Age: 33.0
Sex: F
Vaccine: COVID19
Symptoms: Back pain, Blister, Blister rupture, Ear pain, Fall
Clinical narrative: May 8: In the mid-afternoon I developed a blister on my right elbow at an outdoor gathering. It did not hurt. I thought I had perhaps been bitten by a bug. Once the blister burst it was moderately painful, and it has been slow to heal (I still have the scab). I don't think it's related (wrong side of the body, appeared before the back pain, etc.) but only mention it because it was similar in appearance to the first large blister on my left breast (except smaller, maybe 1/3 the size), and that is why I initially brushed off the blistering. May 12: I began having intermittent back pain between my left shoulder blade and my spine. I had fallen off our hammock the day before and attributed the back pain to that.  May 13: I woke up with a large (1.5") blister on the left (outer) side of my left breast. I often sleep with a heating pad, and thought that I must have burned myself. However, I found it strange that it did not hurt at all. I thought perhaps I had touched a poisonous plant while gardening, and had then touched my breast putting my phone in my bra, or something. I even thought it was maybe a weird spider bite. None of these seemed to fit because the area didn't hurt.  May 14: the back pain continued intermittently and I took naproxen sodium to control the pain. The blister remained painless. May 15: It was hot that day (80 degrees) and we went to a local garden and did a lot of walking around. When I got home that night I had a slightly irritated patch of skin on my left side - right at the level of my bra strap and I assumed I had heat rash. The bumps were surprisingly tender, but not connected (stand alone little dots). My back pain had worsened - it was hard to pick up and hold my children, it was tender from the walk, and I kept on a strict schedule of naproxen sodium every 8 hours to try to control the pain. May 16: It was hot again and we went to a couple more local gardens and walked around. My back pain was pretty bad, but manageable when I wasn't carrying the kids. At the end of the day when I got home I saw that the "heat rash" had spread in a line under my left breast. It was now very tender to the touch, but felt fine if you left it alone. I was concerned that I had some sort of breast inflammation, and again, did not connect it to the back pain. May 17: My back pain was unmanageable, and I had to take several breaks from work to lie down. In the evening I discovered that the small dots on my left side were not pimples/ irritated skin, but rather tiny individual blisters. After looking into it more, I thought that I possibly had shingles since I had had chickenpox as a kid. May 18: My sleep was interrupted by the bad back pain, and I woke up several times. When I woke up the rash had spread to my sternum, and around my side onto my back. It was incredibly painful to the touch, and instead of being standalone dots there was now red inflammation connecting the blisters. My back pain was incredibly bad. I called and tried to get an appointment to see my doctor, but could not get scheduled until the morning of May 19. May 19: Did not sleep well due to pain. Doctor performed a visual exam of the inflammation and listened to the symptoms and diagnosed me with shingles with complications (the nerve pain). I had two pin prick red dots on my left wrist, and one itchy red bump on my left leg and I was concerned that it was spreading to other areas of my body. Prescribed the retroviral valacyclovir 1 g three times/ day for 7 days to try to reduce the length and severity of the illness, but advised that I had started treatment "too late" since I had not realized I had shingles and was past the 72 hour window so it may be less effective. Prescribed gabapentin 300 mg three times/ day for 7 days for nerve pain. Recommended using lidocaine and capsaicin cream 3 times/ day, too. I started treatment with all 4 of these right away. Dr. also advised me that she did not think the shingles were per se caused by the covid vaccine, but because it appeared in close proximity to my dose #2 (and I had side effects for several days indicating a strong immune response) that I should report it to the CDC just in case - which is why I am filing this report.  May 20: Rash on my back continued to spread all the way to my spine. Rash on chest worsened/ turned bright red. Back pain was extreme and not controlled by gabapentin. Pin pricks on wrist never turned itchy/ into blisters - I think they actually were heat rash from my watch. Bump on my left ankle appears to be a bug bite. I started getting periodic (every hour or two) sharp pains in my left ear, but no tinnitus. Periodic sharp pains in left side, left shoulder, and along my spine. Constant deep ache along my spine, and tenderness on my left side. Extremely fatigued. Taking gapapentin, valacyclovir 3x/day, and administers capzacin cream + a lidocane patch for areas of pain that do not have open wounds. May 21: For the first time the rash appears to be the same, or maybe even slightly improved from last night in terms of appearance. The back pain and skin tenderness is the same. Ear pain is more frequent - almost like I have an ear infection, with periodic sharp jabs multiple times an hour, but no tinnitus. Taking gapapentin, valacyclovir 3x/day, and administers capzacin cream + a lidocane patch for areas of pain that do not have open wounds.