Age: 43.0
Sex: F
Vaccine: FLU3, FLU3
Symptoms: Cough, Crying, Differential white blood cell count, Dyspnoea, Ear discomfort
Clinical narrative: I was givin the infuenza vaccine on Tuesday evening and went directly home and by 10pm that evening my eyes were burning and otherwise felt fine...figured I was tired and decided to go to bed.  I woke up at 2pm with my eyes stuck together and goopy crud in the corners of my eyes, I rinsed them with warm water and used tissues to clean them out.  I immediately thought of conjunctivitis and knew how contagious that was and wondered to myself if it could be a reaction to the flu shot.  I went downstairs to check if that was one of the symptoms and since it wasn't I decided to go back to bed and evaluate myself in the morning.  I got up and checked myself and my eyes seemed fine except for a little redness.  I run a daycare and that is my biggest concern so when parents arrived, I asked each one of them if they have or know of any conjuntivitis recently with any family member.  I got all negative responses so I felt I needed to call the doctor, I made an appt and rec'd antibiotic drops and started them that evening (WED 10/8).  Staff was the one that prescribed the drops and she really didn't know if it was conjunctivitis but said it would be just our luck that I woke up full blown with it.  My eyes were still a little red and itchy at that point but I wasn't getting the discharge from them.  The next 3 days I seemed fine other than being somewhat overtired but I had gone to bed late so didn't think too much about it.  By Saturday night 10/11/2008, at around 10 pm I felt heaviness in my chest and tried to get comfortable by taking off my bra, that didn't seem to help, then my ears started feeling like they were itchy inside, almost like water in them or something, I decided to go upstairs and wash up for bed around 10:30 or 11pm and noticed swelling in my upper jaw area on left side of face and the right was a little less swollen but defintely there.  I knew I needed to find benedryl so started looking for it, I then asked my daughter who was up what she thought and she told me to call the doctor right away.  I woke my husband and went downstairs to call the doctor and got the answering service and couldn't finish talking to them as I felt I couldn't breathe, it became more and more difficult to talk.  I took one benedryl pill and went directly to the emergency room with my husband and daughter.  From there on it became a nightmare.  I was told from the attending physician that it appeared to be a peanut allergy which I have never had before and to go home and take more benedryl and continue over the next 3 days to take it.  He didn't give me any more there and then evaluate, he just told me to take more and that one pill wasn't enough.  I asked if it could be related to the flu shot or the mumps and the answer was NO to both of my questions.  Not even a maybe.  I was told that too many days had gone by to be vaccine related and that it couldn't possibly be mumps because of my age and being vaccinated against it.  I went home and took more benedryl, one more pill and was out of it...and went right to bed.  I woke up the next morning with so much pressure in my head with a horrific headache and my face and neck triple in size.  I immediately took 2 more benedryl and went directly back to the hospital emergency room.  I wasn't given the proper attention there, at one point the chart was left on my bed and the P.A. had to take a call, 45 minutes later, my husband got a nurses attention in the E.R. and she took my chart and had to find the doctor which took another 1/2 hour.  Anyway, she wanted to know what brought me to the emergency room today??????  My face and neck (I had no neck, it was just one long face) totally disfigured.  I was crying and she still needed me to explain that I was swollen and had difficulty in breathing, I told her that I didn't think it was a peanut allergy, I thought it might have something to do with the flu shot or mumps, she said it couldn't be the flu shot because I would have had a reaction sooner, I told her about my eyes and she still said no and said since I think it might be the mumps she would do a mumps titer and treat me for the mumps because that is what she believed it could be.  I immediately explained that I ran a daycare and had my parents of 75 years of age, one being on oxygen living with us, and what kind of danger are all those people in and what I might have caused them.  She told me to wait and see the results, she said she called the lab and we will know results in 24 hours and to stop taking benedryl and take 600 mg of ibuprophen every 6 hours and acetamenaphen every 4 hours as needed for pain and to go back home and warn daycare of the possibility and follow up with my primary care physician, I had difficulty even staying awake at that point because of the benedryl and also I was soooooo uncomfortable to even speak or breathe and my oldest daughter met us my husband and I and my younger daughter at the emergency room and came back to my home to call all the daycare parents and the P.A. only gave me 6 masks to wear to make me feel better being around my elderly parents that live with me.  I had no other instructions.  The next day, Monday, October 13th I was even worse but figured I would get worse before I got better with the mumps and it had to run its course, we were told to call for results, I called twice and they didnt have results yet, they kept telling me to call back, my husband called and they said I don't know who told you 24 hours but it is 48 hours.....ugh. We had to call all the parents again and tell them we didn't know yet.  My husband called the doctors and made a Wednesday appt to be seen by my primary care Dr.  Tuesday morning came and I woke up at about 5:30am gagging and coughing and was due to take ibuprophen so my husband gave me 3 pills and water....I got the pills lodged in my throat and could barely drink water!  I was definitely worse and thought I was dying and knew I needed to do something before I did. I came downstairs and asked my husband not to go into work because I was scared and wanted to go to the doctors sooner than later so I rested on the couch and ended up falling into a deep sleep for the first time since Sat. A few hours went by and my husband was shaking me telling me to sit up because I was choking.  I was all shaky and when I realized where I was and the condition I was in, it really felt like a nightmare.  I was crying and sooooo upset and decided to call the CDC for answers.  They told me it most definitely could be a reaction to the flu shot....that was the first time anyone ever told me that.  The contacted an epidemiologist and asked if he could contact me directly and I said yes.  About a half hour went by and someone from the CDC called and told me he thought it was a reaction to the flu shot and not the mumps but because I had a mumps titer I still needed to be quaranteed and take necessary precautions before I did anything or went anywhere.  The hospital never should have let me go!!  The first time I went in there they should have given me something and then evaluated me.  I got nothing!!  I was basically sent home to suffocate to death.  My husband tried several times to get through to the doctors office by phone and kept getting disconnected so he drove down and requested a rush that the doctor call me immediately because I was getting worse and worse and said we were in contact with the CDC so the doctor called me back and said he would call in some prednisone.  I declined any meds as I told him I didn't trust the pharmacutical companies and I was basically all upset and he tried to calm me down and told me he would write out the prescription and leave it there and if I changed my mind I could call back and get it.  I was getting worse by afternoon and by this time had a tennis ball size swelling above my chest right before my cleavage started.  A friend of mine that is a daycare parent that worked for a pharmacist for 2 years talked me into trying the prednisone and told me I could basically suffocate so I decided to get the prescription.  I took 4 prednisone that night and noticed a little less swelling around my jaw.  First time since Saturday..a slight improvement of swelling going down.  My daughter researched and found a website about oculo-respiratory syndrome associated with influenza vaccine and told me about it and I brought that information to my doctor the next morning and he said that most definitely that could be related to my problem and was glad I decided to take the prednisone because he said it was taking over my body as it was now into my chest area.  My husband called the lab that same evening and got the results that proved I did not have the mumps therefore was not considered contagious but was by no means ready to run my daycare.  I stopped taking ibuprophen because the pharmacist told me not to take it with prednisone and I was weak all over, heavy feeling which I am presently still feeling.  My armpits ache and so do my wrists and my arms feel as heavy as my chest.  I started typing this at 10am and it is now 3:21.pm  I get tired from even typing...anyway, I feel that people need to be aware, emergency rooms ecspecially if someone has had the flu vaccine and they send them home to die.  This by far was the most terrifying illness I have yet to have and feel still a level of anxiety that I am not comfortable with.  I have questions that remain unanswered.  The doctor tells me we will have to wait and see how I do after taking 12 days of prednisone and take it from there.  I am trying to handle one day at a time.  I have been self employed for 16 years and have run a successful business and feel uncertain of my abilities now. I feel I shouldn't have been the one to diagnos myself, luckily my family was here with me and my husband woke me back up that morning when I was choking....what might have happened?  I am unsure.  I have already lost a whole weeks worth of pay and intend on opening as soon as possible, unfortunately, I can't give my daycare parents any answers to my recovery time, so what do I do and what do they do?  I don't know if this is permanent or not?  11/5/2008 PCP records received including 2 ER records. Pt in 10/7/08 for leg swelling and discoloration (DX: dependant edema- legs, bilateral). Flu shot given. Returned 10/8/08 with eye burning and discharge. DX: Conjunctivitis. ER visit 10/12/08 for c/o worsening facial and jaw swelling, as well as feeling unwell and weak. PE (+) for bilateral parotid gland swelling and tenderness. Dx: Parotiditis. ER visit 10/14/08 for allergic reaction. F/U with PCP 10/15/08 with DX:  urticaria, probably due to Flu vaccine.