Age: 34.0
Sex: F
Vaccine: COVID19, COVID19
Symptoms: Poor quality sleep, Red blood cell sedimentation rate normal, Sensory disturbance, Small fibre neuropathy
Clinical narrative: I was a healthy and very active 34 year old woman who had just had my first child 1.5 years before the vaccine. I have a hx of Hashimotos Disease (an autoimmune thyroid disorder) where I have to take Levothyroxine medication every morning but overall a healthy woman. I was concerned about the vaccine since I have an autoimmune disorder and was worried this may trigger another autoimmune disorder. I had received my second Covid-19 Pfizer vaccine in August of 2021. Twelve hours after the vaccine was administered I started experiencing while I was sleeping overnight full body vibrations throughout my whole body lasting a few seconds and happening a few times that night. The next morning I woke up feeling pins and needles, tingling, and shooting zapping sharp pain scattered throughout my body and head. My legs felt completely "off" and weak. I was very scared and my husband with my 1.5 year old son drove me to the ER. I had a CT scan of my head and lab work done and all the tests came back normal. I was told by the ER doctor to follow up with my PCP and be referred to a neurologist. The next couple of days the symptoms worsened with severe burning pain all over my body, more tingling, pins and needles, muscle twitches, shooting zap pain all over my body and head, insomnia ( I could not sleep well for years without using an OTC sleeping aide medication) as I felt like my entire nervous system was in fight and flight mode. This was incredibly hard as I had to wake up and care for a toddler and feeling so sleep deprived. My son is now almost 5 years old and I feel like the Sertraline and the Gabapentin combination has now helped me sleep better without using an OTC sleeping medication. I realized the burning pain worsened with my menstrual cycles and during ovulation period of each month, stress, anxiety, and being physical active chasing a very active toddler boy around as I was also a stay at home mother. I went to multiple doctor visits including my PCP, rheumatologist, 3 neurologists, therapy sessions and not getting any answers for about 7 months! I felt like I was not being heard and doctors trying to blame it on anxiety and stress. I have never experienced this pain or symptoms before as I was healthy prior to this. I was very frustrated and upset how I was being treated and it seemed like nobody believed me. I was suffering alone and trying to keep it together for my family. I was feeling very depressed and overwhelmed by all of this. I had multiple tests done, CT scan of head, lab work including nerve antibody testing, MRI cervical spine, EMG all coming back normal. I had to be my own advocate and continued to find an answer and listen to my body that is something is seriously wrong. I was referred to a neurologist at Hospital. The neurologist listened to me and believed my pain as he was seeing many patients with the same issues as me from vaccines. He ordered a punch biopsy from my lower leg confirmed I had small fiber neuropathy. I have been taking Gabapentin for the pain and Sertraline for anxiety since this all started. I tried two courses of Prednisone by mouth x 3 weeks each time I had taken it and Naltrexone by mouth once a day x 6 months with no improvement. I tried acupuncture x 6 months with little improvement and I have been doing PT for 8 months for muscle strength that has been helping me get stronger but it does not help with the nerve pain and muscle twitching that is all over by body. The worst pain is that it flares with my menstrual cycles which happens each month so its such a viscous cycle. Some of my symptoms have gotten a little better but it is very slowly recovering. It has been a very long 3 years and a complete nightmare of a journey! I am worried this is permanent damage and I will never be back to where I was in my life before. I was also a RN before I had my son and I have not returned back to work since I feel like this has impacted my job as standing on my feet for long periods of time as a nurse and being a nurse is a very physical demanding job. This injury caused me to have a disability to do this type of work that I worked very hard for. I continue to struggle in chronic pain everyday of my life and getting this vaccine is my biggest regret and decision I have made. I thought by getting the vaccine I was protecting myself and my family as the government and media was scaring us to get it. Now that I have gotten the vaccine I feel like I am not getting any help from the government and the healthcare system can't really help that much since they do not know how to treat since they do not know much about the vaccine. There has to be more research for this in the future especially if they are giving this to children. I refuse to give this to my child. I have had baby number 2 on hold because of this as well as I thought I was going to be better by now.