I am extremely fortunate to have received both doses of the Moderna COVID vaccine. Since it's been a little over a week since my second shot, I wanted to share my experience for people curious about the process or side effects. This is especially true for people concerned about getting the vaccine while being chronically ill. For the record, I am in overall pretty poor health right now and have several chronic health conditions such as anaphylaxis/MCAS, Ehlers-Danlos, dysautonomia, adrenal insufficiency, and spinal cord injury.
Basically, the whole process was simple and efficient once I got over the barriers of finding out if I qualified and how to sign up for an appointment. (I recommend checking your local government's website to find if/when you qualify.) Checking in for both appointments was quick and easy with excellent accessibility, COVID precautions and crowd control. I don't think either time took more than an hour even with needing to wait extra time in the post-shot monitoring area because I have a history of anaphylaxis. Every single person was really nice and helpful.
I had zero side effects from the first shot. Zero. My arm wasn't even sore. I did not need to take any medications, or increase my dose of medications.
I did have some uncomfortable side effects from the second shot, but nothing horrific or dangerous. As recommended, I did not premedicate with tylenol or anti-inflammatories in anticipation of having symptoms. I did increase my basal rate of solu-cortef by 5% starting the morning of my second shot. (My body doesn't make its own cortisol so I get it through a medication pump and have to constantly adjust my dose.)
Initially, I just had arm soreness which wasn't a big deal. But almost exactly two hours after the shot, I quite suddenly developed a headache, got really congested, and felt flu-ish. Over the next couple of hours I developed a low grade fever. I had planned to garden, but didn't feel up to it so relaxed the rest of the day instead. By that evening, my fever was going up and I was getting really uncomfortable, so I took tylenol with dinner and again later that night after the first dose wore off. I upped my solu-cortef basal rates too. With those adjustments, I kept my fever below 100.6. Not too bad!
The next day, I still felt like I had the flu. In terms of severity, I would put it at less than swine flu, slightly less than mono, and about the same as my reaction to the yellow fever live vaccine. Even though I felt pretty bad, I was actually more functional than usual due to the increase in steroids reducing my chronic illness symptoms. I puttered around the house and took it easy and was glad that I had already canceled everything I had to do that day. There may have been some bitter complaining and feeling very sorry for myself too. Maybe.
That night was the worst for me. Even with tylenol, I felt terrible and the headache was really bad. Like lay in bed and can't do anything level of feeling bad. Luckily, I was so exhausted that I fell asleep early.
The next day, I was achy, tired, and had a manageable headache. I didn't need any tylenol and I was able to lower my basal rate of solu-cortef a bit. I still only felt up to lazing around the house. That is until around 6:00 that night when I quite suddenly felt all better. Just like that. The symptoms left as quickly as they came on.
I had a slightly sore/itchy arm and needed a slightly higher solu-cortef dose for a few days after, but otherwise was fine.
Overall, the few days of feeling fluish was a small price to pay for being vaccinated. If I didn't know it before, being able to hug my (also vaccinated) grandpa on his 95th birthday really brought it home for me.
10/10 would recommend. Please get vaccinated as soon as you qualify! And please feel free to reach out with any questions!
**None of this is medical advice. Just my experience.**
