So Liam got his first Pfizer shot this past Friday and he is experiencing no noticeable side effects OTHER THAN, he has gone low like 3 times now and it’s been very hard to bring him back up. Normally, he’ll dip low only 5 to 10 minutes when he does go low. But since Friday, his lows have been much longer and sugar pills take forever to get him back up.
Instances #1 & 2 were in the middle of the night last night, around 2AM…it took over an hour to bring him up from “Low” (BG’s were 40’s with finger stick), he had zero IOB and had eaten probably 10 sugar pills over the hour+. He eventually came up, didn’t go high; rather, dipped low AGAIN only about 30 minutes later and stayed low ANOTHER 30+ minutes. After another 4 to 6 sugar pills, he came back up and crested around 120 where he stayed for the remainder of the night.
Instance # 3 just happened. Similar circumstances…zero IOB, he’s not running around or anything, just playing Geometry Dash on his computer. He goes “Low” (48 finger stick), where he stays low again for another 45+ minutes. He’s just now coming back up, but it took MUCH longer and took MANY MORE sugar pills than it usually does to bring him back up. He had 8 sugar pills over the 45+ minutes of lows.
Besides that, he’s not expressed any outward symptoms and when I ask, he says he feels fine.
Wanted to share in case other parents of young T1D’s are looking for real life experiences after the first Pfizer covid vaccine shot, that they would have at least one reference.
The lows, in my view are WELL WORTH the protection he’s getting from this vaccine and we’ll be getting the 2nd in another 20 or so days. Will post any symptoms he experiences after that second shot, once he gets it.
Glad it worked out well!! I imagine just like adults some will have more side affects than others. I had really mild side effects, my wife (no diabetes)pretty much out of commission for two days.
Samson got his shot a week and a half ago and did not have any noticeable blood sugar effects. His arm was mildly sore for about 12 hours. However, I have heard the effect can be variable.
Ugh. I don’t do well handling those sustained lows. I was anticipating the opposite (highs). My son (8 yo) get his first shot tomorrow. I’m very nervous! He handles the flu shot just fine (no noticeable effects on bs) but I know this is different. To add insult to to injury im still trying to optimize his pump settings (new to Control IQ) but realize all bets are off, at least for a day or two, in recognizing trends once he gets this shot. We’ll see how this goes.
Your son may experience nothing, too! Let’s hope for that outcome for you guys! Liam only experienced his issues for 2 days following the shot…by Sunday evening (shot was Friday evening), he was back to normal BGs and nothing I haven’t anticipated/mitigated.
Either way…it’s a small price! Even if he goes low and they are sustained, so what. Lows happen…we deal with them and we move on.
For sure. I have been looking so forward to him (and my daughter) being fully vaccinated. By mid December they both will be! Yay! I was most bothered by the second shot, by far, so that is the one I was getting most worried about for my kids. We’ll see- just like diabetes it’s amazing how this all impacts people differently.
Truly, one of the folks at our small gym literally had no side effects at all, my wife and I were knocked down for a day and had a very sore arm. Always amazing how different people respond.
My wife was laid up in bed for a week and I was also very lethargic, but my lethargy only lasted a day or 1.5 days. She’s indicated we are definitely getting the boosters at different times because nothing sucks worse than both parents being out of commission with such a large household and little rugrats depending on you for things.
Boosters FOR ALL (not 0-5yo’s of course) are opening up probably this weekend so I’ll be first in line…it’s been going on 6 months, but I’m happy to get it around the 4 months timeframe since a lot of waning in protection starts at the 4th month from what I’ve read.
I can’t even imagine the chaos in your house. What ever are you and your lovely wife going to do once they all leave? Seems like it would get awfully quiet.
Lows happen…we deal with them and we move on.