The Pneumococcal Vaccine

The Pneumococcal vaccine is recommended for cochlear implant recipients due to an increased risk of developing meningitis after the surgery. After checking my school immunization records, and thinking I had the meningitis vaccine, I brought it in for my doctor to check on so that we were sure. It happened to be that I had the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13-Prevnar 13) recommended for babies, not adults. There are two types of the vaccine, the former, and the Pneumovax- PPVSV, a 23-valent polysaccharide vaccine for adults.

I'm usually the type of person that avoids getting vaccines unless I'm left no choice (like in this case, unless I really want meningitis just for being able to hear). As if that wasn't enough, getting this vaccine made me more determined to never get vaccines again, for as long as I can control it.

I recently went in to get the vaccine tuesday afternoon. It seemed harmless. The needle was in and out and I didn't feel much. However, my left arm was in pain for the rest of the day- and still is- and I have a red, not quite a rash, but inflammation from the shot. It started off being about the size of a golf ball, but today, 2 days later, it has tripled in size. It hurts when I attempt to use the tricep or when the muscle stretches, say, trying to put my hair in a ponytail. I am unbelievably alert when sleeping at night, as I'm afraid my husband is going to roll on my arm at any moment, or hit it, since he's just so fond of sleeping on my side instead of his.

Until last night at about 9pm, I began to develop chills and my fingers were going numb and blue. It was also 80 degrees in my house, while my body felt like it was 60 degrees. I took my temperature and it was 90. My healthy body temp is only about 97.8. About 20 minutes later, my temp was up to 100.4. At that point, I decided I'd crawl into bed and watch a movie and see how it goes. Was typically in the 101 range all night and all morning, except for the point it rose to 102.3 at 1am, in which my husband and I attempted to see Urgent Care, but to no success (they were closed). It didn't feel like an emergency, so we didn't go to the ER, though it's where I wanted to go anyway. But in my experience, I just avoid ERs and Doctors unless I feel like I die. 102 temperature felt really uncomfortable, especially with the onset of my lower back and leg muscles beginning to ache, but doable. Unless I'd die. But ya, that never happens.

Anyways, I slept it off for about 14 hours, though 12 of those were awful sleeping hours. Temp was about 101 when I woke up, but kept dropping- 100, then 99, took an ibuprofin, now at 97.1.

Do you know what the CDC says side effects are? mild, yet common, side effects is redness, swelling and pain at the injection site. 1% develop a fever, and more severe pain in the arm. In my opinion, those results are ridiculously vague. I would like to know the average fever range and if they develop muscle aches like I did, and if their redness on the arm continues to grow in size. I would also prefer to know how long it lasts and when I should consult my doctor. Intensive research just told the same thing everywhere with nothing useful- makes you think what you're feeling isn't even related to the vaccine. Yet, I found an article on the vaccine posted by an RN, and about a dozen people posted comments that they developed side effects similar to mine. The RN was consistently responding to the comments making a good point: that we should report our effect to the doctor anyway so that the information would enter the database, and thus, eventually, get rid of the completely vagueness of it all over the web. Also, the manufacturer of the vaccine would be checked on to see if the side effects are related to them.

All in all, I'm recovering. I expect my symptoms to be gone in another day or two, although I've heard of some people having arm pain from the shot that can last even six months. I wouldn't say my experience or the lack of complete clarified information on some things, means you shouldn't get this vaccine if you're susceptible to pneumonia or meningitis someday, but be aware if you're one of the unlucky ones, it'll be a crappy few days after getting the shot.

Here's the picture of the inflammation from day 1 to day 3