Sex: F
Vaccine: VARZOS, VARZOS
Symptoms: Rash, Trigeminal neuralgia
Clinical narrative: This spontaneous report as received from a consumer refers to a female patient of unknown age. On 15-AUG-2012 the patient was vaccinated with ZOSTAVAX, subcutaneous. Dose and frequency were not provided. On 17-AUG-2012, 2 days after onset of therapy the patient began to have pain in her face, right side, lips to nose to cheek into eye and forehead. It became progressively worse each day. After two weeks of pain she went to see her doctor. He thought it was a minor reaction to the shot and put me on a 6 day course of prednisone, saying that it would be just fine. It was not just fine, the pain continued to grow worse. In mid September he sent her for an MRI, which showed nothing wrong, such as a brain tumor, MS, etc. He suggested the patient should see a neurologist, which she did. He diagnosed Transgeminal Neuralgia. The patient was quite sure the vaccine caused it, but no doctor would come out and say so. The doctor put her on TEGRETOL, which she could not tolerate, it made her sick. He then switched her to Oxcarbazepine, which helped a great deal, but as the dosage built up in her system she developed an allergy to it, as was covered in itchy blister like eruptions which would not go away. She had to see an allergist, who said it was from dry skin. She then saw a dermatologist who said it resembled a shingles rash, but not 100%. She put her on a megadose of prednisone for 3 weeks and said she could not take any other medications, not even for her transgeminal neuralgia, so she was in tremendous pain. She said the doctor was trying to "re-set" her immune system, since "something" had thrown it completely out of whack. The patient asked if the vaccine could have done it. Like all doctors, she was pretty evasive about it, but did not rule it out. Unfortunately, as soon as the patient finished the prednisone she broke out in the same rash all over again. She now has her a on a two week course of prednisone, trying to quiet this down, but on the reporting day the patient had two more days of prednisone left to take, and she was already itching and the skin was starting to peel on her hands and feet, as it did before. No one seems to know quite what to do with her. She did not know what her next steps will be, and it was quite frightening to think that she may never know. Living with the pain of transgeminal neuralgia every day was a nightmare. The patient has never been more sorry for anything she had done as she was for having had that vaccination. She was frightened for what the future holds for her, and about the expense that will come to her as they send her from doctor to doctor because no one can figure out what's wrong. The outcome of transgeminal neuralgia was reported as not recovered/not resolved. The outcome of it made me sick, I'm frightened for what the future holds for me, I am already itching and the skin is starting to peel on my hands and feet, as it did before, broke out in the same rash all over again "something" had thrown my immune system completely out of whack, tremendous pain, it resembled a shingles rash, but not 100%, dry skin, itchy blister like eruptions and developed an allergy to it was unknown. The action taken regarding ZOSTAVAX was unknown. The reporter considered transgeminal neuralgia to be related to ZOSTAVAX. The relatedness for the other events was unknown. Additional information has been requested.