Age: 54.0
Sex: F
Vaccine: COVID19
Symptoms: Lymphadenopathy, Pain, Pain in extremity, Peripheral swelling, Vaccination site swelling
Clinical narrative: It's like I have a hyperactive auto immune system/autoimmune response; got really swollen limbs; terrible pain first in her joints, then her bones in her legs then the pain went back to her joints/ terrible joint pain in my ankles and my knees; terrible pain first in her joints, then her bones in her legs then the pain went back to her joints; terrible pain first in her joints, then her bones in her legs then the pain went back to her joints; swollen joints; body weight goes up several pounds; swelling on her lymph nodes; had a lot of swelling at the injection site; too tired to walk places; black stool; bruising; Feel of physical pain; start retaining water; I was too inflamed; This is a spontaneous report from a contactable consumer (patient). A 54-year-old female patient received BNT162B2, via an unspecified route of administration, administered in Arm Left on 02Apr2021 (Lot Number: ER8727; Expiration Date: 31Jul2021), at the age of 54-year-old, as dose 2, single for COVID-19 immunisation. Medical history included ongoing asthma. The patient's concomitant medications were not reported. The patient previously received first dose of BNT162B2 on 12Mar2021 (Lot no: EN6207, Expiration date: 31Jul2021), at the age of 54 years-old for COVID-19 immunization. In Apr2021, the patient experienced it's like she has a hyperactive auto immune system/autoimmune response, got really swollen limbs, terrible pain first in her joints, then her bones in her legs then the pain went back to her joints/terrible joint pain in her ankles and her knees, terrible pain first in her joints, then her bones in her legs then the pain went back to her joints, swollen joints, body weight goes up several pounds, swelling on her lymph nodes, had a lot of swelling at the injection site, too tired to walk places, black stool, bruising, feel of physical pain and start retaining water. In 2021, patient was too inflamed. The clinical course was reported as follows:  Patient mentioned she had spoken to someone previously where she reported her adverse events and was given Pfizer contact information. She stated she received her 2nd dose of the Comirnaty vaccine 6 months ago last April but she's still experiencing some symptoms. She wanted to know if anyone from Pfizer is studying the side effects she's experiencing. She wanted to receive some information about "a really crazy autoimmune response several weeks after getting my 2nd shot". She mentioned she got really swollen limbs, had terrible pain first in her joints, then her bones in her legs then the pain went back to her joints. She added it got better over time but every once in a while, she'd have a day with swollen joints and her body weight goes up several pounds it's like "I start retaining water." She then said that it's a temporary thing and pain was a lot better than it was months ago. She said she's looking for guidance and information aside from just reporting. She also stated that after she received the shot, she got experienced swelling on her lymph nodes and had a lot of swelling at the injection site then about 3 weeks later, she was going out somewhere then her "pants that normally fit felt extremely tight so she examined her body and saw that she was unable to see my muscle tone and she's a nationally ranked runner, she's thin and she's really lean but had no muscles visible. She got really really swollen". She added that eventually, some of that swelling dissipated but she had terrible terrible joint pain and bone pain. She said she got better over a few weeks but was still too tired to walk places and all she wanted to do is lie down. Last incident was 10Sep2021 where she felt the swelling coming on and her ankles were hurting. Mentioned she's been taking pictures but not since the very beginning but it "looks freaky." Her joints would get really swollen and large and that will last a few days then goes away. She added "it's kind of like a light switch turned on. The flame hasn't totally extinguished but so much better than the beginning." She asked to be called back on her landline as there are connection problems. As per outbound call, she mentioned she's been speaking to her doctor but not much information that's helpful has been given to her. She said she has an appointment with a rheumatologist but it's not for several weeks. She said that for someone like her who got the second dose on April which is past 6 months now, she's "nervous about a booster, this event triggered a series... it's like her body was on fire for weeks and her body can't go through that again". She also said that there's a gap on what health care providers know as they don't have experience with the vaccine. She added her doctor told her that every week she got a phone call about someone whose experiencing symptoms after the vaccine. She said "we don't know for a fact that the vaccine caused it." She also mentioned she has a couple of other symptoms in addition to her swollen joints. She had black stool for 3 weeks after the shot and also bruising. She said that's one of the reasons why she thinks that was an event and not a coincidence, "like a systemic reaction". She added that it's one thing to report but it's different to get any information. She mentioned she got a flu shot but that's not mRNA. She asked "Is my system on red alert now? Am I gonna insight a flare if I do something that's gonna boost my immune system? Should I stay away from that? I already do an anti-inflammatory health diet because I'm health conscious but there might be something I should stay away from." She also mentioned she's terrified of what she went through before and "I'm an athlete who competes and I already missed my summer season because I was too inflamed to train and winter season is coming up and I don't wanna lose my athletic ability. It's so much effort to stay in shape. I might miss another season if I get another shot." She wanted to know if there are studies on autoimmune diseases and the effects of the vaccine on that. She stated "I have never been diagnosed with autoimmune. She recently got tested for some. She can always go back to 3 generations and there's someone in her family who has autoimmune. She believes she has a hyperactive autoimmune system that didn't respond well to the vaccine. She was wondering if that's an area of study that Pfizer has covered." She added "I can't believe I'm only one like this out there and I'm not dying and I'm grateful for that but I just hear so much about people who are immunocompromised but not hearing about people with over-active immune systems. I wonder if there's any other info out there you can put me to."  She stated that her concern is she doesn't know what to do about getting a booster shot because she has asthma so she was able to get shot earlier and also because of the side effects that she experienced. On 04Oct2021, patient stated that she believed she had an adverse reaction to her second shot many months ago. But what she is trying to do is, She has been talking to my doctor about it, she was trying to figure out whether anybody is studying this or whether there is any kind of information available for people like me through Pfizer or through your website. It's like she had a hyperactive auto immune system and it's like a light switch turn on, she is getting swollen joint, it's gotten better over time, but sometime she wakes up and something was really big and swollen. And she has a few more pounds of water weight and she just can't seem to find information somewhere like doctors at a large medical groups in a very notable hospital and she was not aware of anyone there studying, she referred me to Pfizer". She paraphrased: Consumer stated, "Yes, I don't know if anybody is interested in further information from me. But I am interested in availing myself of any information that is available out there and also you know my second Pfizer shot I had on 02Apr, so I am talking about long term effect, long term auto immune effect, not short term, a week after the. I am not talking about joint pains that lasted few days after the shot, I am talking about a long term adverse effect". Height and weight: Consumer stated, "On the normal day she is about 5 (feet) 2.5 (inches) and on a normal day she weighs about 106 or 7 (pounds). During the swelling event she weighted as much as 114 (pounds) which was very unusual for her. But what has happened is she gets the swelling episodes and during those swelling episodes She experienced since a few weeks after the second shot her weight will go up to anywhere like 112, 113 (pounds) which was quite heavy for her, it's not normal to her build, she's been a same size forever". She stated, "I can tell you when I noticed them. I first noticed the effects the third week of Apr, the week of 19Apr2021, its start week not that day. It's either the week of 19 or week of 26, so it was several weeks after my second dose". Other medical condition and other medication: consumer stated, "No actually I believe I haven't took anything on that day, at the time I got the dose I would normal take an over the counter Antihistamine. But I believe wasn't taking at that time, yeah I actually know I wasn't taking that at that time (further clarification unknown)". Lab test: She stated, "Basically in recently weeks she got some auto-immune testing was done and she just doesn't remember the date of last lab. She had a series of test to check the auto-immune disease which by the way run in her family, so well she was not diagnosed with anything, it does runs in her family, so it made me question whether this somehow turns something on that is sensitive to something. So her last lab test on the 17Sep2021, she had an ANA test that day." Event details: Still experiencing: Consumer stated, "Yes so what happened is that they were very intense at first and she has been in a great feel of physical pain. She was actually nationally rank runner and which was one of the reason why this has been distracting. She competes nationally and would have without COVID, she would have competed internationally at the masters level in a people of age 48. She was unable to see any muscles in her leg, her legs become swollen, she couldn't see her muscle definition and then she had terrible joint pain in her ankles and her knees, then her bones started to hurts, like it hurt to walk or go up and down stairs, to move anything I felt like the pain is vibrating in ger legs, every time she would take a step it was like there was like a 'reverberation' in her legs that got little better. And then it reduce to just joints, but it was very painful and her joints become swollen. And it took several weeks but she started photographing it. You can talk about these things and your doctors say oh it's probably this probably that, it was the hard day whatever. But once she started her pictures, she sent me for test, she said the pictures are quite striking. So what happened is she still experience symptoms less pain than before and less frequently than before. So, it's like pain was lower but she thinks she went 5 weeks symptoms free and she thought this was great and then 2 weeks ago, or it was actually 3 weeks ago on 10Sep she got another flare up and she photographed it". Treatment: Consumer stated, "No, it happened over the weekend, she saw it, this is something where she tell my doctor that this was happening and there is no real solution. She elevate my legs she hope for the best, She used compression, the pain isn't debilitating anymore, early on it was difficult to do anything now she can feel the inflammation, She can feel it coming on. She picks up her shoes on that day but she was not in agony anymore but her feet got really swollen she couldn't get her shoes on. And she got weight from 107 on the 10Sep to 112 pounds on 14. It's just like she feels inflammation and inflammation coincide with a large for her because again she is an athlete and she is small person influx of water weight". The patient underwent lab tests and procedures which included ANA test: unknown results on 17Sep2021, Auto-immune testing: unknown results (not diagnosed with anything) on an unknown date, weight: 114 in 2021, 107 on 10Sep2021 and 112 on 14Sep2021. The seriousness of the events was unspecified. The outcome of the event 'swollen joints' was recovered in Sep2021 and outcome of the other events was recovering.   Follow-up attempts are completed. No further information is expected.