I was just wondering if there was anyone on here with experience with either having covid or the vaccines. I have a rare colon polyp condition FAP. Past j-pouch/ostomy procedure in 2015. I finally started to heal and get on a decent rhythm of life in 2018. They were such a rough few years in and out of the hospital. I just worry about what both covid and the vaccines could do to my body. I saw a hint from someone on this forum that they were looking into sulfa and I found that some people that had sulfa allergies had problems with the Pfizer vaccine …5/21 from the CDC website. Through all my major troubles (and loads of antibiotics) from 2015-2017 I realized my pouch swells when I ate sulfite laden foods. One time I had to be hospitalized for 3 weeks because I looked 6 months pregnant. In hindsight I think it was from sulfites, not sure. I have gotten more tolerant of it, as it only affects me for a few hours of pain and diarrhea instead of days or maybe weeks. I was always allergic to sulfa drugs since i had gotten the hives as a teenager from it. I don’t know if that even matters. But I have been through some serious trauma from the surgeries to the hospitalizations, exploratory surgeries, to the dr not believing me, to having to cry out in pain to ask for certain meds, waking up early in recovery in the hospital paralyzed and in pain. Having a baby through all of this… The list goes on. I just really want to make sure I try to find out information from real people that have similar situations so I can do the right thing for my children and husband. I don’t trust the doctors interests. At 27 I trusted my dr to do the surgeries on me to take out my colon after my obgyn found a massive Desmoid tumor and they did that surgery when my baby was 3 months old. My j-pouch procedure when he was 9 months old. I feel like he botched the pouch procedure because food still went through my j-pouch as it was trying to heal. I trusted him to do exploratory surgery a few months later with my swollen belly, just to find out my intestines were swollen and couldn’t do anything! I had my surgery in Reno with dr Crapko by the way! I just don’t trust doctors interest anymore. It’s all “practicing” medicine. I learned I have to stick up for myself and do my own investigation sometimes. Sorry for the rant.
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While nothing is guaranteed, your best bet for you, your family, and your community is to get vaccinated ASAP. Any risk from the vaccine is much, much lower than the risk from COVID-19.
I agree 100% with Scott. By the way, there’s a big difference between sulfonamides (sulfa drugs for treatment of infection) and sulfites (preservatives in foods and some beverages). I’m allergic to sulfonamides, have occasional mild sensitivity to sulfites, and had no problems whatsoever with the Pfizer COVID vaccines. The vaccines have a very strong safety record and COVID can be devastating.
I have a suspected issue with the sulfites or tannins in red wine, which causes me to have diarrhea. I have had 3 Pfizer vaccines, including the booster which I got exactly one week ago, and had no issue with any of the vaccines except a sore arm for a day or two after the shot. I think not getting vaccinated is a major dice roll that many people have come to regret taking once they ended up getting Covid. On that note, I am kind of surprised I never got Covid especially because I had to travel to Florida and drive back in September of 2020 before getting vaccinated. I may have just gotten lucky. You do sometimes need to ask yourself whether you feel lucky in these situations: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=u0-oinyjsk0
Anyone on remicade who had covid antibody level tested before getting booster shot? I've had 2 pfizer but booster shots not yet approved in BC. I've been reading that 2 shots of either mrna vaccines might not result in an effective immunity response in biologics patients and that boosters are generally recommended.
RossG,
I am taking Remicade and my Covid booster on 8/16/21 was specifically due to the CDC guidelines on persons being immunocompromised by biologics. Those guidelines were adopted by means of an order of the Governor of Connecticut and my booster was given pursuant to that executive order. I posted about that order and the specifics of it in this thread:
I have had Covid antibody tests in the past and before I was vaccinated. However, the antibody tests for Covid that are routinely done only test for the antibodies that indicate a prior infection, not immunity.
Jan 
Thanks for your input, everyone. I decided to get the Pfizer. I spoke with my dad and that’s the one he had got as well as my husband when the first founds came out for fire personnel. I got it on Friday. I have been surprised how sore I am even a few days later. Some people feel barely anything, particularly on the fist shot. Maybe that means I would be more susceptible to having a bad reaction to Covid?🤷♀️
I have had 3 Pfizer shots and I think I was most sore after the first one. But to me it was just a little more sore than I was after the annual flu shot.
So I had brain fog the next day. I mixed up words. I was playing a card game and told my family that they needed a “spade of diamonds”. They looked at me weird and I thought I had said a normal statement. They had to tell me what I said before I understood I said something wrong. That was brief, though it passed quickly except for some mild dizziness throughout the day.
I had pain in my arm that lasted 3 days - all on the left side where I had the injection. It started as all over pain just like my body pain, but then it was from my shoulder blade radiating down to my elbow. From there it was almost a numbness and tingly into my fingers. Somewhere between numb and achy in my fingers. It didn’t bother me all the time, and didn’t affect my strength as far as I know. But it bothered me mentally. After that, the arm weirdness was off and on until that Friday (so a week long). Haven’t felt it to that strength since then. But starting Sunday night I was tossing and turning like a rotisserie all night! Gas and tenderness. My front abdomen was swollen a bit. Bloated. I felt like I had a partial blockage and I didn’t use the bathroom for a long time. (I’m normally pretty stable on my gut stuff nowadays). Then I was going to the bathroom frequently enough that I should have gotten rid of any blockage. I cut back on food and even stopped taking my meds for a while at first (colestipol and Imodium) to make sure i wasn’t making an obstruction worse. I made sure I had enough fluids. It was so weird. Uncomfortable. Luckily I was able to take it easy for a few days.
My mom just called me today. She has my same abdominal condition. She got the JJ vaccine the same day as me. She had the same abdominal problems as me but a full day later - hers started Monday. Hers is feeling worse today, while I feel like my symptoms have been slowly subsiding. She doesn’t take any medication for watery stools like i do. It is hard to find any information that’s not official statements, “sanctioned” by Facebook or YouTube about the side effects of these vaccines.
I randomly saw a video of a girl who had side effects/symptoms from the vaccine. Her mom was speaking out. Many of them were like mine but apparently she had them after her second Pfizer vaccination. I had most of those things but she had them way worse and is under a doctors care for it all. I saw a news clip on YouTube where a Berkeley doctor says side effects should appear within 6 weeks of the vaccine. As of now I do not plan to get the second shot! I listen to my body pretty well and I could see a child or another adult not attributing these things to the vaccine especially if they’re not severe. Who knows if this would get worse after the second shot.
Just letting you all know in case someone has a digestive issue after the vaccines… my mom was ready to take antibiotics and go to a dr for it. In that video with the Berkeley dr, another dr says the vaccine works to activate your immune system and that activation is seen as inflammation.
In my limited knowledge of how this works and from what I have gathered from drs - Because the spike protein travels in your body and is not localized to the arm, I suspect the spike protein landed somewhere around our gut and is causing inflammation there.
Thanks for reading guys. Have a good day…
I figured I should post some basics other than my medical history:
35, Female, married to fire chief, past firefighter, work part time as custodian, landlord, with two children in school. 😁
@Matthewsmom - Do you have any lasting problems that you attribute to the vaccination, or have all the issues cleared up?
So far most of the symptoms went away. My arm still feels weird sometimes but not serious and I wonder if I’m being overly sensitive. My mom is still having to wear different pants to work and having her abdominal swelling although it might be a tiny bit better. I told my family dr. in a phone appointment about the arm swelling (that apt was just made to tell me about my recent vitamin lab results which were good). I could tell she didn’t have time. She suggested maybe I shouldn’t take the second shot. I told her i would at least make a decision after the 6week mark. My mom called our GI whose office said she should report the symptoms. I don’t know any other specifics but I know she can’t afford to see the dr or have a bunch of scans done.
She texted me at midnight asking what the dr had prescribed for pouchitis. It hurts when she eats. I’m so sad for her. I know she’s still paying off medical bills. I know she shouldn’t deal with this with home remedies. This is one reason I got the two dose. I wanted the ability to see how I react to one dose before subjecting myself to another. I figured whatever is in the JJ that it was theoretically more. I was able to lay around at home to recoup. She has been working still. She is a driver at an auto parts store so she doesn’t make much. I suggested she take a few days off and lay down a lot at home at the very least and If the dr office didn’t suggest she come in she should call back and ask to speak with the GI specialist’s nurse over the phone.
she’s in the ER. She has a blockage. They can’t tell from the scan if it’s caused by inflammation. When I talked with my mom when her nurse was there she described what happened to me and said I should get checked out at the prompt care. A few hours or so after that I hadn’t gone yet, I started having leg pain off and on in specific locations. I think I’m having some sort of clotting issues. I am waiting to be seen in the ER. The same ER my moms at. They officially admitted her and they want to put a tube down her throat to relieve things. She’s feeling ready to throw up often.
when I just spoke with a dr he says after two weeks the risk of clotting goes down. He gave me to option to do an ultrasound on my leg. I took some baby aspirin two hours ago to try and help.