In LA County, if a site is drive through only, is is noted in its description. Really big sites, like Dodger Stadium are drive through only, but others are walk-up.
In Dallas, when you check in, they write some codes on your windshield in oil crayon, and after the shot, they write the time you are “clear”. Then you sit in a line with your cohort. But yeah, no parking. It was actually amazing.
Turned out it was set up for drive-through, so it’s good I went ahead and took the car. I wouldn’t have been able to do it on foot-- bike, maybe, but it’s just as well.
I was vaccinated in Gasoline Alley, if anyone is curious, not on the track.
So I have been vaccinated for about 90 minutes.
Pain: the shot I barely felt. It was pretty much like a flu shot. Arm is not in the least bit sore. I actually kinda roughly massaged the spot to check, and nothing.
Dizziness, vertigo, etc.: totally negative. I did check my blood sugar before I left, and ate some cheese and fruit, which got it up to 108. Sometimes stress makes it drop, and just in case the shot did something weird, I had a power bar and a glucometer in the car, but I had no low blood sugar symptoms.
Fatigue: none, but it may still be early for that.
Headache: none, and I am very prone to headaches.
Fever: none, but again, may be too early. (FTR, temp was 97°F before I left; now it is 96.9°F.)
Rash, hives, swelling, other allergy: none. The vaccine people made me wait 15 minutes before exiting, and I had nothing happen. Nothing appeared to happen to any of the 18 or so people around me.
I came straight home, and have nothing to do for the rest of the day. DH and the boychik are both here. DH is cooking. I have permission to go to bed whenever I want.
DH is also in the 50-55 category, but he is a healthcare worker, so he got his shot a while ago-- actually, his first one. He’s due for the second. I made sure he had the rest of the day off after his shot, and will do it again after the next one. I don’t remember which he got, just that is was a two-parter, not J&J.
I took an array of “just in case” meds with me, but I didn’t need any of them.
The J&J vaccine.
On reflection, drive through is the way to go. You’re in a controlled environment the whole time, your exposure to other individuals is at an absolute minimum, and you can snack and listen to tunes while in line.
Theoretically, yeah, but Indiana is the crap car capital of the US. Cars breaking down in line is a real possibility. Part of the time, I was behind a car with Visqueen for a rear window, and part of the time, another one with brown tailpipe smoke.
To be fair, I was driving a manual with not the best parking brake in the world, and so I put it in gear and shut off the engine.
I will say, it was fast. I never idled in line, except for about two minutes when I was next, and that was mainly because the car in front of me had 4 people in it, and one had to get out to get a left shoulder shot.
An update on this, from my friend – “as of this morning” was yesterday (Saturday) morning, and he got the vaccine on Friday morning. Today (Sunday), he reported that he was tired all day yesterday, and took several naps. But, he woke up this morning feeling normal, with no more noticeable side effects or reactions.
I still have nothing. Zip. I’m 3 1/2 hrs in. Not even arm soreness.
But then, I have never reacted to a vaccine before, other than soreness (that went away completely with 500mg Tylenol) with the adult DPT. And the runs with oral typhoid. Oral typhoid is one capsule every other day, at the same time of day, four capsules total, and you keep them refrigerated. I have (mild) IBS, though, so that may not be a common reaction.
That’s good to hear! By that point, my friend was definitely getting hit hard by the reaction.
Beware of karma. Your quote was almost exactly my post the evening after my first injection. Took about 24 hours for my immune system to kick in (and isn’t that what we want,? A vigorous response from the immune system?)
It’s not karma-- it’s trolling fate.
FWIW, I’m getting a little tired, and thinking of going to bed. It’s just a few minutes after 7pm. But I have been up since about 3am, and only slept maybe 5 hours last night. I was actually kinda hoping for a good night’s sleep tonight.
I’ve been awake for a couple of hours, and finally decided to capitulate, take some medicine, and get some more sleep, even though I can sleep tomorrow.
Before I do, I thought I’d do a report on symptoms.
The insomnia is just me being the poster child for insomnia that I am. The fact that I have been awake from 1-3am ET means nothing. However, as I’ve been awake, I’ve noticed some bodyaches, or stiff muscles. Nothing bad, and it doesn’t feel like the kind of stiff muscles you get when sick-- feels more like I helped someone move yesterday.
Blood sugar was low when I got up (which may be why I got up). It’s normal now.
Still no fever or headache. Taking some tramadol with the sleep meds, and maybe some Tylenol as well.
Additionally, woke up very thirsty. Drank about 24 ozs water, and 8 of milk. Wasn’t expecting that. Haven’t made duck soup, but I have a good recipe. I won’t eat it, but the duck is already dead before I ever get there.
Hope I don’t get dinged for three posts in a row, but I’m back to document symptoms again. Been up for 45 minutes (4:45). Body aches are gone. Don’t know if they just are, or if medication is responsible, but I feel fine.
No fatigue. Slept 7 hours total-- pretty good for me.
Slight headache, already gone from taking sumatriptan.
Slight soreness to arm with deep pressure. Nothing big.
The one thing that did happen was that I woke up very thirsty again-- also had to pee really bad, and after I did, drank 16 ozs water, and 10 ozs juice made in my juicer, mostly from bruised, overripe or slightly dried out fruits and vegetables. Just out of curiosity, strained it, and it has a LOT of fiber. Put the fiber back in. I realize not as much as eating the actual foods, but I didn’t feel like eating anything, and I like not throwing stuff out because I overbought, or the bag of oranges had one with a rotten spot.
I have been Googling, and thirst does not seem to be a reported side effect of the J&J vaccine. I don’t think I was sweating in my sleep. I may have made a couple more trips to the bathroom than is typical for me yesterday afternoon and evening, but I can’t believe it made me this thirsty.
I also doubt that, even with my hypoglycemia, the shot caused sudden onset diabetes, mainly because my blood sugar has been pretty good. It was 84 this morning. That’s a little bit high for me, but not “untreated diabetic” high. That would be in excess of 200, and could be as high as 800.
I will test it again about 30 minutes after I finish the juice, however.
I saw this and I thought of you…
I was doing some rummaging on the MHRA (UK regulator) website and I came across the cumulative listings of adverse events. I have no data for J&J yet, but for AZ (also an adenovirus vaccine) there have been 319 reports of thirst as an adverse event (for, I dunno, 12 or 15 million doses).
No causal relationship should be inferred, of course, but I thought you’d like to know.
j
It’s very strange. I wouldn’t infer a relationship either when it’s 319:12,000,000, but I have hardly eaten anything all day-- just been drinking. We’ve got high-protein milk in the house, and some clear protein drinks that are pretty old, but taste fine-- they’re from when I had surgery a couple of years ago. Juice, sports drinks, sugar-free root beer.
Well we knew you were one in a million, we just weren’t sure how 'til now.
My wife got the J&J vaccine Saturday at 8 AM with other teachers in her district. No problem all day, kept active. Around 8 PM she got very tired, had bad chills and a fever of around 100. She slept late, took it easy on Sunday, and is fine now. Some other people who took it the same time had similar reactions. She had a similar reaction to the shingles vaccines.
I need the shingles vaccine, but every time I stop by a pharmacy, and ask about it, either they don’t have it, or it’s a very long wait.
Good to know there’s a reaction-- I never heard that.
ETA: someone else said something similar upthread, but I’m glad I actually had a little bit of a reaction to the vaccine-- so I know it’s working.
I had the same reaction to shingles vaccine, but have not had the COVID vaccine. I have heard the second dose for shingles hits people harder.
I got the first shingles shot at the same time as I got my flu shot for the season, at the recommendation of the pharmacist (which my doctor later told me was crazy). One or the other, or possibly the combination knocked me on my ass for a weekend. Better than shingles or the flu, no doubt, but no fun either.
Didn’t realise 'til I saw the Who’s Vaccinated thread that thirst had replaced hunger. Reports of effects on appetite are more common
Appetite disorder 2
Decreased appetite 1710
Diet refusal 1
Food craving 3
Food refusal 14
Hyperphagia 2
Hypophagia 10
Increased appetite 9
Salt craving 1
j
ETA - same disclaimer about any implication of causality, natch.