Age: 85.0
Sex: F
Vaccine: COVID19
Symptoms: Arthralgia, Mobility decreased, Pain, Pain in extremity, Sleep disorder
Clinical narrative: SUMMARY:  New onset of arthritis-like joint pain affecting bilateral fingers, wrists, elbows, shoulders, and knees. Pain onset was temporally associated with the second COVID-19 vaccine shot. It began within one week of the shot and has persisted since then. "At times it is extremely painful and throbs. It affects me at night and sometimes the pain keeps me awake, but it is especially bad in the mornings. Sometimes I have pain both in pulling the blanket over me at night and taking it off in the morning. It has gotten so bad that I dread getting up each day. Some days I can barely get out of bed. I do feel better after I am up and moving around. Oddly, the pain moves from one area to another, affecting different joints in my body. It doesn't stay consistently in the same joint(s). It is really weird. I've had occasional aches before, such as in my lower back, but I have never felt anything like this. It is definitely new and came on all of a sudden. I believe that the vaccine triggered something in my immune system that has caused this new joint pain. CHRONOLOGY: I had my first Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine shot on February 10, 2021. Three weeks later,    I had my second shot on March 4, 2021. Ever since then (beginning approximately on March 10, 2021), I have had these new and very bizarre aches in my joints.   It started in my left fingers. They felt extremely stiff in the mornings and I had numbness and tingling in my hand. It felt like I couldn't even move it. It was weird. I have never felt anything like it before. It's not you usual "pins and needles" when your arm "goes to sleep." Shortly after that, it affected my right hand too. Some mornings it is almost impossible to straighten them. They are so stiff that I feel like I am going to break them if I move them. It didn't happen every morning at first, but it is becoming more consistent, over time. Once I get up and start moving in the morning, the joint pain usually goes away. Sometimes, I have a shooting pain in my hands and I think there may be nerve damage. I have also noticed that my grip strength in my hands has decreased. My hands are much weaker than they used to be.  In addition to my bilateral fingers, this new arthritis has affected my bilateral wrists, elbows, and my right shoulder.  When I saw my PCP on April 6th, 2021, my knees were not affected because I remember being able to get up from a seated position very easily. My doctor even commented on how agile I was. That has generally been true for me over the years. In the last month, though, since approximately June 15th, 2021 my knees have started to be affected by the same pain and stiffness. I notice it especially when I am getting up from a seated position. I have to hold onto something for support. Then, on approximately July 1, 2021, the pain and stiffness also started affecting my left shoulder.  My right shoulder bothers me less now. It is very strange how the pain seems to move around from one area to another. So far, it has not affected my neck, my hips, or my feet.   When I saw my PCP on April 6th, 2021, it was because I was having a lot of fatigue and I felt short of breath. I also told him about my joint pain and how I thought the vaccine caused it, since it seemed to start right after the second dose, but he dismissed it as being arthritis. I knew, however, that this was new for me and that I had never had it before. When I saw my Pulmonologist shortly thereafter, I told her about my symptoms and how I thought the vaccine had caused them. She said, "It absolutely could be."   The most severe pain I have experienced to-date has been in my right wrist. I remember a sharp pain one day in February 2021, when I was trying to twist an ice cube tray. I do not recall if this was before or after my first vaccine shot on February 10, 2021. The tray was frozen pretty solid and it was hard to twist it to get the ice cubes out. I am left-handed and I remember that my right wrist was sore for several days afterwards. That right wrist pain still comes and goes. Sometimes I feel it every morning for a while, and then I won't.  I have kept my wrist wrapped in a bandage and I am careful with how I use it, but I must have done something to aggravate it, because on Monday morning, May 24th, 2021, I got up to go to the bathroom and my right wrist hurt a lot. I had a hard time pulling up my underwear and pants. My right shoulder bothered me too. I got back into bed but I had a hard time pulling the covers back up over me. The pain worsened. It was almost unbearable and I was in tears. My husband got up a little later to go use the bathroom. He asked if I was okay and I said, "No, my wrist is killing me and I cant go back to sleep." He brought me hot washcloths to wrap around my wrist and this helped. He must have brought me fifty hot washcloths. The next morning, I called my PCP and asked for a referral to see a rheumatologist. I have an appointment pending on August 5, 2021.   Then, on Wednesday, May 26, 2021, my right wrist pain was excruciating. I contacted my PCP and made an appointment for the next day. The pain subsided a bit and I kept my wrist wrapped. I was careful with how I used it, but the pain started up again in the morning after I got dressed. I was in tears because it hurt so much. I couldn't even touch it. It was swollen. I had trouble moving my right 4th and 5th fingers too. I used a heating pad and took Tylenol and they helped to take the edge off, but it still hurt. I wondered if I had a fracture or a torn tendon or ligament. I asked my doctor to give me an order for imaging so that I wouldn't have to go through the ER. The A.P. x-ray of my wrist did not show any fractures, but my doctor wrote in his note that there is a "deformity" in the wrist. I have tried a topical pain reliever, Aspercream, with minimal relief. I have not had the excruciating pain in my right wrist since May.   I had hoped that the arthritis-like pain and stiffness would gradually go away with time, but it has persisted, off and on. Most mornings, I continue to have pain. I am now afraid to get a booster shot of the COVID vaccine if one is need because I don't want my pain to get worse."