To jab ..... or not to jab?

[lily777]

Afternoon all

Had the AZ covid jab on Saturday with reaction of shivers, headache and temp 8 hrs later....lasted overnight but felt back to normal by Sunday afternoon. Mercifully no joint/ra issues.

Not sure about taking my mtx jab tomoro night...only on 7.5

No joy with nurses helpline but will try again ......

In meantime, any thoughts?

[Boxerlady]

I had the Pfizer jab last Wednesday and had a sore arm and tiredness and mild shivers for a couple of days; no RA ill-effects. The message on my nurse helpline implied that they didn't want people asking about this (said that all jabs were suitable and only those on Rituxifan needed to speak to them) so I didn't leave a message. I was meant to do my Methotrexate injection (25mg) on Friday but decided not to - partly because I didn't fancy the fuzzy head and partly because there is a school of thought that says that it might help to increase the efficacy of Covid vaccination.

Just my personal decision - not advice!

[Azzure]

Hi Lily

I had the Pfizer jab 2 weeks ago and my Rheumatolgy consultant advised me to miss one week. There is different guidance as they don’t seem to think not stopping it will affect the efficacy. I did stop only one week. I take 22.5mg methotrexate injection.

I know methotrexate stays in your system, but not sure how long for. I missed 4 weeks before Christmas due to having Covid and thankfully have been fine no flare ups, and all fine when restarting.

I hope this is helpful.

[Gigi71]

I had my jab last Sunday, I decided to give my Mtx a miss last Monday night, I’m on 7.5 too, I sometimes feel off colour the next day normally. I had the Phizer one and had some side effects anyway, mainly a headache, plus an upset stomach. I did speak to my rheumy nurse before, re my Humira injection, which was due on the Thursday before and was told to go ahead with it, I didn’t ask about Mtx. All the best. X

[helixhelix]

My rheumy advised me to miss a week. This was advice to me, as I am stable and missing a week would be very unlikely to cause me to flare. You might be different!

[springcross]

Hi lilly. I spoke to my rheumy nurse before I had my vaccine as it was due on the same day that I inject MTX, she told me to carry on as normal and not to withhold the MTX. A few days later I had a complimentary copy of the letter she sent to my GP confirming my telephone call with her saying that they are not advising patients to withhold any DMARDS on the day of vaccination. As with most things though, different areas different advice. x

[mhlmom]

My rheumatologist said that you should only miss one MTX injection after the vaccine IF your condition is very stable as missing one is unlikely to cause a flare. But, if like me it is anything but stable, not to miss it as the risks of a flare outweighed the slight possibility of a benefit.

[Pulfs]

I missed out my methotrexate injection last week as it was on same day as vaccine and didn’t want the the usual fuzzy head and tiredness on top of any reaction to vaccine. This was my decision and restarting methotrexate tonight x