2nd AZ vaccine - not coping after having it

[mila]

I had my second dose of AZ vaccine on Sunday, after worrying about it for weeks and missing my previous appointment. I tried to talk to my GP about my concerns, knowing how I was after the first and that it will only be worse now because now the period of concern is extended to 28 days. I wanted to have a different vaccine and I know that is not the policy, but there are exemptions and being forced to take one risk while you are not allowed to accept another one seems totally unreasonable and unfair. I felt like there was no one to really talk to who wants to hear you out, and those you try to talk to seem either misinformed or just think that you will believe whatever they tell you even if it makes no sense. That does nothing for someone with anxiety, just makes things 100 times worse. I wanted to have my vaccine at the hospital thinking that was my best shot at finding someone who would care and try to help and the nurse there actually told me there were no cases of clots after second dose and I am worried over nothing. When I said what do you mean, they reported a number of cases (I don't know the latest numbers and also wonder how they do their calculations when there is a delay period), she said 'Show me the data!' 😳 I am not sure if she thought she would make me feel better saying that, but it really did not have that effect. Then she also tried to explain how the clots happen, which also was not correct. I decided to just take the vaccine and try to get through this as best as I can, as there was really no other choice. Now I have to deal with that!

I am on Day 4 and losing my mind. I have been having a headache all day. It feels a little like a tension headache, but now every headache is a reason to panic. I am not sure what to do, I don't want to rush to A&E right away, but I am terrified. The hardest thing is feeling like there is just no support at all or anyone who wants to listen. This year has been so difficult and this is now the culmination for me, I feel like everything is falling apart. People at work have been talking about organizing a meet up in Barcelona! All I could think of is that I cannot plan anything because something bad may happen 😢😰

I was reading all the posts on this forum before and mostly avoided posting myself, mainly because there is a lot of statistics being thrown around in response to any concerns. I am sure most of us are aware of the numbers. The problem is that most of us with health anxiety worry about the worst case scenario, even if the chances are 0.00001%. Especially when you hear of real people this happened to! That did it for me, just ruined every chance of reasoning with data, realizing they probably did not even think this could happen.

[Iwant2bhealthy]

I am sure most of us are aware of the numbers. The problem is that most of us with health anxiety worry about the worst case scenario, even if the chances are 0.00001%.

What can you do about it now?

[Iwant2bhealthy]

A

[Green_tea]

I had my second dose of AZ vaccine on Sunday, after worrying about it for weeks and missing my previous appointment. I tried to talk to my GP about my concerns, knowing how I was after the first and that it will only be worse now because now the period of concern is extended to 28 days. I wanted to have a different vaccine and I know that is not the policy, but there are exemptions and being forced to take one risk while you are not allowed to accept another one seems totally unreasonable and unfair. I felt like there was no one to really talk to who wants to hear you out, and those you try to talk to seem either misinformed or just think that you will believe whatever they tell you even if it makes no sense. That does nothing for someone with anxiety, just makes things 100 times worse. I wanted to have my vaccine at the hospital thinking that was my best shot at finding someone who would care and try to help and the nurse there actually told me there were no cases of clots after second dose and I am worried over nothing. When I said what do you mean, they reported a number of cases (I don't know the latest numbers and also wonder how they do their calculations when there is a delay period), she said 'Show me the data!'  I am not sure if she thought she would make me feel better saying that, but it really did not have that effect. Then she also tried to explain how the clots happen, which also was not correct. I decided to just take the vaccine and try to get through this as best as I can, as there was really no other choice. Now I have to deal with that!

I am on Day 4 and losing my mind. I have been having a headache all day. It feels a little like a tension headache, but now every headache is a reason to panic. I am not sure what to do, I don't want to rush to A&E right away, but I am terrified. The hardest thing is feeling like there is just no support at all or anyone who wants to listen. This year has been so difficult and this is now the culmination for me, I feel like everything is falling apart. People at work have been talking about organizing a meet up in Barcelona! All I could think of is that I cannot plan anything because something bad may happen 

I was reading all the posts on this forum before and mostly avoided posting myself, mainly because there is a lot of statistics being thrown around in response to any concerns. I am sure most of us are aware of the numbers. The problem is that most of us with health anxiety worry about the worst case scenario, even if the chances are 0.00001%. Especially when you hear of real people this happened to! That did it for me, just ruined every chance of reasoning with data, realizing they probably did not even think this could happen.

Hi Mila, I have health anxiety so I understand the worry over things that realistically won’t happen. You will be ok, by getting that second dose you’ve protected yourself really well against catching COVID. You aren’t alone in worrying like this but you will be alright.

[Carys]

I was reading all the posts on this forum before and mostly avoided posting myself, mainly because there is a lot of statistics being thrown around in response to any concerns. I am sure most of us are aware of the numbers. The problem is that most of us with health anxiety worry about the worst case scenario, even if the chances are 0.00001%

Yes indeed, but stats and thinking about probabilities is a very strong way of challenging your thinking about this life event (the second vaccine) as opposed to any other life event. Even if many are aware of the 'numbers' there is often a lack of real application of those statistics and using them to positive effect. The risks associated with this vaccine as opposed to covid itself are weeny, more risky is crossing the road, eating an icecream, falling down the stairs, etc and so forth. Living, and anything involved in that state of being, carries some risk. You have to weigh up which is the least 'risky' scenario for you and go with that. In this case, you have gone with the second vaccine. Yes, you could be that 0.000001, but its far less likely than being that 0.1 that ends up in hospital with covid. Being able to rationalise and see that your concerns are out of proportion with the risk attached are important skills. If you add in other positive reenforcement facts - medics are now highly aware of the rare clotting issue, medics are fully versed in treating the rare clotting issue and your level of awareness is high of something being wrong - and chances of anything 'finishing you off' is reduced to negligible.

Accepting that some level of risk in everything we do daily is something that is important. Taking a paracetamol, cutting the hedge, using cleaning products, the list is endless throughout our lives. We don't however have huge numbers of media articles focusing on cutting hedges though do we, or people who have awful reactions to common painkillers. However, we have about this rare side effect. Those people who had the rare clotting problems probably, you are right, didn't think it would be them - but it was a chance they took, just as you take a chance in crossing the road or driving your car. What I'm saying is that the only way around this is to use your own positive reenforcement and rationalise that your concerns are out of proportion with the likelihood by a country mile.

Do you go to A and E for what you believe is a tension headache (lets be honest, you ARE incredibly tense and thinking about headaches all the time at the moment!) ? No, you don't. If you have any of the following -

• a new, severe headache which is not helped by usual painkillers or is getting worse
• a headache which seems worse when lying down or bending over
• an unusual headache that may be accompanied by:
  
  • blurred vision, nausea and vomiting
  • difficulty with your speech
  • weakness, drowsiness or seizures
  
  
• new, unexplained pinprick bruising or bleeding
• shortness of breath, chest pain, leg swelling or persistent abdominal pain

then yes you do need to seek medical help.

I do think a number of people have tried, in the only ways they know how and are possible, to reassure. Ultimately though, its your choice and everyone has to accept the risks in order to be protected. I think you made the right choice.

[pulisa]

What do you want people to say, Mila? You don't accept data or a nurse's attempts to help you make sense of the blood clot issue. Of course with HA you automatically go to worst case scenario as have so many people on here before you.

If you took yourself to A&E and described your headache would you accept the assessment? What would actually help you now except fast forwarding the next 28 days and emerging safe and well?

[pulisa]

Looking back at some of your past posts I see that you have written "my curse is that I know too much about medicine" in a thread asking whether doctors lie to you..

[mila]

I am not sure what kind of support I could expect outside of this forum when this is the responses I get for posting how I feel on here.

@Pulisa I was hoping for some understanding from fellow health anxiety sufferers who can relate. Maybe someone who had a headache after their vaccine. If you can't understand how I feel, I am not sure it is very helpful for you to reply. It actually makes people who are in a very vulnerable state feel much worse then they already do. It can push people over the edge.

I do accept assessments. They are facts. I work in clinical trials, so I know very well about the side effects of different drugs people are using without thinking twice, I understand statistics very well and know that clots are so much more likely from a variety of different drugs or activities. I can rationalise everything, I just always see the best and worst case scenario, and have difficulty letting go of the worst one. Being in a situation where you are basically told to watch out for a list of symptoms over a period of time puts me in a state of constant anxiety, no matter how unlikely that is. But not taking the vaccine was not an option either. I just need some help getting through this now and I was hoping that this was a safe place to open up, as I felt so hopeless, but I was wrong and the effect was certainly opposite of what I was hoping for.

[Carys]

I am not sure what kind of support I could expect outside of this forum when this is the responses I get for posting how I feel on here.

I just need some help getting through this now and I was hoping that this was a safe place to open up, as I felt so hopeless, but I was wrong and the effect was certainly opposite of what I was hoping for.

Mila, thats unfair. I can only speak for myself, but I did put considerable time into trying to assist you. As you've been a member on here for 16 years, though not a frequent poster in the last few, I thought maybe considering your thought processes about risk might be a helpful way to go on it, to really consider your 'thinking behaviour'. Its not nice that you are feeling this way, of course, and I'm sure there are many who have felt the same, but you can only get through the next 28 days without falling apart by applying some things yourself. Sometimes in life, infact many times, there are no magic answers from somebody else and its your own behaviours that can make the difference. In all honesty, Pulisa is right, what else could really make a difference to you ? Tea and sympathy, quoting things that you can find faults with won't make any difference, as it hasn't, you admit, with the previous people you have spoken to.

[Scass]

It is a safe place to open up, but you mustn’t just expect everyone to reassure you because that just fuels your/our need for further reassurance about our anxieties.

You’ve been given good answers but you’re ignoring the sense and just craving people who feel exactly the same as you do.

Think about what you would say to a friend or colleague if they were having the same thoughts. What would you recommend?

I had a headache on and off for a couple of days - I had my 2nd jab 10 days ago. It doesn’t feel like a different kind of headache than I’ve had before. Does yours? If so, ring 111 don’t just go straight to a&e.


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