Periods and the covid vaccine

[ArabellaScott]

I just saw this - apologies if it's been posted before.

'Scientists launch study to find out if COVID-19 vaccines are causing period changes after hundreds of women notice irregularities'

Also US based, so perhaps won't apply here, but still may be of interest.

www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-9495727/Researchers-studying-women-report-changes-periods-taking-COVID-vaccine.html

The comments are veering into some pretty wild conspiracy theories, but I found it really interesting that there is potentially an impact on periods - especially after learning about immunity and oestrogen, etc.

Some very complex interactions, perhaps?

Tim Spector (who is behind the ZOE Covid symptom tracker app) also mentioned in his latest video update that there have been reports of this, but that it is still unclear whether it is a real phenomenon related to the vaccine or just coincidence, as the number of definite reports was still low.

He is asking people to report any effects via the app (or you can also report potential vaccine side-effects via the yellow card scheme) in order to get more data so they can work out whether there is really any link.

I haven't had a period since the vaccine in March, but I have swapped from the implant to the injection in that time, so I'm not 100% sure it's linked. I used to bleed regularly and heavily with the implant, but for the 5 weeks after the vaccine there was nothing.

The virus has been connected to messing up cycles. Both longer and shorter cycles (suspected covid in March last year and had months of short cycles). Longer cycles seemed more common.

This is interesting. I'm glad they are looking into it.

Dds had some irregularities during the pandemic mainly very short cycles. None of us in the house have tested positive at any point so cant pin it to anything obviously. But given my age and the fact I can finally enjoy being predictable /regular since having kids probably more down to being forced to take better care if myself, I'm really loathed to take the vaccine as a result. I'm glad they are looking into it. Disturbed by the number of comments claiming messed up periods is a small price to pay. Clearly no idea of the huge importance to our health that our menstrual cycle is a part of.

This is also very interesting to me. I started HRT at Christmas mainly to regulate my periods. The 6 weeks after my covid jab they have been haywire again and my hormonal migraines have returned. I figured it was the HRT effect 'wearing off' and was going to ask my HRT consultant about changing the type I was on, but the last 2 weeks have been better again. I hadn't linked the change with my vaccine at all until I read about it on here.

Is it all covid jabs that may have thus effect, or just some of them? I had AstraZeneca.

I'm.sure I read in here somewhere too that thise who suffer from migraines or cluster headaches , had them triggered after having the vaccine too.

Difficult to keep up with the threads though because so many people just get nasty and accuse posters of scare mongering etc

I'm.aped at how little people are allowed to talk about their side effects. Even paracetamol can have them its not personal against the vaccine

They need to investigate it. It’s not conspiracy, there is a lot of citizen data about this. I understand Israel have launched a similar investigation.

I’d wonder if that is why they have said no AZ to the under 40s while they investigate. It’s quite something.

Great - there are also reports of men having sudden onset ED (plausible, as vascular). So there are a number of things that require attention to establish if there is a correlation and then investigate as causal.

The most important thing we as individuals can do is report any side effects we have. You do it on this link, and you include anything you think could be a side effect. It's important with a new-to-market drug and public health are actively seeking input.

coronavirus-yellowcard.mhra.gov.uk

You use the same link for any side effect of any drug, at any time. You do not have to rely on doctors reporting.

I’ve had a couple of people mention it and agree with sex-train it should be reported to the yellow card scheme.

I hasn’t come across the ED though.

As it’s mainly been older women here in UK who have received the vaccine (I’m talking 40 plus) I can’t help but think this is likely to be perimenopause situations happening. Perimenopause can start up to ten years before the menopause. I’m not saying it shouldn’t be investigated but it will be interesting to see how this affects younger women once the rollout is extended down to be younger age groups.
I remember when my perimenopause began I looked for lots of reasons my periods were irregular - stress, over exercising, weight related. Bah no I was 40 and about to go through an early menopause.

There are a lot of younger women in categories 1 and 2, and also in 4 and 6.

I know what you mean, there are even more outside those 4 groups, but there are a sufficient number within to be providing enough data to work on (clots in younger women showing up on the numbers already done).

Plus of course the work is international, so datasets from other countries who vaccinate din a different order are also contributing to overall knowledge.

This is why it is so important that people report their side effects. If the data is nit being captured, it cannot be analysed.

I'm.sure I read in here somewhere too that thise who suffer from migraines or cluster headaches , had them triggered after having the vaccine too.

This is me too. I get hormonal migraines with every period (about every week, each lasting 2-3 days), so haywire periods have meant that the headaches have returned with a vengeance. I had loved the HRT as I have felt 'normal' for the first time in years. I was so disappointed when everying started back up again. Fingers crossed it really is a temporary effect of the covid jab

My ex suffered with cluster headaches. He's signed himself up for the vaccine. I'll be telling him to report it if it happens. Not that he will.listen but hey...

Given the talk of vaccinating kids come September I'm.expecting a bit of a potential conflict

I had my second AZ jab during my period, it stopped within 12 hrs and restarted, very light, a few days later. Not due another yet so don't know if it's been affected any more than that. My cycle is usually like clockwork.

I'm still delighted to have had it, and am CEV so any benefit outweighs the risk as far as I'm concerned, for me. I wouldn't want to put anyone off having it, but knowing other people have had the same side effects (I reacted very badly to the 1st one) is reassuring in a way that it's 'normal' if that makes sense? Although the menstruation side effects do worry me a bit more than the fluey symptoms I had with the 1st jab.

Covid infection and vaccination have affected women’s cycles. I reported all my vaccination symptoms to the MHRA yellow card scheme. Please do it if you have been effected, to encourage a medical culture of asking us about this stuff. It’s quick and easy.

I also complained to the Tell Zoe people that they didn’t gather any information about women properly. It is ridiculous- they don’t record biological sex data properly so who is answering will be skewed, they don’t ask about any existing hormonal treatments like HRT or contraception, don’t ask questions about disruption menstrual cycles and any suspected Covid effect. Tell Zoe still don’t ask those questions despite having it pointed out to them (threads on that back when it started on FWR in 2020.)

On here and all over social media it was being mentioned that women’s cycles were being affected in this way. Not a new phenomenon. So I was happy to see Tim Spector mention this but continuing the ‘default male’ model is completely unacceptable in this day and age when large scale data gathering is easier and cheaper than it’s ever been and a lot of female and male patients have smartphone access and many are motivated to contribute their data to covid research.

FWIW anecdotally my period was bang on time after the AZ vaccine.

I think the problem with discussion of it is that people like me, who haven't been affected at all, have no incentive to relay their completely normal experience. They need proper studies, and it should be something that is investigated of course.

Agree that yellow carding side effects is very important. Then they can compare the number of women with this side effect to total number vaccinated and compare to what would be normal in this group.

I had no side effects at all from the AZ vaccine (I'm late 40s). Slightly sore arm for a day, that was it.

Oh, just seen lootraw1's post - I'm 36, so hopefully not menopausal!

Thank you for posting the infor about the yellow card scheme. I didn't know about this and have now reported my symptoms.

Firstly- menstruators?! Really? We’re talking about periods and vaccine effects but once again that word!

Secondly
I think there’s a number of things to consider here.
From reading the article it’s not clear whether they are looking at all Covid vaccines or one. Given the differences between the vaccines in terms of their mechanism of producing immunity it seems less likely there’s a unifying aspect of all the vaccines that could cause this compared to a mechanism limited to one of them.

Although they are new vaccines there are components of them that have been in other well used vaccines. For example the AstraZeneca vaccine uses an Adenovirus which has been in a number of vaccines for many years.

Women are not automatons. Our bodies are sophisticated and our menstrual cycles are influenced by so many things I would imagine it’s going to be difficult to eliminate confounding factors.

We know that Covid-19 does things to the pathways around blood clotting in the body but the vaccines do not contain Covid. They induce the body to produce a response to the spike protein on the surface of the virus which as far as I know is not linked to the changes in clotting associated with Covid.

Having said all that, I’m a GP not a research scientist so I may well be wrong. I have vaccinated literally thousands of people including young women and been working in the mass vaccine centres and I haven’t come across this although again this may be because women just aren’t reporting it and putting up with changes to their periods as they put up with so many other gynae issues.

Oh please.. these researchers calling women ‘menstruators’.
‘Women’ is the word. It’s our word that everyone understands, just use it unless you want to exclude lots of groups of (menstruating) women from being involved in this discussion.

On the other hand, this is not a study of women. Because not all women menstruate. It is specific to those who are menstuating (excluding the peri and menopausal, the pregnant, those with no uterus, and those on certain contraception)

I would not muddle up use of menstruators when menstruation is not just a relevant issue but the whole point and not a synonym for all women, with times when it is being shoehorned in as synonymous

I hadn't bled for over a year on the implant, then period started a few days after first AZ dose.

Bled pretty much constantly since. Had smear checks etc and all seems fine. Not sure if just a hormonal thing or something to do with the vacc

Have you reported that through the Yellow Card?

Resumption of menses when they had otherwise ceased or been suppressed is a symptom that requires investigation, as you had done, and definitely worth a report if you haven't already done so

My query is how many women who get other vaccines may get this but not link it?

I'm in my 40s and periods are a little different each time, also on thyroxine and there's been some changes there which definitely impacts my period.

I also started taking fish oils at Xmas and that had a noticeable impact.

Had a horrific full body ache period starting the day of the jab; if the jab had been a couple of days earlier I'd have linked them.

At the same time, it's rare for a whole world population to start getting vaccine at the same time. So there could be a link in some people.