When Katy Fyksen had a difficult time a few days after receiving the second dose of Modern COVID-19 vaccine, she did not think there could be a link.
The 43-year-old woman from Plainfield, Illinois, did not have a period of more than a year and a half due to the Mirena IUD, so the sudden red flow was a surprise. But he didn’t think about the moment he received his vaccine until he saw a Twitter thread.
“I didn’t think it was something until I saw that someone said that, that it could have been a symptom or a side effect of the vaccine. She said, “Oh, that’s interesting,” she said.
The tweet was from Kathryn Clancy, an associate professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, who posted an April 7 survey about a new survey she conducted to catalog people’s menstrual experiences after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.
The survey is a joint effort between Clancy and Katharine Lee, a postdoctoral researcher at the Washington University School of Medicine. As of Monday, Lee said more than 25,000 people had completed it.
So far, there have been only anecdotal reports of changes in menstruation following COVID-19 vaccines, and experts point out that there are no signs of danger in administering the vaccine, nor is this a reason to skip vaccination.
Clancy and Lee were inspired by their own experiences with abnormal menstruation after inoculation and wanted to document the experiences of others. They said they initially expected 500 people to respond to the survey; instead, they hit that sign in a few hours.
Clancy shared her personal menstrual experience in a tweet in February after receiving her first dose of Moderna vaccine. Hundreds of menstruating women and people responded in comments with their own experiences.
A Twitter user wrote: “I haven’t had a period of years and I’m about 3 weeks old from the second blow and I’m bleeding, I was scared, but now I see that I’m not the only one. This is madness.”
Another replied, “Two weeks after the number 2 shooting, my cycle started 12 days earlier and was harder than in the last three years.”
“I’ve come to find a lot of people with similar experiences,” Clancy said. “But to be honest, a lot of people said, ‘I really didn’t notice anything,’ and some people said, ‘Actually, I had the opposite, where I had a period later or easy. ”
While the study will look at trends, Lee said, they will not be able to determine the cause and effect.
“Our survey can’t tell us anything about the prevalence or the number of people who are affected,” Lee said. “What we can do is look for associations and trends that will help us target whatever the next study is.”
Dr. Rakhi Shah, OB-GYN at Northwestern Medicine Delnor Hospital, said he did not see a way in which COVID-19 vaccines could affect menstruation.
“I don’t think there’s really a biological mechanism that’s plausible as to how this could be possible,” Shah said. “I think potential people suffer from normal menstrual pain, plus the pain associated with post-vaccination, and maybe combining it all together and combining it.”
Dr. Julie Levitt, OB-GYN at Northwestern Medicine, said two patients came to her with concerns especially about their periods after the vaccination.
“The bleeding is for so many reasons that it’s very difficult to isolate the two of them,” Levitt said.
She also said that the COVID-19 vaccine could create a hormonal peak that could trigger bleeding.
“A hormone rises, goes down, you bleed a withdrawal bleeding. But is it a bad thing? No, Levitt said.
Levitt stressed that this is not a matter of concern and no reason not to take birth control.
“No. 1, I wouldn’t worry. No. 2, contact your doctor if you want to talk about this to get this insurance,” Levitt said. “If it continues a few weeks after the vaccine, it’s probably something else.”
Clancy said those who experience abnormal symptoms after receiving the vaccine should talk to a doctor if they are worried.
“If you are a post-menopausal person who has experienced bleeding, you should talk to your doctor,” Clancy said. “And if you have significant symptoms or symptoms along with changes in your menstrual cycle, you should consult a doctor.”
For Fyksen, the unexpected period ended in about seven days and he said that even if it was related to the vaccine, it was worth it.
“I am just happy to be completely vaccinated. If this is the worst side effect I have, then we are good with it, ”she said.
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