I had never had a reaction to a shot before, but after I got my Moderna COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday, I felt like I had gone several rounds with a heavyweight boxer. My wife, Deb, on the other hand, didn’t have any reaction to the shot she got at the same time. From what we’ve been hearing, some people have a reaction to the first shot and others have a reaction to the second shot.
Before I got my shot, I did a little research and read that you should not take over-the-counter pain medications or antihistamines before getting the vaccine. That seemed logical. The question of taking meds after the shot wasn’t as clear. Then I found this from Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia: “Let your immune system do its job. The second dose was pretty rough. I had fatigue and fever, but I handled it by whining.”
That’s basically what I did: I didn’t take anything for 24 hours before or 24 hours after my shot. And I did my best to keep my whining to a minimum.
My biggest test was an hour-long interview I had on the popular MindDogTV show last night. Could I keep my energy up for an hour, when I just wanted to curl up and go to sleep? As things turned out, that interview was the best thing for me. One hour of being hyped up for a national interview seemed to push the whole reaction thing out of my body. Sure, I was ready to crash when it was over, but the horrible headache and body aches disappeared.
Now this morning, I feel great. And no matter how terrible I felt for the 30 or so hours after the shot, it was well worth it!
Oh, and if you’d like to see a replay of my MindDogTV interview, here’s the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9CyA-aU_o8