Vaccine and Prednisone and Covid.

[yogabonnie]

Probably early on... but curious if anyone had big reaction after 2nd shot. OR... got covid after vaccine._? I had 1 dose of Pfizer. no reaction ...maybe imagined sore arm. next dose this WED. will keep you posted!

[Blossom20]

Yes, good post, I'm interested too. I had a reaction to first shot (temperature and felt ill) but haven't had second one yet.

[yogabonnie in reply to Blossom20]

what dose of Pred are you on.how long_

[Blossom20 in reply to yogabonnie]

I'm on 8.5 and have been on Pred since last June (8 months). I was surprised that my immune system seemingly mounted a response! It's strange how some people have symptoms and some don't. It would be interesting to get a survey done. There doesn't seem to be any scientific body doing this. There is the 'Zoe' app but it doesn't seem to be tracking the Astra zenica vaccine....and the info they ask for is only related to your arm!

[Nannie-C in reply to Blossom20]

In the question after the one about your arm you tick your symptoms there, in my case tiredness ++, muscle and joint pain. Also ticked level of tiredness. This morning I had an email offering me a covid test to ensure symptoms not from the virus. Sadly as in Scotland I can’t make use of the offer as can’t be done here.

[Blossom20 in reply to Nannie-C]

Yes, I know, but I don't think those questions refer to the after vaccine symptoms (or I don't think they log them as such). When I put in my symptoms the day after the vaccine they thought I had Covid and said I should have a test. Waste of time I think.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Blossom20]

OTOH, my grandson had his vaccination as a student nurse. He had symptoms that evening - it was Covid!

[Blossom20 in reply to PMRpro]

So he must have been incubating it before he had the jab. Or do you think he got it from the jab? Thankfully my symptoms went after 24 hours so it obviously wasn't Covid.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Blossom20]

You CANNOT get it from the jab, there is no live virus in any of them. No, he'd caught it during his placement at the hospital working on orthopaedics. Would have seemed brighter had they given the first jabs to them!!!!

[Blossom20 in reply to PMRpro]

Yes! How is he? Hope he's getting over it ok

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Blossom20]

Very tired but getting better. Has another week before he's supposed to be back at work.

[Nannie-C in reply to PMRpro]

No vaccine gives you instant protection, most vaccines take anything from 14-21 days for any immunity to fully develop so you are at risk during this time. No vaccine will ever give 100% protection either sadly. He must have already, unknown to him, been developing it.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Nannie-C]

No need to tell me that!

[Nannie-C in reply to Blossom20]

They are trying to see how many people have symptoms from the vaccine or from actually having covid unknowingly at time of vaccine.

[Catseyes235 in reply to Blossom20]

I have the Zoe app ...got to read properly as added another question for if you’ve had vaccine and then recently added another which asks which vaccine you’ve had. It lists several possible reactions to tick.

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer]

Most on the forum in UK haven’t had second vaccine yet.......although there may be a few..

[Cosmos22Marigold]

Thanks for that as I get my 2nd jab in about 2 weeks time. Hope all goes well.

[saunders123]

Had my second Pfizer vaccine January 7th no reaction at all. First one in Dec and the only symptom then was tiredness the following day. I have been on pred since Dec.2014

GCA then PMR now on 3mg.

[yogabonnie in reply to saunders123]

that's what I think will happen.... speaks to not having HUGE immunity to covid. but every little bit helps!!! I had a flu shot and then got the flu (same kind as the shot) and didn't get too terribly sick..and indeed did not die! so mask up and have fun out there with a little more confidence!

[SheffieldJane]

Good luck Bonnie. I had the Astra Zenica one last Friday and as is usual in the U.K. the next one on April 30. So that more folk can get at least one vaccine. I have heard that people get a bigger reaction to the second one. As they say, this is supposed to be a good thing. I slept so well last night and am a bit headachey today. I am on 10 mgs of Pred and skipped one dose of Tocilizumab to accommodate antibiotics, for an eye infection.

[Telian]

No 2nd shot yet. Be interested to hear how you get on. I had a sore head that night after the first one - but during the day and evening I had such a clear head it was the best I’d felt for ever! I had the Oxford vaccine.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

Won't be anyone in the UK yet - 12 weeks between jabs!

[Nannie-C in reply to PMRpro]

Over 500,000 have now had second dose now.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Nannie-C]

I meant mostly on the forum

[Nannie-C in reply to PMRpro]

👍🏻

[IslandRN]

No more a reaction with second dose than from first dose of Pfizer...slight headache, tired for about 24 hours and sore arm for a couple days.

[Jane424]

Did the covid vaccine worse or precipitate new autoimmune conditions? It is a bit early to know., but I developed PMR within 2 weeks of my second only flu shot.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Jane424]

Don't know about the vaccine - it is far too soon to know about that - but Covid sure as heck triggers what is almost certainly autoimmune reponses that can kill or turn into Long Covid.

Many people attribute their PMR to having the flu shot and it is a known adverse effect of the old shingles shot, don't know about the new one. But people develop PMR who have never had the flu shot. What is most likely is that the flu jab was the final straw that overloaded the immune system and sent it into overdrive - most experts agree that autoimmune disorders result from a lifetime of insults to the immune system and it finally snaps. It might be the flu jab - but it could equally well be the flu you got because of not having had the shot.

[HJC321 in reply to PMRpro]

Very interesting. Because of autoimmune disorders myself I was set against having the vaccine. Then I literally started losing sleep worrying - I was frightened to have it incase of it activating more disorders - but equally frightened not to have it for obvious reasons. In the end my GP persuaded me to have the jab. We have to put our trust in them don’t we when we have flogged our own research to death! It still bothers me that there hasn’t been time for trials on pts with autoimmune disorders though. Love to hear your thoughts PMRpro.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to HJC321]

There never would be such clinical trials because it would make the cost of the drug or vaccine so high it wouldn't be developed in the first place. It is a perfectly normal process and they collect info during this stage, after the widespread use of the vaccine is established. It is officially called Phase 4 trials:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phase...

By doing it this way they cover all sorts of illnesses and ages and collect the info they need while already providing a benefit to large numbers of people. The same problems are going to arise now as they would have done had patients been included before. There are many autoimmune disorders and they are not all the same - millions of results are needed and that is what they are collecting now,

[Blossom20 in reply to PMRpro]

But how are they collecting the data when there is nowhere for us to report it?

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Blossom20]

They don't need to collect everyone's data - a representative sample is all that is required. There is the ZOE study which I'm fairly sure will collect some but there are probably others as well.

[Gumnut in reply to PMRpro]

Very interesting to read this and makes a lot of sense. I am sure my PMR symptoms started shortly after a pneumonia vaccine 2 years ago. I always regretted having that vaccine. But maybe, as you say, it over-stimulated my already stressed immune system?

[Whitner]

What I have noticed from teachers and healthcare workers here in US is a significant reaction to the second vaccine if they’ve had Covid. They had fevers and aches for two to three days.

[Pmrruth]

I had the AstraZeneca vaccine just over a week ago. Feel ok now but was in bed for 2 days after - aching bones and muscles and overwhelming tiredness. Have heard that others had similar reaction to the AZ Vaccine.

[Lookingforideas in reply to Pmrruth]

Me too. It sounds like the AZ one has more reactions than the Pfizer- anecdotally anyway

[Macas]

I have had both shots of the Pfizer vaccine. I didn’t have any side effects at all. I have had PMR for 11 years and I am on 3mgs pred. a day.Hope everyone gets there vaccine soon .