Age: 54.0
Sex: F
Vaccine: COVID19
Symptoms: Influenza virus test negative, Injection site bruising, Joint stiffness, Limb discomfort, Musculoskeletal stiffness
Clinical narrative: About midnight, 12 hours after getting the shot, I woke up in the middle of night with severe pain; up and down my spine and back of head - like someone had hit me with sledgehammer. I took Tylenol and that dulled the pain, but I was still in pain. Joints achy and stiff. I kind of expected the achy joints - happened the first two COVID-19 shots. That morning, I tried to get ready for work - got slower and slower in movement and I had a whooshing sound in my ears. I felt very off. When I had woken up, initially, my eyelids hurt but by the time I got going in the morning, there was an intense throbbing behind my eyes. It felt like I was walking through quicksand. Everything (all symptoms) got worse throughout the day. The injection site felt very bruised, and it still does. That's completely normal for me compared with the first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. There was not redness or swelling this time but just bruised. Yesterday, I got random sharp jabbing pains through various parts of my body; kind of like a shock or a pinched nerve feel. I felt queasy; I had three bouts of diarrhea and a lot of gurgling in my stomach after the diarrhea. From 02:30 - 09:00PM I was "dead to the world," and woke up with intense pain from head to toe. I was disoriented and I thought it was 03:00 in the morning. I texted my daughter to bring the thermometer as I felt chilled and clammy. Fever was 103. 6. My chest was very heavy and tight. I didn't feel like I was wheezing or having trouble breathing but it was concerning to have the heaviness and tightness. I called my primary care doctor. On-call doctor told me to go to ER - since symptoms had worsening it was over 24 hours since vaccine. They tested me for COVID-19 at ER. They gave me Tylenol and IV (Ibuprofen in an IV). And it all dulled the pain, but the pain has still persisted. The fever goes down when I take Tylenol but then it goes back up but only up to 101. It was 99 something this morning but it's 101 around 01:00 or 2:00 today but it's gone back down again. Last night, not moving, my pain was 7 or 8. That was just sitting completely still. If I tried to move the pain was excruciating - it was hard to walk. Right now, the whooshing noise has decreased in my ears; the pain has decreased in joints - still stiff but I can move them. I don't feel so disoriented. They said to come back in tonight if I'm not significantly improved. The pain is still definitely there, and the fever is there but not as bad. They said about 20% of people will have a reaction to this extent for the booster. Blood pressure was significantly low when they took it at ER - 85/58 (my normal reading is 115-120/90). Treatment - stay in bed; Tylenol every six hours. Just before they discharged me this morning, at ER, my hands and feet felt very compressed; like they are being smashed between boards. That was consistent pain for about two hours and when I got home and went to sleep and woke up it wasn't quite as bad. Still stiff though. There's a lot of fatigue. It takes a lot of effort just to have energy to get up and go to the bathroom. I don't feel like I'm passing out, but I just feel like I have to walk slowly to keep my balance because my leg joints and my feet are so stiff that trying to get them to move is a challenge; I haven't felt like I was in danger of collapsing though or that I was going to pass out. The pain was enough to make me cry. I can't believe I'm feeling this bad and that I'm not sick. Two months prior to this, I got the flu vaccine. I think it was on September 2, 2021. Got that at work: set up a flu vaccine site at one of our buildings for Employees. I got that in my right arm which I have never done before.