There’s lots of talk about the COVID vaccines. Let’s help you feel empowered and prepared. Here are some tips about how to prep for the experience.
So How Can You Be Proactive?
This is where our clean living suggestions come in. You want your body as balanced as possible that week of your vaccination to optimize your experience. Since alongside the body’s necessary immune response to the vaccine is an inevitable inflammatory response. To help this balance,we recommend adopting an anti-inflammatory diet 3-5 days beforehand. This includes “eating clean,” which means avoiding processed foods and added sugars/sweeteners and alcohol. Try to limit intake of common inflammatory food groups like dairy and wheat, and add in extra servings of antioxidant-rich foods like fruits and vegetables. Don’t forget about the power packed immune supportive effects of your green leafy vegetables from the broccoli family.
Ensure you are hydrating well, and try to add in an extra walk outdoors that week to give your body a nice boost of oxygen and some stress relief.
Focus on sleep. Make sure you prioritize sleep the weeks leading up to your vaccination and the weeks after as your body is working hard to make antibodies to protect you.
We advise against taking NSAIDs (ie. aspirin / ibuprofen / aleve) the day of your vaccine and the day after, as preventing inflammation with medication can decrease the effectiveness of the vaccines. It can be tempting to grab an ibuprofen if you feel achy after your second injection, but wait it out, this too shall pass. You don’t want reduce your immune system’s ability to make antibodies.
Prep Yourself
✔ Sleep
✔ Drink water
✔ Avoid alcohol
✔ Gentle exercise
✔ Limit stress
✔ Avoid chemical exposure
✔ Avoid smoking
✔ Clean low sugar, low processed foods diet
Wondering About What To Expect?
Once you are cleared for vaccine eligibility through the state guidelines, sign up for your appointment. Most facilities are setting appointments in 15 minute time slots, but you should set aside about 45 minutes to account for the time required to sign in and the mandatory 15 minute wait period where you are monitored after your vaccination.
Possible Side Effects
Some who have been vaccinated say they felt great with no noticeable side effects are common with any vaccination. After all, we are stimulating the immune system so that when it is exposed to the virus afterwards, it knows how to fight it! The CDC has a novel side-effect tracking tool called V-safe, where patients can report their symptoms after their vaccination, at consistent intervals. We encourage all that have been vaccinated to track their experience on V-safe to provide more data about these vaccines.
Interestingly enough, we’ve consistently noticed that patients of younger age typically are exhibiting stronger side effects than those over 60yo!
From what we have seen of patients and personally, pain at the injection site is most common. You may also get whole-body symptoms like fatigue, headache, fever, or chills. With the first dose, we’ve found that many people experience only pain at the injection site. With the second injection (3-4 weeks later) of the mRNA vaccines, whole-body symptoms are more common, with many patients reporting significant fatigue. Some experience also temporary fever, chills, muscle aches, and / or even intestinal symptoms like diarrhea with the side-effects peaking between 12-24 hours after the injection.
It is recommended to take the following day off of work to be able to rest fully and recuperate. Premake yourself some chicken and veggie soup in bone broth or a protein rich veggie alternative so you have nutrient dense food quickly accessible.
Remember, you can support your body with a little preparation and focus on healthy choices as you create your holistic vaccination plan. We can help you fine tune your health to support you during the vaccination process. Contact us to get scheduled and optimize your immune response.
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