To be concerned about the vaccine with my family history?

[ItsNotMeOfficer]

I know there will be a lot of responses telling me I'm ridiculous and to have the vaccine, save the country etc etc but hear me out...

Both parents have/had a blood clot type disorder. There have been other blood related illnesses in the family over the years.

My father has had DVT and heart stents (I know the stents aren't due to clotting but they've meant he has blood thinners)

My mother died very suddenly from a brain haemorrhage.

I am getting very worried about having the vaccine in case I am susceptible to blood clots?

Please be kind, this isn't AIBU and I'm genuinely trying myself in knots over this.

You're not unreasonable to be afraid at all. You may be unreasonable to not get the vaccine when offered. I would worry too but ultimately once you've had it, it's done. The risk of clots are just so very minuscule it's really not one to worry about but I get why you are!

I’d be more concerns about your increased risk if you got covid. There are some charities who specialise in blood clots or else a chat with your GP might be beneficial to help you weigh up the risk of covid with your anxiety and any genetic predisposition.

Does your family history prevent you from medications that have blood clots as a possible side effect?

Thank you for your replies.

There's a lot of European news regarding blood clots and brain hemorrhages. I appreciate the numbers are low but I'm wondering if anyone knows if there's any risk with a family history?

It's all very well saying have it then you'll be fine, but it won't be so great if I do end up having a clot or haemorrhage

I'm worried about talking to my GP as I think they will just be pro vaccination and not take anything into account

@CupoTeap

Does your family history prevent you from medications that have blood clots as a possible side effect?

As far as I'm aware the medications I take are not susceptible to blood clotting

No, you are not BU to be worried.

Both my parents have history of stroke and hypertension from very young age, and father also has blood related illness, so I am worried too.
I 've read a lot of articles and studies about it though a lot of them are quite complex and hard to understand for me. But I came to the conclusion that it's very rare, and also now they are aware of the rare immune response, so I actually feel safer than before when they had no knowledge of this.
If you are worried, maybe you should talk to dr/gp about your concerns.
I had my first vaccine about a week ago, and I had no side effects so far.

I think the risk is higher if you have Covid, though, as that has a definite risk of blood clots, whereas the vaccine is only a possible correlation. And you probably have a greater chance of catching Covid, than you do of anything happening from the vaccine. I understand why it feels more worrying, though, as having the vaccine feels more like a deliberate decision. But if you can convince yourself to look at it as a balance of risks, it might make it easier to have it.

From my understanding of vipit it's different to the usual clots as it reduces the platelets.

My question would be if you already have a lower platelet level should you be having it?

You also have to legal right to refuse having the vaccination.

This is interesting: blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2021/03/30/blood-clots-and-the-az-vaccine-revisited

@FlattestWhite

I think the risk is higher if you have Covid, though, as that has a definite risk of blood clots, whereas the vaccine is only a possible correlation. And you probably have a greater chance of catching Covid, than you do of anything happening from the vaccine. I understand why it feels more worrying, though, as having the vaccine feels more like a deliberate decision. But if you can convince yourself to look at it as a balance of risks, it might make it easier to have it.

Thank you, I didn't realise there were blood clot risks with Covid itself. Thank you for your balanced answer!

@roguetomato THANK YOU! I really appreciate your post.

My SIL is considered vulnerable to Covid because she's had blood clots in the past. She researched it and definitely felt the covid risks were much much higher than the AZ risks. She had her first jab a couple of weeks ago.

@canigooutyet

From my understanding of vipit it's different to the usual clots as it reduces the platelets.

My question would be if you already have a lower platelet level should you be having it?

You also have to legal right to refuse having the vaccination.

I know and I would consider refusing the vaccine as I lead quite a sheltered life buy my worry is being ostracized from society and never being allowed into a pub or theatre or wherever, if such things come into place!

I’ve had a pulmonary embolism before (unprovoked as they did not know what caused it) and I had the Pfizer vaccine.

There are thousands of people every week get blood clots (like it did) regardless of the vaccine. One does not cause the other, it’s just because you are vaccinating the masses these things would be occurring irrespective of the vaccine in the normal population anyway. Covid is known to cause blood clots however so I’d rather take the theoretical risk of the vaccine causing the clots (which I really don’t believe it causes these things or they would have been far far more prevalent) rather than the real risk of getting another PE with covid.

I imagine the contraceptive pill causes far more blood clots than the vaccine does but people don’t seem to concerned about taking that

@mynameiscalypso

My SIL is considered vulnerable to Covid because she's had blood clots in the past. She researched it and definitely felt the covid risks were much much higher than the AZ risks. She had her first jab a couple of weeks ago.

I really appreciate this, thank you

[quote Springchickpea]This is interesting: blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2021/03/30/blood-clots-and-the-az-vaccine-revisited[/quote]
Thank you I will look at this

I can understand your fears. I’ve had a brain haemorrhage & blood clot on my lung - I decided after talking to the medical staff at the vaccine centre to go for it the risk of getting a clot of i caught covid was higher. When I booked my apt they gave me the time to chat through my concerns and never felt pressured to get it. now two weeks after and I’ve been fine.

You are free to make the choice of having the vaccine or not. Understand your concerns.

@ItsNotMeOfficer I should have also added that her whole family are pretty senior doctors and she discussed it with them first so she was pretty confident with her decision.

@Saff2015

I’ve had a pulmonary embolism before (unprovoked as they did not know what caused it) and I had the Pfizer vaccine.

There are thousands of people every week get blood clots (like it did) regardless of the vaccine. One does not cause the other, it’s just because you are vaccinating the masses these things would be occurring irrespective of the vaccine in the normal population anyway. Covid is known to cause blood clots however so I’d rather take the theoretical risk of the vaccine causing the clots (which I really don’t believe it causes these things or they would have been far far more prevalent) rather than the real risk of getting another PE with covid.

I imagine the contraceptive pill causes far more blood clots than the vaccine does but people don’t seem to concerned about taking that

Thank you for this, and I'm sorry to hear of your PE

A lot to take into consideration.

To note, I don't take any contraception due to the history.

@Todaytomorrowyesterday

I can understand your fears. I’ve had a brain haemorrhage & blood clot on my lung - I decided after talking to the medical staff at the vaccine centre to go for it the risk of getting a clot of i caught covid was higher. When I booked my apt they gave me the time to chat through my concerns and never felt pressured to get it. now two weeks after and I’ve been fine.

You are free to make the choice of having the vaccine or not. Understand your concerns.

Oh my goodness, bless you

Thank you so much, these are things I need to hear so I really appreciate you sharing this

I can understand your concern but you may find it reassuring that in this article by the original scientist who researched the link of blood clots and the vaccine that he thinks it is the wrong decision to stop giving the vaccine.

link here

I've watched this video, and it's quite reassuring that experts are focusing on it. Also there's very reassuring comment on about 24:40 of the video.
As FlattestWhite says, I understand that there will be more risk of blood clots from having Covid than vaccine.

I hope it makes you feel better but a male family member of mine was putting off having his because he has a history of blood clots. He had it a couple of weeks ago and was absolutely fine!

@canigooutyet

From my understanding of vipit it's different to the usual clots as it reduces the platelets.

My question would be if you already have a lower platelet level should you be having it?

You also have to legal right to refuse having the vaccination.

My platelet count always sits right at the bottom of the normal range and I have had an episode of post viral thrombocytopenia in the past.

As a reasonably fit and healthy 40 year old women who has had far more exposure than most to covid and survived the year (paramedic), I will be holding off a bit longer on my vaccine (obviously I've been offered it via work but haven't had it yet due to breastfeeding up until now) and will wait to see what progress is made on understand the clotting risk possibly associated.

OP I think you should forget about societal pressure to 'do the right thing' and balance up your own personal risk Vs benefit, and base your decision on that.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

You're all being very helpful and supportive and these posts are exactly what I need right now.

I must say, you're all being very un-mumsnetty, I was expecting to be lynched and told I would be single-handedly bringing the country to it's knees if I didn't have the vaccine 🤣

Don't feel socially pressured either. There are people out there who genuinely have been advised against it by their medical team for a multitude of reasons.

And as for the passport that keeps getting thrown around imo until the clinical trials have finished these shouldn't be imposed on us to live our daily lives. This is probably down to I'm medically advised against having the vaccination.

And for full disclosure I have long cv including clots. Never mind pre existing low platelet counts.