Hi Cathy, I was part of this community back in 2009 and like you, I suffered with neurological issues that have taken years to go away. I am also petrified of the vaccine and petrified of Covid. This is a very hard decision to make and Iam trying to do as much research as I can.
My son is 47 and was in perfect health before Covid vaccines in MArch. Body builder,healthy all the way around, yoga,runner. Now, he is in month 6 of debilitating tremors and electrical sensations, dizzy, you name it. We’re frightened and pray this will end. I will not be getting any more vaccines of any kind,ever.I have never seen a healthy person become so debilitated so fast. He has had to move back home and is barely about to work, from home. Neruo,cardio, PCP all stumped. All tests WNL.
Hi cathy54321 I did get the 2nd Moderna vaccine 2 weeks ago. Yup, I've got the tingling. Just not as bad as 2009 with H1N1. In 2009, I also had many many other side effects that kept me in bed for months and had difficulty walking, etc. Stay tuned....
Hello, I am sorry to hear about your bad reaction to the H1N1 vaccine. That was the flu vaccine of course.
I know some people have had bad reactions to the Covid vaccines and some have had no reaction. There have been occasional extremely rare, life-threatening reactions which have caused blood clotting.
I have had two doses of the AstraZenica vaccine now. I have had no side-effects except for a slight - and I mean slight - tenderness at the injection site. I was actually amazed at how unaffected I was and it made me wonder if they had really given me the vaccine. However, I do trust the NHS so I'm pretty sure they did.
A family member has had one dose of the Pfizer vaccine and is fine so far, no side-effects.
Many of us have had multiple childhood vaccines and are still here without any obvious, long-term effects - e.g. TB, smallpox, Tetanus, Typhoid, Rubella, Diptheria, Whooping Cough, Measles, Mumps, Meningitis. Have you had any of those and do you know if you had bad reactions to them? It seems odd just having a reaction to the flu vaccine though I am not denying it happened.
It is difficult as people seem to be affected differently. There seems to be no 'one rule for all' as far as side-effects are concerned. One thing I can say with absolute conviction is that Covid itself is very serious, very real, and very dangerous. I have lost my father and a sibling to Covid and I would never want anyone else's family to go through this. I suspect that while vaccines are a bit of a lottery (though millions have had them safely now) Covid itself is very serious and a death sentence for many.
It's just not a good idea to wait around if you can possibly help it. I say this while appreciating that if you've had a bad reaction in the past, this would not be an easy decision for you.
My primary and neuro dr. both advised me to (months ago) to 'wait and see' what reactions are for others before I jump into it. GBS and other neuro conditions such as CIDP are extremely dangerous causing paralysis and death. In 1976, the swine flu vaccine killed and maimed more people than the actual virus did (my neuroro in Washington, DC advised me of this back in 2010 during the worst of my 2 years of suffering)
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/long-shadow-1976-swine-flu-vaccine-fiasco-180961994/
For more education on the severity of GBS, 60 minutes did a piece in 1976 after those horrific deaths and paralysis cases. It can be found on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bOHYZhL0WQ
I most definitely want to take the vaccine (either Moderna or Pfizer) as I'm terrified of COVID but there have been a great deal more GBS-type side effects reported on the VAERS website than in with J&J so that is my concern. But yet the "warning" was put out about only J&J.
Please, if anyone else has had GBS, CIDP or similar, did you take the COVID vaccine and if so, how are you now?
Looking for any help.
Thank you all.
Hey everyone -
I have deleted several posts. Cathy asked about neuro side effects. Please stay on that topic.
Thanks.
Yes, I had Guillain Barre in 1999 and was hospitalized for one month and full recovery took one year. My symptoms began about 3 weeks after receiving the flue vaccine. I had a full recovery without any residual problems. I asked my primary care doctor if I should receive the COVID-19 vaccine plus I read online. The recommendations were to take the vaccine. I had the Moderna vaccine in Feb/Mar without any problems. Just a few days ago I read that the J&J vaccine has reported a number of people having GB symptoms after receiving the vaccine.
In 2013 I got the flu and shingles vaccination developed Guienne Barre. I have not completely recoved. Very reluctant to get another vaccination, I looked at the risk reward ratio and got the Medurna vaccinations. I did fine with no side effects.
HI Cathy, I too had extreme neurological issues following the H1N1 vaccine back in January 2010. I didn't recover for nearly 2 years. It was the worst time of my life and thought I was dying or had ALS since no doctors could figure out what was wrong with me. I was never officially diagnosed with GBS because they were stuck on the fact that I still had reflexes. Finally one of the many neurologists I saw did say that my issues were most likely due to the vaccine. From all of my research, my symptoms seemed more to be CIDP (Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy)
So, I am terrified of taking the COVID vaccine. When all of this started I hoped that the mRNA vaccines would be different and I would be able to take it but I have read many reactions on the VAERS website even from some that took Pfizer and Moderna and had GBS symptoms. I also have searched Twitter and there too, I've found people who got GBS following the mRNA vaccines, so I don't know what to do.
Can you let me know what you decided on? And if you did take one, did it effect you neurologically?
Did you get your adverse reaction to the H1N1 diagnosed as anything, like Guillain-Barre Syndrome?
The H1N1 vaccine is a totally different type of vaccine than the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which are mRNA vaccines, the first of their kind. The CDC says that those who've had GBS in the past, if that's what you had, can get the vaccine, but still, you should talk to your doctor about the risks for you, personally.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/recommendations/underlying-conditions.html#:~:text=Guillain%2DBarre%20syndrome%20(GBS),COVID%2D19%20vaccine%20clinical%20trials.
Here's the main point, as Pax says. " Covid is a monstrous disease for too many people, and any bad reactions to a vaccine will go away."
Covid can hit some people lightly, or even with no symptoms. It also has killed four million people and made 185 million sick according to the latest figures, which are considered a conservative count. Many who have gotten it have had lifelong heart, brain or lung problems. Some have needed lung transplants. Some have walked away. And yes, treatment is getting better all the time as medical knowledge about the disease is getting better.
Nobody has any way to know if they will be in the lightly-affected group or the seriously damaged/ dead group. What you do know, is that if you get vaccinated, you won't wind up in the seriously damaged/ dead group. And hey, that eases the worry in the back of one's mind every time you go to the grocery store.
Disliking a vaccine reaction to a different vaccine that you had once in the past, and please understand I believe you when you said it was the worst experience ever -- still, is that enough of a reason to take the gamble that you will be one of the lucky ones who only gets a light case if she gets Covid? The Delta variant is coming and doesn't sound friendly.
I've never personally had a bad reaction to any vaccine, including the one I took for covid, but every vaccine is different. A lot of the bad reactions aren't necessarily to the vaccine but to additives in the vaccine or something the vaccine was made of, such as ones that are made, say, from chicken eggs for people who have a problem with that. So if you take, for example, one of the RNA vaccines (BioNTech and Moderna), nobody's ever taken these before so no way to know how you'll react. It won't be the same at all as the past vaccine you had a problem with. I'm guessing you've had a lot of different vaccines in your life, and apparently only had a problem with the one, which just goes to show, there's just no way to know. What you do know is that covid is a monstrous disease for too many people and that any bad reactions to a vaccine will go away. There have been some bad reactions to covid vaccines, but very few, but again, whatever anyone else has gone through just won't apply to you. My wife and I both got the Moderna. I got a sore arm and nothing else. My wife with both shots was so wiped out she spent a whole day sleeping after each one. And yet she's ecstatic she got it as she was able to visit her Dad and is back going out to dinner with her friends. Peace.