I have to start with, "I'm not a doctor and any mention of medical or science is my opinion"
About 4 weeks ago I received the second COVID-19 vaccination. My memory of events may be a bit hazy, but it seems like the effectiveness of my Parkinson's medications changed shortly after the vaccine.
This is my personal opinion and others will confirm I have been complaining about off times and dose failures for a long time. Can you tell I am emphasizing this is a personal opinion of a lay person, not the results of medical science.
Pfizer 💉💉
First shot -
2:00 PM - First dose of the vaccine had.a brief warm/burning sensation.
7:00 PM - The arm which got the vaccine was very week a few hours after the vaccination.
Day 2 - 9:00 AM - The next day I could barely lift the arm. This only lasted about a day and a half.
Day 2 - 2:00 PM - 24 hours after injection, I felt slightly sick, like a mild flu.
Pfizer 💉💉
2nd shot -
4:00 PM - 2 hours after fell asleep sitting upright for a few hours.
Day 2 - 7 PM - 27 hours after had a throbbing headache followed by aching legs and arms
Day 2 - 10 PM - 30 hours in, fluish. Funny he doesn’t look fluish.
Day 2 - 11 PM - After a brief battle headache and flu stopped.
Day 2 - 11 PM - Arm pain. This may just be my regular day to day pain.
Day 3 - 1 PM - approaching the 48 hour mark and eyelids feel very heavy.
Strength in arm is okay with 2nd. No extreme weakness like first dose.
A day after the vaccine I was definitely falling asleep during the daytime more frequently. The off times were more pronounced, 30 to 60 minutes after taking PD med, it hit me like a boomerang. The stiffness and freezing was extreme. I tried reducing the medication and it seems to have helped the extreme off times for a while.
Since my experience, I have read stories of others with a similar response to the vaccine. Any PD experts tracking this data to see if there are side effects from COVID-19 vaccine that changes effectiveness of levadopa/carbadopa? It would be a nice project for a medical professional to start.
Since March, when I got the vaccine, I've also been having extreme anxiety, mostly when I wake up but also associated with the mediation off times and my vision is blurred.