So had the first dose of Pfizer vaccine this morning, after two or three weeks of being off Methotrexate. Do not feel ill effects other than a slightly sore arm, as felt after the flu shot earlier this year. Will not be taking Mtxt during the three weeks following either, nor for a week after my last shot on 24 april. Am continuing with Cosentyx, will have the shot in a day or two. Was on a fast for a couple of days, will continue fasting during the weeks alternating with meat , fish, salt , vit d, iron and bisfosfonates. My asthma has not been worse than usual , but pollen is out so have my sprays at hand for that. Must say being off Mtxt may have me feeling somewhat better lung wise, though not so good cervical inflammation wise , even though my contstant position with the computer and cell phone for remote work may not be exactly the best for cervical issuesā¦Just imagine if will be able to drop mtxt and just keep on with Cosentyx, would be wonderful. Will keep on working on weight loss to decrease general inflammation, all the best to everyone
The latest official word from my rheumy is that I need to go off of mtx and Rinvoq for 7 days before and 7 days after ANY Covid or shingles vaccine. Should I expect major flares during those two week periods? It seems that the variant is hitting some areas pretty hard. Iām in Manitoba and our Covid cases are under control but slowly climbing.
All I can tell you is that no such advice was given in the UK to stop meds and everyone seems OK. Many of us are involved in subsequent antibody tests and trials (not me) and seem also to be having antibodies to Covid as well on the first dose at least. Most of us are just about to get our second doses within the next month too.
I can tell you that this is what happened to me, have been off now methotrexate for about 20 days. Will have my second dose of pfizer on the 24, and will wait another week before resuming. In my case was left continuing the rest of the cure, Cosentyx, which coincided more or less with first dose, and will also coincide with second. In my case I stopped all food which was plant based except for the occasional decaf coffee, and have been able to function. I also found one day fasting occasionally as pretty powerful anti inflammatory. The reason methotrexate is interrrupted is to give the body the capacity to build antibodies to the virus. Am glad all of us get a chance of having this vaccine, all the best,
Iām on sulfasalazine and have had the first moderna shot. I had some fatigue and muscle aches the day after, but i was fine. I generally suffer significant fatigue from psa anyway so it didnāt really affect my day to day. And pain, well itās so subjective, even in the case of the individual, but i wouldnāt say it was anything worse than a bad psa day.
I think of vaccines as I think of biologics. The science is still out on the long term effects. Itās all a gamble: is it worth it to try to feel better and try to enjoy life? Or to not, to be disabled due to inaction. Of course itās totally scary choice, but it takes courage to live with psa in the first place.
I personally would rather try to live, to to do the things that might make me feel better. Itās all about risk/benefit. And itās a personal decision.
I was hospitalized in 2018 due to a cellulitis infection that spiraled out of control due to humira and mtx, which they then had to discontinue in my case. Since that time have cycled through some others (otezla - made me want to kill myself, sulfasalazine - which I feel isnāt 100% effective).
At this point, i feel like vaccine researchers have done a better job at managing my expectations about health than my personal doctors. There is certainty in the uncertainty. All too often my doctors are a little too confident with how i āshouldā be feeling. It seems to me that unless they live with it, then they really have no clue! They do their best but the science of psa is more of an art than in some other disease.
The question is: do you want to live with freedom? Or do you want to live in fear?
I wouldnāt trade those 5 years in humira for anything, even though it almost killed me. The freedom it gave me, the ability to move again, feel better, enjoy life is priceless. Since Iāve been off biologic, Iāve felt demonstrably worse, and Iām reminded of what is like to not have medical intervention when we are might need one. (I have a rheumy visit in a couple of weeks and i intend to take about changing meds, sulfa not doing it for me.)
One could get hit by a bus any day, have a heart attack, whatever. Itās impossible, with what tools we have, to gauge the probability of any of these things. Any outcome is possible, why not just do your best?
To me, the choice is clear. I would prefer to try to live than to sit around and worry about answers that weāre not going to get anytime soon
Thatās why I started humira in the first place. There are all those scary side effects, one of which happened to me. You just have to answer these questions for yourself. To me, living with psa can be a very slow form of death anyway. Iād rather try to combat it than not, and for me this means taking all the drugs they recommend (as well as all the lifestyle stuff, diet, exercise etc)
Yeah the vaccine might cause any number of problems. But so can not getting it.
Also, we might be reminded that getting a vaccine isnāt purely a personal health decision. Ethics, community, etc all are reasons for vaccines. We get them not just for ourselves, but for the greater good. Thatās a pretty powerful incentive to go get it
At 3:30 this afternoon I went online to check the appointment schedule for getting the vaccine and slipped in on a cancellation. By 6 pm I got my first Pfizer jab. Before I went I checked with my rheumy and he said āgo for itā, even though I was supposed to stop Rinvoq and mtx for 7 days.
So pleased for you and even more pleased he wasnāt that insistent you stop everything when push came to shove.
This just this!
I just wanted to sort of let you know that Iām now on my third biologic Cosentyx given a biosimilar to Enbrel didnāt work and I lasted a mere 8 weeks on a biosimilar to humira due to it reigniting my asthma, rendering me in the bathroom far too often and wading through an impending sense of doom. Before all those sulfasalazine worked but simply couldnāt keep up with my disease activity. There are so many more choices of biologic now and you can certainly benefit more by trying them. On Cosentyx now nearly 18 months and the difference is simply magical.
Thanks @Poo!
Yeah, I think itās time to go back to a biologic. I totally understand what you mean about sulfa- I think it works but just not enough. Time for the big guns again, as my old rheumy (Iāve moved) would say.
48 hours since my first Pfizer vaccine while on Mtx and Rinvoq. Not even a sore arm!
Hummmmā¦Iām starting to think that I keep drawing the straw for the secret placebo studies with all my meds!
Anyone have a bad flare after the second Pfizer? I got my second one about 10 days ago and I have felt terrible for the last 6 days. Terrible pain and low grade fever for last 5 days. The first few days after the second one was no problem, then things went downhill. I have found a few mentions of the vaccine creating a flare. But, itās Sunday, so that may be creating a flareā¦
I read that since the the vax causes an immune response it could trigger a flare. Also read some people in our hood are coming down with shingles. Again, an immune response.
Iām on weekly mtx injections and sulphasalsine. I got my first Pfizer shot March 18ā¦Rheumy said just donāt do mtx that week, but continue after that. So thatās what I did. No reaction from the vaccine and donāt feel any different for not doing mtx that week. No idea when my second Pfizer will be, they say in 4 months. But appreciate hearing how its going with others
I know of some nurses here in the UK with no PsA or other underlying health conditions felt dreadful too after the second Pfizer shot and for several days too.
I got my second Pfizer dose on Saturday, and I did experience some adverse events like diarrhea and chills. My rheumatologist never told me to stop the methotrexate. However, I was supposed to start Humira, and he told me to wait another week.
The innate immune response actually has a āmemoryā which in our cases is a cascade of TH-17 gets activated because of a perceived harm, which causes b-cells to release a g-protein that causes a cytokine storm that causes the inflammation in our joints and skin.
The odds of the plasticity (memory retention) of our autoimmune being triggered by a small molecule RMA is basically impossible. B cells only attack what they perceive as a danger, which in our cases are trauma to the skin, or joint miscues tissue in the joints, and not a protein spike from a virus.
Yes, vaccinations that include an actual protein from an actual virus are likely to not afford us as great of an immunized effect as the general public, and we are at a generally higher risk of infection and more severe effects due to our being immunocompromised due to the medications that we take; the MRNA vaccinations are safe, and will protect you
No doubt that MRNA vaccinations are safe and will protect us. But there is a lot unclear The "cascade of TH-17 you refer to may or may NOT be āthe thingā As its is based on creg Differnentiation There was a med that came out a few years ago that was going to be āthe answerā You donāt hear a lot about Orencia anymore(at least for PsA.) For a few folks it was a great med for most, not so much. Its application was based on assessing synovial and psoriatic skin immunpathological changes following abatacept(Orencia) treatment in PsA. Reduction in Treg expression in the synovium but not in the psoriatic lesion suggested abnormal Treg function in PsA with differential suppressive capacity in the synovium compared to the lesional skin. The link between Treg frequency and psoriatic arthritis severity is currently disputed. Several authors have reported a decreased percentage of Tregs* in peripheral blood of patients with psoriasis but its correlation to disease severity varied, a lo, while other cohorts showed no difference in circulating Treg frequency. Myself I have always questioned whether Psoriasis is actually a part of PsA or simply a secondary autoimmune disorder that comes with Seronegative Arthritis and is one that happen frequently enough that our Disease is misnamed. Iām not so sure given the fact that we started with IL 6 inhibitors and are now up to IL 21 (in the lab) that our innate immune response has memory or Alzheimers. When you start looking at the various Koebner reponses our member have had, I am more convinced. But then immunology isnāt really my field.
Just your luck, Amos! No, in this case I think you are lucky. Apparently if you are going to have a reaction, its more likely to happen after the second dose. The first gets the immune sys primed and in fighting mode. Then the second dose arrives and the battleās on!
Second dose of Pfizer was adminstered yesterday. Given Iām in the UK the fist dose was adminstered on 13 February. This far side effects wise all I have is a sore arm, 16 hours on. Letās hope thatās it too.
Good to hear! One more thing to cross off your bucket list! From my own observations it seems about 50% have some difficulty with the second dose. I hope you wake up feeling immune every day.