COVID-19 Moderna Vaccination…
My Experience

Monday 3/8/21 3:05 PM
Shot 1: Just slightly irritated arm for a short time but then a little over a week later on Monday evening 3/15/21 arm started to hurt, hurt to reach up and across body. That lasted through the evening and into the next afternoon. Put ice on in the evening, morning, and afternoon and took 1 ibuprofen and was much better by Tuesday evening 3/16/21, Still a little swollen/hard for a couple of days after that but really not painful.

Monday 4/5/21 2:45 PM
Shot 2: Slightly sore arm about 4 to 6 hours after shot. Went to bed that night and felt OK. Woke up on Tuesday 4/6/21 and felt OK except for a headache. I took an Excedrin at ~9:40 AM. At ~10:45 AM on Tuesday, 20 hours after the vaccine, I began getting chills and a low grade fever 99.5°F and the headache worsened. I also had body aches and my arm/shoulder was much worse so I used an ice pack. I took another Excedrin at 11:00 AM. Chills got better by 12:30 PM (I’m assuming the two Excedrin helped) but started again ~2:30 PM. By 3:30 PM my temperature was up to 100.5°F. Another ice pack on arm/shoulder and head. At 3:40 PM I took another Excedrin. Felt a little better between 5-7 PM but headache started getting worse again and chills came back. I also started getting a bit of nausea. Another ice pack on arm/shoulder and head. Finally at 9 PM I took my temperature and it was 101.1°F. I continued to drink lots of cold iced tea and water and by 10 PM it had fallen to 100.5°F but still had all the symptoms, including the slight nausea. At 11:05 PM I took another Excedrin and went up to bed. I took my temperature at midnight and it was 100.6°F and I still had chills, aches and some nausea. I woke up 4 AM and felt much better. I had several sweating episodes between midnight and 4 AM. My temperature at 4 AM was down to 98.6°F. I went back to sleep and woke up at ~8:45 AM and my temperature was down to 97.6°F, about normal for me in the morning, and I felt even better. No aches, no headache, no nausea, and even the arm/shoulder felt better. Remaining arm discomfort completely gone 4 days after shot.

Summary:
1. Arm/shoulder pain started 4-6 hours after shot and slight headache.
2. Fever, chills, body aches, headache worsened and started abruptly ~20 hours after shot.
3. Nausea started about 26-28 hours after shot and lasted 6-8 hours.
4. Symptoms abated about 16 hours after onset, 36 hours after shot.
5. Felt back to normal except for slight arm/shoulder discomfort ~ 20 hours after onset of symptoms and ~38-42 hours after shot.
6. Used ice pack 3-5 times on arm/shoulder and head.
7. Took 4 total Excedrin and 1 Ibuprofen.

Wednesday 12/22/21 10:05 AM, Moderna Booster (3rd shot)
Arm and shoulder getting sore about 4.5 hours after shot at 2:30 PM. Ice pack applied. Headache and muscle aches 6 hours after shot at 4 PM. Took an Excedrin. Fatigue at 9 PM, 11 hours after shot. Another ice pack applied to upper arm/shoulder. Arm and shoulder really sore when awake at 2 AM, 16 hours after shot. Muscle aches ramped up about 4 AM, 18 hours after shot. Took an ibuprofen at 8:30 AM. Tired and achy only so far with just a little bit of a headache. No chills or fever so far. Really tired in the afternoon. Took another Excedrin for body aches and headache and applied ice pack to arm/shoulder and head at 3:30 PM. Feeling better at bedtime around 10:30 PM. Arm/shoulder still really sore after 48 hours. Remaining arm discomfort completely gone 4-5 days after shot.

Summary:
1. Arm/shoulder pain started 4-5 hours after shot .
2. Body aches, slight headache started ~6 hours after shot.
3. Symptoms abated about 32-36 hours after onset, 38-42 hours after shot.
5. Felt back to normal except for arm/shoulder discomfort ~ 24-30 hours after onset of symptoms and ~38-42 hours after shot.
6. Used ice pack 3-4 times on arm/shoulder and head.
7. Took 2 total Excedrin and 1 Ibuprofen.

COVID MARCH 2023
First sign was runny/ stuffy nose on Tuesday 3/14 then had chills and low fever Tuesday night. Only got about 3 hours sleep because sinuses were dripping into throat causing constant spitting up of mucous and occasional coughing. On Wed 3/15 woke up with a low grade fever slightly under 100. Still having bouts of chills and took ibuprofen. Excessive sweating after ibuprofen brought temp down slightly to the low 90’s. Felt lousy all day with continued sinus issues but no trouble breathing and only a little occasional cough as post nasal drip continued. Later in the day had pain in lower right abdomen (later found out this was due to hernia and not COVID related) I took another ibuprofen. Around 7:30 PM my temperature was up to 102 so it was off to the ER. Went to ER around 8 PM Wed night thinking the pain in the abdomen was the cause of the temperature, which the ER recorded as 101. I’ve had diverticulitis before so I thought it might have been that. The CT scan determined the abdominal pain was from my bladder dropping into the hernia and I was given toradol for pain. They told me that wouldn’t cause the fever so ask if anything else was wrong. I mentioned the sinuses and they ask if I wanted tested for COVID, RSV and the flu so I said yes. Since I had been there for 3.5 hours already they said I could leave after the nasal swab and look at the results the next day on the Portal. Lo and behold the test came back positive for COVID. I called my family doctor in the morning on Thursday 3/16 and they hadn’t received the results from the ER yet. I also sent a message through the Portal with copies of the positive COVID test. They returned my call that afternoon and I ask about Paxlovid. They ask if I was feeling any better and wanted to ride it out. I said no so they said they could certainly phone in a prescription for Paxlovid. My wife picked it up around dinner time and I wasn’t feeling any better that evening so I began the 5 day regimen at 8:30 PM Thursday. Within 18-24 hours I was feeling much better. My sinuses were draining and it was easier to breathe. I still had a bit of post nasal drip and the occasional dry cough. My temperature had dropped to the low to mid 90’s by Friday morning and back to normal by Friday evening. Had a few bouts of excessive sweating as the fever was breaking. The occasional cough last several more days but by Monday 3/20 had all but disappeared. The medicine left a weird taste in my mouth and caused a lot of stomach rumbling but other than that I didn’t notice any other side effects. On Tuesday evening 3/21 I had a bout of sinus clogging which was hard to resolve but by Wednesday morning 3/22 most of it had cleared up.