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Pfizer vaccine side effects

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Bradders57

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Hi
I recently had my 2nd Pfizer vaccination. About 2 weeks after I noticed that my blood sugar readings started to increase, prior to the vaccination I was getting mainly 4s, 5s and 6s; now my readings are 7s, 8s and 9s. Could this be due to a side effect of the vaccine or is something else happening that would need investigating. My diet and exercise regime have not changed.
Thanks for any response.
 
Bradders57 said:
Could this be due to a side effect of the vaccine
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Yes, could be.

Based on the experiences of people on the forum, either vaccine can increase, decrease, or not change BG (amongst other side effects). Usually it doesn't seem to last more than a week or so.
 
As with everything diabetes relates, we are all different. Some people have seen rises in their blood sugars, some have seen no change and some have seen them fall.
Some have lasted a couple of days. Mine lasted more than a month. But I don't believe I have read anyone reporting the change started a couple of weeks after the jab.

Unfortunately, with so many things that can affect our levels, it is often challenging to pinpoint the candidate.
It may be the jab but I would still look to discount other things.
For example, I know some people have seen changes in their levels due to the hot weather and hayfever.
 
For me the increase lasted 3 months and I had to double my basal insulin to cover it. I had the Oxford AZ vaccine. It started to reduce again in May but still not back to pre vaccine levels
 
helli said:
As with everything diabetes relates, we are all different. Some people have seen rises in their blood sugars, some have seen no change and some have seen them fall.
Some have lasted a couple of days. Mine lasted more than a month. But I don't believe I have read anyone reporting the change started a couple of weeks after the jab.

Unfortunately, with so many things that can affect our levels, it is often challenging to pinpoint the candidate.
It may be the jab but I would still look to discount other things.
For example, I know some people have seen changes in their levels due to the hot weather and hayfever.
Click to expand...
For me, I had erratic levels both up and down for a few days afterwards and then it was a slow gradual increase which became noticeable after about a week or two. I think because of the nature of diabetes being variable it is probably only after a week or so that you start to think this isn't normal variation but a noticeable trend. I was just fire fighting the increase with QA insulin initially but as it became obvious that it wasn't short term, I had to start increasing basal to cover it. I think, as a Type 2 with good control it might be less obvious as to what was going on until 2 weeks after.

I know @Martin.A had a similar experience with his Type2 levels and it lasted a couple of months. I do wonder if the vaccine may have triggered a heightened immune response which included having a go at remaining Beta cells in the pancreas and that Type 2 diabetics who experienced this increase in BG may actually be misdiagnosed LADA.

Out of interest @Bradders57 Can you tell us a bit about how long you have been diagnosed and how you came to be diagnosed and if you fit the more typical Type 2 profile of having a high BMI at diagnosis and perhaps an inactive lifestyle, or if you were reasonably fit and not carrying too much weight? ... Oh... And welcome to the forum.... since I see this is your first post!
 
rebrascora said:
For me, I had erratic levels both up and down for a few days afterwards and then it was a slow gradual increase which became noticeable after about a week or two. I think because of the nature of diabetes being variable it is probably only after a week or so that you start to think this isn't normal variation but a noticeable trend. I was just fire fighting the increase with QA insulin initially but as it became obvious that it wasn't short term, I had to start increasing basal to cover it. I think, as a Type 2 with good control it might be less obvious as to what was going on until 2 weeks after.

I know @Martin.A had a similar experience with his Type2 levels and it lasted a couple of months. I do wonder if the vaccine may have triggered a heightened immune response which included having a go at remaining Beta cells in the pancreas and that Type 2 diabetics who experienced this increase in BG may actually be misdiagnosed LADA.

Out of interest @Bradders57 Can you tell us a bit about how long you have been diagnosed and how you came to be diagnosed and if you fit the more typical Type 2 profile of having a high BMI at diagnosis and perhaps an inactive lifestyle, or if you were reasonably fit and not carrying too much weight? ... Oh... And welcome to the forum.... since I see this is your first post!
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Hi Barbara
I was diagnosed Type 2 in about 2003, and started an insulin regime about 10 years later. All the male members of my family, going back to my grandfather had diabetes so I was not surprised when I was diagnosed. I am overweight, BMI hovers around 30, and for a 64 year old I do a reasonable amount of exercise.
 
I was doing some tiding up and came across the information sheet given out when I had the first vaccine and nowhere does it mention that people should be aware of erratic blood glucose behaviour if diabetic. Other side effects mentioned but not that.
Possibly they didn't want to put people off having the vaccine.
 
Bruce Stephens said:
Or they didn't really know. Or they expected that (like an infection) the vaccines could well increase BG a bit but that we'd expect that (and didn't know that it might instead lower it).
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Or maybe because it is pretty well known that medication can affect blood sugars.
 
As they do the trails on healthy people , they most probably did not have any Diabetics in the trails.
 
Hope your BGs begin to settle back into where you’d expect them to be soon @Bradders57
 
Bruce Stephens said:
I'm not sure. I don't think people with diabetes were excluded from participating but I may be mistaken.
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I don’t know about the trials of Pfizer but I know of people with Type 1 involved in other covid 19 vaccine trials.
grovesy said:
As they do the trails on healthy people , they most probably did not have any Diabetics in the trails.
Click to expand...
I may have diabetes but I do not consider myself unhealthy and don’t think we are labelled as such.
 
Hi
After 7/8 years of well controlled Hb1aC's (T2 diagnosis at the time) (had 6 monthly check ups no regular BG monitoring) I am now diagnosed as LADA (T1.5!). I was overweight but not obese and have multiple other autoimmune conditions, all controlled. The only thing that has changed in the last 4 months has been the Pfizer vaccine. I am considering reporting the rise in BG as a side effect as landed in A&E!
 
Ouch! Sorry to hear you wound up in A&E. It does sound as though you've been misdiagnosed all that time though and you've just run out of beta cells to keep you going.

The pfizer jab 2 gave me a couple of 7.0 fasting readings but that was it.
 
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