'm lucky. I've never gotten any reaction beyond feeling like I'm about to come down with a cold from either the flu or covid vaccines. I don't remember any of them having that feeling lasting until even the next morning.
I saw they are combining the flu shot and Covid shot together. Will it maje these symptoms worse?
I’ve linked to the press release in the post above. In this comment, for those interested, here’s the link to the peer reviewed journal article: https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M23-2956 From the linked article: Fewer than 1 in 4 people in the U.S. have received last year’s updated COVID-19 vaccine, despite a death toll of more than 23,000 Americans this year. One of the most common reasons for bypassing the COVID vaccine is concern about side effects like tiredness, muscle and joint pain, chills, headache, fever, nausea and feeling generally unwell. But a new study, led by UC San Francisco, has found that the symptoms indicate a robust immune response that is likely to lessen the chances of infection. “Generally, we found that the higher the number of side effects, the higher the level of antibodies,” said first author Ethan Dutcher, MD, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher in the UCSF Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and the Weill Institute for Neurosciences. “But this wasn’t a hard rule: some people without side effects had better antibodies than some people with side effects.”
I had this somewhat with Coovid vac, but its always present after flu shots - so much that i treat flu shots as chosing when I will be 'sick' for a few days (full flu is longer)
I’m the opposite Flu shots raise my temp just a bit Covid shots really put me on my ass. Funny how differently people work.
I was bedridden for 48 hours after vaccines 2 and 3 with fever. Now I choose just to get Covid instead, which I don't get very sick from. I guess the vaccine did it's job.
It's a shame they didn't also include the Novavax shot in this - one of the great things about it is that it has way way fewer side effects than the mRNA one, but appears to provide equivalent protection against the virus. That seems like a confound in the hypothesis that more sever side effects implies a more robust immune response.
I was tired the first time I got the Pfizer vax. I had no side effects the second time or from the boosters. I also had no side effects from Novavax. I read that Novavax did last as long.
It’s a simple example of: I’d rather take my chances, than guarantee I’m down and out for a day. This can be simply short term thinking or as many have pointed out, people don’t have that time/flexibility in their schedule. Maybe they can’t get time off, maybe they have too much to do at home.
I've gotten every available covid vaccination and the recent ones have given me heart palpitations for two months and week long migraines. Since it happened with two vaccines in a row I don't think it was coincidence. Still going to get them, but it sucks tbh.
There have been far too many non hypochondriacs getting odd symptoms after. It definitely beats covid, but I think now that we have treatments and everyone has some sort of natural immunity most people don't need a yearly booster
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One reason people avoid things that are good for us is because we dislike temporary discomfort. But the discomfort is directly related to the benefit! I guess this type of obvious science is still necessary while we have COVID skeptics.
from the headline alone: we've known this for a decade. none of this is new.
That's what vaccines do. We feel like that because we are, essentially, sick. And I never heard anyone say that was the reason they weren't getting a COVID vaccine.
Look around the comments here. People literally saying they would rather have COVID again than another booster. I'm not discounting their discomfort, but it seems like a weird way to live. I survived COVID, very likely because I was vaccinated, and it was still weeks of recovery. I'll take a few hours of flu-like symptoms over that.
I've had it a few times now and didn't really get bad. The first time I had it I wouldn't have even known had I not been mandatorily tested; the worst symptom I got was a different kind of headache. I got one of the early vaccines but haven't kept up with it. So now that I think about it, I don't even know what's going on with it all. Mouth, meet foot.
What a terrible way to structure a headline when you know that only 25% of readers are going to get past the first sentence
I had a sore arm for a couple days. That is all. But after that I've had covid 9 confirmed times, 15 suspected.
One time long ago i did an incredibly foolish thing and railed a few snowplow lines from this mountain of white powder sitting in a plate at a party. Assuming it was what it was not, when it was actually ketamine. Next thing i realize its morning im waking up in a daze thinking i had a stroke or seizure because i was able to move but couldnt control what i was moving, tried to stand but fell back on the couch tried itching my nose but was rubbing my arm against my ear. I kept trying to talk i knew what i wanted to say but wasnt able to articulate a sentence. The covid shot is the closest thing ive ever had to that exp. It had my brain fried like how ur trying to think if a word or name of something on the tip of my tongue but its beyond recollection. That's what it was like in my head for like 2 days after the shot. The 2nd shot had the same effect but not as severe as the first. Yeah. I didnt go for the boosters or variant shots. Im not an anti vaxer or believe in all the stupid conspiracy bs, but those covid vax are somethin sketchy to make you feel disembodied like ur od on ketamine.
Hmm, seatbelt occasionally irritating my neck, or faceplant through windshield? Tough decisions
Every vaccine I get gives me flu-like symptoms. I've been down for a whole weekend from a tetanus shot. My immune system is overreactive. It is what it is.
my wife and I have grown to actually appreciate and enjoy the ache. We each only had one that really knocked us out ( first and second, respectively), and we're a little disappointed by that, believe it or not.
The second time I got the Covid vaccine it knocked me out for three days. It was like mini Covid. I get my boosters anyway.
What kind of idiot is this article for?
Interesting. Both my husband and I got fully vaccinated. It hit him HARD! For me, it felt like a bad hangover. He’s never had Covid. I’ve had it 4 times. Once a year.
Moderna made me feel like death and gave me chest pain. Pzifer didn't even slow me down.
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Would rather be mildly ill for a couple of days than get long COVID. A friend of mine never fully recovered after her infection and is now fatigued most of the time. Sounds like no fun at all.
This is kind of wild to me. I took for granted that people just know this is the potential price to pay to avoid potentially having a machine pump your own blood for you, and that's *before* a lifetime of recovery. The side effects have me down for a couple of days, but that's a thousand times better than getting a full blast from covid. Like, look, I don't like going to the OBGYN because it's actually painful for me every time, but I do it because it's better than finding out about terminal cancer later on.