Age: 68.0
Sex: F
Vaccine: COVID19, COVID19
Symptoms: Hypertension, Impaired driving ability, Nausea, Pain, Paranasal sinus discomfort
Clinical narrative: Headache, aches within 8 hours. Within 20 hours developed severe vertigo and nausea. Movement caused room spinning and broke out in cold sweat. Severe vertigo continued through second day (Feb 22), but seemed to diminish somewhat toward evening. Day 3 still had moderate vertigo/nausea but better than previous day. Went on a long walk. Day 4 moderate vertigo/nausea continued. Tried doing Epley exercises for vertigo. Vertigo/nausea became severe again, so severe I vomited several times. After vomiting got the shakes and felt very cold. Checked blood pressure and it was very high (170/98), but pulse rate was in low 30s. After a few hours blood pressure and pulse rate became closer to normal. Almost decided to go to ER clinic, but decided to wait until my daughter came home from work because I was way too dizzy to drive. After I calmed down I decided it wasn't an emergency. Severe vertigo continued through evening of day 4. On day 4 I called primary care doctor to see if there was anything I could do for the vertigo. She prescribed meclizine, but hearing that it is an antihistamine, I declined it (antihistamines make my heart race and make me very anxious). Severe vertigo/nausea continued through day 5 and day 6. (Severe vertigo/nausea being that I could not move around at all other than to sit still staring forward without the room spinning.) All this period I also had a headache, a feeling of pressure through my whole head/sinus area, and my vision was blurred. I also felt as though I could not focus my eyes or concentration. I tried using some over-the-counter nasal decongestant spray for 2 days to relieve congestion in head, but they made me feel very anxious, so I stopped. I also tried taking some Aleve a couple of times. It helped a little, but made me feel woozy, so stopped. Day 6 the vertigo/nausea improved to moderate, but I could still not walk straight. I felt unsafe to drive. Day 7 continued to improve, but still moderate vertigo/nausea. Day 8 I noticed a lot of improvement in vertigo/nausea. Kept improving day 9. By evening on day 10 I was noticing a rawness and lump in the back of my throat. Called primary care office day 11 to see someone. Drove car, but felt marginally safe driving. Was diagnosed with a sinus infection and prescribed a 10 day course of Amoxicillin/Clavulanic Acid (875-125 mg for 2 pills a day for 10 days). Felt improvement in throat and sinus over next few days. Day 15 I felt greatly improved with head ?fog? and vertigo. Had an appointment with an ENT clinic on day 15 to see what was causing vertigo. All tests were good for hearing, and visual examination of ears. Was checked for BPV but that was ruled out. Said vertigo was probably caused by viral infection or inflammation of vestibular nerve or canals. Recommended waiting for improvement and coming back if it persisted. Began doing more normal activities even though I still had mild vertigo. Day 16 felt still better in morning, then in afternoon bent over quickly to catch something and got a terrible wave of spinning again. Moderate/severe vertigo continued that evening. Improved to moderate on day 17 and 18. All along, when vertigo was worse, so was the ?fog? (blurry vision, inability to focus mentally). At day 19 I feel like I did on day 15, but I have noticed the pressure/lump around my ear and on left side of head is improved. Brain ?fog? is improved too, very mild and the vertigo is mild. I finish my antibiotic tomorrow.At present vertigo is not gone. Its mild today, but this is only one of maybe 2 1/2 days in which its been this mild (out of almost three weeks since I was vaccinated). I have been drinking a lot of water every day, and ginger tea when I get nauseous. I had my 2nd dose of the COVID Pfizer vaccine scheduled for Mar 15. I?ve cancelled it and intend to wait to see how long it takes for vertigo to finally resolve before considering a 2nd dose.