All the talk around town seems to be about the Covid Vaccine, and for very good reason. It seems that half of the world wants it and half don’t trust it. When I first heard of the Covid vaccine I was a little suspicious of it. How can they develop a vaccine for a virus that is relatively new? How have they done it so quickly?
I said countless times that I wouldn’t get it if given the opportunity. But obviously as the title of this post suggests, I changed my mind. I did my own research and did what was best for me. And you should do the same. Don’t let the media or the people around you make the decision for you. Its your body so it should be your choice.
I realised that before I got the vaccine, that not many people have been sharing their own vaccination experience. Which is why I decided to share mine. So, in today’s post I will be giving you a real insight into the side effects and the process I went through when I had the vaccine so that hopefully you feel a bit more prepared when you get yours!
TRIGGER WARNING: I will be talking about needles and vaccines in detail from this point.
THE COVID VACCINE PROCESS
Here in the UK we are rolling out vaccines in a particular order. The most vulnerable have been given it first. Those who are elderly, who work in the NHS and care home workers. Then it moved to the above 70s and then onto the category that I am in. Now I won’t be going into details as to how or why I am in this category as it is personal. But I fall in the category that is 18-64 year olds with underlying health conditions. At the time I didn’t realise they were even in this category of people so getting my call was very unexpected.
I was contacted by my local doctors surgery and was asked if I wanted to get the Covid vaccine and of course I said yes. I was given a date and time which was only 2 days after I was called. So off I went to my local vaccination centre which was an old leisure centre gym that was just being used for vaccines. I only had to wait less than 5 minutes and before I knew it I was having the needle stuck in my arm.
The whole process was so quick and easy and all of the staff were very friendly and professional. I was advised at the time of the vaccination of the possible side affects and even my Uber driver on the way home told me of the side affects he had too. Just for clarification I had the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccination.
THE COVID VACCINE SIDE EFFECTS
So, now we’re onto the stuff you came here for. Because I didn’t really have much time to prepare for the fact I was having my vaccination, I didn’t actually look up the side affects until after I had it. And I’m glad it worked out like that, and you’ll understand why shortly. Before I start, I want to say that I am sharing my experience. We are all different. I know people who had this vaccine and had no side effects and some [like me] who had several. Please don’t let this put you off getting it either. With any medicine you put into your body there is always a chance of adverse effects. So don’t let this change your mind about getting it.
DAY OF VACCINE
Before I had my vaccine the nurse told me of a couple of the possible side effects I could experience. She said I may get a headache, fever and some back pain and advised I take paracetamol to combat those symptoms. So I was prepared for those. When I got home I felt great for an hour or two and then out of nowhere I started feeling really sleepy. I wasn’t sure if it was just because I had a late night, the night before or from the vaccine. But, I decided to rest anyway. Another hour or two passed and my body temperature was fluctuating. My body felt so hot but I felt so cold inside, it was such a weird feeling. I went to sleep early that night in hopes I could sleep it off.
THE DAY AFTER VACCINE
The night after I had the vaccine was rough. I woke up multiple times in the night shivering and shaking. It almost felt like my body was going into shock. Another symptom that developed overnight was an awful sore arm. Now I don’t even mean a sore arm that you’d get from a flu jab. I have never felt pain like this from a vaccination. The pain went into my shoulder and my back and onto the front of my chest. And now I look back at it, it really was not pleasant. After having a restless sleep I woke up in the morning feeling awful. I felt so hot and nauseous. And if you have ready my previous blog, you know one of my anxiety triggers is being sick and vomit. So this was not good for me at all.
Throughout the day my symptoms seemed to get worse. I had severe fatigue. I could hardly walk anywhere or even hold my phone up to type. My body really couldn’t regulate it’s temperature and I constantly was hot and cold all throughout the day. My appetite kept coming and going and so did the nausea. Thankfully I did not throw up, although that’s not the case for everyone. To keep my fever and other symptoms at bay I took cold and flu tablets every few hours. I know they worked as when they wore off I felt even worse.
VACCINE DAY 2
Thankfully I was able to get good rest and had no shivers or wake ups throughout the night. I woke up still feeling so exhausted I could hardly move. Thankfully my body seemed to have regulated my temperature as I no longer felt hot and cold throughout the day. A different symptom I hadn’t had appeared on this day. I had this terrible headache, and still do when writing out this post. It almost feels like it’s at the back of my eyes and every time I go to look at something it hurts my eyes to do so. I also noticed on this day that I had backache, which is something I haven’t experienced on the other days. My appetite seemed to fluctuate too. One minute I was hungry and next I felt sick and didn’t want anything. I wouldn’t say I felt significantly better, but because I didn’t have any fever, or feel hot and cold it was an improvement.
PRESENT DAY
So whilst I’m typing this, I am currently on vaccine day 3 and finally am starting to feel enough energy to write this post. I’m still experiencing a lot of the same symptoms but can feel my energy starting to come back little by little. I still have a slight headache, body aches and fatigue. To put into perspective how tired I am, I had to sit down whilst brushing my teeth this morning, and last night had to have my mom dry my hair because I couldn’t hold the hair dryer for that long. It really has taken everything out of me.
My arm is still very sore and that makes it difficult for me to get around as quickly as I normally would. I can’t even explain how much it hurts. I’ve explained to people that it almost feels like I have been shot. I can imagine being shot hurts a lot more, but I don’t really have anything else to compare it to. It’s what I imagine it feels like.
MY THOUGHTS
There is a second dose that I will get in 3 months time, and it will be interesting to see what side effects I get – if any. I will of course document it and share it with you if there is. I know everything I just explained probably seems like a lot to go through for a vaccine. But for me I’d go through it again if I had to, so that we can get our lives back. It’s really important what we all do our part in helping us all get back to normal. But as I mentioned in the intro, do your own research and do what makes you feel comfortable. Life is about choices, and we are all entitled to make our own choices about what we put into our bodies.
This post is just for education, so you know what you’re getting yourself into when getting this particular vaccine. I know other vaccines are out there, and depending on where you live will depend on which one you get. So please bare that in mind.
What are your thoughts? Have you had your vaccine yet? Will you be getting the vaccine?
I hope this post was helpful to anyone who hasn’t had their covid vaccine yet. And I hope it gave you a little insight into what some of the possible side effects will be if you do. I am so glad I got it, and feel so lucky to have this extra protection against covid. We are really blessed to have scientists in the UK who are smart enough to come up with a vaccine to help keep us all safe. And that’s a privilege not all countries have.
Thank you for sharing! My husband and I have not had our vaccines yet. So sorry that you went through such a tough time!
Doing a little research, we learned this vaccine does not work in the traditional sense: using dead viruses to prompt a protective response. From what we’ve read and understand, the covid vaccine uses your mrna (messenger ribonucleaic acid) to instruct your body to protect. From what we understand, this has been studied over the past two decades (i.e. rabies), but not population-wide, and studies still don’t know the full long-term effect, even on something that has traditional flu-like numbers. Some writings indicate mild, serious, and very serious side effects, either earlier or later. I encourage people to research so we can have a more-informed populace.
I’m a retired radiographer in the USA. It’s very interesting to read about the vaccine experiences in other countries! I’m old enough to remember how definitively previous viral plagues were mitigated by vaccines and new medications. When I was a boy, every hospital had polio wards. I had classmates who lost their hearing or became sterile from surviving common childhood diseases we now have vaccines to prevent. Those in the generation my parents belonged to thanked God (in their weekly church services) for the development of vaccines.
Now? People think reading on the Internet, where there aren’t librarians, editors or anyone in consistent authority to vet the information, is as valid as seeking advice from a trained, licensed, regulated medical provider. That level of utter foolishness astounds me. Yes, I absolutely support the right of every patient to decide whether or not to accept any form of treatment. But one must have correct factual information FIRST, in order to be able to HAVE an “informed consent”.
My wife and I have had both doses of the Pfizer/Biontech mRNA vaccine over the past month. I experienced no discomfort or side effects. She endured one day of fatigue after the second shot. I know others have had a variety of greater discomforts. But, on a “risk vs benefit” basis, if you are a member of ANY of the most vulnerable populations (over age 50, co-morbidities like diabetes or cardiac conditions, obesity, or non-white ethnicity), the management of side effects is FAR easier than treating a case of the disease serious enough for hospitalization.
I’ve seen too many die or become disabled needlessly to be able to ethically refuse a small risk of discomfort to myself in order to better serve and protect others less able to fight off COVID-19 than I could have.
There is data for both perspectives.
Really relateble I just started my own travel blog and then covid hit and I could not travel anymore from my country. No travel planning for me at all 😦
Thanks for your info Olivia. I live in Australia and we are slowly rolling out Astra Zeneca. I had my first jab 6 days ago and still experiencing some nausea, fatigue and loss of appetite. I’ve spoken to others who have had absolutely no side effects at all to those who have taken a full week before they feel ‘normal’.