As eligibility expands, millions of people receive the COVID vaccine every day, which is great news. But the administration of the vaccine is not without side effects: pain in the arms, fatigue, temporary flu-like symptoms are all common side effects that you will be warned about or hear about in the vaccine. But a side effect that you may not be aware of and that is being discussed right now is that the COVID vaccine seems to have an effect on menstrual cycles.
Talking to Today, medical student Katherine Lee discussed how, in conversation with other menstruating people who received the vaccine, many reported that it affected their cycle. But this evidence was only anecdotal, so after contacting one of her school teachers, Kathryn Clancy, head of Clancy’s lab at the University of Illinois, they decided to gather more data. Clancy also experienced an abnormal period after the first shot of the vaccine, so she decided to call for more information on social media to get a larger sample size.
Our survey was approved and conducted through production! ASSEMBLY OF VACCINATED MANUFACTURERS: https: //t.co/YY1eolCnWi
(This is a project to explore if covid vaxes affect periods – if you have menstruated before and received vax, take 15 minutes to tell us your experiences!)
– Dr. Kate Clancy 🏳️🌈 (@KateClancy) April 7, 2021
The survey is still ongoing, but Clancy and Lee hope that any information they receive will help them and the medical community better understand what kind of impact the vaccine can have at times. But it is in this article that abnormally severe periods, more intense period symptoms and delayed periods are reported.
“A lot of people noticed something, but they didn’t hear anything about (menstrual changes) being a side effect,” says Lee Today Today. “So many things could have an impact on people’s menstrual experiences. So, we only thought if this is a side effect of … this type of vaccine would be good for people to be prepared. “Some other studies show only a percentage of people who menstruate with abnormal changes or periods and have not been observed as a side effect in clinical trials, but experts said today that COVID interacts with estrogen in some way, we may not understand and would it could influence periods, as could other stressors in our systems.
On the one hand, it is comforting to know that other people are experiencing period irregularities due to the vaccine. I received the first dose last week and it was predicted that menstruation would start the next day and simply not. Just knowing that I’m not the only one who has experienced this is a relief.
But it is also frustrating that this has not been discussed or understood as a side effect and that how this vaccine has affected the cycles of people who are menstruating has not even been considered. I feel like for vaccine developers, the bodies of people who are menstruating or the potential effects are abnormal values that should not be taken into account. The same disregard for menstruating health is linked to our discussion yesterday about how the Johnson and Johnson vaccine was discontinued because of potential blood clotting problems when people using birth control were asked to live with a probability much larger blood clots for decades.
Here you need to get a vaccine as soon as possible to help put an end to this pandemic, but if you are menstruating, be aware that it could be affected and, if so, complete the survey so that people who take the time to study this work have as much information as possible.
(via Today, Image: JOSEPH PREZIOSO / AFP via Getty Images)
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