Wife has intermittent acute heart pain after first Pfizer

3,114 Views | 18 Replies | Last: 3 yr ago by DannyDuberstein
Skillet Shot
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Troglodyte
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AG
Zero medical expertise here, but I would get into your PCP before the weekend. If she does need a cardiologist, your PCP can help get that appointment quicker than you alone.

Again, I'm the farthest thing from a doctor, but I would take baby aspirin until I figured it out.
KidDoc
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AG
Try pepcid first. Good test to see if it is heartburn. Myocarditis is not usually brief and intermittent but a basic blood test and EKG can test for it.
No material on this site is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. See full Medical Disclaimer.
Skillet Shot
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czechy91
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AG
Not a doctor here but I received some info from my cardiologist stating that if it was worrisome myocarditis there could be fever, sweats other symptoms that would be good indicators. As you said the EKG can indicate and there are also blood tests that can see indicator enzymes. Also there is always the echocardiogram test that can tell if there is myocarditis. I was also told that 95% of myocarditis cases resolve on their own.

Maybe schedule an appt with a cardiologist so you can hear firsthand and get some peace of mind.
Stringfellow Hawke
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AG
Acute onset chest pain 3-4 times a pain needs to be evaluated by a doctor with access to labs, ekg, etc. female patients can have a different presentation of cardiac related issues.
Skillet Shot
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EKG, chest x-ray and blood work all came back normal. Except EKG showed PVCs, which we already knew about. Went to cardiologist yesterday and he is having her do more tests: stress test, holter monitor, etc. to get a handle on her PVCs.

She already did all this 2 years ago and the previous cardiologist said everything looked good and her PVCs are benign. This doctor wants to check again and his concerned about potential long term PVC induced cardiomyopathy. She won't have a follow up appointment with the cardiologist for 6 weeks after all the tests are done.

The question we are debating now is whether to get the second shot, which is due in 2 weeks. The cardiologist didn't say one way or the other.

Is there any evidence that shows efficacy of one shot of pfizer in regards to severe hospitalization and death? Not so concerned about having a symptomatic infection, just want to avoid the severe outcome, especially with planning for a baby.
Skillet Shot
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Right now, there are two competing trains of thought:

1) Preexisting heart issues: PVCs and bundled branch block, but otherwise healthy. First pfizer shot caused an unknown recurring acute chest pain. Second shots tend to have a more robust immune response which is when most of the myocarditis/pericarditis issues show up. Covid is waning after delta wave. Covid is very low risk to healthy 30 year old woman. One shot will have some level of protection. Don't get the second shot.

2) Blood work and tests show no indication of heart inflammation. Doctor said most chest pain is actually not heart related. Acute pain is reducing in frequency, appears to be temporary. If she catches covid while pregnant, the treatment options are possibly more limited: not sure if IVM, HCQ or monoclonal antibodies are safe for pregnant women. Covid can cause heart inflammation, preexisint heart issues could be an increased risk factor. Pregnancy increases risk factor with severe covid. Get the second shot.

PCP, cardiologist and OBGYN were all consulted and none gave a definitive answer on whether or not to get the vaccine. Honestly we are both pretty stressed and unsure of how to move forward. We just want to start trying for a baby, but this decision is putting us in a seemingly indefinite holding pattern.

Any doctors thoughts are greatly appreciated. It doesn't seem like there's a great answer either way.
Skillet Shot
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The best outcome would be to get the second shot and have no side effects.
She is protected from severe hospitalization/death and we did everything we can do to protect her during pregnancy.

However, the thought of the second shot is really unsettling. I know we will both be extremely stressed and anxious during the first week after the shot.

On the other hand, if God forbid she gets a bad bout with Covid during pregnancy and something happens to mom and/or baby, there will be the thought of "we could have prevented this" and lingering guilt.

Sorry for the rant. I'm really not an anxious person at all. This whole decision has just been a very difficult process for us to navigate, especially with doctors giving inconclusive answers and basically putting the decision on us. I understand it is ultimately our decision in the end, but the lack of clarity on the correct path moving forward is frustrating.
HoustonAg12
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AG
My wife wouldn't be touching that second shot. Heck she wouldn't have touched the first in your position.

Your wife already has known heart issues and took a vaccine that side effects is heart issues? And she is considering the second shot which tends to be more severe side effects than the first?

Would not touch with a 10 foot pole. But that's just our opinion.
Diyala Nick
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AG
Skillet Shot said:

EKG, chest x-ray and blood work all came back normal. Except EKG showed PVCs, which we already knew about. Went to cardiologist yesterday and he is having her do more tests: stress test, holter monitor, etc. to get a handle on her PVCs.

She already did all this 2 years ago and the previous cardiologist said everything looked good and her PVCs are benign. This doctor wants to check again and his concerned about potential long term PVC induced cardiomyopathy. She won't have a follow up appointment with the cardiologist for 6 weeks after all the tests are done.

The question we are debating now is whether to get the second shot, which is due in 2 weeks. The cardiologist didn't say one way or the other.

Is there any evidence that shows efficacy of one shot of pfizer in regards to severe hospitalization and death? Not so concerned about having a symptomatic infection, just want to avoid the severe outcome, especially with planning for a baby.


I'm not a doctor, but there were definitely some studies of pre-delta variants that showed a single shot to be very protective against severe disease. In fact, much of Europe pursued a one dose strategy early on when supply was limited.
Skillet Shot
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AgRebel08
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AG
Its amazing healthy people continue to get the shot for a disease that has a hospitizatiin rate under 1%.

She is subjecting herself to too many unknowns

Also I haven't heard of any pregnancy horror stories if you get covid. I have heard plenty of vaxx ones.

Skillet Shot
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AgRebel08 said:

Its amazing healthy people continue to get the shot for a disease that has a hospitizatiin rate under 1%.

She is subjecting herself to too many unknowns

Also I haven't heard of any pregnancy horror stories if you get covid. I have heard plenty of vaxx ones.




I hadn't either until my wife sent me the links. They are out there. But I try not to let headlines and anecdotes drive decision making. Her ONGYN confirmed they had multiple women have complications due to covid resulting in premature c sections and NICU for the babies. As well as some moms being admitted to ICU. Luckily their clinic didn't lose any moms or babies
aggiebrad94
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Quote:

PCP, cardiologist and OBGYN were all consulted and none gave a definitive answer on whether or not to get the vaccine.

I have noticed this trend increasing with care for my aging and unhealthy dad and wife battling cancer. I am at the point now where I take what the Dr. recommends and use that as a starting point for my own personal research.
KidDoc
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You are not getting a definite answer because there isn't one. There is small risk with either route so you have to decide which risk you want to take. As of today with your story I would stick to one dose Pfizer unless COVID starts to pop again as our rates are exceedingly low and the myocarditis risk goes up with the 2nd dose. It will likely hurt her long term immunity but that can be dealt with in 6 months to 6 years from now.

Medicine is not simple, there is rarely a 100% correct answer especially in more rare disease or new diseases.

And asymptomatic PVC's are not a pre-existing heart condition- they are normal everyone has them. The cardio concern is did something happen post vaccine that made them more frequent or symptomatic.
No material on this site is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. See full Medical Disclaimer.
txaggie_08
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Y'all need to do what you think is right, but my personal opinion would be to skip the second shot, or at least delay. Only one shot should provide significant protection for some amount of time.

My wife and I are in a very similar situation. We're both 35, and she got pregnant in early July with our first. We went back and forth about the vaccine trying to decide if it was right for us. Ultimatley, during the height of the Delta variant, she decided she was ready to get the shot around 15 weeks of pregnancy just to help reduce the stress of going out and living our lives. We had read all the horror stories about pregnancies that have gone south due to Covid, and her Obstetrician recommended she get the shot after she had personally seen some bad reactions to Covid amongst her mothers, even one dying of complications. My wife also had a family friend who was a healthy 30 year old that got Covid while pregnant. They had to perform an emergency C-Section. They survived and thought she was getting better, so they sent her home. After getting home she all of a sudden took a turn for the worst and passed away.

I joined her in getting the Moderna shot a few weeks ago because I told her I wouldn't let her go through it alone. We only had a sore arm and potential insomnia for about a week after the first shot. We both kept waking up every night around 2 am and couldn't get back to sleep. We're due for our second round next Monday.
Skillet Shot
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Skillet Shot
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https://www.wbrc.com/2021/09/14/pregnant-women-with-covid-are-being-treated-with-monoclonal-antibody-therapy/

https://uthealthaustin.org/blog/monoclonal-antibody-infusion-therapy-in-pregnant-covid19-patients

Seems like pregnant women have been successfully treated with monoclonal antibodies, so in the event she does get covid, this looks like a good option that is less risky than a second shot given the reaction to the first one.
DannyDuberstein
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AG
She's got some protection from the first shot that should reduce the severity of disease. If in your shoes, I'd just wait. But that's just me
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