Like other medical procedures and vaccinations, getting a Covid-19 vaccine is an essential consideration of protecting yourself against the coronavirus’s potential dangers and severe effects. Likewise, regular mammogram checkups from a resourceful mammogram center like this mammography imaging center help you stay safer by investigating the possibilities of diseases, including breast cancers, especially as a woman.
Reasons for timing your mammogram checkups after getting a COVID-19 vaccine
Although the main reason for getting a COVID-19 vaccine is to protect against the severe effects and dangers of contracting coronavirus, the vaccination contains several side effects leading to the changes in mammogram results. The same also have varying effects on other medical investigation results mainly because of side effects such as:
- Pain, swelling, redness at the vaccine injection site
Unlike other vaccinations, which result in bruises or signs of bites, the COVID-19 vaccine causes redness, swelling, and sometimes intense pain interfering with your normal bodily metabolic functioning, thus affecting the results of different medical examinations, including a mammogram. Usually, these signs and effects appear in a day or two after getting the injection. Still, they can last for a few days or weeks, thus the reason for timing your mammogram testing and other medical examinations, especially those whose results are easily affected by other procedures, including gastrointestinal examinations like Helicobacter pylori.
- Headaches and fever
Besides swelling and redness, the COVID-19 vaccine injection sometimes leads to headaches and unexplained fever. Because fever raises your body temperature levels to indicate your immune system is fighting disease-causing agents, experiencing it after receiving the vaccination triggers an internal condition where your cells fight bacteria and other organisms. Doing this means the body starts to have a disease-like condition that affects the results of varying medical examinations like mammograms. The same happens because these examinations indicate disease-like results with no infection but just the vaccine’s side effects. If fever develops, it usually takes about a day or two and goes away after a few days. Therefore, until the fever is gone, hold off on getting a mammogram or other medical exams.
- Muscle pain and fatigue
In addition to headaches, fever, and other side effects, the COVID-19 vaccination also leads to fatigue and muscle pain. When this happens, your body reacts in a disease-like characteristic, affecting any medical examination, including a mammogram. Because of this, wait for a few days before getting a mammogram test. Additionally, because people’s bodies react differently, instead of experiencing muscle pain and fatigue, you might experience chills. The same also causes changes in different medical examination results; thus vital to wait until such effects subside before getting any medical examination.
- It causes the enlargement of lymph nodes
Unlike the other side effects, the primary cause of changes in your mammogram results is the effects of the vaccination on lymph nodes. Once injected with the vaccine, your body’s lymphocytes and white blood cells react to the injection the same way it fights diseases. When this happens, the body initiates an immune response that automatically results in the enlargement of your lymph nodes. Medical examinations like mammograms automatically change their results when your lymph nodes enlarge, considering enlarged lymph nodes appear like signs of cancer growth. Therefore, it leads to false-positive mammogram results when this happens, hence the need for holding off your mammogram medical examination.
The right timing for getting a mammogram and other medical examination after getting the COVID-19 vaccination
Based on your bodily characteristics and the time of getting the COVID-19 vaccination, there is no standard timing for taking and undergoing a mammogram test. However, based on research, the right moment to get your COVID-19 vaccination and mammogram or other medical examination checkups is about two weeks before the first dose and four to six weeks after the second dose.
The reason for getting a mammogram or other medical examination tests two weeks before getting a COVID-19 vaccine is to ensure your body prepares for the coronavirus vaccine without needing other checkups within the specified time frame. On the other hand, the reason for undergoing a mammogram and other medical tests after four to six weeks after taking the COVID-19 vaccination is to ensure your lymph nodes come back to their standard sizes. Lymph nodes enlarge shortly, or sometimes automatically, due to the effects of the COVID-19 vaccine injection, meaning if you undergo cancer testing immediately, the results will be positive.
How to plan your COVID-19 vaccination and mammogram testing
To ensure your COVID-19 vaccination doesn’t bring cancer screening false results, consider embracing the following ways:
- Alert your providers about any recent immunization or other medical tests
Before getting your COVID-19 vaccination, alert your physician about recent medical tests, including a mammogram. Alerting your doctor will help them determine if it’s the right time for the vaccine based on the vaccine’s assumed bodily reactions. Also, when you have undergone a recent cancer screening, inform the radiologist about the first COVID-19 vaccine shot or the second so they’d determine the best ways to carry out the mammogram examination.
- Consider alternating your vaccine locations
Regardless of the side effects your body experiences from any vaccination, request getting the COVID-19 injection on alternative areas of your body. For instance, if your cancer screening is on the left breast, get the vaccine on the right arm. Doing this reduces the severity of the vaccine’s effects and impacts the results of another medical testing you undergo.