Age: 39.0
Sex: F
Vaccine: COVID19, COVID19
Symptoms: Anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibody negative, Antinuclear antibody negative, Arthralgia, Asthenia, Back pain
Clinical narrative: Prior to receiving the Pfizer vaccine, I was extremely active. I started every morning around 6 am, often with a 2-3 mile walk. I would often use my lunch hours to run 7 miles and then would rock climb at the gym after work. I was extremely physically fit and prioritized working out. I have been involved in martial arts for the past 15 years and was used to pushing my body beyond it?s physical extreme. I was able to work through pain and discomfort and rarely ran out of energy. This all changed shortly after receiving the first dose of the covid 19 vaccine.  I first began to notice symptoms approximately 3 weeks after the first Pfizer vaccine (5.4.2021). As a long time meditator, I am used to meditating prior to falling asleep and then gently drifting off to sleep. I have rarely experienced difficulties with sleep and due to a high level of physical activity, I was always able to fall asleep quickly. Three weeks after receiving the first vaccine, I noticed a difference in my meditation. Suddenly I was no longer able to ?turn off? the meditation and was essentially trapped in a state between sleep and wakefulness. This would persist all night long, until the morning came and my body would completely crash in a deep depression. I would feel intense pain/pressure in the top of my head. In the morning, everything went black, and I became borderline suicidal. I could feel a palatable difference in my entire body and felt that my nervous system was overly activated and frayed. I had removed the Mirena IUD one month prior to receiving the vaccine and had bled one time prior to receiving the vaccine, so I assumed the inability to sleep was tied to my cycle.  Having not related the mania/depressive episode that had just occurred, I received the second vaccine 3 weeks later (5.27.21). Approximately three weeks after receiving the second vaccine, I began to feel joint pain in my fingers. The pain began in my fingers for the first couple weeks and then migrated to my elbows and throughout the rest of my body. While prior to receiving either vaccine, I was extremely physically fit and was accustomed to experiencing and enduring physical pain, this pain felt different. It felt deeper, as though it was in my nervous system. I had the overwhelming feeling that my nervous system had been hacked and was on overdrive. I instinctively knew that I should not push my body through this pain. It wasn?t muscular pain, but rather deep in the joints.Over the course of the next few months, the pain continued to migrate throughout my body and was predominantly localized in the joints. By December 2021, I was having difficulty walking, as the pain often localized in my right foot. Any pressure on my foot was intensely painful. I scheduled an appointment with my primary doctor, on December 16, 2021. My mom has Rheumatoid Arthritis, so I assumed this was the beginning stages of RA. ran my bloodwork to test for Rh factor and had me go to Imaging and Center for Radiology to do an x-ray on my right foot and hands. Most of the tests came back normal and so the doctor said to continue monitoring the symptoms. Over the course of the next couple months, the symptoms continued to worsen. I experienced increased difficulty falling asleep and felt electrical shocks coursing throughout my body that got worse in the evening. My partner would spend hours every night massaging my legs, feet and back as the pain would move constantly. It felt like someone was sending electrical currents all throughout my body. While during the day time, the pain would be localized in my legs, at night it would travel the rest of the body. At times I felt like I was laying on an electric shocking mat. I experienced severe migraines and head pain, which led to confusion, dizziness and brain fog. I would try to walk, but the pain was too intense. I lost roughly 10 lbs of muscle mass from May 2021 to December 2021 (130 lbs to 121 lbs). Prior to this, I had been a program manager in both the tech sphere and a start up, so was used to multi tasking and being able to think clearly. Suddenly simple tasks such as writing an email or a text message took more brain power than I had. I felt like I was in a fog and couldn?t think clearly as the pain, brain fog, confusion and electrical shocks were becoming more intense.  The pain continued to worsen and I scheduled a follow up appointment with Dr. on May 4, 2022. By this time the pain was so severe and specifically localized in my right foot, that I utilized crutches to walk, or would have my partner carry me from place to place. I continued to feel electrical shocks all throughout my body. Dr. referred me to Rheumatology and I saw Dr. that same day. Dr. ordered additional bloodwork and confirmed it was not RA and that it was an adverse response to the covid vaccine. We discussed trying Prednisone, but Dr. recommended waiting as she didn?t believe it to be RA related. I scheduled an appointment with Dr. at Natural Health on May 10, 2022. After reviewing all my bloodwork and medical history, Dr.  concluded it was an adverse effect of the covid 19 vaccine as well. He prescribed me with various supplements to support the body.  May 10, 2022 Standard Process  Tuna Oil (3 morning / 3 evening) Magnesium Lactate (2 morning / 2 evening) Lactic Acid Yeast (2 morning / 2 evening) Ashwagandha (1 morning / 1 evening) Apex Energetics Glutathione Recycler (2 morning / 2 evening)  Upon beginning the supplements, my body felt like it went in complete reverse. Once again, the electrical currents moved throughout my entire body, at an accelerated pace. It?s difficult to describe, but since I essentially watched the pain move into the body for so many days/night, I had become almost familiar with the pain and the way it circulated. Upon beginning the supplements, my body oscillated between a complete state of bliss/mania and extreme pain. I was in the bathtub for the next month. I kept the lights off as any light triggered intense pain in the head. As the pain moved throughout the body, I could almost follow it until it left my body. Yet everything was in reverse, so it began intensely in my foot, then moved through my legs, back, shoulders and eventually my mind. I became deplete in vitamins and minerals and eventually my body collapsed and I was excreting dark blood. Dr. concluded this was the body ridding itself of the toxins of the covid vaccine and that I needed to follow up to start supporting the body in a different way. I scheduled a follow up with Dr. on June 8, 2022 where Dr. changed my supplements to the following.   June 8, 2022 Standard Process Ashwagandha (1 morning / 1 evening) Chlorophyll (1 morning / 2 evening) Thyroid Complex (1 morning / 1 evening) Black Currant Seed oil (1 morning / 2 evening) Zinc Chelate (2 morning / 2 evening) After beginning the next round of supplements, I felt an immediate relief to the most acute symptoms. That being said, I spent the next two months slowly removing myself from the bathtub. I had several communications with Dr.  to moderate or add any additional supplements depending on the symptoms. All the while, I was also receiving weekly acupuncture treatments with Dr. in order to modulate the pain. On April 14, 2022 I tested positive for covid for the first time since the start of the pandemic. I experienced very similar symptoms to those experienced from the vaccine, but again at an accelerated, yet slightly less severe pace. I experienced intense body pain that moved throughout the muscles and joints. On the third day I experienced a severe manic/depressive episode and felt borderline suicidal again. The symptoms from the acute covid infection seemed to clear up within 7-10 days, but I was still experiencing the joint pain, especially in my right foot, and feeling brain fog and confusion.  I reached out to Dr. and he recommended to take bile salts to help restore electrolyte function and support the body through the dehydration. I also drank elderberry syrup and increased Vit D intake. During a brief visit home, I continued to experience electrical shocks and pain throughout my body. I scheduled an appointment with my local acupuncturist, Dr. who I first saw when I was in my early 20s. I also scheduled a couple appointments with Dr.  Chiropractic, to help regulate the pain. I returned to Dr. to get additional bloodwork on August 23, 2022. According to Dr. the bloodwork was still normal. At this point, my weight had dropped another 10 pounds and I weighed 108 pounds.  I scheduled a follow up appointment with Dr. on Aug 26, 2022 to review the bloodwork with him. His assessment was that my body was detoxing from the negative effects of the vaccine. He prescribed: Aug 26, 2022 Standard Process Tuna Oil (3 morning / 3 evening) Magnesium Lactate (2 morning / 2 evening) Ashwagandha (1 morning / 1 evening) Thyroid Complex (1 morning / 1 evening)  Apex Energetics Gabatone (1 mid day / 2 evening)  In addition, Dr. prescribed the following herbal supplements Guang Ci Tang Blood Stasis Clear (4 morning / 4 mid day / 4 evening) NeuroSoothe (4 morning / 4 mid day / 4 evening)  Now Brand Vit D ? 5000 IUs daily Vitamins and Minerals (2 morning)  I scheduled a follow up phone consultation with Dr. for October 25, 2022. While the pain was easing a bit, I was continuing to have difficulty sleeping. The electrical shock pains had subsided a bit, but Dr. diagnosed as fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome.  The pain continued on and off, but was easing a bit, so I scheduled a follow up appointment with Dr. for Nov 9th. At this point he prescribed: Nov 9, 2022 Standard Process Enzycore (2 morning / 2 evening) Black Currant Seed Oil (1 morning / 2 evening) Ashwagandha (1 morning / 1 evening) Cataplex B (3 morning / 3 evening)  Biotics Research Bio-dorph 7 (1 morning / 2 evening)  In addition, Dr. prescribed the following herbal supplements Guang Ci Tang Blood Stasis Clear (4 morning / 4 mid day / 4 evening) NeuroSoothe (4 morning / 4 mid day / 4 evening)  Now Brand Vit D ? 5000 IUs daily Vitamins and Minerals (2 morning)  I scheduled a follow up appointment with Dr. on Feb 14th, 2023. At this point he prescribed: Feb 14, 2023 Standard Process Tuna Oil (2 morning / 2 mid day / 2 evening) Mini Chex (2 morning / 2 mid day / 2 evening) Ashwagandha (1 morning / 1 evening)  Biotics Research Bio-dorph 7 (1 morning / 1 mid day / 1 evening) In addition, Dr. prescribed the following herbal supplements Guang Ci Tang Blood Stasis Clear (6 morning / 6 evening) NeuroSoothe (6 morning / 6 evening)  Now Brand Vit D ? 5000 IUs daily Vitamins and Minerals (2 morning)  I scheduled a follow up appointment with Dr. on April 27th, 2021. At this point, the mental fogginess has mostly cleared up and the pain in much reduced.  Beginning in Dec 2022, I began seeing Dr. at Acupuncture for weekly appointments to help manage the pain. In October 2022, I began volunteering 3-4 hours a week at the acupuncture non profit clinic to see if this might help with brain functioning. The work is very rudimentary (washing cups and signing in clients), but it was still extremely exhausting.  I was feeling better around the beginning of Jan 2023 and joined their payroll in attempts to recoup some of the losses over the last year and a half of not working, but still could work only sparsely. After a 3-4 hour shift, I need to go home and sleep for 1-2 hours to recuperate. I worked roughly 10-15 hours/month for the next couple months. The pain is less severe and I am starting to become more physically active. Nevertheless, I must moderate my schedule to allow for long breaks. I still don?t have the energy that I used to and instead of running 7-10 miles, I can walk about a mile and a half. I continue to struggle with physical activity and have to take a 1-3 hour nap most days. Writing can still be challenging. I am finally driving a bit more, but from the period of Nov 2021-Jan 2023, the mental fog, confusion and pain was too severe that I wasn?t comfortable operating a vehicle. I currently struggle with fatigue and, when I am able to sleep, will sleep 10-12 + hours per night and rest for 1-2 hours during the day. I don?t know if I will ever gain the strength and endurance to be at the physical state that I was prior to the vaccine, but, despite ups and downs, I hope to continue to improve.