I'm in Pfizer's COVID vaccine trial, ask me anything.

[BrickHaus]

Aww man, so lets resurrect a living ghost.

My wife just had Covid for a week, she was mildly sick, but feels better today. She was due to get her booster last Friday, and fell ill a few days prior.

She has the pfizer vax, I went with Moderna.

Well as of the first of the year my work changed their policy to adhere to the CDC essentially stating I dont need to quarantine if exposed to Covid if I have up to date vaccinations. Mine are "good" til Feb 16th. Where as 2 weeks ago, Id have a paid vacation for quarantine if it was even thought I was exposed.

A co worker of mine also had a wife who tested positive the same day. We both reported it to HR, and were told we can keep working as long as we feel not sick. We both felt fine. And he tested negative twice. I cant find testing appts near me. So I went off of feel.

Now at work. Its a stay home if sick policy regardless of positive covid test of not half of the shop had been hacking up a lung since Chrustmas. And one electrician specifically whom I help a lot, he has been really under the weather for the past three days. And working. I kept telling him to just go home or get tested. Today he left sick at start. Annnd tested positive.

Annnd now Im starting to feel run down today, and only worked 8hours ratger than my typical 10.

I am supposed to work tomorrow and Sunday too.


But my wife is going ro get an at home test from a family friend tonight so tgeres a chance im negative and a nice sleep will fix me up, but Im thinking my odds are I got it.


So now I lay here kind of mad at my employer as I feel the dropping of the qurrantine window for first degree exposure is and was a poor move.

Whos to tell how bad it spread at work at this point.

All in all it just seems like a regular flu so far for me.

[JonM]

That's good to hear. My wife got her senses of taste and smell back a few weeks after her bout with breakthrough COVID. Although, she's still dealing with long haul symptoms herself. Between her coughing fits and my tinnitus (which is even further aggravated by the coughing), we're not exactly happy campers.

[Diomedes]

We're all good. Kids are past their 10 days, and were completely recovered after just a few days each more tired than normal. I had a cold for a couple of days, have a stuffy nose as I type this, otherwise fine, and Abby got the worst of it with a mild flu for about two days and lost taste and smell, but she's better except for taste and smell, which are coming back slowly. Overall...whole family got COVID and came through fine, so can't really complain. Tomorrow (12/20) is our last day of quarantine, can't wait to be done.

[Diomedes]

mRNA vaccines are in fact safer than most other types of vaccines. There's just less stuff in them, so less chance of an adverse reaction.

[JonM]

It started out in just the right ear, but migrated to both. This and the timing is what convinced the ENT that my symptoms are likely a result of exposure to COVID-19 and/or related to my body's reaction to the Pfizer booster. It's uncommon, but not unheard of. At least the vaccine worked so far as limiting other more dangerous symptoms. This theory is further supported by how much difference heavy steroids and other anti-inflammatory meds made compared to how bad it was at first. Hopefully this is a sign that this may be a temporary situation that may someday resolve itself as the strength of the vaccine wanes and/or my body fights off the infection in my auditory system. Only time will tell.

My wife also filed a VAERS report so that this symptom can be tracked as a possible side effect.

[un2xs]

Jon, I wish you well in dealing with this. Tinnitus isn't always easy to deal with... Mine is associated with Menieres Syndrome, which is the umbrella term for a group of symptoms that defy normal classifications.

I have had tinnitus for at least thirty years... along with dizziness, cognitive lapses and occasional fluctuating hearing. It CAN be lived with. It may take you a bit, but you may be able to ignore it as some of us can. Is yours bilateral or just in one ear? If unilateral, you can compensate by trying to keep your good ear towards your companions so you hear more clearly.

You MAY want to wait for your ears to settle down to be fitted with hearing aids. Do what is best in your situation. However... see if the insurance will spring for digital hearing aids. These can be adjusted to cover only the hearing range(s) you which cause you problems. A normal hearing aid amplifies across the board and MAY be more of a problem than no sud at all. Not all insurance groups will cover the more tunable hearing aids.

I am just a patient, but my understanding is that Mennieres as a whole is still not understood. It can come and go as it pleases. If it is extremely debilitating the patient can be a candidate for destructive surgery. Do this only as a last resort... there used to be a 50% chance if total hearing loss in the affected ear.

I am hoping that you JUST have the tinnitus. It's bad enough without the rest of the symptoms family. If you are lucky it will just go away. Good luck with your recovery. Oh, if you get dizzy, try Meclizine as it can help some with motion sickness.

[JonM]

Unfortunately the hearing aids didn’t help, so they referred me to a tinnitus specialist for CBT. I’ve been sleeping with white noise (or trying to anyway) since this started. It’s better than it was at first so long as I don’t trigger a spike, but it’s still pretty bad at times and it never goes away.

[Paintslinger16]

I have the masking hearing aids, they work but what a tangle you will have when wearing a mask.
Get a white noise maker for sleeping, I always have something on, TV or music..

[JonM]

Unfortunately not. I’m seeing a specialist next month since the hearing aid fitting yielded no improvement. All reports from others who have reported similar side effects seem to indicate a lengthy recovery period (if it ever resolves at all- not enough data and little to no research).

[Carp]

Finally got my 3 shot of Moderna this morning and so far, only a little sore around the injection site. But, that's to be expected. 😉


Diomedes How are you and the family holding up?

JonM Any reprieve with the tinnitus yet?

[JonM]

Yeah. I've already had several nervous breakdowns as a result of it. In my case, it's always on. I'm just hoping that if it's COVID or booster related that it will eventually go away (although I'm not holding my breath). Hopefully the hearing aids will help during the day at least. Nighttime is another matter. I've needed white noise and sleeping pills to get more than a few hours per night.

[MrKittyCatMeowFace]

Well, this really sucks. Despite receiving all three shots (or perhaps because of it), I've been dealing with horrendous tinnitus since before Thanksgiving. It's hard to say whether it's a side effect of the Pfizer booster or if it's related to my exposure to COVID from when my wife got it around the same time I got the shot. As best as the ENT can say, tinnitus is a possible side effect of either one. I've been on multiple rounds of steroids, antidepressants, anti-inflammatory meds, and now I'm scheduled to be fitted for hearing aids to hopefully mask the incessant loud 24/7 screaming in my head.

As someone who lives with it since birth. I
can't imagine suddenly having it cursed upon you one day. I only hear it when it acts up and go really loud every now and again or after loud music. Since its always been their since i can remember its background noise at best in a completely quite room. But i know no alternative to it, its just normal sounding and not annoying to me.

Bummer man

[JonM]

Well, this really sucks. Despite receiving all three shots (or perhaps because of it), I've been dealing with horrendous tinnitus since before Thanksgiving. It's hard to say whether it's a side effect of the Pfizer booster or if it's related to my exposure to COVID from when my wife got it around the same time I got the shot. As best as the ENT can say, tinnitus is a possible side effect of either one. I've been on multiple rounds of steroids, antidepressants, anti-inflammatory meds, and now I'm scheduled to be fitted for hearing aids to hopefully mask the incessant loud 24/7 screaming in my head.

[Carp]

Dan, Glad you and the family are weathering well. I'm due for my 3rd dose of Moderna and will be getting it ASAP. I'm unfortunately stuck in an area, where a big portion of the general population, refuses to take this pandemic and precautionary public safety measures seriously.

[un2xs]

Is there enough data yet to tell if this is going to be a yearly vaccine similar to flu shots?

What are the studies indicating about the safety of the vaccine? Last I saw there were indications that the MRNA shots are safer than most of the existing vaccines.