Heart to heart talk
Tuesday August 03rd 2021, 10:02 pm
Filed under: Life

Warning: medical stuff ahead.

Adverse reactions to the covid vaccines are required to be reported. That’s one of the side effects of its having emergency approval, and I’m guessing possibly a contributing factor to why they’re still provisional.

From what the cardiologist said today, mine clearly was. As it should be.

He came with the latest studies on why a booster shot might be needed, telling me that the Pfizer is 95% effective when it’s given, which is phenomenal for a vaccine, but for people who got it back in January, in the face of the variants that have emerged since, it’s now 39% effective. April means I’d be at 65% now, according to the ongoing testing coming out of Israel, which has been serious about studying this disease. (While I thought, that explains Lindsey Graham, who is both older and got his in December.) Note though that the long-vaccinated are still almost universally protected from dying of covid or even serious illness so far.

The good doctor made it clear he wants the FDA to get to work and fully approve the shots now so that it can get on with approving doing those boosters, which for now one cannot get.

He was also clearly feeling me out to see if I would want one, and the answer was, autoimmune flare or no, emphatically yes. And yes it was a pretty serious flare in reaction to the second shot but it petered out fairly quickly. It was nothing like how extremely, life-threateningly sick I was in February 2020.

That was the answer he was clearly hoping for. He wouldn’t have to worry about me, then. (Note that there were two old women in his waiting room who were wearing their required masks under their noses. While waiting to see a doctor for their hearts. It’s a struggle.)

And then.

With all the hard work of moving heavy stuff for the termite guys, I confessed to episodes of sudden shortness of breath and almost passing out a few times and being forced to sit down fast. It resolved so quickly that he would have dismissed it as not being cardiac related.

And yet I do have a history of cardiac involvement. Virtually all lupus patients eventually do. I’m sure I freaked out the termite guys with one, just one cardiac cough while they were working–they had no way to know it was just a reflex.

He looked at the chart: precisely ten years since the last echocardiogram and stress test. Time to do it again, just to be sure.

I said, what if I’m fine and it’s a waste of time because it shows nothing?

He looked at me and didn’t quite laugh out loud and said, Then we’ll be glad!

Well okay then.


6 Comments so far
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Good information, thank you! Glad you’re getting tested for everything. So many have long-term side effects (including my son and my niece). I’m waiting for the booster, as well.

Comment by Pegi F 08.04.21 @ 4:19 am

Go on and waste that time. Best-case scenario is it shows no problems!

I too will take a booster as soon as I’m offered one. Whatever it takes. Sign me up.

Comment by ccr in MA 08.04.21 @ 5:30 am

Me too!

Comment by Jayleen Hatmaker 08.04.21 @ 6:53 am

I’m hoping for a booster, as well, especially since I received the J&J vaccine. (I wasn’t given an option, unfortunately, but I was grateful to get whatever was available at the time.)

Comment by Nancy G 08.04.21 @ 9:17 pm

I will be in line and grateful for a booster also. However I struggle a bit with knowing that I could potentially get a booster before millions get their first dose.

It is a hard reality of the world that makes me heartsick.

Comment by Chris+S+in+Canada 08.05.21 @ 7:03 am

Just a quick FYI re: vaccine side effects – they should be reported for ALL vaccines, whether or not approved by the FDA. This is how we continue to learn more, and offer support to those who do have the (rare) serious side effects. VAERS (Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System)has been in place for a long-time for just this purpose and can be accessed by anyone to make a report (I entered my own data after my 2nd Shingrex dose led to high fever and illness for 24 hours).

Its a great system for catching those rare adverse events that may not show up in clinical trials.

Agree with other Chris in Canada that we need to get doses out to the rest of the world!

Comment by wildknits 08.07.21 @ 6:47 am



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