Underneath my yellow skin

Shots are my nemeses

I got my Covid booster yesterday. I knew that I would have a bad reaction because I always do. When I got my first shot, I was still on Twitter. I tweeted about how terrible I felt for a week after, and how the welt lasted until my next shot which was three weeks later.

I had someone push back on me tweeting that. He said that it would discourage people from getting their shot. I said I would rather go in knowing I would reactt badly to it than thinking it was going to be fine and then be surprised. The reason why I tweeted that was because there were several big influencers who were pooh-poohing the side effects of the shot and implying that if you didn’t get it, you were a big old baby.

The guy I remember tweeting about it said how easy it was for him. In and out in fifteen minutes, and that was that. Which, good for you, dude. But not everyone is you. This was a liberal guy, but a white cis het dude. In other words, the default norm. He was not wrong about people needing to get the vax. I had no problem with him and other people saying that. Yes, urge people to get the Covid shot, but don’t call them babies at the same time.

I had a few people tweet at me in support. They agreed that they would want to be prepared for a negative reaction. One woman mentioned that like me, she always had a bad reaction to these kinds of shot–incnluding flu shots. I don’t usually get the flu shot because the times I do, I end up getting the flu. I know that’s not how that works, but I also know that they pick the six or so strains that they think are most likely to be prominent that year and vax against them.

My doctor at the time scolded me when I said that I did not get the flu shot. I said I had a bad reaction to it, and she said that it was better than dying from the flu. Which, I can’t argue with that, but it’s also hyperbole. What’s the chance of my getting the flu? Minimal. What’s the chance of me dying from it? Even more minimal.  It left a bad taste in my mouth in the same way another doctor told me that smoking two cigarettes a day was just as bad as smoking a pack a day.

Come on. You don’t need to be a doctor to see that this is just not true. I lost a lot of respect for that particular doctor. Had she said that it was still bad for me, I would haev accepted that. But that statement was utter shit.

The doctor I had many years before that was my favorite. She was frank and honest with me. She said smoking two cigarettes a day wasn’t a big deal in the grand scheme of things. I asked why doctors didn’t say that more often and that frankly. She said because if doctors told patients that they could smoke two cigarettes a day, they would smoke a pack. That makes sense, but I wished there was a way for doctors to be more honest with their patients.


I left that doctor after she began pushing BMI. She knew it was bullshit, but she told me that the her insurance mwas making it sso that she had to bring it up. Which, I get. I want her to live and eat. I don’t want her to be out of a job. But the way to do that was to say what she had in other cases.

I am so tired right now. And I have the chills. I’ve bene falling asleep every few minutes. And my head hurts like crazy. I know this is from the shot. My arm is sore, and the welt will be there for days. This is also a different shot than the one I’ve gotten before. I got the shot that was available–the Moderna. I had gotten the Pfizer in the past.

I feel so cruddy. I’m going to end this now and snooze.

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