swollen armpit prevnar 20

[Capecodlover34]

hello group, I’m relatively newly diagnosed with SLL (June 2022). Mild disease so far; watch and wait. Favorable genetic markers so far (t12/18 mutated). 46 yr female in good shape. Normal blood work. I recently had the prevnar 20 vax per CLL specialist. On day 2 post vax the lymph node in my right armpit has swollen up a bit (same side as injection site). I wanted to ask this group if this is something relatively common I should wait to report to doctor at my next visit (end of sept) or address sooner. It’s somewhat alarming as I haven’t had any symptoms yet except 2cm lymph nodes on scans but I’m a newbie, don’t have great context yet and could use advice/guidance from this group. Thank you in advance.

[AussieNeil Administrator]

Welcome to our community!

Swollen nodes in the armpit of the vaccinated arm are a fairly commonly reported vaccination side effect and should be good news. (It's the same reason we can get swollen nodes (glands) in our neck in response to a respiratory infection. It's in germinal centres in these nodes where lymphocytes reproduce when B Cell Receptor matches are produced in response to the vaccine in what's termed the somatic hypermutation process, so I'd take it as a good sign that you are making B and T lymphocytes in response to your vaccination.

I'd still address your concern with your doctor sooner if the node continued to swell, rather than resolve over the next few weeks.

Neil

[Poodle2 in reply to AussieNeil]

I agree with Neil, defo mention it to your team, do you have a specialist nurse you can call? I had the same reaction to the Prevnar vaccine, the nodes at the back of my skull got enlarged which caused a terrible headache. They should stay the same and resolve in a couple of days.

[akirsch973]

I had the same reaction to the Prevnar vaccine in January 2020. Prior to the injection, no evidence of CLL/SLL. The morning after the vaccination I found a large mass in my armpit. My GP thought it was a response to the injection and treated me with antibiotic and ibuprofen. These did nothing. The mass grew to 6.3 cm and was excised 5 weeks later. The diagnosis was SLL. Nobody knows how long I had SLL prior to the injection. Treatment with Rituxan and radiation began shortly thereafter for a month and I have been on watch and wait since then.

[Capecodlover34]

thank you everyone. This is very helpful perspective and I will also have a chat with the nurse. Appreciate the responses

[Tortola2019]

I also had swollen armpit post prevar-20...something I had not had with previous vaccinations and also subsequent vaccinations (COVID, flu)...except a very little bit with Shingrix.

[Capecodlover34 in reply to Tortola2019]

Thank you, this is very helpful and it seems similar to my reactions. I wanted to also reply to this post in case its searched that my armpit swelling has gone almost completely away now (almost 2 weeks post prevnar20 shot). I also had a flu shot last Friday and there was no swelling from that shot.

[jjjjj3925]

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