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DENVER (CBS4) – Getting a COVID-19 vaccine is a relief for most people, but some women find a worrying side effect from both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. The vaccine can cause swollen lymph nodes and can mirror the signs of breast cancer.
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Even a radiologist specializing in breast imaging was alarmed.
“I panicked, I admit, initially,” said Dr. Bridget Rogers, a radiologist at Solis Mammography.
He knew that swollen lymph nodes could be a sign of breast cancer. So, in early January, she was alarmed.
“I had a big, visible and painful piece,” she told CBS4 health specialist Kathy Walsh.
The day before, Rogers received his second COVID-19 vaccine, the Pfizer vaccine. He knew that a possible side effect was enlarged lymph nodes.
“I tried to calm down by reminding myself that this is actually a sign that the vaccine is doing what it should be doing, activating your immune system,” she said.
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Rogers admits he took an ultrasound look.
“It’s always different to be on the patient side of the experience,” she said. “It was a sigh of relief the next day when it started to get better rather than worse.”
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Rogers is not alone. She showed CBS4 mammograms to another doctor who received a vaccine.
“It simply came to our notice then. These are the lymph nodes that are enlarged this year. ”
“I tried to warn women ahead of time,” said Dr. Stephanie Miller, a breast surgeon and medical director of the breast program at Rose Medical Center.
“We don’t want to stop anyone from being part of the vaccination process,” Miller said.
She said breast cancer did not slow down during the pandemic. She tells women to have their mammograms and let the mammography center know if you have had a vaccine recently.
“So we can have the right explanation for what we see,” she said.
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Miller said the delay in mammograms this year had consequences.
“Women develop and develop breast cancer a little later in the stage and we want to reduce this as much as possible,” Miller said.
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He doesn’t want women to panic. Her message is to receive a COVID-19 vaccination and a mammogram, both of which are important to your health.