Age: 46.0
Sex: F
Vaccine: COVID19
Symptoms: Insomnia, Joint stiffness, Metamorphopsia, Migraine, Muscle twitching
Clinical narrative: I received the first dosage of the Moderna vaccine on May 4th of this year.  On May 6th, I had what I term a ?neurological event?.  For several hours, roughly 3, I was so dizzy and nauseous that I couldn?t walk the 20 feet (from living room couch to kitchen) to let my cat in from our deck.  My body temp dropped significantly, I had extreme sensitivity to light and sound, my leg muscles were twitching, my skin was crawling, hands were shaking, and I felt extremely agitated, had difficulty sleeping.  The next day, I had hot flashes, terrible headache, warped vision, dizziness, I was pacing incessantly, and my level of disorientation and confusing was unsettling.  I couldn?t find the right words during conversation, I couldn?t recall small details from one moment to the next, familiar names sounded unfamiliar, I was having trouble following and remembering conversation details, difficulty organizing thoughts, and I was misspelling words that I normally have no trouble with it all, I am an impeccable speller, typically!  My most severe neurological symptoms continued on May 7th and May 8th.  Hot flashes, dry and irritated eyes (feeling like I wanted to claw them out), blurred vision, confusion, headache, and itching skin all continued.  On May 8th, after having a civil conversation with my husband (we are considering moving, I want to move out of the area more than he does, so I was a little frustrated by our conversation) I excused myself to my bedroom, holding my head from this persisting headache, but then suddenly, inexplicably I began screaming and cursing at the top of my lungs and I started to throw my little bottles of acrylic paints down the hallway, until one took an unfortunate left turn and hit the wall, red paint covered the wall and book shelves and carpet, and my emotions quickly turned to sadness and remorse, and I was crying uncontrollably trying to clean it up.  I couldn?t make sense of my extreme behavior, it just wasn?t like me, and the punishment (me throwing paints) didn?t suit the crime (a mildly frustrating conversation).    On May 14th, I had a telehealth visit with my Internist Dr.  (from).  He listened to all of my symptoms and concerns, and I communicated to him that I fear I may have had a seizure or a stroke post vaccine.  The only advice/insight he could offer is that my prescription (my only prescription medication) to treat my anxiety, Viibryd 20 mg once daily, might be the problem.  He asked me to try weaning off of Viibryd, so I followed his advice.  I immediately decreased from 20 mg to 10 mg from May 14th to May 20th.  So May 21st was my first day of no Viibryd, and has continued to be the case since then.  Interestingly, on May 20th, I began to feel intense nerve pain in a spot on my back, to the left of my spine.  I kept asking my husband ?Please tell me what is on my back, is there a bug bite there?? And he promised me over the next few days that there was absolutely nothing there.  On May 23rd, a ?bug bite? and/or rash appeared.  It was the most painful and itchy skin condition I have ever experienced.  The intensity of itching and pain and me clawing at my back, scratching it open, and begging my husband nightly to please ?Get it out of my back, there is something in my back!? continued for a good 2 weeks (please see attached photo) and the area continues to bother me on and off to this day (which I treat with Triamcinolone Acetonide Cream USP, 0.1%, prescribed to me by Dr. , at  urgent care clinic on 6/18.  This is only relief I have received thus far for any of my symptoms). The new set of inflammatory symptoms that accompanied the emergence of this rash/ bug bite are:  Extreme dry and itchy eyes, symptoms escalate in the early evening and are the worst at night (I have a ?few good hours? during the day), fatigue, hot flashes, body feels on fire from the inside, no amount of ice packs and cold showers resolves these symptoms, elevated temperature (my baseline is 97.2 and my temp consistently is 98.1 with this inflammation), marked inflammation and swelling in my hands and legs and body (my rings get stuck on my hands at night, my clothes feel too tight), headaches, my skin hurts/aches, this feels like Mono times 1,000 (I did have Mono 15 years ago), my throat ?glands? are sore and swollen, I have a cyst above my right hip (that I have addressed with my Internist pre-vaccine and he dismissed as nothing) that is so painful and inflamed that I can?t sleep on my right side (which is my preferred side to sleep on), and I have muscle weakness/stiffness in my hands (trouble gripping everyday objects and making a fist).  If I take 2 Alleve (one does nothing) I will get some occasional relief, but even then, Alleve doesn?t always work.  I saw my Internist () on June 8th with this new set of symptoms.  He made it clear from the beginning of my visit that he knew of my 1st visit with Dr. , they had discussed my symptoms.  I tried sharing my notes and new inflammatory symptoms (and did mention and touch upon the unanswered 1st set of neurological symptoms) and was so dismissive of everything I said.  It was very upsetting.  He diagnosed me with stress induced migraines.  I tried explaining to him that I started experiencing migraines in 2nd grade (I am 46 now) and I?ve had both standard and ocular migraines, know what they are like and how to treat them, and they have become much less frequent for me over the years.  I told my internist that these experiences are not migraines.  He insisted they are, and prescribed me Imitrex (without checking my medication allergies in my chart, I am highly allergic to Sulfa/Bactrim.  The pharmacist later alerted me to this).  I stressed my concerns about neurological disorders that run in my family, my Dad is currently perishing from end stages of Alzheimer?s, seizures have begun for him, and we lost his sister in February to Alzheimer?s as well).  I had to beg him for appropriate testing, so he conceded to a CT scan for me (of which the results were normal, outside of the previous finding of atherosclerosis of right vertebral artery) and bloodwork (please see attached).  I told  of the rash/bug bite on my back and he refused to look at my photos of it and also refused to look at my back (a bump is still present). I saw  again on 6/17 with the same continuing inflammatory symptoms, and to review my blood work and CT scan.  He said all the tests look great, there is nothing to worry about, it looks like the migraines are resolving.  Again, I told him I am concerned about my continuing symptoms and asked if he thinks I should see a Neurologist and/or a Rheumatologist.  He discouraged me from seeing any specialists, he said the migraines are resolving and the only thing a Rheumatologist is going to tell me is that I might have arthritis in my hands, and there?s nothing more they can do for me.  I informed him of the Imitrex prescription Sulfa allergy oversight, and he seemed surprised, and added Imitrex to my list of medication allergies.  I left the office feeling livid and so discouraged.  I called his office the next day (6/18) to express my frustration and displeasure with how dismissive had been, and I truly feel he is overlooking something serious, perhaps Shingles?  The staff put me on a long hold, and the best they could offer would be for me to see another P.A. the following week (as Dr.  would be on vacation).    I saw a reputable dermatologist, on 6/22, and he dismissed the spot on my back as nothing.