Vaccines and periods. This article has made me fume

[BettyBag]

www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-58573593.amp

I had period problems following bother doses of AZ vaccine. Specifically I missed a period both times and the following one showed up late and was generally weird. My cycle is incredibly regular and this is the first time my period was irregular since I had my youngest 15 years ago. It's back to normal now (I'm front line and had first dose in Jan).

I'm just livid at that article. I went to my GP when my second one didn't appear, he never asked about the vaccine and I didn't mention it. I didn't connect it to the vaccine until I came across and article about period changes due to vaccine and realised the dates matched. The NHS website advises not to seek advice regarded missed periods until there are 3 missed in a row. Which begs the question how the fuck can they be so sure the numbers are low whe nobody appears to be asking women about this.

It's clear to me that this question mustn't have been asked during the trials. Who cares, its just women stuff?

My favourite part of the article is the bit where they admit nobody knows why vaccines fuck with periods and there has been hardly any research yet they are sure it doesn't effect fertility. It doesn't bother explaining how they are so certain about this.

I am not an anti vaxxer. I have had all jabs as have my kids. I would have had the jab if I had known it caused menstrual changes. It just makes me extremely distrustful of the competence of medical science when it comes to women. I don't think there is a conspiracy I just don't think they particularly care.

The amount of adverse effects reported for the coronavirus jabs is way, way higher than other jabs too, despite the low low percentage of reporting. I used foi to get the data for other jabs from MHRA, particularly ones we give older people to try and make it more similar in terms of demographic. Even when accounting for amount of doses (some vaccines such as Zostavax we have used for years and years but probably not given as many doses), there's still a huge difference. For example Zostavax had something like 25% of reports as Pfizer, and that included me being over cautious as to how many jabs of Zostavax have been given out, skewing the data in Pfizer's favour. And we have used Zostavax for almost 10 years.

But no one cares. No one cares these vaccines work completely differently to any we have given before. I've had posts deleted by mumsnet when trying to discuss it. No one cares at all about issues effecting women as a result, the response is just "oh well period problems are common". And all for what? A leaky vaccine that only somewhat reduces transmission, doesn't stop it. The vaccine isn't going to stop the spread, it can't, at least not this generation of vaccines.

It's clearly helped and that's great, I'm not against it. But women's health issues being ignored yet again is just a scandal. Giving it to children is too. When have the NHS ever vaccinated children for an illness that they aren't especially vulnerable to? It took years for Bexsero (Men B) to be approved here and for the powers that be to feel they had enough data, despite the fact it's fatal or life changing in a lot of cases. Caution is how it should be though. Yet the covid jabs are granted emergency use for children? It just doesn't make sense. I think there is some collective dissonance going on but I have no idea how or why.

If you look at the number of vaccinated women becoming pregnant and unvaccinated women becoming pregnant and find the rates are the same then you can be reasonably sure it is not affecting female fertility. More difficult to tell with males but covid is known to have harmful effects on the teesticles, probably not a great idea for males to risk covid if ttc.

Reports of adverse reactions are always higher for new products then tail off as people cant be bothered to report.

As usual anti-vaxers taking over mumsnet with misleading statements.

I had my first AZ jab in April. A week later I had increased discharge, spots and incredibly painful boobs - so bad that I needed painkillers and was getting to the stage whether I should go to the GP as it was causing so much discomfort - classic PMS but on steroids! A week later, I had a very light period and all the symptoms stopped.

Not that unusual except I’m 3 years after menopause!
Everything has returned completely to normal now but I can’t believe there’s no connection.

@alreadytaken

If you look at the number of vaccinated women becoming pregnant and unvaccinated women becoming pregnant and find the rates are the same then you can be reasonably sure it is not affecting female fertility. More difficult to tell with males but covid is known to have harmful effects on the teesticles, probably not a great idea for males to risk covid if ttc.

Reports of adverse reactions are always higher for new products then tail off as people cant be bothered to report.

As usual anti-vaxers taking over mumsnet with misleading statements.

Quite. Also, it is not as if this is the only vaccine to affect periods - other vaccines do that too, since immune reactions generally can mess with periods, but we're not all getting the other vaccines all at once so nobody pays any attention.

@alreadytaken
It's not anti-vax to want side effects to be taken seriously and investigated properly. There are lots of threads on here were women have had their periods affected. It just seems to be brushed of by medical professionals which isn't right.

[quote Takingabreakagain]@alreadytaken
It's not anti-vax to want side effects to be taken seriously and investigated properly. There are lots of threads on here were women have had their periods affected. It just seems to be brushed of by medical professionals which isn't right.[/quote]
spot on

I had a horrendous period which started a few days after first jab. Completey flooded the bed.

I spoke to a friend of mine about it who is currently involved in trying to increase vaccine uptake and his response was, "People will believe any old nonsense. I haven't heard that."

He also thinks younger women who are hesitant about the vaccine for fertility reasons were "ridiculous" and rolled his eyes at me when I said that if I were younger and pre children, if be concerned too.

I asked him what his response would have been if there were suggestions it impacted on male fertility or erectile function. "No one as suggested that though. That's the point."

No one has suggested it impacts negatively one so it can't impact negatively on women. I see...

I'm fully in favour of people reporting anything they are concerned about so it can be studied - but the vaccine is known to not be affecting fertility in women, covid is known to be affecting male testes and the impact on the blood may even mean difficulty with erections (that's been reported too). But that doesnt get a mention.

Mine was 6 weeks late. I’m 50 but still fairly regular, I mentioned to the GP who said is was probably my age rather than the vaccine.

I wasn’t told about the yellow card scheme when I had either of mine. I only knew as a colleague had a severe reaction to his first and mentioned he had reported it. Having said that I didn’t report, so I’m part of the problem. Will do it right now.

This is a site mainly used by women so it makes sense that women would talk about things that are affecting them.
Are men's problems more important? Should we only be allowed to talk about them?

@Jenala what is a leaky vaccine?

It’s such as shame that yet another thread has attracted yet another member such as alreadytaken who resort to name calling.

There are clearly a lot of females who are quite rightly concerned about changes to their cycles after having their injections. Yes it should be investigated properly and independently just as all reported side effects should.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with these women voicing their concerns but why do some people have to straight away resort to uncalled for name calling.

This virus/vaccine etc really has shown a truly nasty side in some
people. People should be supporting each other, not creating a divide.

I reported my issue via the yellow card scheme. At 54 and having been post menopausal for over a year I started bleeding again after both vaccines. It may have been coincidental but as far as I’m concerned these issues need to be fed back.

@nevergoesaway a leaky vaccine is one that doesn't stop transmission. Vaccines that stop transmission are called 'perfect' vaccines (perfect here just meaning in terms of stopping transmission).

Far as I have read, these vaccines do reduce transmission and obviously people get less sick when they've had it. There is a role for leaky disease vaccines in disease management, but obviously it can't bring the virus to extinction if it can continue to spread.

I'm jabbed now but I think the knowledge these vaccines are leaky means those who choose not to have the jabs shouldn't be treated so badly, it becomes a much more personal decision if it's no longer about protecting others in the same way.

I have recently had to isolate because someone I work with, who had their second jab in April, just tested positive.

@Whatwouldscullydo You can get any money if men suffered erectile dysfunction after the jab they'd have done the research months ago. It would not he trivialised the same way.

Quite. It reminds me of a trip I took to America, friend driving from Orlando to Miami, as I was about to dose off, I was suddenly awed by a huge (truly massive) billboard with flashing lights and words in bold red: CAN'T GET IT UP??!! DOCTOR Joe Blogs, ERECTILE DYSFUNCTION SPECIALIST CALL 12345678 NOW!!! FOR A FREE CONSULTATION, DON'T SUFFER!!

Typical I thought. Women get orgasm dysfunction too, but nobody gives a s* let alone put out an ad.

I have thyroid issues. God help any woman who doesn't respond to basic treatment. Better get rich quick. It baffles me how there are so many women practicing medicine yet they somehow mostly speak with man voice. Not one bit surprised they're totally ignoring women, some of the dismissive comments in the DM made my blood pressure rise.

It’s appalling. However, it’s all part of a larger problem that doesn’t take these sorts of concerns seriously at all. There’s so little research on any aspect of “women’s problems.” Even on serious things like miscarriage. Wasn’t it in the news recently that the average diagnosis time for endometriosis is 8 years?

It leaves it up to women to say no to these interventions until better research is completed.

So many armchair vaccine scientists here, with their degree from Google University.

This is what terrifies me. I want to TTC soon, I'm just recovering from covid and was going to get my vaccine in 28 days but now I'm reconsidering all over again.

@ShaneTheThird. If you're just recovering from Covid, why the rush to get vaccinated so soon?

@DysonSphere it's recommended to get vaccinated as soon as you are able which they advise 28 days after a positive test. I don't want to get covid again as it's been awful.

Oh and work and society have treated me like shit upon finding out I'm unvaccinated which I am because of health issues aren't great and the vaccines side effects worried me with my problems.

This is interesting, my daughter recently began having irregular periods after being almost like clockwork since she was 12. I will have to ask if it corresponds to her getting jabbed.

It's not at all unusual for it to take a good while when a new drug comes out for all the effects to be understood. Mostly they aren't serious, but sometimes they are. It's why doctors usually don't jump over themselves to prescribe new drugs immediately, unless there is no other option or the other option is even worse.

For some reason in an effort to seem like everything is under complete control, a lot of people who should know better have been very unwilling to publicly admit that this is a completely normal process, and that some caution or noticing these kinds of effects isn't some anti-science conspiracy.

It effected mine though I didn’t put two and two together at the time. I had a period so late and heavy I thought I would have to go to A and E both times after the vaccine though the second was quicker.

Doesn’t COVID also affect periods too?

As others have said other vaccines can also impact periods as a result of the body’s immune system, which I assume is why COVID can have the same impact.

Isn’t the yellow card system detailed on the list of potential side effects leaflet you would have been given after the jab

@toomuchlaundry I think it’s more people not associating massive flooding/delayed or chaotic cycles with a vaccine taken weeks earlier.