Mostly Apolitical Thread for Discussing/Venting our Rational/Irrational COVID-19 Fears and Experiences in 2020

My wife got her second Moderna on Monday afternoon, and was generally fine until the next afternoon, when she got really achy and tired. A nap aside, though, it was manageable with acetaminophen, and she was pretty much all better by this morning. Super psyched to hang out in small mask-free gatherings outside.

My email from CVS said to drink 16 oz of water an hour before which I did. And I drank a lot of water after. I did get a Pfizer shot though.

Anything I felt was so mild it was hard to determine if it was a side effect or just how I usually feel much of the time.

Don't take Tylenol before the jab. Indulge freely afterwards.

2nd Pfizer dose next week. Was very impressed with the efficiency and friendliness of med staff, coordinators, and recipients at the Microsoft campus getting shot 1. Working to keep that happy relief dominant over the fearmongering re: variant spreads, WA resurgence, and effectiveness. One nice thing living here is that developing this protocol will help speed future inoculations. I'd expect this to roll into the regularly scheduled flu vaccinations at work.

Chris Christie:

I mean, I was the sickest of everybody

Debatable

I'm about 24 hours post Pfizer dose 2 and so far so good. Felt a little "weird" this morning when I woke up but that could have just been pre-coffee reverie.

My Pfizer dose 2 side effects mostly felt like a hangover, tbh. Tired, achy, bad headache. Took a few days to feel back to 100%, but the worst was pretty manageable.

felt a little fatigue about 24 hours after pfizer dose 2 for me, but other than that, nothing

there's no dodging the side effects if you get them as far as i can tell. but i haven't met ANYONE who has had them last beyond a few days.

this is a thing:
https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/the-mark-of-the-beast-victorian-britains-anti-vaxxer-movement

http://the-public-domain-review.imgix.net/essays/the-mark-of-the-beast-victorian-britains-anti-vaxxer-movement/the-cow-pock.jpg

sounds like christie was using the same trick he used here to pull aged bigots a tiny tiny bit toward the center on a specific issue while agreeing with their basic worldview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdYMx7sycW4

reminds me of this moment:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvCtA-8nf2k

a reminder: as of April 28, everyone in america over the age of 16 is eligible for a vaccine and many states and cities (nyc for one) allow walk-ups for anyone.

If I had seen that sentence posted in February, I would've cried. there has been some improvement in the US!

On the other hand, meet Tennessee
https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/27/us/tennessee-governor-bill-lee-covid-no-longer-emergency/
https://www.tennessean.com/story/entertainment/2021/04/24/concerts-coming-back-and-nashville-leading-charge/7318105002/

first astrazeneca has ended me although presumably not as much as covid itself would have

hope you buck up soon lj

ty!

drink some booze to thin yr blud & avoid claats

is that a thing

it's a wonder that the Australian government withdrew AZ really

Only side-effect I had was endlessly playing slap bass for a week. Then again I did get the Pfleazer shot.

I hate how much I laughed at that

I'm here all week! Year, really.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/chicken-rentals-spike-during-pandemic

Made me think of this sketch (the end), xp:
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1srp0

it's a movement
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-28/chickens-millennials-weisenthal-odd-lots

Incidentally, Odd Lots = great podcast

Yeah, that second Moderna shot knocked me on my ass. I was fine all day yesterday, popped a couple of Tylenol before I went to bed - just in case. Woke up a little after 1 with waves of nausea and a wicked headache. I don't know that I ever had chills or a fever, but I tossed and turned all night and couldn't shake the headache or the nausea. Finally fell asleep for a decent chunk of time around 7:30 this morning, very glad I took today off. Was mostly better as today went on, but then a second wave of nausea hit me earlier this afternoon. It's mostly subsided now, but it came on quick. I've definitely felt worse and been for more sick, but I was surprised by how quickly it all came on.

eh, have a Jäger shot.

this mfer is NEVER happy about his vaccine access!

;)

the speed it comes on with is wild, i agree. you'll be okay by Monday, i promise.

what I really think ISN'T helpful is vaccinated people constantly telling others "remember, you can still catch and spread the virus!", as if there is no reduced risk at all of doing so by being vaccinated. one of my friends has been doing this for two months, and it's completely understandable why he wants his friends to wear a mask, but him constantly misappropriating what we actually do know (that it seems to reduce transmission, even if it doesn't 100% eliminate it, which practically no vaccine does) isn't helping.

to be clear, I don't care about masking, and I will always do what my host wants me to do. if my host is vaccinated, we're outside, and wants me to mask, I will (I probably will already out of habit). if a business wants me to (and most of ours still do), I will as well. it's probably not a habit I'm breaking any time soon as people don't know I'm vaccinated.

but y'know, constantly saying that nonsense doesn't prevent transmission isn't going to help some of the more gullible, on the fence folk see the value in getting a vaccine.

(Not to mention it infuriates me how people can't see the difference between the statements "It's possible that you might be able to transmit the disease after being vaccinated, we're evaluating" and "You can definitely spread it, this is established bedrock!"

(also, it probably matters what vaccine you got, too)

otm

how do you convince someone who has a legit fear of needles? other than telling them "you can barely feel it" , which doesn't work

"You will barely feel this needle that will keep you from dying hooked up to a ventilator.

lol Alfred

I think they just have to bite the bullet (as it were). I was talking to someone the other day whose older daughter faints after shots. Like, a few minutes after shots. So they have to be prepared for her to pass out on the way to the car, or in the car, or in the office, just when everyone has let their guard down.

needle fear is unknowably weird to me and among the most frustrating of phobias in that you are not going to be able to avoid hypodermics if you live in the western world. you gotta teach your children early they're not dangerous. when i was a kid my mom would use my arm on rare occasions to practice for her RN training.

I have a bit of that (mostly like an involuntary shock reaction to injury) and got my shot a few days ago no problems, but in the lead up, really, really did not appreciate the constant news coverage showing needles literally going into arms. Like that is not helpful!!

My needle phobia is 100% irrational and deeply ingrained but it has thankfully never prevented me from getting shots as needed.

Four days in, roughy start but feeling good except my arm still feels like it took a punch.

COVID arm is a thing! My partner's shot swole up to the size of a deck of cards and she had a bad general allergic reaction. It passed entirely in about a week and a half but it's understandably scary in the moment. Benadryl helps.

i know i keep repeating my experiences here (and elsewhere on board) but i hope it's helpful for anyone just checking in to be reassured of the realities of this stuff rather than fall prey to dumbass misinformation

Yeah my arm is still pretty puffy around the injection site, though thankfully no redness or a rash.

it was like i grew a muscle from my first shot lol

I know "just don't think about needles" is easier said than done. But every time I get a shot or get blood drawn, I just look off into the distance in the opposite direction, and focus on something else for a while. I barely notice shots.

But if I were to stare at the needle and watch it happening and ask for a countdown and tense up and stress over it, I probably would be pretty anxious.

it's ok to go up and say "I need you to do all your cleverest kid tricks with me even though I am an adult"

one of my besties literally faints after every shot. when his wife got the epidural shot he practically went into a coma.

i'ma keep strong-arming him tho