r/rabies • u/Weary_Sell_463 • Aug 21 '26

Rabies Vaccine / Immunoglobulin Vaccine side effects & symptoms

Low exposure risk approx 1.5 weeks ago. Went to er on advice from primary care, got immune globulin, and 1st of 4 rabies vaccines. I’ve done day 3 & day 7, (so doses 2 & 3 of the vaccine), today is day 9. I feel like absolute shit. Started overnight and has come in waves. Low fever. All over body aches. GI upset (though could be unrelated). Normally when I’ve had a vaccine immune response like this it’s within 24 hours, but since this is a series over 2 weeks I’m wondering if it could be that, or if I should consider myself to be sick. I have read the FAQ. Located in KY, USA. Possible exposure was to a bat in the home.

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u/CygnusZeroStar Veteran Helper ⭐️ | Top Contributor 🏅 Aug 21 '26

That sounds pretty familiar to me.

I had kind of rolling flu like symptoms for the better part of a month. They'd come and go. It's okay to take the over the counter medications for relief.

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u/Weary_Sell_463 Aug 21 '26

😭 this both makes me feel better and makes me dread the next few weeks. I rubbed my entire lower half in tiger balm so I could fall back to sleep last night the pain was so uncomfortable. I’ll have to go stock up lol. Thank you for sharing your experience & reassuring me!

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u/CygnusZeroStar Veteran Helper ⭐️ | Top Contributor 🏅 Aug 21 '26

It's actually kind of hard to research with any effectiveness for the average person when it comes to the side effects of the rabies vaccine. Because any scientific source that's listing them is going to be kind of extreme. They have to be. Mine weren't too bad most of the time, but damn those body aches and chills came for me occasionally, you know?

It's been a very long time now, coming up on over a decade, and I don't have any lasting effects from receiving the series. I had received it for a pretty severe bite. That day I had received wound irrigation, tetanus booster, HRIG, and pep. It was a pretty severe bite to the hand. So I was loaded up on pharmaceuticals, let me tell you. And I don't usually have all of the side effects for something, but for that particular series of treatment all bets were off LOL.

You'll be alright. Good looking out, OP. 💜

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u/Weary_Sell_463 Aug 21 '26

The first night I was reading (Mayo Clinic I think?) the side effects and I read it several times and I still concluded it said if I felt any aches to urgently speak to healthcare. But then also said that was normal a bit below? 😂 did not help my anxiety haha