Age: 34.0
Sex: F
Vaccine: COVID19, COVID19, COVID19
Symptoms: Peripheral swelling, Red blood cell sedimentation rate increased, White blood cell count increased
Clinical narrative: I received the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine on April 6, 2021. My symptoms began 10 days later. It all started with upper back muscle aches, on the same side as the vaccine injection. At first, I thought perhaps I pulled a muscle at a workout class, however after the third day of fatigue, the pain started intensifying throughout my body. My knees, ankles, wrists, back, neck and head started intensely aching and turned to flu-like fatigue and a low-grade fever which rendered me bedridden and unable to sleep or move much.   On 4/21, I checked into urgent care where both my COVID-19 and influenza vaccines were negative, so I was instructed to go to the ER to be evaluated for possible meningitis. At the ER, I mentioned separately to both the doctor and a nurse that I believed my symptoms could be related to the vaccine, but they both promptly dismissed the idea and discharged me with a ?muscle ache.?  For two days I was in relentless pain, which left me basically moaning and crying for hours on end. Several of my previous gymnastics injuries from when I was in my teens had resurfaced. My knee swelled up so badly that I couldn?t walk, my previous fractured wrists started aching, my left foot became inflamed, ankles ached, and a rare skin disease I had when I was 19, erythema nodosum, large painful welts on the legs, also re-emerged.   On 4/23, I saw my primary care doctor who also dismissed the idea of my condition being vaccine-related and misdiagnosed me with a respiratory infection, prescribing muscle relaxers that did nothing to ease the discomfort. Three days later I went back in to see her after my condition worsened and she ran labs and suggested it could be an STD (it was not).   On 4/28, the pain was intolerable, and I checked into a different ER where they admitted me to the hospital, ran labs and kept me overnight because my heart rate was so high. It was at a different hospital where the Infectious Disease doctor, finally diagnosed me with having a severe allergic reaction to the COVID-19 vaccine and told me that he had seen other similar cases. I was discharged and put on Dexamethasone.  My steroid dose ended on 5/3, and one day later, I started experiencing violent sickness along with the same arthritic symptoms as before, so I checked back into the ER where my knee was drained because there was worry of infection (it was not infected) and I was put on a longer, tapered course of steroid (prednisone) and referred to a Rheumatologist who ruled out autoimmune diseases and confirmed this was a reaction to the vaccine.  I finished the second round of steroids last week and am experiencing the same symptoms all over again, swelling and inflammation of the knee, severe pain in the right psoas, right toe pain, severe neck aches, and sleepless nights. I wanted to avoid a third round of steroids but couldn't endure the pain and swelling and it got to the point where I could barely walk or move, so I'm back on a third course for 15 more days. In the meantime, I am seeing a naturopath and a Traditional Chinese Medicine Doctor in hopes that they can provide more support than what I've been given elsewhere and that I can get back to  work and to living a normal life again.