Took Ibuprofen for 2nd Vaccine

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Specializes in Critical Care.

I had my second dose of the Pfizer vaccine 1/9.  I was terrified of the potential side effects.  One hour after administration, I took 600mg of Ibuprofen.  I continued a regimen of 600mg q6h for the next 36 hours.  Despite being bathed in ibuprofen, I still had symptoms of malaise, nausea, headache, chills, and body aches.

I am terrified that I ***ED up.  That I blunted my immune response.  My crazy, neurotic, busy, fearful brain is ruminating on this. Perseverating.  I called Pfizer to inquire.... they couldn't say one way or another.  I've interrogated the pharmacists at my hospital... asked physicians.... no one can really say with any certainty.  

I am scared that I ***ED up my only chance at being vaccinated by drowning myself in Advil.

has anyone else done what I've done?

Any thoughts? Help!

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Specializes in Public Health, TB.

I'm not sure how ibuprofen would interfere with this immune response. The vaccine introduces messenger RNA, that enters your body cells and triggers them to manufacture the protein spikes. These protein spikes then trigger antibody formation, which will attack the spikes on covid virus. 

Ibuprofen halts the production of prostaglandins which can trigger vasodilation and inhibit clotting. I don't see how this is going to interfere with spike protein synthesis or antibody formation. I recommend ibuprofen all the time time for kiddos after their routine immunizations. 

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Specializes in Critical Care.
34 minutes ago, nursej22 said:

I'm not sure how ibuprofen would interfere with this immune response. The vaccine introduces messenger RNA, that enters your body cells and triggers them to manufacture the protein spikes. These protein spikes then trigger antibody formation, which will attack the spikes on covid virus. 

Ibuprofen halts the production of prostaglandins which can trigger vasodilation and inhibit clotting. I don't see how this is going to interfere with spike protein synthesis or antibody formation. I recommend ibuprofen all the time time for kiddos after their routine immunizations. 

As far as I know, there are no large RCTs to either prove or disprove this, but the concern is that prostaglandins modulate T-cell response (inhibiting prostaglandins inhibits T cell response).  The goal of the Covid vaccine is a robust T-cell immune response, which is some recommendations are to only use acetaminophen immediately following a vaccine.

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Specializes in CWON.

CDC recommends it (with provider caveat)

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Specializes in Industrial Rescueman.
15 hours ago, jlv613 said:

I had my second dose of the Pfizer vaccine 1/9.  I was terrified of the potential side effects.  One hour after administration, I took 600mg of Ibuprofen.  I continued a regimen of 600mg q6h for the next 36 hours.  Despite being bathed in ibuprofen, I still had symptoms of malaise, nausea, headache, chills, and body aches.

I am terrified that I ***ED up.  That I blunted my immune response.  My crazy, neurotic, busy, fearful brain is ruminating on this. Perseverating.  I called Pfizer to inquire.... they couldn't say one way or another.  I've interrogated the pharmacists at my hospital... asked physicians.... no one can really say with any certainty.  

I am scared that I ***ED up my only chance at being vaccinated by drowning myself in Advil.

has anyone else done what I've done?

Any thoughts?

Help!

 

It's Tylenol they've been warning about, and you very clearly (based on side effects) had a strong immune response. I wouldn't be that worried. 

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1 hour ago, ToddTheMechanic said:

It's Tylenol they've been warning about, and you very clearly (based on side effects) had a strong immune response. I wouldn't be that worried. 

Who has been warning about Tylenol? Could you possibly post a link to the source? Thanks. 

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Specializes in Critical Care.
7 hours ago, ladycody said:

CDC recommends it (with provider caveat)

Not to be nitpicky, but the CDC recommends you discuss it with your Physician first before taking ibuprofen, which is different than recommending people take it, it's more a recommendation that it's use after a vaccine should be used sparingly.

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Specializes in CWON.

"Not to be nitpicky"

Pretty sure I mentioned the provider caveat...so yeah nitpicky.  The provider contingency, however, doesn't indicate any concern about taking it related to post vaccine discomfort but is a cya for anyone taking those meds for ANY reason.  There have been cautions not to PREmedicate with otc to avoid muting effectiveness.

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Specializes in Critical Care.
37 minutes ago, ladycody said:

"Not to be nitpicky"

Pretty sure I mentioned the provider caveat...so yeah nitpicky.  The provider contingency, however, doesn't indicate any concern about taking it related to post vaccine discomfort but is a cya for anyone taking those meds for ANY reason.  There have been cautions not to PREmedicate with otc to avoid muting effectiveness.

As I said, admittedly nitpicky.  Just clarifying that the CDC doesn't recommend people take NSAIDS with immunizations, even though it's OTC they recommend talking to your Physician before taking it for vaccine symptoms.  The common wisdom is that if you've already had significant symptoms of an immune response then you can go ahead and take an NSAID, one of the main concerns is that people will take it just for a sore arm, which itself doesn't signify you've had a successful immune response.

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Specializes in Industrial Rescueman.
19 hours ago, macawake said:

Who has been warning about Tylenol? Could you possibly post a link to the source? Thanks. 

Under the "Can my medications effect the COVID-19 vaccine?" category — https://www.goodrx.com/blog/covid-19-vaccine-drug-interactions/

In my position, we're not supposed to be vaccinating those who've taken Tylenol within the past 6 hours. 

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5 hours ago, ToddTheMechanic said:

Under the "Can my medications effect the COVID-19 vaccine?" category — https://www.goodrx.com/blog/covid-19-vaccine-drug-interactions/

In my position, we're not supposed to be vaccinating those who've taken Tylenol within the past 6 hours. 

Thanks for replying. I’m glad you clarified that your information concerns not to premedicate. The reason I asked you to clarify is that OP’s post is about taking OTC meds after the vaccine was given. If you warn people about taking one type of OTC pain med that could possibly steer them towards another OTC med, which is why I think it’s important to post a source whenever making claims of a medical nature. 

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Specializes in Critical Care.
On 1/15/2021 at 9:54 PM, nursej22 said:

I'm not sure how ibuprofen would interfere with this immune response. The vaccine introduces messenger RNA, that enters your body cells and triggers them to manufacture the protein spikes. These protein spikes then trigger antibody formation, which will attack the spikes on covid virus. 

Ibuprofen halts the production of prostaglandins which can trigger vasodilation and inhibit clotting. I don't see how this is going to interfere with spike protein synthesis or antibody formation. I recommend ibuprofen all the time time for kiddos after their routine immunizations. 

Thank you... in doing more research I feel better about it.. I absolutely appreciate your response.

On 1/15/2021 at 10:30 PM, MunoRN said:

As far as I know, there are no large RCTs to either prove or disprove this, but the concern is that prostaglandins modulate T-cell response (inhibiting prostaglandins inhibits T cell response).  The goal of the Covid vaccine is a robust T-cell immune response, which is some recommendations are to only use acetaminophen immediately following a vaccine.

this is what concerns me... that I could've blunted a more robust response with memory cells.  I couldn't really find much literature that supports the blunting or shows it doesn't blunt the effects.

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