Bivalent Covid booster & Afib

I had the booster on September 7 and today I had a pacemaker interrogation which showed quite a lot of Afib in the week since. I also had a pretty intense response to the vaccine with a high fever, nausea, chills and aches—so seemingly a lot of inflammation. Perhaps coincidental, but it will be interesting to hear others’ experience. Also interesting, I told the device nurse that I was going to get an ablation and her immediate question was, “Are you going to Austin?” Dr. Natale is that famous!

I'm scheduled for the booster tomorrow, and so I fully expect the symptoms you described beginning on Thursday and lasting for about 12 hours, if prior experience is a guide. I interpret it simply as proof that my immune system hates COVID and attacks it immediately, which is a good thing. But from what I've heard, the Shingrix vaccine makes COVID boosters seem like nothing, which is why I've been putting it off for quite a while now like a complete wimp.

I think it's pretty predictable that if you have paroxysmal afib, any sort of ramping up of your immune system is a potential trigger, but I sure wouldn't try to avoid an episode of afib at the cost COVID brings.

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Carey
I think it's pretty predictable that if you have paroxysmal afib, any sort of ramping up of your immune system is a potential trigger

Yep, been getting a bit of Afib every day since the booster, but have usually been able to convert with a few minutes of power walking. I’m on Multaq so the episodes are at a low HR and not very troublesome.

Carey,
I'm with you on your opinion of the Shingrix vaccine. My next-door neighbor got the Shingrix vaccine and was intensely sick for almost a week with both shots (you have to have two doses 2-6 months apart). The vaccine is reported to last about 4 years on average (some a little longer) and there is no booster. So, I've decided to take my chances and not get it. Probably a bad decision because of my age and I've known people who had bad cases of shingles who wished they had taken the shots! But I feel I'm getting vaccinated enough with the flu shot this month, my 3rd covid booster in November, and my Hep B is due (which I've never heard of this one until last year when I went to work parttime at a hospital). My GP also wants me to take Fosamax for Osteoporosis (it's not a vaccine but it falls in line with me being stubborn). I read somewhere that in 2008 it was reported some 40% of women had Afib after going on bisphosphonates. She told me that I shouldn't pay attention to that because it was so long ago. Then I reminded her I was put on Fosamax in 2005 and had my first Afib in 2006. Prolly not related at all... but I'm taking the "wimp" road!!! I'm not suggesting or recommending anyone follow in my footsteps! I'm just a 69yo worry wart grandmother!

I have an ablation scheduled Sept. 29. I don’t have much time between now and then because we are driving to Austin.. I had not thought much about the bivalent booster at this time. I just knew I was going to get it this fall. So…..if I get it after my touch-up ablation (prior ablation was in February) and then develop AFIB, it appears I would be back at the beginning of this journey!! I would be back to step one! I am so stressed about this!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/13/2022 11:15PM by Pixie.

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Pixie
I have an ablation scheduled Sept. 29. I don’t have much time between now and then because we are driving

You can get it at most any pharmacy—I had my choice of times at Walgreens. If you got it tomorrow you’d have the necessary time to come to full immunity. I also got it now because I have an ablation coming up and I wanted to be up to date beforehand.

For what it's worth, I had the shingles vaccination and the booster and did not react. I am a 52-year-old male and pretty healthy.

q



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/13/2022 11:52PM by Que.

Ditto for me. The most I ever get, and it's surprisingly rare for me, is a sore arm. I don't recall ever developing any other nasty responses, and I have had a whack of vaccines over my 30 years of military service....and beyond retirement with MMR, DPT, shingles (two different vaccines), pneumonia, hep, and yellow fever. I sometimes worry if my immune system is functioning at all!

I had the moderna #1 vaccine. Nothing cardiac. #2 moderna gave me a bad afib marathon 30 days afterwards but it was good because I was getting ablation #3 and it’s always better to get ablated in afib. My micro-vascular cardiologist knew from other patients experiences that it could happen 30 days later. Booster #1 was nothing. Covid a few weeks ago gave me 16 hours of 130s flutter. Now I get short 144-145hr episodes my pacemaker either converts quickly or lasts for less than an hour— all day long. I honestly don’t know how much longer this will last. I’m already at 80mg sotalol 3/day and 60mg rapid release cardizem 3/day plus my pacemaker which is a workhorse all the time pacing me down to 55 before it starts again.

So I prefer the future bivanent booster #2 once I return to the states than my covid arrhythmia experience. My ankles are swollen from my burden. I’m abroad and Dr Natale gave me a referral to see an EP this Friday. He is going to interrogate my PM.

How long must one wait for the bivalent booster after covid? Is getting covid protect me for a bit?

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susan.d
How long must one wait for the bivalent booster after covid? Is getting covid protect me for a bit?

On this podcast: [peterattiamd.com] @ 1:41:15, Mayo Clinic researcher, Mike Joyner, talks about research on the use of convalescent plasma to treat COVID-19. He mentions that vaccinated people who get COVID have the best plasma.

Other research I've seen suggest that the ability of a vaccine to prevent getting infected by COVID only lasts 10 weeks. The ability of a vaccine to prevent serious cases & death lasts much longer.

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susan.d
Now I get short 144-145hr episodes my pacemaker either converts quickly or lasts for less than an hour— all day long.

Yesterday at the pacemaker clinic, the tech said that she was watching my pacemaker come trying to override PACs, every few minutes. As far as how long to wait after having Covid for the bivalent vaccine, I have read three months.

I had the shingrix vaccine and had nothing more than some soreness at the site of the shot.

Muntz

Have you heard of Prolia. I was on that for some years. Am considering going back as Osteoporosis has returned.
I chose it because it didn’t seem to have quite the reputation for causing arrhythmia’s as did some of the others.

Carey,

I have also been putting off the Shangrix vaccine. I just had an ablation #3 in August for afib and atypical flutter so I hope that I will be better able to cope with any side effects from the Shangrix vaccine. Will you eventually get the vaccine? I had my ablation by Dr. Santangeli at Penn Medicine thanks to great assistance and facilitation by Shannon Dickson. Dr. Santangeli is now at Cleveland Clinic. I will post my story soon. Much gratitude to this forum. Gratefully, Jill

Muntz,

Thanks for the information about Fosamax.

Jill, yes, I will eventually get the Shingrix vaccine, but I just got the bivalent COVID booster on Wednesday, so it won't be for a few weeks. Interestingly, I was expecting quite a reaction to the booster because my previous booster produced a significant one, but not this time. All I experienced was a mild headache-y feeling the next morning and not much else.

I continued to go in and out of Afib for about 8 days, but it seems to have settled back to NSR now.

JoyWin,
Thanks for response! I heard a tv commercial for Prolia, but my GP has never mentioned it. I will ask her at my next appt. I think it would be worth a try to see if the benefits outweigh the risk of afib. And I can always stop taking it if any arrythmia starts up! I guess I'm on so many medications that I hate the thought of one more! But it is what it is.

Cookie24,
I found the info under AmericanBoneHealth.org which reported a more recent study in 2016. My doc gets so upset with me when I google everything! She wants me to trust her knowledge and for me to stop believing everything I read on the internet! I'm trying!! She recently prescribed Crestor because I started Metformin in June. I found a report dated March 2022 of a petition to have the FDA ban Crestor because of a few cases of renal failure. But I'm following her advice and taking it anyway...so maybe I'm getting better!! Naw, it's midnight and I'm googling!

True story about believing everything you hear. I have watched a few of the 'York Cardiologist' videos on YouTube with Dr. Gupta. I found his videos useful. At one time he says that of those who find it hard to live with AF, those who have paroxysmal AF seem, as a group, to be less tolerant of it. When I relayed that to my internist, who is also my referred cardiologist (not my EP), he said rather sharply, "Well, that's not true at all!"

It is in my case. So, whom to believe, the person who accurately described my own experience with PAF or the guy who is supposedly looking after me?

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gloaming
When I relayed that to my internist, who is also my referred cardiologist (not my EP), he said rather sharply, "Well, that's not true at all!"

It is true. Being asymptomatic with paroxysmal afib is unusual, but being asymptomatic with persistent afib is common.

I don't know why so many general cardiologists refuse to learn anything about afib once they're out of med school, but we see that here all the time. People get diagnosed with afib, go to a cardiologist, and leave with a prescription for digoxin and aspirin because that's what they were taught in 1987.