Age: 61.0
Sex: F
Vaccine: FLUX, FLUX
Symptoms: Discomfort, Middle insomnia, Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging abnormal, Pain, Pain in extremity
Clinical narrative: Needle injury. My husband and I went together to get our annual Flu shots. We noticed the pharmacist seemed clumsy while getting out supplies, but didn't know there could be a serious problem since we had never had problems with a vaccine before. The pharmacist gave me a shot first. It felt like he had done it too hard. Then he gave my husband a shot and blood was dripping down my husband's arm and the pharmacist was slow to do anything about it. When someone has been well trained or has lot of experience their movements are smooth and quick. They have the cotton ball ready to go and the bandaid, but he was klutzy. My arm hurt then but I thought it would go away in a couple of days. Instead it kept hurting so I took some OTC pain pills. Then I noticed that certain movements of my left arm (where the shot was given) hurt so much I stopped making those movements. Straight movements were ok but nothing to the side or back or up, as when putting my hair in a ponytail. I couldn't pick up my toddler grandkids anymore. I now wear shirts that button down the front because it hurts too much to put my arm thru a sleeve with an upwards and sideways motion. When I would roll onto my left side in bed it hurt, and I am a left-side sleeper. This keeps waking me up throughout the night. After 2 months of thinking it would get better on its own, thinking if he had hit a nerve there wouldn't be much that could be done anyway, I did some Internet research and found that it has been given a name: SIRVA. I read accounts of women who experienced what I was going through. I still gave it a few more weeks since some of the women said nothing had helped. Then with the pain still bad and certain movements very painful I went to see my primary care doctor. We ruled out a blood clot with an ultrasound, then after a second visit also did an xray of the left humerus, then an MRI of the humerus. This MRI showed degenerative changes of the shoulder so I then had an MRI of the shoulder. The MRI of the shoulder showed a partial thickness tear of the supraspinatus tendon. At time at my desk job I have pain up and down my arm, and I avoid the movements that are very painful. I take 5 ALEVE a day. If I don't take ALEVE even just holding my arm straight I can feel pain, sometimes a deep ache. I have to try to put my arm on an extra pillow in a certain way to try to get sleep. I use heat daily to help with the discomfort and have iced the upper arm/shoulder a few times also. A friend who is a physical therapist showed me 2 exercises/stretches to do telling me I couldn't stop using my shoulder completely or it would be even worse. I have now scheduled an appointment with an orthopedist. I don't know if I will eventually need surgery or not. This all started with the Flu shot. It was not the vaccine; it was his use of the needle. In one of the article I read it mentioned that most of the people this has happened to are women who are not very big. I weight 125 lbs. Articles about this state that the pain can last for months or years.