We call it the Divorce Booster

A couple of weeks ago, we were finally able to get a “proper” vaccine, and this was less than three months after getting two doses of Sinovac – something considered pretty useless since Delta took over the world. This new round of vaccination had a HUGE impact on us, in multiple ways, and we know others have suffered too. 

However, before listening, we need to point out that we are not medical or scientific experts, just two people who’ve had an experience and we are sharing this here, so others who go through it don’t think they’re weird. 

It’s also good to be pre-prepared, because if you have a similar reaction, it will impact your ability to work and do the stuff you want to do. Employers also definitely need to be aware!

While we can’t say for sure, we don’t necessarily think our experience will be your experience if you are scheduled to get your booster six months apart – as most people in wealthy countries will experience. No, this is more about how things went down where we are, in Thailand, when the cheaper and more easily accessible vaccines made it into the country long before the other, high efficacy vaccines were available. 

All we can say is, it hasn’t been fun and we hope it’s over soon, because I hate the way my brain is functioning and it’s been tough to tackle together as a couple too. 

To get in touch with me, all of my contact details are here https://linktr.ee/andreatedwards

My book Uncommon Courage, an invitation, is here https://mybook.to/UncommonCourage

My book 18 Steps to an All-Star LinkedIn Profile, is here https://mybook.to/18stepstoanallstar

Transcript

Unknown: 0:10

Hi, it's Andrea Edwards and this is uncommon courage where we talk about the stuff that matters. And this is a bit of a an unusual one today, I have my lovely husband Steve Johnson with me. Good evening. Good morning. Good night, folks, wherever you are at night. Hopefully it won't be a case of good night. We might put him to sleep. But the way I'm talking Yeah, I have been known to ramble is that apparently I can't understand it myself. Anyway, what we wanted to share today is, so we recently got the Astro booster. Now I need to be clear, this is not medical advice. This is also not against vaccinations. We believe both of us believe that. Being vaccinated is an important path out of this crisis. If people don't agree with that, that's fine. We're not here to have arguments with people who are against vaccinations weed. That's just our belief. And Thailand, we got sinovac and we got an in June and we got two shots by the end of June. But when the deltas storm hit, basically, people realize that sinovac was pretty much useless. And you know, delta has been on the rampage around the world. And we obviously took the opportunity to get another booster because we wanted to make sure that we're as safe as we possibly could. So a couple of weeks ago now it is a couple of weeks ago now right? Every two weeks to mark? Yeah, yeah, we got our first AstraZeneca vaccine. So it was basically three months after we got the sign of at some other friends. They got Pfizer a couple of weeks before us and told us about the ramifications for them, which included some vomiting on the spot. But they had also had two shots assign a back so that the Thai government strategy here was sinovac was freely available and certain areas where they identified as being critical for their financial development, mainly on the tourism. They made sinovac available to shots for everybody. And then as Andrea says the Delta variant kind of came and kicked it into a cocked hat. I've had to go to a medical clinic every day for the last six weeks for something else and seamounts and our doctor, they're pretty well, and his words were you can pretty much forget you've ever had sign about the challenge with this is most countries only recognize you as being fully vaccinated if you have two shots of either Pfizer, Astra madona or the j&j. So that's the challenge that we're now facing from being a little bit too quick out the blocks. So these other friends also were with us when we had the two sinovac shots. They went and had Pfizer booster and had a pretty violent reaction, right? Basically the message was they're all wiped out for a few days and had to take Valium and just sleep to get through it. So we went into the booster shot with an idea of what potentially could happen to us, but you never know. And it wasn't until they were about to put the needle in our arm that we even realized what we were getting and that it was Astra anyway, we call it the divorce booster. Should we try and explain why. But you've turned into completely completely unreasonable behavior. Is that right? It's all you so what I mean nothing to do with me. Now you have been a pain in the ass at open, you haven't been unreasonable in any way shape. snatchy If I could describe, I mean, so Okay, so we have the first few days where we're a bit headachy tired. Like, I haven't been able to sleep properly since that that's had a really big impact on me. I think day one. We were both tired. Yeah, we were out that night. And it got to 10 o'clock at night. We were sitting with some great friends around Taiwan. We just could not stop. So they want I think we were pretty tired. Yeah. And we were a bit sort of woozy and but that was the same as sauna back. Right? So then it was two days afterwards when we had some dinner with some friends and we had a few drinks. So by Saturday, that hangover for me was magnified, like 10 times. It was horrible today, too. I didn't find as much of a sort of impact of the alcohol purely because I just didn't drink. I wasn't in the mood for drinking anyway. But day three was the really interesting day. We were both absolute basket cases, as in zombified. As in I was bumping into things. I was tripping over things. I was tripping down things, up things off things around things. I mean, you name it might if I could hit it, I hit it. Yay, my sense of distance was out which is unusual, like blurred vision. throwing balls in the pool for Friday. I was I was three, three or four balls out of the pool, which really that's really unusual for you. It is unusual for me to do something over energetic. But that is unusual for me because I don't like going into the snake pit and finding the balls while you're dying. So we kids now that's true. Yeah. But then but then, but then it's continued right last couple of weeks. And the thing that I've noticed is it's like the things that you normally do are magnified. So as an example, one of the things that I do when I've got something on my mind is I really escaped into my mind, and it's a pleasure for steak. And it's been something that's been the same for me ever since we began to write copy around but Steve's response is different he when he goes through something he wants to reach out to me and include me whereas what I need is I need to be in solitude so I can work it out so I can come out the other side and so what I found happened is both of those sort of qualities in in us have been magnified by such a scale like really magnified Do you agree? And we and there's no doubt about it. It's definitely jarred against each other so so I will talk I mean I won't I will say no cheap ways I'm feeling absolutely rotten today you know, how about you where's it Where's you will hold it more or less inside and then the first our nose you're just go upstairs and lie down and that's that he's saying I don't communicate my feelings on there we go about things in a different way. So I'll tend to get it out but emotions as well. depressed, depressed, but swinging emotions like pretty quickly I can think of two or three good but the point is two weeks on and we're still getting up and it's like a pig in a poke. What kind of day Am I going to have today? So this morning, I was up at four to do some for a work commitment, but I actually feel better than I did yesterday for the last four nights previously and bearing in mind up until about sort of 20 years ago I was very happily surviving on four hours sleep a night the previous four nights before that we've basically been knocked out cold sleeping for sort of 10 or 11 hours and still getting up feeling exhausted and still bumping into stuff blurred vision Sunday I was driving it felt it felt like I shouldn't have been driving it's similar to driving early early morning after a really big night just travel judging distances and just the basics that's like a glowing the amount of morning's that I've just walked downstairs and I just feel this deep deep deep depression you know in this in the last couple of weeks and I don't I don't like feeling like that and and there's nothing I can do to shake myself out of it. But to be fair, I can Alright, so I'm glad we didn't rehearse this but to be fair, I mean, we've been sort of in this since like February of 2020 you know, the kids didn't see their friends over the screen so since the beginning of the pandemic, basically Yeah, cuz where we live was to it was just focus that much more on with so many. With so many people coming in from overseas and domestic tourism, the kids have had a rough time of it as well. We know they've gone months and months where they've been online schooling and haven't seen their friends and you know, being teenagers and going through puberty by the time they do see their friends, they're almost unrecognizable. So I think the depression could be for me, certainly, I mean, I've just quite frankly, I've had enough of this COVID thing COVID can pass off as far as I'm concerned. Yeah. And for me, it's definitely been in the last couple of weeks since he injection this this really deep, dark feeling of depression. And it's not It's not every day, but when I come down and I feel it, no, you explain I try to I try and communicate it to you. And what I'm saying to you is this is a good day to leave me alone. Of course you you're luckily I'm, you know, I am thoughtful and sensitive to that and will generally say well get on with it, go make a cup of tea, there's a good girl, usually go yo yo is doing that. But yeah, you don't always necessarily hear that, because that's another thing that's happened is, you know, I wanted to do this podcast last week with Steve and I say to him, are you ready to do the podcast? And he said, No, I can't do it today. We can do it tomorrow. And then when I asked him about it, the next day, he said something that was completely the opposite of what I heard. And then when we sat down until on Saturday night, we sat down on Saturday was the day when we basically went at each other. And then we sat down Saturday night and talked and just got more in tune with where each other was right. Now, generally speaking, we don't fight we have our moments. But if we do, it's over the stuff worth fighting for. But it's never about I mean, you're right on Saturday, we did have to have that come to Jesus and sort of say, right, this is our own feeling. But that instance, we had two very different recollections of that conversation. Yeah, that's been a bit confusing, hasn't it, how we have literally heard each other say things that we didn't say and or inferred things that we thought the other person was saying that we didn't say, because it's like, my brain is blue. So for me to do my work to think I've got to go like, apart from sort of paying attention to the boys and their needs, and doing what we need to do there I need to be, I just need to be in my head to sort of harness the energy because I'm putting so much energy into bringing my brain together so it can work properly. So I can do what I need to do that I've got literally no energy left for anything else. And that sort of going into my own head thing, which I always do, but it's so much more extreme now. And then you've really struggled with that because I can't give you the attention when you're trying to get middle the EU, but it's like I haven't got anything left to give and then you're getting frustrated with me because I'm not listening to you. But I'm literally incapable of hearing what you've got to say because I'm trying so hard to make sense of my own brain. Yeah. And it's on small that this will happen a time when we're both busy with other stuff. So it just happens to be a busy time but my work and there's a couple of things that I've got to I've got to be relatively switched on for any just so much harder. Yeah, trying to think things out trying to plan things out trying to do calculations or something like that. It's just just thinking straight. Yeah, do it just for me. It's stringing a sentence together, you know, and writing a sentence that's, you know, that's what I do for my living. And I know and I know when something knocks you around because it slows you down. It takes a lot to slow you down, but I'm glad that you have slowed down in the last couple weeks and I don't think we've got any choice Yeah, I just don't think we've we've got any choice. Now interestingly, we've got I was speaking to a friend earlier this week, and they have actually had COVID a few months ago and had a two shots of Pfizer and on the second shot of Pfizer I was speaking to him and he was saying it's I feel exactly the same as I as I did when I had COVID temperature spiking massive lethargy lack of appetite and that's the other thing is lack of appetite appetites boom we it hasn't been nothing appeals. Yeah, I mean, I need to lose a bit anyway, so I'm not complaining but nothing appeals. You end up eating weird stuff at weird times. So it just generally just generally knocks you around. So if you're thinking about you know, and the vaccines obviously doing the right thing, one hopes but if I had my time again, I probably would have planned it a little bit even if I knew I was gonna be a basket case for two weeks and hey, the good news is we've got another friend who said two shots of Astra and she said it took her a month to get her brain back Yeah, and that's probably the reason why they do make sure the aftershocks are a month apart but i do i mean i think most people who are going to get the booster shots will be getting them at least six months after their vaccinations but in countries where sinovac has been the solutions have been especially in developing countries because it's it's more affordable for the government's to be able to provide these and they can get them out faster and they don't need refrigeration yeah and there's more access so you know i mean i think you know, we made the right decision to do it and to get whatever we could I've seen some people who've had COVID and and their advice is just get whatever you can get in your arms because you don't want to go through what I've gone through and we fully buy into that sort of way of thinking we just wanted to do this just to say this is the experience that we've had it doesn't mean it's going to be the experience you have some people will struggle and some people won't some of the drivers that we talked to them they've been fine yeah so we've really struggled with it we wanted to share that just in case if anyone's feeling knocked around by yeah and like you know weird but if you're not if you fail in tip top then like all kudos to this thing doesn't seem to sort of discriminate it doesn't seem to sort of it doesn't seem to follow any patterns just it's just one of those things. So I think what we've decided after a bit of a chat on Saturday is number one be a bit kinder to ourselves Yeah, and just but it was good to have that conversation and find out that we're both sort of going through and feeling the same sort of things at the same time which is it's not a good combination if you if you are closing in it as we do tend to be yeah as most families who live overseas are because generally that's what you have is you got right that really talk to each other if you're going through this as a couple or even with your kids we've been talking to our boys about it because we think it's important that they understand how we're feeling and why we might be less patient or less tolerant because we don't want them to think you know we Yeah, we don't want them to feel beaten up by us but we've really tried to explain to them how we're feeling and what's going on for us so that they are know a little bit more understanding a little bit more patient but talk to each other talk to your kids if you've if your kids are around Of course they are boys will be getting their first shot soon we hope so who knows how that's going to impact them but if you could think of the two things that you've struggled with the most What are they? Our sleep? Yeah, getting to sleep staying asleep quality of sleep and obviously the ramifications that that brings with it Yeah, General sort of energy level so definitely sleep for me. And it's really I think that's what's really added to my feeling of depression because I because I've had so little sleep for the last few weeks and I you know, I really struggle with that. What's the second thing so for me, the second thing will be a nutritional sort of gain. You know, it just so happens we're making a few changes so we're drinking quite a lot so like herbal teas and stuff like that rehydration is obviously one of the main things that we've got to say you know, to fight any kind of fever, you've got to keep very hydrated, just keep just keep your water levels up, eat as much good stuff as you possibly can. But don't be freaked out if nothing Appeals for the day. Literally, on Saturday, I woke up and I had a coffee and forced a little bit of time since me but I could have happily basically skipped dinner that night as well. Yeah. And so for me, the second thing would definitely be the way my brain is functioning at the moment. So part of getting older your brain you know, the foggy brain, something that people talk a lot about as you get older and that's definitely something I've felt and I struggle with, which again makes me sort of more internalized because I'm struggling to get my brain to work, but since we had the injection it's like tenfold brain fog. And you know I've done a couple of the no shows and oh my god it's so hard to concentrate it's so hard to stay focused it's so hard to stay on the ball so the amount of I think the exhaustion levels also come from the amount of energy that I put into trying to get my brain harnessed to do its job so they're the things that I've struggled with so but there's a knock on effect to that so when you do have to do when you do have to do something, whether it's for business or pleasure, but there's an element of stress, your body naturally rises to it and the way you get through it is a release of adrenaline that gets you going so I've watched you do two live broadcasts where I know you're really struggling and an hour and a half later when it finishes and the adrenaline starts to wear off is a small in a hate Yeah, which is to be expected which which most people will probably do anyway you know, with that sort of night anxiety but that does raise your stress level so you can still get through it. But you're going to need you're going to need as much slack an endurance athlete you're gonna need a longer recovery time to get through things that you have to do so just be kind to yourself you know don't don't make too many plans I mean tune plans in the evenings or weekends just give yourself time to rest and be as you need to be unfold into it and wherever you do that and fight it because he does absolutely no good. Yeah, what you resist persists, right? All right, there you go, guys, we're still married at the moment has been a close call. let you know. It's it's 335. Now we'll let you know how again at four o'clock, it's been like that stays Brian's already fallen apart. I'm expecting mine to start collapsing sort of roundabout this time in the afternoon that seems to go. But anyways, we just wanted to share that with you. And just yeah, we're all going through a pretty funny time. Be patient with each other. If you've been reaching out to either of us, and we haven't gotten back to you. It's purely because of the SN I I mean, I can't keep up with what's going on on social media and all my messaging challenge channels at the best of times, but this has made it even harder. My email boxes just overflowing. So I've just basically accepted that I can't keep up and I think you have to Yeah. Battles. Yeah, pick your battles. And our next battle, by the way is we're going to be facing two teenage boys that are about to get their first round of vaccinations within the next couple of weeks. So Wish us luck on that one. That could be another podcast, actually. Yeah. Exactly. teenage years with vaccination. Yeah. It could be nothing for them, right? Who knows? Anyway, there we go. Thanks, guys. This is uncommon courage with my lovely husband, Steve and my lovely wife, Ms. Andrea. Ms. Andrea Edwards. Ms. That's correct. Yes. And we'll finish off with your little thing chin and I know that Jenny Thurman will listen to these podcasts. She likes listening to the theme tune. Absolutely. He is a legend. Yeah, yeah. Legend music. Yeah. How many people get their own theme chain? Not many. Andrea, you're a special going on. Alright, see you soon. Bye bye. Day