Covid vaccine anxiety

Hi everyone, I am new to this forum.

I was diagnosed with MS 13 years ago and have been very fortunate as I have kept very well and I am not on any medication and never have been. The only supplement I take is VitD3, 4,000 units a day as recommended by Professor Ebers who studied VitD3 and MS for years (he has now retired).

I have postponed my Covid vaccine as I am as anxious about getting it as I am about getting Covid. I am aware of the serious implications of Covid disease, however I have spoken to and have read about a fair amount of people with MS who have had the vaccine and have had really bad side effects - flaring old symptoms and the start of new ones which have all lasted months. Due to the fact that I have been well for so long, the last thing I want to do is trigger any symptoms from the vaccine but I am also aware that if I get Covid it can also trigger symptoms and cause death.

I am due to get my vaccine on the 12th July and I am thinking of postponing it again until there is more data on the effects of the vaccine on people with MS or until they find more drugs that can stop Covid in its tracks and stop long Covid or death. At the moment all the main health organisations around the world say that you can get the vaccine but there is no data available on the safety of it in relation to autoimmune disease.

I was hoping that I could find out if people have had the vaccine, what one they had and what were the side effects. If I go ahead I am scheduled to get the Psyzer one as that seems to have less side effects than Astrazeneka although I do feel that we are guinea pigs as far as MRNA vaccines go but I do understand the urgency of getting vaccines out there. I am certainly not an anti vaxxer but the last time I had a vaccine was when I was 15. I have never had a flu vaccine and have never had the flu thankfully.

Many thanks for reading this

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Thanks so much for replying

Had my first AZ in March and my second about 10 weeks later. Only symptom was mild covid symptoms for 24 hrs after the 1st and nothing after the 2nd.

I had my first AZ vaccination about a month ago and didn’t get so much as a sore arm. Not much use as a guide though and you are better off checking the Yellow Card reports, to put your mind at rest.
Coronavirus vaccine - weekly summary of Yellow Card reporting - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

everyone has different issues with vaccines. I know tons with MS who had no issues, and i know quite a few without MS who had issues. My cleaners daughter who is 32 had her pfizer the other day and has been in bed lol and she is as fit as a horse.

Sometimes the more you worry about it as soon as you have had it you get all kinds of things which might not even be real.

to put it into perspective. The idea of the vaccine is to introduce your soldiers to a new virus so if and when you are invaded by this virus your auto immune system will recognise it and deal with it.

so it STIRS up your auto immune system which can give you a low grade fever, which can then make you feel poopy temporarily.

Do you have the flu vaccine?

The point is for me and was for me, I would rather have a few reactions and know my body is prepared for a fight then leave it to chance and get SARS.

I have friends who got SARS2 (covid) and were very very ill.

Non have MS.

When i swallowed my fear (as yes i was scared about having it) the only reaction i had was a sore arm for a few days, the second one nothing.

so well its up to you. we cant make up your mind and i find the more things you read the more scared you get. if you put it into perspective millions have been vaccinated and are all fine. x

Thanks for taking the time to reply

Thanks for your response. I check the Yellow Card every week.

Hi, thanks so much for your reply. No I have never had the flu vaccine. I think I am a bit worried because I am not on any type of drug therapy and therefore I have nothing dampening down my immune system, so I am concerned that it will go into overdrive if I get the vaccine, but I am obviously aware that the consequences of Covid could the same thing and worse.

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Neither am I, and was fine honestly. I wont say i wasnt scared it would be a iie as i dont have flu jab as i had flu once in my life and boy was i ill, but decided its better to let my autoimmune work after it had a dose lol.

the new virus for me was different, as my body had never met it before, so i weighed up the pro and cons, and decided after doing a course on SARS2 covid19 for six weeks i would have the vaccine.

the trouble is with this virus it has hidden depths, like silent apoxia, and cytokine storm, and long and devistating Covid symptoms.

After Peter Piot got the virus (he wrote most of the course i was on) i decided to have the vaccine. https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/05/finally-virus-got-me-scientist-who-fought-ebola-and-hiv-reflects-facing-death-covid-19

For me that was why i had the vaccine. I must say it was ok yes a little sore arm, and for a few days my MS kicked my but, but believe me the heat and humidity right now is doing far worse to me, then the vac did.

with the spread of it now being so virulent I would have it and just work through any side affects.

would rather dealing with side affects then being hit by some of the aftermaths of this virus. I never read the yellow cards on anything, as its every worse case scenario going i would never take a tablet again lol.

xxxxx

Thanks for posting this concern, as it is one I’m grappling with at the moment on when to have the 2nd dose.

I had my first dose of the vaccine and then 6 weeks later I have my first symptoms that ended up with me very quickly getting a heap of tests/scans etc and being diagnosed (I know I’m lucky to get the answer so quickly - funny use of the word lucky I know).

Anyhow my symptoms are getting better, so I’m now trying to work out if it’s ok to get the jab in 10 days time (which will be 12 weeks since the first) or postpone it…so more reading and thinking and your post really helped with that thinking

Take care

mine was a bit late due to an error by the clinic, but i was fine on the second one. no achy arm either. x

Hey, I haven’t had a diagnosis as of yet but have all almost all symptoms of MS and had both my vaccines (Oxford) and was floored with my first after around 12 hrs for a further 12hrs after that and it was the same with the 2nd but for less time but I am asthmatic. My dad also has non hodgekins lymphoma and no immune system and he was fine with both of his also which leads me to believe it is generally safe for the majority of people. I’ve not had really any significant flare-ups since.

Hope you are still keeping well

Hi there, I always have the Flu vaccine and have been well protected from it. Also had both Covid jabs AstraZeneca which have caused no problems apart from the initial symptoms where it settles into the system.

Im the same as you. 4 days after pfizer I had a numb face. 2 weeks later I was diagnosed with MS. How did you go with your second vaccine?

Hi, my second dose of vaccine was fine, I was a little achy and tired the following day, but after that returned to normal. Now waiting till December to get my booster before possibly starting a DMT. Hope all goes well.

That’s awesome nothing followed your second. My neurologist very much wants me to get a third pfizer followed by the booster because I started orcervus. Although he thinks ocrevus doesnt actually supress the immune system too badly in its effort to quash the dreaded covid! It feels like such a roll of the dice with the vaccine. My left hand has still not revovered from the start of August after the first vaccine. My leg has though. So I live in hope!