Thoughts on 2nd Covid vaccine causing huge flare?

I would say it is possible, some folks have flared after receiving the vaccine, but many others have not. I have had both doses and have had no issues at all. Like everything else with this disease, so much is individual and there have not been any completed studies on IBD and the vaccine as of now. There are some studies in the works, but it will be months before we really have much data as far as they are concerned. Hope you feel better and things are controlled soon.

Yes it's possible. You're not the first on this forum to say so. I'm part of other groups where IBDers are also flaring after the shots, even people who were already in remission. I would not say it's common, but I would not call it rare either. This is the main reason I'm avoiding the vaccine right now. I CANNOT have another major flare so soon or I will probably lose my bowel.

I can't comment on your disease progression to pancolitis being related to the vaccine. That I don't know. Purely speculating, but if pre-existing inflammation in the body can be made worse with the vaccine as we are seeing in some cases, then it stands to reason it could cause colon inflammation to progress as well. I have a 77 year old friend who had heart trouble already and after the second vax got myocarditis. Usually when the immune system is triggered it will also trigger pre-existing immune related diseases. When I get the common cold usually my bowels aren't so great during it.

I am sorry to hear you are suffering and I hope you can recover soon.

I had very much the same reaction ( admitted with fever, elevated crp and bleeding + all my usual flare symptoms ) ended up staying four nights and started a pretty hearty prednisone dose / slow taper


Ended up getting my 2nd dose a full week after the end of my prednisone taper. No major issues. Felt very similar to that wiped out feeling post remicade infusion. I just made sure to keep my hydration up and kept tabs on any possible spikes in fever / chills / sweats. All went well and I would say that I was down for two days, but after that only felt better and better!

Post Edited (panocoladas) : 7/20/2021 2:51:55 AM (GMT-6)

Well… I guess I’ll keep you all updated. I just got my second dose of Pfizer a couple hours ago. I will admit I’m a bit nervous after reading the stories. Well I was nervous even before.

I am in a very mild proctitis flare at the moment, have been treating it for ttwo weeks already and have no real symptoms. So if this flare got worse within the next week I think I would know clearly and would attribute to the vaccine.

I had 2 doses of Pfizer -- no effect on UC

kweeks said...

No UC increase in symptoms that I noticed at all. I did have 24hrs of extreme tiredness and body aches.

Get your shot!

I agree. I have had 3 covid vaccines including 2 pfizers and no change in bowel symptoms. I had a transient increase in CRP which is normal as the body builds an immune response.

Myocarditis is a known side effect of pfizer and is nearly always treatable and temporary.

Some people who "flared" post vaccine were not in a stable remission anyway, and some who were in remission would have flared without the vaccine.

It's hard to prove any causal link with a vaccine and potentially puts people's lives in danger if they're afraid to get vaccinated after reading these forums. Also causes unnecessary anxiety for those who do choose to get vaccinated.

NSSG and CCinPA I saw your messages from a couple of months ago thanks, have been meaning to PM when I have time.

Thank you, VanJordan! I'm one of those people. It's super disrespectful and invalidating. Both my GIs, including a top IBD specialist at University of Chicago, did NOT invalidate the vaccine causing my flare. No, they did the opposite and said they've seen that in some people and that it makes sense since covid itself can cause flares! So, just disregard people on this forum who want to tell you your experiences are made up.

I flared after receiving the j and j vaccine and I’m still dealing with UC issues. Bleeding and cramping for the last 3 weeks. Oral Prednisone is not working. Hopefully my infusion next week knocks it out and things go back to normal. My GI agreed and said some of his patients are flaring in response to the vaccinations but of course there no “real” proof the vaccines are causing this. Well I did to me so….

Just adding my experience for consideration; in no way am I an anti-vaxxer, but I suspect the AstraZeneca vaccine has caused some flaring in my case.

I have been on 50mg Imuran and Mesalamine granules for about 5 years and my symptoms are pretty mild, but I've never achieved true endoscopic remission. My calprotectin scores are always in the 400-500 range. After a scoping on Dec. 31, my gastro decided to up my does of Imuran from 50 to 100mg, not because I looked any worse, but to see if we could finally kick me into remission.

On Feb 28, I had my first vaccine shot.

On April 18 (about 6 weeks later) I had a calprotectin score come back at 1000! Highest I've ever seen, even after 3 months of double the Imuran dose. At the time, I didn't suspect the vaccine, and I tested again on May 25 and my calprotectin was back down in the 400s. Was the high test an error? I just don't know.

Fast forward, I had my second vaccine on July 4. Approximately 4 weeks later, I experienced a flare of another auto-immune condition I suffer called Peyronie's Disease (soft tissue scarring in the penis). I hadn't had any trouble whatsoever with Peyronie's in more than four or five years. It just came out of nowhere.

I am going to say I suspect the vaccine flared both these conditions. I can't prove it, but it seems awfully suspicious timing.

As I said, I'm not an anti-vaxxer, but I will be the last one lining up if "booster shots" are at some point initiated.

That's good! I'm glad you got it. Happy belated birthday!

Happy birthday, Faithmac -- sounds like you gave yourself possibly the best birthday present ever. Shame that you feel like you can't tell your friends. Why would it matter? Maybe if you said you got it it could encourage them to do so also -- maybe some already have ;)

I got flares before the vaccine and will likely have flares again at some point. Right now I am not convinced the vaccines cause a flare. Not ruling it out either. But whenever we flare we always try to come up with a reason (bad food, stress, missed a med dose etc) and I think that there just isn't a reason most times. It's just having an autoimmune disease that can attack at any time no matter what we do. It sucks.

Covid sucks too so best to get the vaccine.

I have a friend who had a huge family reunion in Lake Tahoe last week. She thought everyone was vaccinated. They weren't. Several people who have now tested positive with mild symptoms had been vaccinated. All of those were very high risk people who would likely already be hospitalized without the vaccines so it appears the vaccines are working so far (fingers crossed -- some of those people have some other severe illnesses already)

I have another friend who lives in Florida. She has cancer and was supposed to go for some pre-op testing that had to be put on hold because the hospital is too overrun with Covid patients right now to take her. Her life is now at risk because of delayed treatment because people aren't getting the vaccine. (She had her vaccine)

Get the shots!

CCinPA: Everywhere you keep posting that we are all lying or just completely unaware of what goes on in our own bodies. It's really invalidating. You are lucky you didn't flare from it! You don't get onto people who say they flared from stress or diet or antibiotics or whatever else...