Astrazeneca covid vaccination side effects.

[Tolkienista]

Had my first astrazeneca jab this morning at 11am, everything was great. In and out of the surgery in under ten minutes. Went straight out for a long walk in the glorious sunshine, arrived home around forty minutes later feeling fabulous. However as the day has progressed my arm is really, really sore which I expected, can't raise it at all, too much discomfort. Since around 7 pm I've been feeling shivery and shaky.........similar to flu symptoms I guess. I've been online and these are recognised side effects.

Should I take a couple of paracetamol to shake it off, or just wait for it to pass on in the next day or two?

@amicissimma

Take socks to bed!

I know a couple of people who had a raised temperature and felt hot but had painfully freezing hands and feet.

All the people I know who've had these effects are women, the men who've had AZ have been fine. Are women's immune systems more energetic? It can't be psychological - surely we can't think ourselves into fever?

I've read it somewhere ages ago that men and women's bodies respond differently to drugs but most drug trials and research is carried out on men.

I was exactly like this. Fine the day of the jab but not well that evening. Paracetamol helped lots and I was a bit achey when I woke up the next day completely fine by mid-morning.

I’m on day 4, arm still aches if I touch/ lay on it and for last two nights felt dizzy. Weird but apparently also a side effect. Generally feel a bit ropey but not bad enough to take meds.

2 weeks on. Arm is still really sore, red,and a rock hard lump like a golf ball that is easily visable.

Did anyone start getting side effects after 24 hours? I have a slightly sore arm, but that's it so far..

I know lots of people who’ve had the AZ and felt awful.

I had it yesterday and fully expected to wake up this morning feeling awful but I’m fine. A very slight headache but no sore arm or anything.

24 hours on from my original post, thankfully I'm feeling much better. Yes I've still got a sore arm, but the shivery, achy feeling has gone. I took two lots of paracetamol in the last 24 hours and they did the trick, feel so much better. Just want to thank everyone who took the time to post their thoughts and experiences, it really did help and no matter what advice is available on official NHS websites, nothing beats real life experience.

I had the vaccine Friday morning. Felt fine all day Friday. Woke up early hours of Saturday with horrible headache, freezing and shivery and really sore arm. Saturday and Sunday felt in general a bit fluey, tired and achy. Monday was OK. Tuesday hit by severe fatigue. Today I feel better but still tired and arm is still so sore. I’m hoping by Friday I’ll be back to normal?!

I felt really rubbish all over the weekend (jab on Friday) but it proves my body is working to develop the antibodies. Not sure I drew comfort from that when I thought the pain couldn't get any worse, but it's all over now and all I have is a painful lump on my arm at the site of the injection

Had mine yesterday 12:30, DD had hers on Saturday. No side effects for either of us so far.

Well it's a!most two weeks now since my original post on Feb 25 and the first 24 hours were definitely the worst. Thankfully paracetamol alleviated the symptoms. However, my arm remained really sore for at least ten days, but it's now much better. I like to think the vaccine was doing it's work in stimulating my immune system and I'm thankful i live in a country that has rolled out the vaccine so quickly.

Had mine yesterday at 11am. Was in bed for 7.30pm with the heating and electric blanket going full blast as the chills were ridiculous. Slight muscle pains and headache until about 7am.

All good now. Im glad I got that instead of the sore arm actually, thats a pain after I have the flu vaccine.

no matter what advice is available on official NHS websites, nothing beats real life experience

I find it borderline terrifying that anyone would rather take advice from complete strangers on the Internet than from official sources.

I think op just means that someone experiencing the same thing is reassuring, not to take a strangers advice over the NHS. I had side effects and my daughter currently does, so knowing they will resolve in a few days is good.

I think raviolidreaming you're referring to me. So just to make it crystal clear. My first port of call was the leaflet i was given, then the official websites and then this website to get some "real life " experiences and I can assure you it was in that order.

Never underestimate the power of sharing experiences, it helped me and of course will help others too. Not everyone will have side effects, but when you do, it's good to read what others are experiencing.

I had same symptoms for around 24 hours but feel much better today - better than when I have Covid by a million miles!

I had mine Tuesday afternoon and felt ok until Wednesday lunch time at which point I felt awful - banging headache, very cold, aching all over, and now this morning my chest is hurting (feels like someone is sitting on it!) and my neck hurts. Paracetamol and ibuprofen are not really doing much unfortunately.

It’s possible I had Covid last January and these symptoms do feel very similar so I’m guessing my antibodies are doing the job which is great, although I wish they’d get a move on!

I'm late to the post but have found comfort in reading others' experiences. Both myself and DH had our vaccines (AZ) at 10am today. By 7pm, I was physically shaking with a racing heart rate. It's now after midnight and I have insomnia, a dull head ache and generally feel horrid. Heart rate still high (138 bpm) DH was fine up until 11pm, then he started feeling 'weird', then got a severe case of the shakes. He's currently asleep. Wish I hadn't had it. Feeling dreadful.

BTW I had about 24h of temp, headache, muscle aches and flu like feeling after my Pfizer jab and many of my colleagues had similar so I think these kind of side effects are common to both.

@MrsPworkingmummy

That sounds really grim. Try watching or reading something if you can, if you can't sleep anyway - to stop you focusing on the symptoms. I hope it subsides for you very soon

Thank you @salmonskinjerky

I'm so glad I posted my original message and felt great allegiance with everyone else on this website who voiced their experiences, it really helped me through those first few days when the side effects were at their very worst. Five weeks to the day since I had the vaccine and I feel great. I would only say that for me, paracetamol really helped me through the worst symptoms and periodically checking in to see what others were saying too.

Good luck and hope you start to feel better soon. Take care.

DH had his yesterday all fine until ten hours later when he started to ache then the fever and chills hit. He does look really poorly and in bed with about ten layers on and the heating. I know it must be bad if he’s taken a day of work (self employed) he never ever takes a day off.

I've found this thread poignant and reassuring in equal measure, so thanks OP for starting it and everyone else for sharing. Except Mrs Ravioil or whatever her name is, who deserves a biscuit.

Glad to hear your symptoms subsided nicely OP, and I hope everyone else who was struggling (and DHs!) are feeling much better.

I had mine on a Weds afternoon and was fine until about 11am the following day when my neck began to ache, I got a fever and felt very shivery. I went to bed early that night and the next morning all the symptoms had gone but I just felt wiped out for the next 24 hours.