Age: 34.0
Sex: F
Vaccine: COVID19
Symptoms: Dysphagia, Dyspnoea, Echocardiogram, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, Electrocardiogram
Clinical narrative: Since my adverse reaction to the vaccine in March 2021 and the ongoing health issues that ensued, I?ve been NEWLY diagnosed with: Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (via positive autonomic tilt table test) Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (via 24-hour urine n-methylhistamine test and clinical exam) Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, hypermobile subtype (via clinical history and exam) Chronic venous insufficiency (via venous reflux ultrasound) Idiopathic small fiber neuropathy Hypersomnia  A summary of what happened is as follows:  Within 10 minutes of receiving the vaccine, I experienced a throat-closing sensation, tachycardia, shortness of breath/air hunger. Within an hour, I experienced a ?crash? during which my heart rate plummeted and I was struggling to stay conscious. Within 2 hours of receiving the vaccine, I noticed a large, red, spiderweb-patterned rash on my left thigh (nowhere near the injection site). I?m happy to provide a photo of this rash on request. The rash did not itch, and it was gone before the end of the day. I returned to a kind of equilibrium by the end of the day but was nauseous and exhausted.  Over the following two weeks, I developed increasingly debilitating symptoms: - Extreme muscle/joint pain and weakness, especially in my back and legs. At its worst, I was struggling to walk. - Extreme dermatographia (even my clothes just resting against my body would create large painful welts) and hives - Passing pus and mucus with bowel movements - Unable to have complete bowel movements - Nausea, low appetite, and abdominal pain - Constant muscle fasciculations in legs, arms, abdomen - Intermittent numbness and tingling of arms, back - Trouble with swallowing water - After eating: headache, nausea, throat-closing feeling, dizziness, ears and face flush - Inability to regulate body temperature: intermittent sweating, chills, cold extremities  I was admitted to the hospital April 9 by a neurologist, who was especially concerned about the increasing muscle/joint pain, weakness, and numbness in my legs. I was released after a 3 day stay when the doctor felt confident that Guillain-Barre and MS had been ruled out via MRI (though I did not receive a spinal tap), though no one had identified what was actually going on.  Later in April 2021, I saw an allergist who did a skin prick test for an IgE-mediated allergy to several ingredients in the Moderna vaccine. I reacted to every ingredient and the control due to my dermatographia (and had to take my inhaler and Benadryl later that night) but not, to their estimation, because of an actual IgE-mediated allergy. I was still recommended not to receive another mRNA shot for the time being.  My most acute symptoms began to subside on their own within 3-4 weeks of my hospitalization, though the extreme dermatographia lasted until late summer of 2021, and I never returned to my level of relative health before the vaccine. I still struggled with rashes and hives that would come and go, anaphylactic reactions to food (though I didn?t know that was what was happening at the time), nausea and GI issues, flushing and chills, joint pain, chest pain, etc.  I was finally diagnosed appropriately after seeing the right specialists in fall of 2021 when I began to decline again after experiencing anaphylaxis in response to eating something with no ingredients I had had an issue with before. I began experiencing ?rolling? anaphylaxis in response to everything I ate for weeks. I eventually found 5 or 6 safe ingredients and was limited to only those foods for months. I lost a third of my body weight and was prescribed hypoallergenic infant formula by my doctor to supplement my nutrition. I was bedbound from pain and exhaustion. Many of the symptoms I had experienced since the vaccine in spring returned full-force.   I began an intense course of many medications and supplements in the winter of 2021/2022, as well as physical therapy, and since then have seen some improvement, though it has been incredibly slow and difficult. My current list of medications is as follows:  Azelastine .15 1 spray per nostril 2x/day Cromolyn 200mg 3x/day (30 min before meals) Elmiron 100mg 1x/day Ferrous sulfate (iron) 325mg 1x/day Folic Acid 1mg 1x/day Low-dose naltrexone 4.5mg 1x/day Magnesium 250mg 1x/day Mestinon (pyridostigmine) 60mg 3x/day Midodrine 5mg 2x/day Omeprazole 40mg 1x/day Quercetin 500mg 2x/day Ursodiol 300mg 2x/day Vitamin B12 (cyanocobalamin) 1mL injection 2x week Vitamin C (corn free) 1,000mg 1x/day Vitamin D (vegan) 25mcg (1,000IU) 1x/day Zoloft (sertraline) 25mg 1x/day Zyrtec (cetirizine) 10mg 2x/day Albuterol Two puffs every 4-6 hours as needed Benadryl 25mg every 4-6 hrs as needed Epinephrine (EpiPen) .3mg 1 injection as needed Hydrocortisone As needed Pimelcrolimus 1% cream as needed Tizanidine 2-4mg 1x/night as needed Triamcinolone .1% cream as needed  I am still mostly housebound, on a diet limited to 35-40 safe ingredients (and still require supplementation with infant formula), require 10 hours of sleep a night plus naps during the day and I?m still exhausted, and cannot do many things I used to do either without pain or at all.  In retrospect, now that I?m appropriately diagnosed with MCAS, POTS, and hEDS, it looks as if I was experiencing an extreme flare-up of these conditions in response to the Moderna shot. With hindsight, I can see some signs of these conditions present throughout my life before the vaccine, but I have to be absolutely clear that they were not debilitating before the vaccine. It?s as if the Moderna vaccine flipped a switch on them. I have not been the same since.  I have had to leave my career and have not been able to work even part-time (despite trying) since October 2021. I am heavily medicated now, and my worst symptoms are thankfully under control, but I still deal with multiple symptoms every single day.