Korean Expat Community for National Disasters

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During my stay in Korea, I have been fortunate that I have never been sick until last month when I got my second dose of covid vaccine. I got my first dose at the end of August 2021. After that shot, I didn't see my body reacting much, I just had a little pain in my arm, especially the injection point within 2 days. I didn't have a fever, nor fatigue at all. I assumed that it might be because I always exercise regularly and have a healthy diet. Therefore, in the second injection, I was very confident that it would probably be just as good as the first time. However, the results surprised me, and it was the first time I got sick since I came to Korea. That night I had a high fever, over 39 Celsius degrees. Because I lived alone, I was so scared, and I stayed in bed until morning. I tried to wake up to eat something and then took medicine. When I got out of bed, I was sore all over, especially the injection point. I couldn't raise my hand. I had the feeling that I didn't have any energy left. On that day, I had to take 4 pills to reduce my body temperature. I tried to eat a lot of vegetables and fruits and drank fresh milk because I was so tired, and I couldn't eat rice. On the third day, the symptoms were significantly reduced, I stopped having a fever and only had body aches and fatigue. I kept trying to eat a lot of fruit and some porridge. Finally, I was completely recovered after five days.

Then, I looked for the reasons that caused my body to react like that. By reading a lot of papers on the internet, I know that after getting the vaccination, some of our white blood cells—namely mast cells and macrophages—start releasing heaps of molecules into our blood. Mast cells got their name because they were originally believed to help feed the tissue around them, and the mast is German for “fattening”; macrophages are literally “large eaters” that can invaginate themselves to engulf disease-causing microorganisms or dead cells. Some of the molecules they release post-vaccination are vasodilators, which inflate local blood vessels. It means that more blood cells can come and interact with the injected solution, but it also means redness and swelling. The pain itself at the site of injection can be caused by blood cells releasing certain molecules like cytokines, prostaglandins and directly binding to pain receptors. When a threshold is met, like hitting a funfair's strength tester strong enough to trigger the bell, you experience pain. Some of a vaccine's side effects are systemic: they affect the entire body. This is because some of the molecules unleashed by our blood cells don't stay at the site of injection. They are, after all, present in the blood, so some are swept away and taken to other parts of the body. For example, they can interact with our central nervous system. This prostaglandin can instruct the brain to constrict blood vessels, to start producing more heat internally, to give us chills, and to guide us to seek sources of heat: essentially, a fever.

Through my experience of my first sickness, I would like to recommend that when we are sick and alone, the most important things are to keep an optimistic attitude and try to eat and rest well. I hope all of you are healthy, and none of us is sick when we are staying in Korea.