I feel so trapped by these decisions 😭 I can’t cope

[Mrshirst11]

I’m 34. High BMI, asthma, psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis. (Not medicated for psoriasis / arthritis)

Group 6 for the vaccine. Had my first dose of AZ 6 weeks ago.

Second one booked but I don’t think I can go ahead with it.

I’m petrified of a blood clot, literally petrified.

Since the announcement last week of a different vaccine for under 40’s, I haven’t stopped thinking about it.

I can’t sleep, I’m not able to concentrate at work, I’m snappy, I’m eating rubbish to make myself feel better.
I feel utterly down in the dumps.

I feel like I’m trapped, I either have the vaccine and risk a blood clot / death, or I don’t have the vaccine and risk being severely ill / death with Covid.

I can’t see a way out. I feel like I’ve lost all motivation.

I felt happy after my first dose, I felt like there was light ahead and I started to feel like life was going to be good, hopeful, normal.

Now I just honestly feel numb, life feels hard, I don’t see the light and I feel utterly miserable with this decision I have to make. 😭

I feel like I don’t have a choice in the vaccine

You absolutely do. It is entirely up to you. If anyone is pressuring you either way, tell them it is not up for discussion.
If you need more time to decide, then you can do just that. If you have been invited, you don't need to book anything right now. You can wait until you are ready, if that is what you want.

@wingsnthat

It’s like you’re focusing on the wrong thing. I mean, your weight is more of an issue to your health than the vaccine but you’re not fussed about that? You’ve already had one dose of the vaccine you’re worried about and responded to it normally, so your chances of clotting from the 2nd is even lower.

Your psoriasis isn’t relevant and it’s your own decision not to take treatment for it 🤷🏼‍♀️

Anxiety just isn't logical though is it that's the problem

I sympathise you worry about the vaccine if you do and you worry about Covid if you don’t. I felt the same but went ahead as after one dose I would have been left in limbo. Would a chat with a health professional help?

The under 40s are not more at risk of clots, it’s just that healthy under 40s are low risk of covid. But that’s not you, you have higher covid risk so you need to have the jab. The clot risk of the jab is far lower than the clot risk with covid.

Not true - the risk of clots is higher in younger age groups. It's about 10 in a million for over 50s and 17 in a million for 30 - 39 age group. That age group is ALSO at low risk of Covid so double whammy.

OP, I feel your pain. I'm in my 30s and had one dose of AZ, which I bitterly regret as it's now blocked me from getting a safer and more effective vaccine. I don't want the second one at the moment because we don't have enough data on second vaccines, but am waiting to see what the data shows over the next few weeks before I decide for sure. It's really shit and I think a lot of people have been put in a crap position by the government allowing us to get a vaccine that was inevitably going to end up banned in our age groups, because it had been banned in most other countries in our age group flipping weeks before.

you're out of the danger zone for vaccine related blood clots, you can relax, you don't have to keep trying to control this situation. The more you try to control it, the more your stress levels are rising and the more you crave food. This "rubbish food" as you name it then makes you more ill in the present as it likely aggravates your health conditions. Try to let go OP, you don't have to control anything to do with the vaccine.

If the risk centres on platelet levels could the OP pay for private platelet testing? I have no idea about this and no understanding of it, as a caveat, I'm just wondering aloud?