Vaccine side effects or something more?

[Mulhollandmagoo]

I'll pre-facw this by saying, choosing to have the vaccine was very easy for me and had absolutely no concerns at the time whatsoever, as soon as I got the nod I went.

I had my first AZ vaccine in February, felt a tad ropey the next day but other than that nothing untoward. I had my second dose early May, had absolutely no immediate side effects whatsoever, however since my second dose I've noticed some changes that have worried me.

I'm 33, and have had for at least the last 10 years very regular periods and no major problems with them, but since my second dose subsequent periods (3) have been all over the place, the first one was very late, the second one was also late but not as late and the third one was really really heavy - all out of the ordinary for me.

We are currently TTC baby number two, we decided to wait until after my second vaccine so that we were as protected as possible and I've been tracking my cycle for a while now so that when we started we could hit the ground running, so took some ovulation tests due to my cycle being all over the place and from what I can see from them I haven't ovulated at all (however I'm not sure if I've used these correctly so that could be a red herring)

I have also had lots of intense hot flushes, fatigue, sore and itchy down below and ovarian pain (right at the bottom of my tummy, like period pains but not when I should be having them IYKWIM) and have just not felt too great ever since. I contacted my GP and he told me that there was no evidence of menstrual cycles being affected by the vaccine so wouldn't entertain me at all, but I've heard lots of anecdotal evidence from other women that this is not the case.

I thought I'd maybe get through it so haven't thought much about it but it's getting a bit of a struggle now and was hoping to hear if anyone else has had anything similar - or if my symptoms sound like something else that anyone has any experience of and the timing was just unfortunate?

Thank you for reading what was a much longer post than I'd anticipated, I think I've got everything in there ☺️

I had three months like that - but before I had any vaccines. It was just totally random after a lifetime of being regular. Sometimes these things happen.

I was 3 weeks late, then only a 2 week gap and heavy then back to 4 weeks and light. It seems to be normal for some disruption. I seem to be be back to normalise now, I wouldn't worry at the moment and there's nothing the dr can actually do, but do self report on the vaccine reporting

Thank you :) your replies have made me feel much better, sometimes it's really hard not to get myself worked up into a panic with all of the info out there

@Mulhollandmagoo

Thank you :) your replies have made me feel much better, sometimes it's really hard not to get myself worked up into a panic with all of the info out there

If I'd have had the vaccine and then that had happened then maybe I would have thought it was the case it was the vaccine....but the fact is that these things can just happen for absolutely no reason whatsoever. I'm not TTC, I'm not post partum or anything that could explain it it just happened. The fact that you had the vaccine may just be by the by.

If you have any more concerns though, such as abnormally heavy bleeding or bleeding / spotting between periods, or consistently irregular cycle lengths etc you should obviously get that checked out but not because of covid vaccinations, just because that's what is advised to do for women's health in general.

Just to say if your periods are erratic at the moment, ovulation tests are likely to be inaccurate, you may be better taking your temperature daily and tracking your cervical mucous as this will show ovulation better.(google if U not sure how to do this)..also cheaper than ovulation sticks!

Pps I presume there's no way you could actually be pregnant at the mo or had a pregnancy during the last couple of months?

If you were 10 years older the obvious thing for those symptoms would be peri menopause, at 33 (or any age) your gp should be taking them seriously.

Maybe try to see a gyno to check your ovulation etc, just to put your mind at ease.

@cls123

Pps I presume there's no way you could actually be pregnant at the mo or had a pregnancy during the last couple of months?

No, no pregnancy unfortunately I have taken a couple of tests - really tough when we are trying and my periods are consistently late as I get my hopes up :(

Thank you for the tip regarding ovulation I didn't know that, you're right they're crazy expensive! To be fair I didn't think I was using the tests correctly so I think I got myself worked up over nothing

@thissucksmonkeynuts I didn't think of anything menopause related I may get back in contact with them, I did feel a little bit dismissed and I wondered if it was because I mentioned the vaccine as he got a little defensive

@alfieum

Maybe try to see a gyno to check your ovulation etc, just to put your mind at ease.

How do they check? Is it just a blood test?

Did your periods get back on track in the end?