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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To ask if you have had the vaccine and got covid and still felt at deaths door? Be honest!

163 replies

Puddinandpie · 26/03/2022 09:49

I have had vaccines, we'll my whole family has except youngest ds who's 4 and to say the least he has coped considerably well having covid over the last few days! My other 3 children have been bed ridden through tiredness and temperatures and being sick, coughs etc, but are on the mend after 4days!

On the other hand me and dh have felt like shit!
We both have had continuous excruciating leg and back pain that won't go, chest pain, headache, even our eyeballs hurt, coughs, snotty noses, dizziness, unable to stand/walk, I have been sick numerous times!
We have literally been bed ridden the last 4 days and still don't feel like there's an end insight, I physically just don't feel any better and neither does dh!

I'm just glad my children are on the mend, but my point is we had covid last year before we had the vaccines and didn't feel as bad with it, and it's making me wonder whether anybody else has had the same with covid after having the vaccines?

Sorry for all the typos don't flame me I'm not well!🙂🤒

OP posts:
SummerWillow · 26/03/2022 14:03

Positive on Friday, aching and fluey day 1, then mainly cough/cold today but, like a couple of others up thread, a huge increase in back pain and sciatica! Could hardly move earlier but have improved with paracetamol.

SummerWillow · 26/03/2022 14:04

Everyone in house triple vax but only me and DD2 affected so far.

UnvarnishedTruth · 26/03/2022 14:08

@Puddinandpie "I'm sure I read somewhere but I can't remember where now that the vaccines have the potential to make the immune system lazy as the body will learn to rely heavily on the vaccines, and then there's also once they start waning aswell!"

That is completely wrong. Whoever wrote this to you, or told you, was either misinformed, or trying to trick you for their own benefit.

Your body doesn't "rely on a vaccine" to fight an infection.

If you get infected with a virus, your immune system has to fight back. Fighting back takes time, and one of the first things your immune system has to do is learn to recognise the virus, so that it can destroy it.

While your immune system is leaning to recognise the virus the amount of the virus is increasing inside you, and the virus is also potentially damaging your body.

If the amount of the virus gets too much before your immune system can recognise it and properly fight back then you get sick.

Depending on how hard your immune system has to fight you might also feel sick anyway. Fighting a virus uses your body's resources. So you feel sick to stop you from doing things that would make it harder for your immune system to respond. And your body is also trying to make itself a bad place for the virus to live, which is why you might get a fever -- your body is trying to get hotter than the virus can survive.

Assuming you recover from the illness, your immune system "remembers" the virus, and if you get infected with it again your immune system doesn't have to spend time learning to recognise it, and can start fighting it immediately. Because your immune system is fighting back much faster, there's less chance that you will get sick.

It's not zero chance -- maybe you got exposed to too much of the virus and your immune system can't win before the virus makes you sick, or maybe your immune system is dealing with another infection at the same time, or one of a myriad other reasons. But your chance of not getting sick is much, much higher if your immune system doesn't have to spend time recognising the virus, and can start fighting it immediately.

Basically, it's a race against time.

The vaccine is something that your immune system can recognise and remember. So you get the vaccine, your immune system mobilises, remembers what the vaccine looks like, and maybe makes you feel like crap for a few days because although the vaccine doesn't have anything harmful in it, your immune system still thinks it has to fight.

Different vaccines look like different viruses to your immune system. The measles vaccine looks like the measles virus, the polio vaccine looks like the polio virus, and (thankfully), the Covid vaccines look enough like all the Covid variants that they still provide protection.

The last bit of the puzzle is that although your immune system remembers what the different viruses or vaccines look like, over time it can forget. That's why the effectiveness of the vaccine (or being infected) can reduce over time, and why getting a periodic booster re-teaches your immune system what the virus looks like.

For a somewhat strained analogy, imagine you get a phone call from a number you don't recognise. You answer it, talk to the person on the other end for 10 minutes, realise that they're a scammer, and you hang up.

That's the "I've not been infected / had the vaccine" before scenario. Spending time talking to the scammer is the "getting sick" equivalent.

Now imagine that after this happens you put an entry in your phonebook with that number and "Scammer" next to it. The next time you get a call from that number you'll see "Scammer" flash up and you won't bother answering. Or maybe you answer it briefly to tell them to go away, and then hang up.

Getting the vaccine is like someone else telling you "Number 123 456 7890 is a scammer, put that in your phonebook so if they call you you don't need to answer.".

Knowing it's a scammer doesn't prevent you from receiving the phone call. It just makes you realise it's a scammer much, much faster.

And for completeness, imagine that your phonebook deletes phone numbers that haven't called you in a while. So after some time, if you don't get a call from the scammer, then the number just disappears from the phonebook.

Then one day they call again, and you have to waste 10 minutes before you realise they're a scammer again and hang up.

I've simplified the above a bit, but that's the important points.

I hope, after reading that, that you see that your immune system in no way relies on the vaccine to fight the disease, only to recognise the disease much faster. And so vaccines do not make your immune system "lazy" in any way. Vaccines make your immune system better, because it can respond faster.

One last way of thinking about it; when you hear someone say "The vaccine protects you against Covid", that's a shorthand. What they're actually saying is "The vaccine teaches your immune system to recognise Covid faster, so your immune system can protect you against Covid".

More accurate, but not as snappy.

Hope that helps.

loopylizard · 26/03/2022 14:09

Anecdotally in my family the vaccine has made no difference. Unvaccinated adult caught Delta, was a bit unwell and dizzy for a week. Unvaccinated dcs tested positive but were asymptomatic. Adult with with 2 vaccines but no booster had one day of headaches and a few days of tiredness, tested negative after 5 days. Triple vaxed adult was the most unwell of any of us.

Same pattern among friends, no discernable advantage to being vaccinated. Obviously I cant say that out loud Wink

Marisa444 · 26/03/2022 14:10

Triple jabbed and had covid 3 weeks ago and was like an unpleasant cold meeting a hangover and I was over it in 4 days.

11-year son unvaxxed got it Thursday and is pretty poorly - temp of 39.5 headaches, sore eyes and feeling generally rotten. hope he feels better soon.

WonderfulYou · 26/03/2022 14:14

I’m pretty sure there is a new strain of covid going around that is worse than omicron.

I felt really rough with it and I’m so thankful I’ve had my vaccinations as I’d dread to think how bad it would have been if I had less antibodies.

Mindtheears · 26/03/2022 14:16

Not here, DH and DC12 nothing (realised had it though routine testing), I had what I would have thought was a mild cold. Most people I know who have had it recently have said the same so maybe just a different strain

WonderfulYou · 26/03/2022 14:18

UnvarnishedTruth

Thank you for putting this in such a clear way for those, who even after 2 years of constantly talking about vaccinations, still don’t understand how they work.

Mindymomo · 26/03/2022 14:30

All 4 here had covid recently and I thought if DH and I were to get it we would end up in hospital. My DH was quite unwell and I got him an appointment at a medical assessment unit, where they checked him over and assured him that he would be ok and wouldn’t need to go to hospital due to him having had all vaccines, so still presume those in hospital are unvaccinated or elderly or those who are unfortunately CEV. My 2 adult DS’s had it as well, younger son 26 was surprised as all his friends only felt unwell for a day or so. For us, it’s the different range of symptoms, we’ve all had different ones, but so pleased we are all way better, considering I’ve been petrified of us catching covid for the past 2 years.

Pandypuff · 26/03/2022 14:30

Unvaccinated family had it and were totally asymptomatic including elderly grandparents. Only lost sense of taste. Parents had it (they've had several vaccines - around 4?) and felt horrible.

thatsdreadful · 26/03/2022 14:36

None of us are jabbed, all of us had Covid, not well for a couple of days but really just like a cold thankfully.

Flubadubba · 26/03/2022 14:55

Fully vaccinated and both had Covid last week. Truly convinced it would have been a hell of a lot worse if we weren’t’t- instead it was like bad flu.

hulahooper2 · 26/03/2022 15:10

I currently have it , triple vaxxed, not at deaths door but feel a lot worse than I thought I would

steppemum · 26/03/2022 15:20

Had both vaccines when I had Covid, probably Delta as it was back in October.
I felt veyr very unwell for about a week. Threw up for first 48 hours. Felt dreadful and couldn't get off the sofa for first week. Needed two full weeks off work.

I know I wasn't actually serioulsy ill, didn't need hospital/ambulance etc, didn't have breathing issues.

I am extrememly glad I didn't have it BEFORE I was vaccinated, as I might have been properly seriously ill.

NumberTheory · 26/03/2022 15:31

I had a mildly sore throat and sneezed a couple of times. DH was in bed for days and thought he might have to go to hospital at one point (he didn’t and he has a tendency to over dramatize illness, but he was really, really sick). Kids were asymptomatic. We’d all been vaccinated and DH and I had been boosted 3 - 4 weeks beforehand.

You just can’t tell at the individual level what the effect of the vaccine is. It’s the population studies that give us that info. Current outlook for the BA2 omicron variant that seems to be dominating is similar to BA1 in terms of hospitalization rates (I.e. significantly lower than for Delta) but it’s fairly early days yet on that front. (See government briefing paper on variants of concern.)

fiftiesmum · 26/03/2022 16:16

I like the analogy to phone scammers - although perhaps not so much the protection wearing off being likened to deleting number. I think I would liken it to the numbers being transferred to a random place in the appendix of the phone book so you would answer to the scammer but only waste a couple of minutes before realising ie have mild symptoms in most cases.

Lillyhatesjaz · 26/03/2022 16:30

I think some people are forgetting how high the death rate was at the beginning of the pandemic. Obviously testing levels were much lower and many were asymptomatic, but at one point the death rate of those tested was as high as 1 in10.
I am very grateful for my vaccinations and will happily have a booster if offered

billy1966 · 26/03/2022 16:40

Triple vaxxed and have had it for the past week.
Sore throat, awful cough, weak, feel like shit.
But I amd on the other side of it I think.
I feel very tired.
Hopefully no last ill effects.

I have been warned not to overdo it when I feel well.
Lots of relapsing happening apparently.

StripyHorse · 26/03/2022 16:41

I'm a contact tracer and have been for over a year. I have noticed that there had been a shift from people barely having any symptoms a couple of months ago to being floored by it now. Talking to my colleagues they seem to have seen the same. This seems to be regardless of age and vaccination status.

Of course there were people feeling really unwell earlier, and we still get people with no symptoms, or 'just a snuffle' now - but overall it does seem like we are speaking to more people who feel quite unwell.

fiftiesmum · 26/03/2022 16:46

Is contact tracing still going on?
I have left my app on permanently and since all restrictions were lifted a month ago I have not been pinged once despite vast numbers of people being infected

GabriellaMontez · 26/03/2022 16:49

@Lillyhatesjaz

I think some people are forgetting how high the death rate was at the beginning of the pandemic. Obviously testing levels were much lower and many were asymptomatic, but at one point the death rate of those tested was as high as 1 in10. I am very grateful for my vaccinations and will happily have a booster if offered
1 in 10 ! No it wasn't!
TroysMammy · 26/03/2022 16:49

I've currently got covid for the first time. Vaccinated x 3. I wear a mask shopping, in work and wherever else it's necessary and people I've been in close contact with have all tested negative. I know exactly what I've been doing and where I've been over the last fortnight too. Mainly shopping.

I've got a slight sore throat which after 2 days has nearly gone and a runny nose, but not constant. No high temperature, no loss of smell of taste, no headache, my days are fine, no aches, no fatigue (I'm a lazy sod anyway) I had a coughing fit earlier but I was slouching whilst sitting in bed, and I know after years of tonsillitis I always get a cough following on from a sore throat.

Hope you're all feeling better soon.

Icecreamandapplepie · 26/03/2022 16:54

Our three children (unvaxed) and me all have it this week.

Children all had temp and vomited for a day. Weak and lethargic with headaches for a few days.

Me (vaxed and booster) in bed now for five days. Feel awful. Think a tiny bit better today so hoping that continues.

Interesting to hear everyone's experiences, especially the contact tracer. Wondering if symptoms are, although not serious in the sense of needing hospital, are getting more debilitating and flu like for alot of us.

For the record, still very glad I've had all my jabs.

Hangthetowels · 26/03/2022 16:54

I think every body reacts differently to covid. Im 37 weeks pregnant, had all 3 vaccines, and covid has been an incredibly mild cold. Whereas my sister was very very unwell after 3 vaccines. Just think how poorly you could have been without a vaccine... I know people in their 40s who actually died in the first wave :(

Icecreamandapplepie · 26/03/2022 16:55

Interestingly, my husband has stayed negative with no symptoms, and two other families we know where the dad didn't get it. Coincidence I expect but worth a mention...