Age: 66.0
Sex: M
Vaccine: VARZOS
Symptoms: Abdominal pain upper, Back pain, Cold sweat, Computerised tomogram normal, Decreased appetite
Clinical narrative: This spontaneous report as received from a consumer refers to her husband, a 67 year old patient. It was reported the patient was a very healthy individual, the healthiest of all his friends and co-workers, still working full time. He was not overweight, had exercised regularly and was very active. On 09-JUL-2013, the patient was vaccinated at the pharmacy with a dose of zoster vaccine (manufacturer unspecified) injection (strength, dose, frequency, route of administration, indication, lot # and expiry date unspecified) on the advice of his primary care physician. Patient did not take any concomitant medication. On 16-NOV-2014 in the afternoon, the patient was not feeling well, but could not describe it. On 17-NOV-2014, the awful pain started. Patient was not sure if he had a kidney stone or appendix pain. The pain seemed to travel from front to back. Patient went to the emergency room in the evening of 17-NOV-2014, where the physician ordered labs (unspecified), urine, and computerised tomography (CT) scan. Everything came back normal (17-NOV-2014) and the patient was given three pain pills and told to contact his primary care physician if pain continued. That evening pain was so bad between 10:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m., the patient took all the pain medication with no relief. On 19-NOV-2014, the patient did see a family nurse practitioner (FNP) at his primary care physician's office. The FNP did not know what the problem was, so treated him with prednisone for a possible herniated disk and pain pills for possible strained abdominal wall muscle. The patient took his medicine like clock work and was able to go to work on 20-NOV-2014 because of the drug (prednisone). On 21-NOV-2014, he started to break out in the rash. Patient went to the clinic and the physician assistant (PA) told that in fact it was shingles and it most likely was shingles all along and prescribed the anti-viral drug and nerve pain drug. Consumer stated the patient was on both and on 02-DEC-2014, he was still on the couch in pain, he had two new prescriptions for pain medications and could not seem to get a full night sleep. His stomach and back, if not paining, were both extremely sore. It did itch at times, but when he scratched the itch it was very painful. Consumer saw the doctor again in December 2014 (reported as two weeks ago) and he told him to take the nerve pain pill twice a day, instead of once and to continue with the pain pills as well. Patient seemed to be experiencing the pain in the early morning and later afternoon- early evening between 4:40p.m. and 7:30p.m. The pain did not go away or lessen as time gone on without pain pills. He also had times when he itched on his stomach and back and side (right side). Patient had a fading rash, but still visible and did not develop to the point of blisters. In 2014, he was extremely fatigued and could not do much else other than sleep. He did not have much of an appetite, but tried to eat each meal, although smaller than usually. His right upper thigh felt like it was wet all the time and when he was taking a shower his right leg has goose bumps all over it. On 22-DEC-2014, the patient was still on the coach. Since the first day of the shingles outbreak, he had only been able to work 2 and 1/2 days. The days he worked did him in completely fatigued and in pain. It was fifth week of the very painful shingles with no relief in sight. Patient would have to consider going on disability soon. The outcome of shingles was reported as not recovered. The outcome of all other adverse event was unknown. The relatedness between the events and zoster vaccine (manufacturer unspecified) was not reported. Additional information has been requested.