I Got my Shot

Recently, I received an email from Sobey’s Grocery stores in response to my request to be waitlisted for the vaccine.. They said, I was eligible for the COVID vaccine, for the AstraZeneca vaccine. Finally!!

^{AZ Vacvine}

I went & signed up. It turns out the closest location for the shot was in the city a Gerrard & Vic Park. I’m sure there’s not a lot of you familiar with the geography of Toronto but from my home it is approximately 50 km or just over 30 miles ( just under an hour away) to that specific grocery store for my shot. But I was going to be going into Scarborough (East Toronto) anyways because of Lilly’s surgery. I figured I’d would kill two birds with one stone.

My Shot, Thursday

So my appointment was on Thursday, at 11:30am. It was super quick. By the time my brain registered the sensation of the needle, she was already putting it syringe into the sharps bin.So, even if you don’t like needles, it’s not that bad. I stayed the required 15 minutes. No reaction initially other than some moderate nausea.

^{Waiting n the cubical for the pharmacist to give me my shot}

The nausea stayed with me for the day. I was a little tired afterwards & had a short nap which helped me feel a little better. Even went for walk with my sister in the evening.

My Reactions – That Night

By 2:00am the nausea was worse, so much so that I had an empty bucket beside my bed, just in case.

Shortly after that I noticed I was cold. I was eventually shivering despite pj’s and warm bedding. My temperature at this time was 38 & change in Celcius .

My arm was sore, but most people have that reaction. My fibro was triggered and my pain was climbing everywhere. At worst I’d say 5/10.

By 5:00 this morning my body had switched from shivering to sweating. I was also having a headache kick in. I took some Tylenol with codeine and was finally able to get back to sleep.

My Reactions – Next Day, Friday

I was abruptly woken up by my Mom at 10:30am for a temperature check. It was 36.8, completely normal. After checking Lilly & giving her meds (see her surgical post if you are interested), I went back to bed. Fortunately in the morning, the body wide pain had taken a step back and no more shivering or sweating. I did still have the headache, and the nausea but it was not as bad.

As the day wore on I’d flip from chills to overheating, but no temperature. The nausea kept up and I did rush to the bathroom with dry heaves. The body-wide aches went back up by bedtime.

My Reactions – Day 2 Post Vaccine, Saturday

Still has ongoing flipping between chills & hot flashes. Left arm still sore.. Ongoing body aches all during the day.. Still nauseous, but not actually vomiting..sent alot of my time resting.

My Reactions – Day 3 Vaccine, Sunday.

Chills & hot flashes completely abated by the evening and the nausea aswell. Still had body-wide aches & pains.

My Reactions – Day 4 & 5, Monday & Tuesday.

I think by this point I was completely finished reacting to the actual vaccine, whoever my fibromyalgia decided to react to the vaccine reaction. Oh so fun. So by the time I woke up on Monday I was in a lovely little fibro flare that has lasted several days. Only thing I accomplished was the opening & closing of my Tuesday Night Cub meeting.

So, by this point my actual immunoreaction to the medication in the vaccine was done, but not the end of this saga of my vaccine.. Read here for more on this story.

Epidural? For Fibro?

Actually, no, not for fibromyalgia.. Well it does help some of the fibromyalgia pain, but that is not how it helps the most.

I’ve mentioned in previous posts about the injections that I get. I mostly talk about the trigger point injections & less about the epidurals..

The epidural medication, Triamcinolone, is a corticosteroid which is an anti-inflammatory. It works by activating natural substances in the skin to reduce swelling, redness, and itching. I have osteoarthritis in my lower back from S1 to L1, if I recall correctly & it’s probably progressed since the original diagnosis about 7-8 years ago. Osteoarthriti is the degradation of the spinal cartilage making the bone change resulting in pain, stiffness, and swelling..

The process is done by anesthesiologist. He gives me a local anesthetic, and then a second deeper anesthetic before finally injecting the corticalsteroid into my back through the notch in my coccyx aka the tailbone. He then also does the regular trigger point injections.

A visual representation of where the needle is injected to.

After the injection I am monitored for 30 to 45 minutes before I am permitted to leave to ensure I’m not reacting badly..

The initial results are awesome, always. Later in the day when the local anesthetics were off the area of the injection is sore. Fortunately at that point it’s later in the day and I’m slowing down anyways.

I typically get two to three epidurals per year starting in November or December & ending in March or April. For whatever reason my osteoarthritis tends to be worse during the winter. I usually get them every 7 and 9 weeks. I would say my initial pain level drops to ½-1 /10.. Considering I’m anywhere between a 5 and an 8 when I go in to get these shots, that’s amazing!! The effect does tend to wear off and is pretty much worn off in 7-9 weeks. The shortest time I’ve gone between shots was 5 weeks.

They help me. & For a short while, I almost feel pain-free!