Age: 31.0
Sex: F
Vaccine: PPV
Symptoms: Feeling abnormal, Headache, Hypotension, Injection site cellulitis, Injection site pain
Clinical narrative: All night, I could not sleep because I just felt bad in general, headache, body ache, and stuffed nose/sore throat.  When I awoke in the morning, November 26, 2009, my left arm was sore. I asked my husband if it looked red and he said that maybe it was because I slept on it.  I went to my mother's to celebrate Thanksgiving about 11:00 a.m. and still did not feel well.  I now had developed chills and felt warm to the touch.  I layed down at my parents for the afternoon.  My arm continued to hurt and by the afternoon when I asked my mom if she thought the area was red she said yes, it could be a reaction to the shot. At this time, the red area was about 1 inch in diameter. We returned home about 7:00 p.m. and the redness on my arm had continued to grow.  I still felt terrible and my arm hurt worse now.  At about 9:30 p.m. we sent a picture via phone over to my mom to show her how the area had grown and at that time, she called the on call doctor at my office and told him about my symptoms and gave him my phone number.  The doctor called back about 9:45 p.m. and was very brief with me on the phone.  He hung up before I could even tell him that I had developed a fever.  He said that if it hurt that bad then I could go to the ER or Urgent Care since he couldn't see me.  I would not have made it to the Urgent Care in time before they closed and did not want to go to the ER unless it was absolutely necessary.  I told my husband that I would just see how it was in the morning.  I was in pain all night and could not sleep.  My head and neck were in excruciating pain.  On the morning of the 26th about 9:30 a.m. I went to the Urgent Care.  At the time of seeing me, I had a fever of 103.9.  The doctor gave me some Motrin for the fever and due to my severe pain in my head and neck, they sent me to the ER fearing that I may have meningitis because of my severe head/neck pain and high fever and did not have the ability to run any blood cultures at the Urgent Care.  From the Urgent Care, I went to ER.  I had a fever of 103 at the ER.  The doctors looked at my arm and started fluids on me.  It was very difficult to start and IV and many nurses had to try.  They were limited because of the size of the redness and tenderness in my arm.  The redness on my arm continued to get worse as I was in the ER and they admitted me.  I believe at this time my blood pressure was low as well.  I had cellulitis in my left arm where the pneumoccoccal vaccine was given.  I was started on IV antibiotics.  In the ER, they did do a CT of my head because of the excruciating pain I was in.  It was negative for any intracranial abnormalities.  They did call in an infectious disease doctor who was part of my care for the remainder of my stay at the hospital.  I was moved to the ICU for because the redness and tenderness in my arm was not getting better, but spreading down my arm more.  I believe that they were concerned that I had a staph infection.  While in the ICU, I had a Spinal Tap done to rule out meningitis due to the severe pain I was still feeling in my neck. I was in the hospital for a total of 6 days and I believe 2-3 of them were in the ICU.  I was released on Wednesday, December 2, 2009.  They released me after my arm was better and all vitals returned to normal.  After returning home, I was having terrible headaches. I could not get out of bed and would sit and cry for hours because my head hurt so badly.  My doctor prescribed Tramadol 50Mg and Amitriptyline on Friday December 4th.  I took one dose that evening.  I do not like taking medication and it did not seem to help, so I did not take another dose.  My dad suggested that I take Bayer Back and Body and Sudafed Cold and Sinus and drink them with a Coke.  This actually made me feel so much better!  At least my head was not throbbing all the time.  I am most concerned because I have had this shot before and did not have a reaction at all.  This was a major stress on my life and the lives of my family. I was not able to see my children at all while I was in the hospital or care for them when I got home.  My mom took off work to stay with me in the hospital as well as a few days when I got home.  My sister took off work to care for my children while I was in the hospital and cared for them after I was released when I was having severe headaches.  I am lucky because I am younger and in good health and was able to recover, but fear that if the vaccine was bad/given improperly (dirty needle, area not sanitized) or should not have been given due to myself not feeling well that someone older than I may have had fatal complications.  Thank you for your time and looking into this matter.