Who has yellow carded their side effects?

[FourWordsImMuNiTy]

I had my AZ a couple of weeks ago. Doctor said “you might get a bit of a temperature and feel quite poorly if you’re very unlucky but less than 1% of people will get that”. I was extremely sceptical about that and as I feared I had short-lived flu-like symptoms. I also had an additional unusual but non-serious symptom - a huge flare up of cold sores. All absolutely fine, what I’d expected and no reason not to take the vaccine, but I’m 99% sure they were vaccine related.

Should I yellow card? What have other people done? I guess it’s a bit hypocritical for me to get cross with doctor for saying that common side effects are rare when I haven’t made the effort to report.

I'm quite taken aback by all the reports of "side effects" to the vaccine, which are all completely normal and expected side effects to many many vaccines and medications.

I'm wondering if this is because I have chronic health issues and so have taken more medications than I care to imagine and have had utterly horrendous (as in admitted to hospital for weeks because of them) side effects and reactions to things So my perspective of what's "bad" is very different...

I don't understand why people are even considering reporting the vast majority of things that are being mentioned in this thread and countless others - is it because people are not used to taking drugs and getting side effects that they think they are unusual or bad?

Yes some do need to be reported but what a huge amount of people are saying really, really don't....

I havent had a vaccine yet, but would report even symptoms that are listed. Surely this helps them decide what is a common, and what is a less common side effect? At the moment common is listed as 1 in 10, if it turned out it was 9 in 10 (from everyone reporting ) they can change the label so you are more informed and expect that side effect to happen or potentially in the long term add something to, or tweak the vaccine to lessen the effects...?

Well that was my question really Ophelia.

A day in bed with flu-like symptoms, or even a painful arm definitely are side-effects. Why are you saying with one breath that “they’re normal and expected side effects” and with the other complaining about people calling them “side”
effects”. They’re listed in almost all vaccine leaflets as possible reactions. And I think it’s important that people know that sweats and shivers are likely and nothing to panic about. I agree that they’re trivial in the grand scheme of things and not something which should weigh in the MHRA’s decision about whether to licence - that’s why I was wondering whether yellow carding was inappropriate. But on the other hand data is important. We wouldn’t want people to have to self-isolate and get tests unnecessarily if they have a fever that’s almost certainly vaccine related. And we need to capture the information: we don’t want people to get the vaccine the day before their university finals or a 500 mile drive.

@FourWordsImMuNiTy

Well that was my question really Ophelia.

A day in bed with flu-like symptoms, or even a painful arm definitely are side-effects. Why are you saying with one breath that “they’re normal and expected side effects” and with the other complaining about people calling them “side”
effects”. They’re listed in almost all vaccine leaflets as possible reactions. And I think it’s important that people know that sweats and shivers are likely and nothing to panic about. I agree that they’re trivial in the grand scheme of things and not something which should weigh in the MHRA’s decision about whether to licence - that’s why I was wondering whether yellow carding was inappropriate. But on the other hand data is important. We wouldn’t want people to have to self-isolate and get tests unnecessarily if they have a fever that’s almost certainly vaccine related. And we need to capture the information: we don’t want people to get the vaccine the day before their university finals or a 500 mile drive.

From what I can see a lot of the yellow carding is inappropriate - but then at the same time, I also see people are saying they've not been given the vaccine info - if they had then surely they would have read that their side effects are normal.... So maybe it a bit of both.

I'm not sure I would get any vaccine before my finals or a long journey as I would just expect to feel rough the day after.

Yellow carding is for the unexpected and unlisted reactions - I'm by no means saying it's just for serious reactions as I have had milder but completely unheard of reactions to some things which my doctors have decided to yellow card.... So it's not like I'm judging purely on the serious reactions I have had....

I wonder if it's partly to do with the fact it's a mass vaccination programme that it's maybe a bit rushed and people aren't being given all the info about what to expect?

As it's a new medication then all side effects need to be reported however mild to get an accurate picture and so the new patient leaflets can be updated.
If you report your side effects to a health professional then they should report it on yellow card. If they are mild you should report them yourself, it's self explanatory and quite easy to do. Just Google yellow card.

Even if side effects are listed on the leaflet they still need reported as the vaccine has a black triangle status, which means everything should be reported now matter how mild or temporary.

I'm not sure I would get any vaccine before my finals or a long journey as I would just expect to feel rough the day after.

I've had few vaccines (that I remember) but until my DS had the flu nasal spray and it said you may get a raised temp the next day, I didnt know how common side effects were...so might feasibly had booked one before a busy day.
My DH planned a full on day of work (hes SE) the day after his vaccine. I warned him he might not feel up to it, as I had heard about reactions to the AZ vaccine on MN and from several friends. As it happened, he felt fine the next day.

Please yellow card your side effects. We need this info particularly on new drugs(black triangle) to see which adverse events are more common and flag any serious ones, so it’s really important. I had the AZ one and had flu like symptoms, still reported them.

Fair enough
Just Googled black triangle as I didn't know about it.

Also found out that some of the things I've taken and reacted to were black triangle meds at the time and so even the minor things should have been reported by my drs (or me I suppose) . This was years ago though so a bit late!

I have reported as they need to know. I had fatigue and pains in legs

I had an outbreak of genital herpes exactly a week after my vaccination and I am convinced the two are related.

It was a particularly painful recurrence which surprised me too.

I’m sure there was a thread on here from a lady who had experienced the same!

@Shibees

I had an outbreak of genital herpes exactly a week after my vaccination and I am convinced the two are related.

It was a particularly painful recurrence which surprised me too.

I’m sure there was a thread on here from a lady who had experienced the same!

There have been several threads if I recall correctly.

I logged a yellow card. I thought it was appropriate, as it was 10 days after my 1st jab (AZ) that I developed a warm red area on my arm, below where I was injected. As it got worse during the day, I called 111 & was prescribed antibiotics. The symptoms seem somewhat similar to those being termed Moderna Arm in the US.

[quote bumbleymummy]It was a bit misleading for the doctor to say less than 1% feel poorly afterwards.

From the AZ insert:

Very Common (may affect more than 1 in 10 people)
tenderness, pain, warmth, itching or bruising where the injection is given
generally feeling unwell
feeling tired (fatigue)
chills or feeling feverish
headache
feeling sick (nausea)
joint pain or muscle ache

Common (may affect up to 1 in 10 people)
swelling, redness or a lump at the injection site
fever
being sick (vomiting) or diarrhoea
flu-like symptoms, such as high temperature, sore throat, runny nose, cough and chills

www.gov.uk/government/publications/regulatory-approval-of-covid-19-vaccine-astrazeneca/information-for-uk-recipients-on-covid-19-vaccine-astrazeneca#possible-side-effects[/quote]
I know a very elderly and ill gentleman, who 1 hour after the jab, got pneumonia and had to be rushed to hospital. He lived.
His relatives think his old and frail condition meant having the jab[sorry dont know which one], could not cope with anything else.

I dont know whether his reaction was reported. I doubt it. Though perhaps medical people did. I have no idea.

I suppose my point in writing this is that there are going to be many instances of symptoms unreported, for one reason or another.

I did it after reading an article on what they had found so far and thought I would add my information. The side effects come up in a drop down list as you type which made me feel I was doing the right thing somehow.

If 1000 people get a cold sore flare up and all report it then they will see a pattern. If it was just one or two then maybe it’s a coincidence. They won’t know unless you report it.

I am afraid my article was a bit silly and from the Daily Mail but here it is: www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9388163/amp/Coronavirus-Brits-claim-yawning-screaming-losing-teeth-possible-vaccine-effects.html

If people can report taking up smoking, retirement and blinking more then I can report my tooth ache.

@Shibees

I had an outbreak of genital herpes exactly a week after my vaccination and I am convinced the two are related.

It was a particularly painful recurrence which surprised me too.

I’m sure there was a thread on here from a lady who had experienced the same!

@Shibees I don’t know if I’m the person you’re thinking of but I wrote a post a couple of weeks ago asking for advice as I had an outbreak which started 24 hours after I was vaccinated. Mine was very painful too. I didn’t do a yellow card report but reading this thread has alerted me that I should, so I’m going to.

Totally agree with @bumbleymummy
I yellow carded mine - I had the more common ones & felt like I’d been hit by a bus then reversed over but they need to know & I would say that the GP saying to the OP that less than 1% will get any side effects is extremely misleading .... the majority of people I know who’ve had the AZ including me have had after effects in varying degrees, only one had nothing at all...so well worth reporting even mild side effects so they get a full picture

yes i did, after my second dose, my arm was red and hot, not part of the side effects mentioned.

I've had a persistent dry cough for 2 weeks directly after getting the AZ vaccine. I'm yellow carding today.

@Inthevirtualwaitingroom

yes i did, after my second dose, my arm was red and hot, not part of the side effects mentioned.

@Inthevirtualwaitingroom That is one of the common side effects listed on the leaflet.

i should have said, not side effects for Pfizer @Shibees

A good friend of mine did. She had the side effects for 5 days.

I did , I'm epileptic and had motion sickness. So did my epileptic daughter.
She had her 2nd jab on Wednesday and had no side effects . My 2nd is tomorrow.
Not put me off .
Oh we both had the Pfizer jab

DH and I have both reported ours- it seems that AZ is affecting ‘younger’ people quite badly, but if we don’t report then they won’t know... it could change what they put in the information leaflets, it could change which vaccines are offered to each patient group... it’s such a new vaccine and I think that reporting is important.

If people don’t report all side effects after a vaccine, we won’t know what the side effects are!

I reported mine after the Pfizer jab. 4 days of awful headache and exhaustion. I couldn’t get up the stair. The Zoe app asked me to do a Covid test and it was negative.