Nowata,
74048
Oklahoma,
United States
My husband and I each received Pfizer vaccines and the second dose hit us a lot harder than the first. Second Day 2 for me: I was very fatigued and took 3 naps, barely getting out of bed all day. My left arm, where I had the injection, was mildly sore and felt heavy. (Day 2 after my first dose, I was slightly more fatigued than normal and had some injection site soreness.)
Second Day 2 for him: he woke up feeling very sick. At one point he had a fever of 102F. I finally convinced him to take Excedrin Tension, containing just Acetaminophen and Caffeine, at which point he began to feel better, with his fever almost completely gone within 2 hours. Before taking Acetaminophen, he also reported extreme fatigue, full-body pain, difficulty breathing, and coughing. (Day 2 after his first dose, he felt pretty good except for very slight injection site soreness.)
We tried to avoid taking anti-inflammatory or fever-relieving medications because we didn't want them to interfere with the vaccine doing its job, but when it gets to be so bad you think you might need to go to the ER, take the OTC med, first.
(Note: my husband and I both have awful Oklahoma allergies that cause us to have runny/congested noses and a mild cough year-round. Sometimes we even get very low-grade fevers along with our allergies. Because of this, many places have turned us away for basic medical care over the past year, assuming that we are COVID-positive, despite multiple tests confirming otherwise.)
Vaccines tend to have side effects, and that kinda sucks a little, but they're also amazing miracles of science and they save more lives than you could even know. Each vaccinated person helps the community they come from as well as our state and our entire country. We help protect seniors and immunocompromised people who can't get vaccinated. Please don't let fear of a reaction prevent you from getting vaccinated for COVID-19. Please don't be picky about which you get; if you get offered the vaccine, take it, regardless of brand. Together we can save lives. Together we can protect the most vulnerable among us AND the front-line workers who have been holding this country together. | Symptoms: Fever, Fatigue, Body Ache, Soreness, Cough
