How I Felt After My First COVID Vaccine
I received my vaccine on a Wednesday, and by the evening, I was already feeling sick. I had a headache, fever, and hot and cold sweats. Overall, I felt weak, tired, and generally miserable. I was thinking: after a good night's sleep, I will be fine.
I slept great! I woke up on Thursday morning with a pounding headache and I was freezing. I had a fever. I took some paracetamol along with my meds. This brought my fever down. But overall, I felt horrible. My headache was so intense that it was making me dizzy, I felt nauseous. I spent the whole day in bed, resting. I didn’t eat much during the day because of nausea. I felt like I had no appetite.
I can't imagine what I would have felt like if I had COVID
I had never felt like this before. It was like I had the worst flu ever, or COVID. I can't imagine what I would have been like if I was unlucky enough to catch COVID if I felt like this after the vaccine! I was constantly sweating but at the same time shivering from the cold. I couldn’t stand or walk without feeling like I was going to pass out, or vomit, or both all at the same time. Throughout the day I took medication to help with my symptoms. The meds helped bring down my temperature and eased my headache. I went to sleep early and slept for about 15 hours.
I woke up on Friday feeling 100 times worse. My chest felt so tight, and I was wheezing. I have asthma, but it hasn’t affected me in years. I took my inhaler throughout the day and that helped. I also had a very sore throat.
My headache was so intense that I couldn’t lift my head off the pillow. I woke up sweating and freezing again. I couldn’t get out of the bed, I was so dizzy and just felt so horrible. So, I asked my mam to help me. She made me tea and toast and brought me up water.
I forced myself to eat a slice of toast so I could take my medicine. This time the meds didn’t help with my symptoms, so I had to take different medication too. Finally, my headache eased but it never fully went away. I didn’t move from my bed all day (which made my ankylosing spondylitis symptoms worse). I made sure to drink plenty of water. My whole body ached, more than usual. I couldn’t wait to go to sleep so I wouldn’t have to deal with feeling like this.
Finally, I started feeling a little better
I woke up on Saturday, still feeling miserable but, thankfully, not as bad. I still had a headache, which my meds helped. I didn’t have a fever anymore and my chest was ok again. But I was still having hot and cold sweats. My throat was still sore. I was still weak, but I had more energy than the day before. At this point, I was sick of lying in bed. But I knew my body needed rest so throughout the day I went from lying on my bed to lying on the couch and visa-versa. I finally had some sort of appetite back. This was the first time I had felt hungry again, I still didn’t eat much but at least I wanted food again!
On Sunday I woke, and I felt a lot better. I was still tired and had a sore throat, but I was finally starting to feel a bit better!
So overall the symptoms I got from the Moderna vaccine were:
- Hot & cold sweats
- Chills, shivers, fever
- Aches and pains
- Headache
- Tiredness
- Nausea
- Shortness of breath
- Wheezing
- Sore throat
- Weakness
- Sore arm
Even though I felt horrible for a few days, I am so thankful and happy that I got my first COVID vaccine! Everybody is different, and the vaccine will affect everybody differently. I’m hoping that I won’t feel like this after my second vaccine, but again, it's ok if I do because a few days of feeling sick is worth it if it means that I won't get COVID or pass COVID on to somebody else.
Did you feel sick after your COVID vaccine?
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