The mRNA vaccines in particular have been found to increase the length of your period. It’s not thought to be a concern.
You may have heard it from your friends, or you maybe you experienced it yourself: weird changes in your period after getting your COVID-19 vaccine. When women first voiced their concerns about this early on in the vaccine rollout, experts seemed to turn a blind eye. And to shut down those ideas. It wasn’t thought to be possible. In fact, at Ratemds, we even wrote about it in April 2021 and how doctors and scientists thought it was just stress impacting women’s periods and not their COVID shot.
But since then, people are starting to take note and change their minds. Guess what? It’s not yet another case of women simply raising an alarm because we’re “so emotional”. (Where did that ever come from anyways?) Some women are experiencing legitimate changes to their menstrual cycles as a side effect of getting a coronavirus vaccine. Here are three things you should know about the issue and what to look out for:
1) COVID-19 vaccines have increased the average menstrual cycle by about a day.
A study involving almost 4,000 women found that those who had received a COVID-19 vaccine experienced a lengthening of their period. While it was relatively short- a little less than a day on average- it was noticeable.
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2) Most of the Changes Were Noticed in Connection with mRNA vaccines.
Of the women involved in the study cited above, 55% of the vaccinated participants had received Pfizer’s vaccine, 35% got Modrena’s, and 7% had received the Jonhson & Johnson vaccine. Most of the changes were experienced by women who received two doses of an mRNA vaccine (Pfizer or Moderna) within one menstrual cycle. For most women, these changes were temporary and resolved within a few months, but not for all.
3) It’s thought that the strong immune response triggered by the vaccine is to blame.
Why are these changes happening? Your immune system and your reproductive system are linked. Signaling immune cells can affect your body’s natural clock, said Dr. Alison Edelman, the professor of obstetrics and gynecology who led the study, to NPR.org.
What do we think? We’ve heard about at least one woman who had their period solidly for three weeks, without end immediately upon receiving her first COVID-19 vaccine. Since then, things have gotten better. But it shows, very anecdotally, that women with a history of conditions like ovarian cysts and endometriosis could possibly be at risk for heavier side effects affecting their menstrual cycle following a COVID-19 vaccine.
What’s the takeaway?
Dr. Edelman points out that researchers haven’t yet seen anything concerning when it comes to COVID-19 vaccinations and how they relate to fertility or pregnancy. And COVID-19 CAN affect your health to a great degree, especially if you’re about to have a baby.
“The risk of COVID-19 disease in pregnant women is incredibly serious,” said Edelman, who has witnessed pregnant women end up in intensive care because they were not vaccinated.
Talk to your doctor about your concerns and get vaccinated to protect yourself.
photo credits: Photoroyalty/Shuttestock.com
