@dhamil & @tcp36c My pain was not worse after the second injection. It is resolving - a lot more slowly than I would like, but it is better.
My decision was based on my extreme desire to get back to life - I am used to living with pain, and would rather deal with that than continued isolation and fear of a severe Covid infection.
Life isn't perfect, but being able to be with friends and family, to get out in the world, and to know if I do get Covid it is likely to be mild, outweighed my fear of worse pain.
Sue

@dhamil- Hello, it's nice to meet you. Masks are not coming off unless people take them off. This will increase their chances of getting covid or giving it. I think that your win is to be fully vaccinated. Pain levels in people vary and you might find that it's less for the second stab. If you get covid pain it will be the least worrisome of all of your symptoms. With being fully vaccinated you will have a 100% rate of not getting severe illness- no hospitalization, no need to be incubated or have end-organ deaths. Perhaps if your pain increases or doesn't go away you might look for clinics that are set up for post-covid long haulers.

I had Moderna and that second shot's side effects were tough. It lasted a week or so. I was very lucky, not so much for being fully vaccinated but that even if I get covid now it will be less severe and as a lung cancer patient this sounds like a great choice for me.

Best of luck and as variants continue to spread it's best to get vaccinated soon.

There are a lot of unknowns with the vaccine. I’ve only had neuropathy since November, now believed related to Sjogren’s. A few days after my first shot, my neuropathy increased significantly…numbness, tingling, and pain. It subsided some, but did not go back to the pre-shot level.

I did get the second shot, and again my symptoms increased, and have not subsided. My neurologist said that it was probably an autoimmune reaction (I have 3 autoimmune diseases).

I do not know, and will never know, if my neuropathy would have increased as dramatically or not. For me, the real irony is that I’m an organ transplant person, and the John Hopkins study on transplant people shows that most, after having both shots, have limited, if any, antibody protection. And, in my case most likely none since I’m 62, take Mycophenolate, 8 months out of transplant, and, I had the Pfizer vaccine.

So, I continue to advocate that people get vaccinated. But, as it’s unknown the effects it has on some people, only you can weigh the pros and cons for yourself and circumstances.