This week, I got the 3rd Pfizer Covid vaccine – aka the booster shot. It’s been six months since I had the 2nd shot.
My first shot gave me no measurable side effects other than a sore shoulder at the injection site. It felt like someone had knuckle punched me there for about 3 days.
After the 2nd shot, I recall having a slight headache for a day or so plus the 3 day sore shoulder. But I get a lot of headaches, so I wasn’t even certain this was due to the shot.
I had so few side effects, I wondered if my immune system wasn’t responding effectively.
Well, this 3rd shot hit me hard. My shoulder started aching just a few hours later instead of the next day. I got a headache that wouldn’t go away. That night, I definitely had a temperature and feverish, fitful sleep. I had to get up in the middle of the night to take Excedrin and put an ice pack on my shoulder and my forehead. The next day, I woke feeling sluggish, lethargic and loggy headed. I was a bit light headed and dizzy too.
I was able to work out the day after my shot, but I took everything a bit slow with longer rest periods. I started to feel better sometime after lunch so I figured I had about 24 hours of side effects before feeling good.
But then, a few hours later, I started to feel crappy again. Headache, sore shoulder, and out of it. I ate dinner and went to bed.
The next morning I felt fantastic! I slept fine. My temperature seemed normal. Aside from day three of a knuckle punched shoulder, I felt 100%. My shoulder really only was tender if I touched it.
I wish the first night that I had taken Excedrin or Tylenol before I went to bed and that I had iced my shoulder immediately after getting the shot and again when I went to bed. I think this would have resulted in me feeling a bit better the next day.
Otherwise, it seems like 36 hours later, I am back to normal. And hopefully, a little better protected from Covid.