HomeAgain Posted December 4, 2021 Share Posted December 4, 2021 Yeah, I wouldn't have thought so, either, but here we are. Who knew what kind of adventure we'd have last night? Yesterday ds11 got his second vaccine at about 3pm. We waited our 15 minutes, went home, and he was fine until dinner time. A little sore in the arm, like the first, but nothing unusual. At around 5:30 he started complaining about being itchy. Again, not unusual. This time of year is extremely drying on his skin. But it was so bad that he stripped off his shirt to take a shower and oh.my.dog. 😮 The kid was bright red and covered in welts. It was insane. His back, side, creeping up his neck...during the time it took to make a 2 minute phone call, drive 5 minutes to urgent care where he was immediately ushered back to be seen by the doctor, his body was COVERED with angry red blotches that turned into a giant puffy skin condition. It's one of the rarer allergic reactions to the vaccine. He had no issues with the first one at all, but now if he gets a booster it'll have to be through our family doctor where he can be monitored longer. And we caught it right at the beginning, so the course of steroids they started with him kept his airway clear. If we had waited, or it had started while he was sleeping, there was a good chance it would have continued its course and restricted his breathing. Oldest ds used to get the same kind of reactions to environmental allergies and ended up carrying an epi pen. So............................... 8/10: would definitely vaccinate again - just glad this appointment wasn't an hour away like his first one was. And today's adventures include a trip to the pharmacy for a set of meds and raiding oldest ds's cabinet for the Zyrtec, which the urgent care doc suggested as a few days/week precaution since we had no Benadryl in the house. Ds11 woke up this morning and is still faintly pink, but not nearly like last night. And I am insanely grateful to live in a sleepy little town where I could get my kid seen in under 10 minutes when I needed him to. 2 18 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitestavern Posted December 4, 2021 Share Posted December 4, 2021 How scary! I’m so glad he reacted before bed and you were able to get him seen so quickly!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrie12345 Posted December 4, 2021 Share Posted December 4, 2021 Oh my goodness! I’m so sorry that happened to him. I will keep that in mind if/when there’s a next time. I always carry Benadryl because my family is prone to unexpected reactions, but I’m not usually on high alert. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starr Posted December 4, 2021 Share Posted December 4, 2021 How scary. I'm so glad he resonded so quickly to treatment! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spryte Posted December 4, 2021 Share Posted December 4, 2021 Oh no! I’m so sorry. Reactions like that are so, so scary. Thank goodness you could get him seen and cared for! Did they give you an epipen? I would be wanting one in case he has reactions in the future to anything else. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommyoffive Posted December 4, 2021 Share Posted December 4, 2021 That is so scary. I am glad you caught it early and he is doing better. Poor kiddo. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HomeAgain Posted December 4, 2021 Author Share Posted December 4, 2021 30 minutes ago, Spryte said: Oh no! I’m so sorry. Reactions like that are so, so scary. Thank goodness you could get him seen and cared for! Did they give you an epipen? I would be wanting one in case he has reactions in the future to anything else. No, no epipen. We made it to the clinic about 10 minutes before closing, and by the time we left he was doing......well, he wasn't worse. LOL I can't say better but everything stopped progressing. Our doc wants to do a check up on Monday and go over options. I hadn't considered the fact that if he gets a booster, it'll be 1.5x the dose he got yesterday because he will be 12 at that point and move to the adult dose. The booster for adults is 15 micrograms, a child's regular dose is 10. Our oldest had an epipen the entire time we lived in a unique biome that gave him severe allergies. Once we left the island, he had nothing except seasonal allergies to ragweed. He still keeps a bottle of Zyrtec, thank goodness. The 11yo has never reacted like this. It gave us flashbacks to that island, though. We literally grabbed him and shoved him in the car. If urgent care had closed, it would have been a much longer and stressful trip for us to get him seen. And on that note, why do kids always seem to have emergencies on the weekend, when nothing is open? 😆 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spryte Posted December 4, 2021 Share Posted December 4, 2021 53 minutes ago, HomeAgain said: No, no epipen. We made it to the clinic about 10 minutes before closing, and by the time we left he was doing......well, he wasn't worse. LOL I can't say better but everything stopped progressing. Our doc wants to do a check up on Monday and go over options. I hadn't considered the fact that if he gets a booster, it'll be 1.5x the dose he got yesterday because he will be 12 at that point and move to the adult dose. The booster for adults is 15 micrograms, a child's regular dose is 10. Our oldest had an epipen the entire time we lived in a unique biome that gave him severe allergies. Once we left the island, he had nothing except seasonal allergies to ragweed. He still keeps a bottle of Zyrtec, thank goodness. The 11yo has never reacted like this. It gave us flashbacks to that island, though. We literally grabbed him and shoved him in the car. If urgent care had closed, it would have been a much longer and stressful trip for us to get him seen. And on that note, why do kids always seem to have emergencies on the weekend, when nothing is open? 😆 So, so glad you thought fast! Keep an eye out for further reactions, I’m sure you know that, but so glad he’s improving! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MEmama Posted December 4, 2021 Share Posted December 4, 2021 First of all, I’m so glad he’s doing ok after that scary incident. Second, you win all the good mama awards for acting so quickly! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KSera Posted December 4, 2021 Share Posted December 4, 2021 Yikes! So glad you got him in quickly and he is doing better. Did they say it was likely the propylene glycol? I thought with the mRNA vaccine that was pretty much the only thing people might react to, but I really haven’t heard any more about allergic reactions since early on when they first started giving the vaccine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanaqui Posted December 4, 2021 Share Posted December 4, 2021 How frightening! I'm glad he's all right now. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corraleno Posted December 4, 2021 Share Posted December 4, 2021 3 hours ago, HomeAgain said: I hadn't considered the fact that if he gets a booster, it'll be 1.5x the dose he got yesterday because he will be 12 at that point and move to the adult dose. The booster for adults is 15 micrograms, a child's regular dose is 10. Pfizer's adult booster is actually 30 µg, not 15. The Moderna booster is a 50 µg half-dose, but Pfizer's is a full 30 µg dose. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sassenach Posted December 4, 2021 Share Posted December 4, 2021 11 minutes ago, Corraleno said: Pfizer's adult booster is actually 30 µg, not 15. The Moderna booster is a 50 µg half-dose, but Pfizer's is a full 30 µg dose. The Moderna half dose booster is larger than the Pfizer regular dose? I didn’t know that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corraleno Posted December 4, 2021 Share Posted December 4, 2021 38 minutes ago, sassenach said: The Moderna half dose booster is larger than the Pfizer regular dose? I didn’t know that. Moderna's kids' doses are also much higher than Pfizer's: 100 µg for 12+, 50 µg for 2-11, and 25 µg for 6 months to <2. Pfizer is using 30 µg in ages 12+, 10 µg in 5-11, and 3 µg in 6 months to 4. So Moderna's very lowest dose, that they are using in infants, is nearly as large as Pfizer's adult dose, and almost 10 times the size of Pfizer's infant dose, and Moderna's 2 yr old dose is nearly double Pfizer's adult dose and 17x higher than Pfizer's 2 yr old dose. It seems Moderna is more willing to accept higher adverse effects in return for better (or at least longer lasting) efficacy, while Pfizer is erring on the side of caution to minimize adverse effects. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HomeAgain Posted December 4, 2021 Author Share Posted December 4, 2021 1 hour ago, Corraleno said: Pfizer's adult booster is actually 30 µg, not 15. The Moderna booster is a 50 µg half-dose, but Pfizer's is a full 30 µg dose. Good to know, thank you! I must have mixed up the numbers because half of our family got Moderna, the other half Pfizer. I'm a little more worried now if it's 3x a regular dose for his booster. There will definitely be a longer discussion with his doctor about how to go about this and whether it's worth the risk for him now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HomeAgain Posted December 4, 2021 Author Share Posted December 4, 2021 4 hours ago, KSera said: Yikes! So glad you got him in quickly and he is doing better. Did they say it was likely the propylene glycol? I thought with the mRNA vaccine that was pretty much the only thing people might react to, but I really haven’t heard any more about allergic reactions since early on when they first started giving the vaccine. No, they didn't. I have the vaccine ingredient lists for literally every other vaccine he's ever had. It will be an interesting comparison and hunt to figure it out. He's never reacted like this before. We did find pictures online of severe reactions like his that were labeled as 'rare', at least rare enough to make two news outlets. I forgot to check the dates though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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