Dd has extreme health anxiety about AZ vaccine side effects

[Bryonyshcmyony]

My 18 year old daughter had her second dose of the AZ vaccine last week. She's been on a knife edge ever since. She has a headache, but it's just like the usual headaches that she gets. She has many aches and pains (has always had this and had various blood tests all is normal). She says every day she has a new pain somewhere. I asked today if we should call 111 and she said she doesn't want to bother anyone. She's otherwise fine - planning a holiday with friends, finishing assessments, watching TV with us in the evenings, going for walks etc.

She has bad asthma which is why she was called. Had her first AZ months ago just before it was withdrawn. Emailed GP to ask for Pfizer as second dose but GP said not enough research and she should go ahead and have second AZ.

She's not sleeping, she's irritable and ratty all the time. I feel really sorry for her. Anyone have any tips for her and or me about coping with the anxiety?

Sorry meant to add we are in UK and she's worried she's going to die of a blood clot, although refuses to stop taking the pill which she takes for her acne (now completely gone).

Is it specifically blood clots she is worried about? Do you think it would help her to to see evidence of reported side effects after second doses in her age group? If so, try this web page, which I personally found reassuring.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-vaccine-adverse-reactions/coronavirus-vaccine-summary-of-yellow-card-reporting

"The overall incidence [of blood clots] after second doses was 1.3 per million doses. All reported cases following a second dose are in patients aged 50 years and over... Currently, no cases have been reported following a second dose in patients aged 18-49 years with an estimated 2.7 million in this age group having received both doses"

Thank you I have sent that to her. She is a hypochondriac though so no doubt will read between the lines somehow

If you have a look at Prof Michael Markis on Twitter he is a haematologist who has been following the clotting issues with AZ closely, he gives some timelines re clots and they are most prevalent at the 10 to 12 day mark so maybe once she’s past this point you could share this information. He’s also not convinced that the cases reported after a second dose are true cases and all reported cases after second doses have been in over 50s. Other than that trying to keep her busy and reduce any time spent googling etc. The next MRHA report is due out today so again you could share that with her if once again there haven’t been any clots after 2nd doses in under 50s. I completely sympathise with her as I’m in my 30s and my second dose is due this weekend. I’ve been horrifically anxious about it ever since I had my first dose and cancelled my appointment a few weeks ago but after the latest stats and reading the above twitter feed I’ve tentatively booked to have it done this weekend, pending today’s MHRA report as I feel more reassured than I did a few weeks ago and I’ve done a huge amount of reading about it. Try and keep her engaged in doing things that occupy her mind, tv doesn’t do this in the same way as reading, socialising etc. I felt such a weight lift off my shoulders when I hit 28 days after my first, before I then started worrying about my second. I found I became less anxious as I got further away from my first dose as the risk starts to tail off. I hope she’s ok, anxiety is horrible and often isn’t rational either.

I too have been following Prof Michael Markis. He is convinced there have been no definate cases associated with second dose.
I have a 23 year old DC who got both doses of AZ. The first was before it was withdrawn from younger age groups and the second 8 weeks ago. He is fine.

Thank you so much. It is very reassuring - at least for me!

@Bryonyshcmyony

Thank you I have sent that to her. She is a hypochondriac though so no doubt will read between the lines somehow

In that case I'd encourage her to self refer for CBT for health anxiety so that she doesn't get disabled by the condition if it sets in to her adult life

She has spoken to her gp about it and I think she's on a waiting list for talking therapy.