Just had covid booster jab and ended up eating biscuits

[thepastisanothercountry]

Feeling so embarrassed.

When jab was done nurse said I'd gone pale and made me
pull mask down. She asked if I wanted a drink of water and to lie down and I insisted I was fine - because I thought I was.

Then when waiting out the 15 minutes I began to shake, hands were uncontrollable. Someone brought me some water but it was slopping all over the place. Next thing I knew someone had taken me out of my seat and led me to one of the cubicles at the side to lie down. Kept me there for a full half hour with nurse AND paramedic and made me eat two biscuits, checked blood pressure, oxygen etc. etc. before sending me to sit out another 15 minutes and telling me to go home to rest. They even phoned my employer and told them not to expect me in today. Fortunately DP was with me and was fine after his jab.

Now home feeling extremely embarrassed, cold and shaky and absolutely in awe of the brilliant caring people I've just encountered. for some reason I couldn't stop apologising for taking up their time when they had better things to do.

Now I do understand why they make people wait, but remember thinking it all seemed a bit overkill first two times.

Hope you're better soon. The 15 minutes wait is in case you have an allergic reaction. Yours sounded more like anxiety attack or hypoglycaemia? Glad you received excellent support

Sounds like a vasovagal reaction. It's more common than you'd imagine and absolutely nothing to feel embarrassed about - nothing that you had any control over, just how your body reacted to the situation (rather than the vaccine itself). We see it more often with the 18s and younger but can happen at any age.

I think it probably was a mix of the two to be honest. They did say my blood sugar was 2.7 so lower than they liked but it came back up after biscuits. (not sure what BS should be but they seemed stressed about it for whatever reason) Odd though as don't normally have a problem and Id had breakfast

BS should be between 5 and 7 I think? Hope you feel better soon and nothing to be embarrassed about.

Blood sugar in non diabetic person 3.5 to 5.5 mmol/l

2.7 is a bit low and could make you feel unwell. My son (age 22) full out fainted after his first jab, and woke up on the floor with lots of people around him looking concerned. Next time, he told them what had happened and had the jab whilst lying down - and it was fine..

This happened to me after my second vaccine. I had just had a big breakfast of 2 eggs and toast just beforehand. The oncall GP told me (last May) that they had 1-2 a day like this. I also felt very embarrassed. But I still do not know the reason nor what to do about a 3rd shot. The GP said it was entirely physical. I was not nervous or anxious about the vaccine at all.

Don't be embarrassed, it's more common than you think. I've had this happen to me at the dentist before!

Don't be embarrassed, hope you're feeling better

When I was sitting waiting for my first jab, two people fainted in the 15mins wait after having it . It was around the time when people were worried about possible blood clots being reported in the press, so the rest of us waiting just kind of smiled nervously at each other and hoped we wouldn't be the third fainter

Judging by the speed and efficiency with which the staff handled it, it probably happened quite a lot!

OP - I was also cold and shaky and spent the whole afternoon in bed watching TV and had a spiked temperature. But absolutely fine 24 hours later. However, it was a very strange experience! I also had two strange episodes weeks later where when I got up quickly at night or from sitting down my heart started racing manically again. Totally fine now months later.

Don’t be embarrassed !!! I had a vaso vagal response after my 2nd covid jab. Had to lie down for over half an hour as was very dizzy.
Had water, biscuits, etc
Doctor who took my blood pressure said it was 90 over 60!! Rather than the standard 120/80.

Nothing to be embarrassed about at all. Take it easy and rest this pm if you can.

I wouldn’t even worry about it. It’s very common and they are trained to expect it and manage it. Hope you feel okay now op.

Thank you everyone. Calming down a bit now and glad ot know I'm not the only one. I suppose I should have assumed it from the fact they had a drawer full of biscuits.

@Maria1982 thats around my normal blood pressure. It was 87/55 when they took it this morning which is a teeny bit low for me but not much

A friend of mine volunteers at vaccination centre and fainting is quite common. She said on a hot day, they had 15 people faint. My adult DS felt a bit light headed after his first, so took water with him for his second.

Don't be embarrassed! This happened to at least one person at both of my vaccine appointments. A volunteer at my first said they had had lots of people coming in who hadn't eaten breakfast and they had fainted. I hope you feel better soon.

This happened to me too but at my second vaccine. I almost fainted and was so embarrassed 😳 I think I possibly overheated as it was summer, really warm in there. I had eaten but hours before and hadn’t drunk for a little while. The doctor gave me some biscuits and water and within minutes I felt better. I do suffer with low blood sugar and should have preempted that! When I took my son to have his vaccine I filled a bag with food and drink so him just in case

If you want embarrassment, I once went to give blood with my mum - we were both booked in for the same time. I gave my pint then went over to sit with mum while she finished, and I must have got up too quickly. Next thing I know I’m being fanned down on a mat by the staff - I’d fainted. Which would have been fine, but they didn’t realise I’d actually just given blood myself, and thought I had fainted at the mere sight of my mum giving blood once I’d come around properly I was very clear to correct them quite stridently that I had given my pint too!!

I have to lie down when I have an injection or have blood taken as I normally faint. I even had to have a glucose tablet given to me at the dentists recently even though I was actually lying down when they administered the injection. I am OK when they get on and jab me quickly, but the longer they faff around for (the dentist took bloody ages), the more likely I am to have a vasovagal response.

My boss just called sounding worried. He seemed to think I was in hospital because he'd been phoned by a nurse and told I wouldn't be coming in today and she didn't think tomorrow was such a great idea either.

I told him I'd let him know first thing tomorrow if I didn't feel up to it, but I think I'll be fine by then. She really was a very nice nurse. Interestingly, she'd retired a few years ago but come back specifically to help with vaccination program and said she was loving working with people again.

It's a huge centre doing around 800-1000 jabs a day so I suppose they're just set up for all eventualities really.

Sounds like you have generally low blood pressure then- possibly a factor too.

Anyway, hoping you are feeling much better now!

My vaccine was given by a retired doctor who’d also come back for the vaccination programme - she said there were quite a few retired staff coming back to work on vaccinations. They were lovely too

Going to work in a bit. Thankfully just down to headache and sore arm.

Thinking of dropping a box of chocolates into centre next time I'm passing, they were simply brilliant