Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and the side effects

[LeSquigh]

Morning all

Many of my colleagues have now received the first dose of the Oxford vaccine and every single one of them has reported side effects, quite a large number have had to take time off work and been bedridden. Are we in the minority or is this true for all that have it? Not really looking forward to my turn!

I don't want to put people off having the vaccine, I really don't, hence I thought I would post here rather than start a new thread, adding to the many seemingly negative threads about the vaccine.

But..... I would appreciate if anyone with knowledge or experience could reassure me about this.

I had the jab Thursday. Fine Thursday evening, Friday morning.

Sudden onset aching and chills about 20 hours after the vaccine on Friday afternoon. Went to bed, shivering, unable to warm up.

Same all Saturday. Eating fine, very very thirsty so drank loads all day. Arm a bit sore. Felt better in the evening and thought that was that, basically 24 hours of reaction, but nothing too awful.

Unfortunately Sunday I just wasn't right despite getting up and trying to get on with the day. I felt dizzy, light headed, on off nauseous, and arm was hurting more. At night I realised it was red and lumpy feeling. Also flashing on off pain in head.

Today, again I thought I was recovered but i still have the on off pain in my head, and now I have diarrhoea and feel nauseous again.

Does this fit anyone else's experience? When will it end? I am now 5 days post vaccination and still too unwell to leave the house. I did read reactions can last up to a week, but at the time of the vaccine they told me they only last 48 hours. I was going to log my side effects on the website, but it was too laborious - probably another sign that I am not up to much still.

I could really use some reassurance.

Sorry, miscalculated. That should be I am now 4 days post vaccination.

@LemonSherbetFancies

Most who have posted here have had days of feeling really ill. It's definitely put me off, sounds horrific. Even worse than the virus itself in most cases.

What a stupid (as well as false) thing to say

I had the AZ vaccine, DH had the Pfizer one. Only side effect for both of us was a slightly sore arm for a couple of days.

I would call your GP if I were you. It might not even be the vaccine but could be covid itself and if it is the vaccine then sending in details of the reaction helps them gather data. If you don't log side effects now make a hand written note and upload it when you feel up to it.

I am currently in two minds and have just been send the letter as over 50. In fact 2 minutes ago my GP left a voicemail for me - unfortunately they could not speak English and it was impossible even after listening to it several times to make itall out out. However I think the gist was if I want them to book me in at some massive distant centre tomorrow they will do. So it sounds like I do not need to return their call as not yet decided to have the jab.

Its not a false or stupid thing to say.
Many people that I know who had coronavirus had it mild and nothing like the extreme reactions posted on here after having the vaccine.
I appreciate that for many, coronavirus was horrendous but on the other side of the coin, as I said, many had it mild and what is described here was a lot worse than their experience with coronavirus,.

Hello everyone.

We’re getting a number of reports about anti-vax sentiment and misinformation. Mumsnet, being an open site, does mean that this kind of thing tends to be robustly challenged on the boards, and many users are here looking for reassurance after all.

We're always on alert to anyone here with a specific agenda to share a particular (often extreme) point of view. We'll usually ban such posters as their contributions to threads are rarely helpful. We also delete links to sites that are clearly peddling bad science/fake news.

We think, especially with the emergence of new vaccines, it’s understandable people will want to discuss what’s involved - but we’d always urge anyone with questions to speak to a medical professional too. You can also find further information about vaccines on the NHS website.

@LemonSherbetFancies I was unwell from midnight until the next morning, that's it
My parents didn't even have a sore arm

I had my jab last Tuesday and I've still got a very sore injection site. Red, hot and a big lump under the skin, it's very sore and even my top resting on it makes it painful. Should I see the dr or is it just one of the side effects and could take a couple of weeks to go? Thanks

Yetanotherbeckymumsnet

If you read the thread the people posting here after having the vaccine are simply saying what has happened to them. They are also encouraging others to have the vaccine. I have not seen anyone advocating against having the vaccine.
Surely people should be able to share their experiences without being branded anti-vaccine?

@StrangeAddiction best to ring the GP to check

I've got a vaccine booked this week. I won't know which one it is until I get there. I'm absolutely terrified of having the Oxford one as I've heard some people say they were vomiting. I have emetophobia so absolutely terrified (understatement) of throwing up.

Anyone else worried about this? Apologies not had time to read through 800 comments on this thread.

Also I'm in my 30s so looks like it's more common to have symptoms when you're younger.

I think that people will post with side effects and won’t if they haven’t had them.
I had the Oxford AZ and didn't have most of what people are reporting here - just felt tired the next day. My arm became a bit sore on day 2 and is still sore day 4, but not unbearably so. It's really not the case that side effects are inevitable - and even for those who get them, no-one is dying of them, unlike actual Covid.

@starbrightstarlight8888 35 and no nausea or vomiting at all

I had the AZ on Saturday. No side effects and even if I do, it’s a very small price to pay for the benefits of the vaccination.
One of the girls at work, in her 20’s, is ill with Covid. It’s sounds horrible and she has a case which doesn’t require medical attention. I’d much rather some vaccination side effects than a life threatening illness.

I had AZ this morning
Feel bit sick and quite cold, also tired
Usual sore arm
Nothing major atm

Just had it. Didn't feel a thing and all very efficient.

My mum and I had the AstraZeneca one at the beginning of February. Mum is 90 and had absolutely no side effects. I’m 62 and had a headache, chills and mild flu like symptoms for two days. Caught Covid a few days later after my partner contracted it during a short hospital stay - I now know from experience that the jab side effects were like a mild dose of Covid, as I had similar symptoms only worse after contracting it. I don’t think the jab made much difference to the severity of the illness in my case as the interval between being vaccinated and catching Covid was only a few days. Interestingly, mum, who lives in the same household, didn’t get Covid - possibly because we tried to shield her as much as possible, but I still don’t know how to interpret the way things turned out. We will still have the second part of the jab, even though advised that the side effects could possibly be worse having had Covid, and my partner is due to have his first part of the jab the week after next, having had to wait 28 days from onset of symptoms. He and I are the same age, and I am CEV - hence early vaccination - and I also found it interesting that the severity of symptoms was roughly the same for both of us, although I’m having a slightly harder time shaking the last of the symptoms.

I had the Oxford jab. I was fine on the day and no soreness on my arm. The next day I had a headache and vomited a couple of times. My husband had it a couple of days before me and felt a bit shivery the next day. All these things are listed as possible side effects and completely normal.

I had the jab yesterday at 1pm, felt slightly achey before bed. Not bad enough to reach for the paracetamol and if it wasn't for the vaccine I might have wondered if there was a cold doing the rounds that was brewing.
From them I would describe it as a hang over following a dodgy kebab. I woke up in the night feeling hot and slightly sick, and had a bad stomach this morning. I felt better by breakfast but do feel as if I have a huge bruise on my arm.

My mil went a few hours before me, she felt nauseated during the night and hot and cold. She did consider not going to work today but managed to shake it off.

Quite surprised by the nausea feeling I didn't expect that
Nothing too dramatic bit shivery, as well maybe

Had AZ yesterday late afternoon, within two hours was feeling sluggish and fell asleep.
Woke in the night freezing cold with a fever & shakes. Jaw locking and very sore body.
Threw up a couple of times & very itchy and irritable.

I basically have all the side affects listed on the info pamphlet; feel really rough but so glad I’ve been able to have it.

I’m 30 if age is a good measure to go by, and will likely need tomorrow off work.

Had Oxford vaccine last Thursday, about 12 hours later started to feel cold and shivery, just couldn't get warm, achy, felt sick but no actual vomiting, slight headache, and sore itchy injection site, felt very tired, but was absolutely fine the following day, I'm mid 50s. Arm still sore and itchy though.

I would describe it as a hang over following a dodgy kebab. I woke up in the night feeling hot and slightly sick, and had a bad stomach this morning. @Pippapotomus DH says you have described it perfectly.

I had the Oxford AZ vaccine on Saturday afternoon and was hoping for a strong reaction to convince me that my immune system had noticed and was going all out building immunity.

So I was disappointed to not even have a mark on the injection arm by late evening. 24 hours later, on Sunday afternoon, I could just about feel the injection site if I pressed hard on that arm. Good job I watched the hair fine needle glide in, because I hardly felt it and I'd be wondering if I'd really had the injection at all if I hadn't seen it done. Honestly, I've had ten times stronger reactions to mosquito bites.

This morning, 37 hours after the jab, I'm delighted to feel a slight warmth in the injection arm. A reaction at last, my body is has noticed and is gearing up to fight off the invasion.

My main feeling is massive relief, I can now feel a lot more confident that my risk of ending up in hospital or dying from Covid-19 will be negligible by 28th March. I was starting to worry that my collection of stupid auto-immune illnesses were sabotaging the immunisation, so it's good to feel that warmth and swelling and know that the process is underway at last.

I live alone, and I've been shielding since March last year, so the prospect of being able to put on a mask and pop out to the corner shop next time the grocery delivery turns up without any eggs or yogurt (again) is cheering me up no end.

I have a shedload of underlying health conditions. The QCovid algorithm ranked me at 91 out of 100, where 100 is most at risk, my chances of dying if infected came out at 1 in 779. If I had those odds playing the lottery I'd empty my bank account and spend it all on lottery tickets. For comparison I believe the chance of buying a winning lottery ticket in the Euromillions draw is around 1 in 139,838,160.

The people worried about getting a strong reaction to the vaccine need to remember that they are not in any danger and it will be over in a few days. Their sensitivity to the vaccine may indicate that they would also be extremely vulnerable to the live virus, meaning that they would not be as lucky as the people they've known who had no symptoms at all, or just a sniffle and temporary loss of smell. If you ended up in hospital, fighting for every breath of air, with lungs feeling like they are full of broken glass, you might regret not going through with a safe vaccination because of the possibility that it might induce of a few days of discomfort.

Those saying they can't afford to take 2 or 3 days off from work with vaccine side effects, need to have a very serious think about how they'll cope with long covid and not having any choice at all about being off work for months.

According to the latest information from Astrazeneca there have been no severe cases and no hospitalisations, more than 22 days after the first dose. www.astrazeneca.com/media-centre/press-releases/2021/covid-19-vaccine-astrazeneca-confirms-protection-against-severe-disease-hospitalisation-and-death-in-the-primary-analysis-of-phase-iii-trials.html

From what I've read on here the people who get strong reactions to the first AZ jab are likely to have already had covid so their immune system was primed to react to it.

I am more likely to get side effects after the second jab on 23rd April, once the first jab has primed the reaction. That'll will give me a chance to use my stash of paracetamol and can't-be-bothered-to-cook-and-chew tins of tomato soup.