Two Shots Done

I was grateful to be able to get my second dose of Pfizer the week before last. It was a blessing that adult services in my county has a mobile unit for housebound or homeless adults. They were amazing. If you are concerned about post-viral reactions, discuss those with your doctor. I did, and knew that the benefit to myself and my community from the vaccine far outweighed the side effects possible.

Admittedly the side effects were harder the second vaccine dose. They started a bit later, and really seemed to up tick my POTS symptoms. My gut was more effected the second time also.

For some of us with POTS alphabet soup, we’ve shared that there’s been an anxiety component to the post-vaccine, and I would definitely say the symptoms tripped my panic button. Small pun intended. And I think this is where we get to work with our medical PTSD. Each time a wave would hit, the back log of “what if”, “oh, no” and my favorite “I can’t handle it” would come up front and center. It was a full time job (not only for me, but my family) to remind myself that this was all a NORMAL inflammation response to my body working out anti-bodies to the virus. And it didn’t mean I was “sick”. It didn’t mean that I was going to fall down a POTS hole and not rebound. Cause we’ve had those experiences. When we pick up a bug, or stressor and then go down for the count with a bad POTS reaction. I think the finger print of the vaccine reaction can remind us of all those bad “spells”. Moreover the chemical dumps can come with quite a bit of baggage. I distinctly remember being really really angry. And I had to again remember, not to take even my own stories too seriously. Not during a flare.
It took probably 10 days before I had what I consider a “normal” day for me. I’m still more hyper-vigilant than I’d care to be, but I think that’s also typical after a bad spell.

An odd side bar to the side effects not so shaggy dog story, is that our little Schnauzer did not come sit with me for two days after my second Pfizer shot. It was quite the unprecedented reaction. She’s always with my husband and I, usually snuggled between the two of us. But even if the redneck placed her on me, she would crouch down and slowly crawl away to be on his lap. Noticeably concerned. Obviously I didn’t have Covid, but we were quite certain she could “smell” the vaccine hard at work. After a few days, even though my symptoms (side effects) were still peaked, she suddenly shifted her behavior and came up onto me and kept trying to lick my ear. Then curled up on my chest, more relaxed and content to sit out the rest of the journey by my side. Bless these creatures we call pets, their wisdom is far beyond what we credit.

Moral of the story, get the vaccine if you can and help fight the fear mongering and false hoods with science based data and whatever honest N=1 evaluations you can share that help folks feel more confident moving forward.