I have steered clear of the vaccine for almost a year now. I have been through the conspiracy theories and the skepticism caused by the rapid manufacturing of the vaccine. I have had ulcerative colitis (colon is now gone) and I have Guttate Psoriasis. The Psoriasis itself comes with Psoriatic Arthritis as well. It took 3 years to diagnose and unless I want to get on an immune suppressive drug like Humira, I am stuck just dealing with the side effects of this disease. It is also why I was concerned about getting the vaccine. My body is already so busy fighting itself, what would happen if I threw something harmful in there?
As it turns out, I was persuaded to take the lesser of two evils when my good friend Shane finally surfaced again after 3 horrible weeks with the virus. Coinciding with her revelation about how terrible the delta variant was compared to the original..of which she also came down with last year, was the actual numbers. Our hospitals were reaching capacity again. My friends who were nurses were begging people to get vaccinated because they were tired. The statistics were that of the 100 patients in University Hospital, only 6 were vaccinated. Shane and the numerical facts finally persuaded me to bite the bullet and get this dang vaccine. Do I still think you have the right to reject getting it? Yes, yes, yes!!! No one should be forced to take something like that. It is your choice. And this was mine.
I made my appointment at the pharmacy and decided to go with the J&J shot. One and done. I talked to my doctor who addressed my concerns and we decided that with my history, it was best to get it than not.
I wanted to write today to let people who may have an autoimmune disease know how it affected me in hopes that it will help them decide which path to choose.
Day 1: I received the shot around 3 p.m on a Thursday. I expected to go home and be sleepy like my husband had been. He had virtually no side effects from the J&J shot except for an evening sleep-a-thon the day he got it. First of all, it hurt like a MOTHER!! I can only imagine that it felt like a hornet or wasp sting..just pure fire when the vaccine went in. I had heard about the sore arm so I was going to massage the injection site anyways, but I had to massage it, move it and rub it for a solid 10 minutes before the pain eased off. (Not my husband's experience either) Beside that initial pain and the yelp I let out when she administered the shot, I was fine. I wasn't even tired. I had absolutely no effects on day 1.
Day 2: Approximately 22 hours after my shot, I began to ache. The ache started in and around my spine in my upper back and grew into my neck as the day progressed. I did go home and lay down after lunch as well as take some Ibuprofen. It had eased up enough for me to go to dinner that night and stay out until 11 p.m.
Day 3: This morning, I woke up feeling strangled, like my airway wasn't big enough. My lungs were fine but my throat felt constricted. What started as me clearing my throat constantly, turned into an annoying dry cough. I looked up this symptom everywhere, but I could not find it listed as a side-effect. I took some Mucinex and a Zyrtec just in case it was an allergy situation that just manifested. I also took into consideration that my immune system was doubly fighting both me and and the covid virus so another virus may have intervened. Whatever the cause, this is what happened to me. There were times I felt very restricted in breathing. I can empathize with everyone who's situation worsened. It was scary. Breathing is definitely something you take for granted. I managed to still go out that evening with no major diminishes health-wise because it was not my lungs that felt stifled as much as my throat.
Day 4: I got up, still coughing, took some meds and took the children to church. Half-way through, I bottomed out. I call in the "fall-in-the-floor" feeling. I have it quite often because of my autoimmune diseases and low iron. I knew I needed to lie down because my body was fighting to stay upright. I passed the kids off to hubby and skipped lunch to nap. Five hours later I woke up unwillingly because I was starving. I felt almost comatose. This is also the day I began to run a fever. The fever ranged from 100.4 to 101.5. I stayed on Tylenol and Ibuprofen and just felt generally rotten. Its a good thing Sundays are the day of rest, because that's what I had to do all day long. Even after sleeping that much, I had no trouble falling asleep that night. I did still take the Mucinex because the cough persisted. However, now the cough was productive and whatever I expectorated was a normal color. Please note that my father has COPD and his vaccine also made him cough non-stop, but again, it is not on the list as a side-effect.
Day 5: Today is day five. I could have stayed in bed but I had kids to transport to school and work to attend, so I got up and got moving. I suspect I have a slight temp because I have chills. The more the day progresses, the better I'm feeling. My head is a little foggy though and I don't feel like today will be my most productive day. I plan on going home and taking my temp and some meds at lunch.
I really feel like the vaccine took a bigger toll on my because my immune system is already taxed. I never looked forward to it because of that fear. Hopefully day five will be the last day and I'll feel good as new tomorrow. I have been able to function all days except day 4, so I'll call it a win in comparison to getting the full-fledged virus and being out for 3 weeks.
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