'Unusual' Pfizer vaccine response

Second Pfizer vaccine was received Thursday, August 5th. As of Sunday, August 8th, I developed a fever, muscle aches and a general sense of malaise. So far, expected. However, the fever has gone as high a 102F and varies during the day, seemingly activity-related. Today, in my 3rd week, it was 100.9F. Along with this, I have experienced athritic pain in both wrists and left shoulder, increased acid reflux, sour stomach and reduced appetite, chest tightness, a dry cough, 'light' night sweats and now what seems like a sinus infection. This Thursday, will have full bloodwork done and a once-over by my hematologist.    

Comments

  • PBL
    PBL Member Posts: 366 Member
    edited August 2021 #2
    Have you been tested for CoViD-19?

    Sorry you've been feeling so unwell!

    That does seem unusual - and unusually long - for a post-vaccine reaction... Given the current Delta situation, has anyone considered that you might have been infected some time around the date of your second shot?

  • Evarista
    Evarista Member Posts: 336 Member
    Temporal proximity does not equal causation

    In agreement with PBL here: this does seem overly late, overly long, and overly severe for the bulk of reported Pfizer reactions. An unrecognized prior infection (possibly COVID, but possibly something else) was my immediate thought as well. I would be seeking medical attention for this, an urgent care center if my regular clinic could not see me.

    Please do look after yourself, Po.

  • po18guy
    po18guy Member Posts: 1,461 Member
    Mr. Scott could have beamed it down I suppose

    I tested negative for Covid. So that is out. I have not been in public. The reaction is 100% consistent with the vaccination - just more intense and drawn out. The kicker here is the stem cell transplant, and I have a hyper-vigilant immune system, thus the 6+ year immune suppression. Data is being collected by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (among others) as to reactions and responses in transplant patients.

    The only condition I have ever had which produced similar - but not identical - symptoms is Angioimmunoblastic T-Cell Lymphoma. That lymphoma is unique in that it over-stimulates the immune system, causing a mini-cytokine storm and the associated autoimmune effects, exactly like Covid. What I am saying is that introducing a pathogen, natural or engineered, into the human body will generate a response. My report concerns only the degree and duration of that response.

    I suppose that sunspots could have caused this, or accidentally watching a rerun of the Cosby Show. Being a skeptic by nature and training, I suspect that all of this is simply a data point between zero reaction and the numerous severe reactions associated with the vaccine. No need to read any more than that into it.

  • PBL
    PBL Member Posts: 366 Member
    edited August 2021 #5
    Except...

    ... contrary to the more "classic" J&J vaccine which uses an engineered viral vector, mRNA vaccines such as Pfizer and Moderna do not introduce any pathogen into your body - just a bit of mRNA in a lipid droplet. There have been reports of the Polyethylene Glycol which is included in those vaccines triggering autoimmune reactions, but I wouldn't know if your particular set of effects could fit in with those.

    Interesting riddle, though - do let us know what explanation your medical team gives you.

  • po18guy
    po18guy Member Posts: 1,461 Member
    edited August 2021 #6
    PBL said:

    Except...

    ... contrary to the more "classic" J&J vaccine which uses an engineered viral vector, mRNA vaccines such as Pfizer and Moderna do not introduce any pathogen into your body - just a bit of mRNA in a lipid droplet. There have been reports of the Polyethylene Glycol which is included in those vaccines triggering autoimmune reactions, but I wouldn't know if your particular set of effects could fit in with those.

    Interesting riddle, though - do let us know what explanation your medical team gives you.

    None of this means anything and the medical team will be clueless. That's just life.

  • PBL
    PBL Member Posts: 366 Member
    edited August 2021 #7
    Well...

    ... they do have their limits, as we patients often find out.

    Still, if you do get an actual explanation, please share!

  • po18guy
    po18guy Member Posts: 1,461 Member
    Like Capt. McSorley of the Edmund Fitzgerald...

    I am holding my own. CRP is over double the high range. LDH is elevated. Semi-teardrop shaped red cells indicate a marrow problem. Creatinine is high by 50%. Hemoglobin is 9.2 (13.0-18.0) and hematocrit is 28 (38-50). Reds are below low range, as are WBC. I do have enough platelets, which is good as I injure myself regularly and need them. In other words, I amvery near to my goal of below average.

    All the grand dudgeon of the past three weeks is simply my immune system being very angry with me. It's in good company.     

  • Max Former Hodgkins Stage 3
    Max Former Hodgkins Stage 3 Member Posts: 3,803 Member
    edited August 2021 #9
    po18guy said:

    Like Capt. McSorley of the Edmund Fitzgerald...

    I am holding my own. CRP is over double the high range. LDH is elevated. Semi-teardrop shaped red cells indicate a marrow problem. Creatinine is high by 50%. Hemoglobin is 9.2 (13.0-18.0) and hematocrit is 28 (38-50). Reds are below low range, as are WBC. I do have enough platelets, which is good as I injure myself regularly and need them. In other words, I amvery near to my goal of below average.

    All the grand dudgeon of the past three weeks is simply my immune system being very angry with me. It's in good company.     

    Vaccine reaction

    Po, sorry to be so long seeing this new thread, as I have not been to the site for several days.

    My suspicion is that the fever and prolonged reaction to the second Pfizer shot are in fact related, somehow, to the pecularities of your Bizarro-World immune system -- as you have theorized.   I had virtually no detectable reaction to either shot 1 or shot 2 -- nothing.  I was a bit worried going in, given that I have these goose-egg tumors from the PTGC (which is somehow immune-system triggered, just no one knows how or why).   But my wife, who is a bit younger than I, and who has never had any type of serious disease, really took a wack from the second shot of Pfizer:  felt like she had the flu, and hurt significanly for three days.  But, she never ran any fever at all, no cough at all and no congestion.   After the three days of pain, no issues of any form.  

    Armageddon in Afghanastan has involuntarily redirected media frenzy away from COVID, but they are still trying to cast it as the new Black Death.   Once some semblance of realistic assessment of Delta emerges, I may or may not seek the third (booster) shot; I am not opposed in theory to receiving it.   But I am not seeing any signs locally that Delta will have even a fraction of the impact that the original did, not anything close.   My son is currently in Florida for a week, and says that none of his friends know anyone who has been affected, and that there is no Delta anxiety anywhere, that he has observed.   

    These are my personal, impressionistic views, submitted as such.    They are not 'the science,' which changes more often than landfall predictions of most hurricanes.  You know:  the ten opposing models that show intensity and coordinates of where landfall will occur, none of which usually has much or any relationship to what actually happens....   Models submitted by the same people who can tell you exactly what the average temperture in Las Vegas will be in September, 2045.

     

  • po18guy
    po18guy Member Posts: 1,461 Member
    Therefore...

    I am, at this point, not a fan of a 3rd injection. Immune reactions tend to build, and if the progression I expereienced is an indication, I would have to be near the hospital for a 3rd.

  • PBL
    PBL Member Posts: 366 Member
    What does your hematologist say about that?

    ... Having a delayed-onset reaction (and what is more, a long-drawn one) does not make it practical to stay near the hospital. You have seen your hematologist, he must have some sort of recommendation for you...

    In my case (next-day strong flu-like syndrome without fever, day after that covered in hives, this lingered on for a few days even with antihistamines) my PCP told me that a booster shot may be problematic - I will ask my hematologist for his thoughts/recommendations on next follow-up appointment.

  • po18guy
    po18guy Member Posts: 1,461 Member
    Well

    No one on earth knows what would or could happen.

  • ShadyGuy
    ShadyGuy Member Posts: 896 Member
    edited August 2021 #13
    Po, could it be you are in a

    Po, could it be you are in a relapse situation and that the  vaccination was just coincidental? In my last relapse I had similar symptoms including the low grade fever. It took a CT to determine I had relapsed because I had no palpable nodes and only vague non specific symptoms. Good luck.

  • po18guy
    po18guy Member Posts: 1,461 Member
    ShadyGuy said:

    Po, could it be you are in a

    Po, could it be you are in a relapse situation and that the  vaccination was just coincidental? In my last relapse I had similar symptoms including the low grade fever. It took a CT to determine I had relapsed because I had no palpable nodes and only vague non specific symptoms. Good luck.

    Thank you

    Dr. did mention scanning if certain tests or symptoms continued to be out of whack. However, I no longer possess the lymphocytes or myeloid cells which were malignant. It would be a cancer de novo, as they call it. Doctor doubted that scenario. Will be tested for covid later today. 

  • po18guy
    po18guy Member Posts: 1,461 Member
    No Covid as of Monday, but...

    My 525 pound motorcycle fell on my right ankle. (don't ask). Nothing broken but wearing a walking boot it does shift your focus. My immune system has calmed down almost to abnormal. No fever for several days. I am fairly certain that, as John Hiatt sang on his 1983 album Riding with the King... "And the tag...on his toe...read "death by misadventure..."

  • Max Former Hodgkins Stage 3
    Max Former Hodgkins Stage 3 Member Posts: 3,803 Member
    edited September 2021 #16
    po18guy said:

    No Covid as of Monday, but...

    My 525 pound motorcycle fell on my right ankle. (don't ask). Nothing broken but wearing a walking boot it does shift your focus. My immune system has calmed down almost to abnormal. No fever for several days. I am fairly certain that, as John Hiatt sang on his 1983 album Riding with the King... "And the tag...on his toe...read "death by misadventure..."

    525

    Po,

    What do you ride ?  Must be a Harley Hogg.  Actually, in the Navy, we had guys claim that they had bar maids bigger than that step on their feet....think bar scenes from the Pirates of the Carribean series, or perhaps Star Wars.   Submariner clubs are ordinarily eclectic, and diverse -- all the factors that modern society adores.    Careful where you step....

  • ShadyGuy
    ShadyGuy Member Posts: 896 Member

    525

    Po,

    What do you ride ?  Must be a Harley Hogg.  Actually, in the Navy, we had guys claim that they had bar maids bigger than that step on their feet....think bar scenes from the Pirates of the Carribean series, or perhaps Star Wars.   Submariner clubs are ordinarily eclectic, and diverse -- all the factors that modern society adores.    Careful where you step....

    Sounds a little light for a Harley

    Except maybe a sportster.

    • XL 883 Sportster – 489
    • 1200 Sportster – 562
    • Sportster S – ~450
    • Heritage Softail Classic – 699
    • FXDB Dyna Street Bob – 634
    • Sport Glide – 670
    • Fat Bob 114 – 652
    • 2019 Road King – 798
    • FLHX Street Glide – 745
    • FLTR Road Glide – 752
    • 2007 Electra Glide – 738
  • po18guy
    po18guy Member Posts: 1,461 Member
    edited September 2021 #18
    Moto Guzzi V11 Sport.

    Moto Guzzi V11 Sport.

  • ShadyGuy
    ShadyGuy Member Posts: 896 Member
    po18guy said:

    Moto Guzzi V11 Sport.

    Moto Guzzi V11 Sport.

    nice bike

    The police in my home town used the larger Moto Guzzi bikes. My first full size street bike was a Norton Atlas. My first dirt bike was a BSA 441 Victor. I have owned Harleys but just don't like them - very unreliable - not to mention ugly. Those were the days! Gone forever.

  • ShadyGuy
    ShadyGuy Member Posts: 896 Member
    Third COVID jab

    I eagerly sought my first shots and so far no COVID. So (anecdotally at least) it seems to be working. I tested positive once but when the test was repeated it came back negative. The big question is "have I been exposed?". No way to be sure of that short of possibly an antibody test which is mucked up as an indicator if you have had the vaccine. No one knows which antibody levels provide protection for at risk people. There have been several breakthrough cases in my circle of family and friends. I find a third shot of the same vaccine troubling since its effectiveness against some of the new strains, especially version MU, seems very questionable. Israel says their study shows the Pfizer vaccine to be only 42% effective in preventing infection by the original strain. That said it does appear to make the disease much milder in vaccinated individuals, something which definitely saves lives. Fortunately I am retired and can generally avoid people which is the best defense. Several in my extended family have tested positive even though vaccinated but all recovered. They have been good about trying to avoid exposing my wife and I. But that is no way to live on a permanent basis. After all life itself is not permanent so we need our loved ones near us. This situation is bad, really bad and may get worse. Be careful out there!