Shortly after receiving my fist dose of Covid-19 vaccine I developed pain in my shoulders, back, buttocks and hips. Around the same time I also pressure washed a large patio and had to move some heavy objects, so I assumed I had "overdone" things but, as the pain seemed to be getting worse, I attended a Chiropractor and had three treatments over a week but the pain, shoulders in particular, became so intense that I had to stop going. I then, finally, got a telephone Doctor's appointment who suggested I actually had PMR (all the classic symptoms) and arranged for a blood test. Unfortunately, one of the tests was incorrectly labelled so couldn't be used so I had to arrange a second blood test the results of which I am still waiting for. One of the tests did seem to confirm PMR but they wanted the others to try rule -out other possibilities before proscribing "any" medication so I'm left in considerable pain and waiting. But my question is; could the Covid vaccine have caused the PMR or is it merely a coincidence?
Covid-19 vaccine and PMR: Shortly after receiving... - PMRGCAuk
Covid-19 vaccine and PMR
Many people have said they thought a vaccine (not just Covid) “caused” their PMR.....actually it was probably the last thing in a line of other issues that finally triggered it..so the last straw that broke the camel’s back.
In your case case, could have been that, could have been combination of that plus the heavy work you’d previously done.....could be coincidental.
Your test didn’t “confirm” PMR - there is no such test, but it did show you have raised inflammation in your body, and they try and discount other illnesses until they are left with PMR... symptoms are the real key.
If it is PMR, you might like to have a read of this .... healthunlocked.com/pmrgcauk...
Thank you for your reply. Yes, I should have written "support" rather than "confirm"
I don't have the answer to your question but I can confidently say that your symptoms mimic those of PMR. Unfortunately they also mimic symptoms of other conditions and those must be ruled out before a diagnosis is made. Many of us have had the wait you're experiencing and it's unpleasant to say the least. Something others have done is to ask their GP to prescribe a short course of Prednisolone which is the only medication known to relieve PMR symptoms...a week's worth is probably enough to see if your pain diminishes but others will be along to give clearer advice. In the meantime you should rest as much as possible: no heavy lifting! If you have any close support they should be encouraged to take over. Drink plenty of water and eat healthily- fruit and green veg and protein.I do sympathise having been in your position and I hope it's not long before you get your diagnosis.
Hi and welcome.
There are a few other posts recently asking almost the identical question.
There is no single identifiable cause of PMR but the general consensus is that it is the cumulation of a series of insults to the immune system which stress it. Eventually one event is too much and breaks the camel's back and the immune system goes haywire, unable to recognise your body as self and attacks in error as if it were an invading organism of some sort. The insults can be in the form of mechanical/physical stress such as an accident, emotional, environmental/chemical, illness, even moving house. Or a vaccine - which upsets the immune system enough to be the final trigger. It isn't any particular one although it is acknowledged that the Zostavax shingles vaccine can be a culprit - but so can shingles. Many people notice their PMR after the flu jab so blame that. But many of us had never had a flu jab before PMR. Each of us has a different history - and that makes it all the more difficult.
But there is little point breaking your head over WHY because it wasn't ONLY that last thing and you will just end up wondering about all the "what ifs" and it will drive you mad. Yes, the Covid vaccine COULD have caused PMR but it was just the final catalyst if it did. That said, quite a few of us have had flares but they don't seem to be too bad for most of us.
There is no blood test that will "confirm" PMR - just ones that show there is inflammation present and even they aren't 100% since up to 20% of us never have raised inflammatory markers. There is one test that would probably rule PMR out - by making it more likely it was something else.
I received Pred before other conditions were discounted. I think it’s cruel to leave you in so much pain. The relief is tremendous, but only if it is PMR. Symptoms always rule anyway and the efficacy of Pred is a key diagnostic tool. Make a fuss.
I am awaiting a call from yet another GP from my local Surgery by which time, hopefully, the the second lot of the missing blood tests will have magically appeared. If not, I will certainly be making a fuss.
PMR is often a diagnosis of exclusion. One way my GP ruled out other conditions was to prescribe two weeks each of two different pain meds, Naproxen and then Meloxicam, while waiting on the results of various blood tests. Neither pain med gave me any relief at all for my symptoms. However, when eventually I was prescribed 15mg per day of Prednisolone, I had almost total relief within 24 hours, and within a week my blood tests were back to normal.
The only classic symptom of my GCA came four days after my first AZ vaccine (raised sore TAs). After my second AZ I got my first experience of some PMR - ache in R hip; ache in R shoulder; ache in R calf; ache in both SI joints; slight ache in L shoulder. These did not affect movement, were improved by yoga and walking, and by the following day they had gone - though I do wonder what may be in store as I reduce Pred... I don't believe the vaccine caused the underlying conditions - I think probably the activation of the immune system exacerbated/accelerated a lurking process - but could it have tipped it over an edge it might have drawn away from? - impossible to say. I'm going to try and insist on phizer for follow-up!
I am convinced that my PMR was precipitated by 2 major surgeries in short time. It started and has not ended yet. My opinion is exactly as others have stated...the straw that breaks the camel's back can be any of many insults to our body, eg., stress and immunizations, illnesses, I blame surgeries.All are significant insults to our immune systems , which must then scramble to make sense of what's happening. I am grateful for Prednisone to help manage the inflammation, and for this Forum, helping make sense of some of this craziness.
By the way, PMR is not life threatening, as illness from lack of immunization against Covid may be. So my take away message here, don't throw the babe out with the bath water...
Kind regards, J
My "missing" blood test results finally showed up yesterday and I was, finally, able to get a prescription for Prednisone. Took the first dose, 15mg, after an early dinner last night and, quite miraculously, got a fairly decent nights sleep for the first time in weeks. This morning getting out of bed was not the nightmare it has been and I wasn't looking at my socks with trepidation wondering if I could actually do without waring them. The pain and stiffness in most of my joints is reduced and walking is much easier today, although nowhere near perfect of course. Most importantly is that I feel so much better in myself after just one dose. Truly amazing and, hopefully, the improvements will continue.
DON'T try to do all that you couldn't do while you weren't on pred! That will just bite you back - hard!
I am still being very careful.
Well, yesterday's euphoria was short lived. This morning I seem to be back to square one. Terrible pain but mainly on the right hand side.
BEFORE taking your pred? That is fairly normal - the antiinflammatory effect of pred lasts 12-36 hours depending on the person and the inflammatory substances are shed in the body every morning about 4-4.30am and then develop the inflammation. The ideal time to take pred to reduce that effect is 2-3am and then it is present and effective by 4am. If you are at the upper end of that range, then the effect of the previous day's dose may still be active but that doesn't often happen. It is possible to extend the effect by splitting the dose but don't try that yet - it is also possible you do need a bit more at present, 15mg as a starting dose is relatively low.
Thanks for your reply. This makes sense as I had to get up for the loo at around 2.30am and felt pretty OK. I have read that some advocate different size doses for different size people. I'm 6' 2" and weigh around 16 stone (always have since my rugby days when I was considerably fitter than I am now). Perhaps I'll try taking the Pred after dinner.
That's the point of the tapering - to identify the right dose for you. And the Guidelines say "lowest effective dose in the range 12.5-25mg"so if 15mg isn't effective (though it sounds as if it has achieved the desired effect) you should be allowed try a bit more.
But at that size - I would be encouraging my GP to let me go to 20mg to clear out the existing inflammation to start with.
Even without pred, I noticed I could move reasonably well up to about 4am if I had to get up but at 5am I was wooden.
Hi Flivoless, I have been in agony with pain in my shoulders, arms, hands and just recently my legs and feet. It started with pain, swelling and loss of power in my left hand, this began three days after my first vaccine in February. Today I have had an initial diagnosis of PMR. I have been referred to a Rheumatologist and for a scan. I have also been prescribed 15mg Pred daily. I have had suspicions regarding a link to the vaccine (I had the AZ) Just as you say, it could be coincidence. I am no longer getting the exercise that I was used to. We lost our lovely Border Collie whom I used to walk at least 3 miles a day with.
Sorry to hear this Elaine. Like you, I was prescribed 15mg of Pred daily last Monday. There has been a definite improvement but its been something of a mixed bag (day 1 of the Pred has been the best so far) so I'm not convinced of the usual "one size fits all" 15mg initial dosage is the right one and, perhaps, should be adjusted to take account of a persons size. I'm still very stiff and in pain, especially hips and top of calves every morning, so I'm considering upping my does to 20mg taking perhaps 10mg after breakfast and 10mg after dinner. I would be very interested to know if anyone else has tried this and whether it made any difference.
20mg possibly after speaking to the doctor - but not in split doses initially, first you need to find out more about your PMR and response to pred.
Did you do more than recently in the first day when you felt better? That really isn't the idea - initially it is a good idea to continue to rest to give the pred its best chance to work without complicating the assessment.
The general consensus seems to be "no" , not a cause, but perhaps a trigger. Having said that, a class action against the vaccine drug companies is being prepared in the USA precisely because of the elevated number of people who have developed PMR in a matter of days from having their shot. I was 100% healthy with NO medical history in my life other than a three day chest infection and have developed PMR within two days of the vaccine. I have a totally stress free life and the most invasive pharma I have ever taken was an antibiotic for a tooth infection. Anyway, we seem stuck with PMR now so I think the best we can do is help others and the medical community by pushing to have the vaccine-PMR correlation databased ( in the UK that's the yellow card system) so isolated cases can build to become a statistically significant number. Only then will the correlation be taken seriously. Who said life was fair?
I was pretty healthy with no significant medical history - and I can't even identify a specific factor in the months before the symptoms first appeared other than normal life things. I CAN identify things that subsequently have triggered flares. Many people blame the flu jab - many of us had never had it. And it never triggers a flare when I have it now. But something led to PMR developing some 16 years ago.
I was beginning to think that there is a link with Covid and auto immune conditions. In January this year (lockdown 2 in the UK) I developed severe hip pain which got progressively worse. It took several months to get XRays (no arthritis seen) and an MRI and I was told it was "just inflammation". Then in June after my second Pfizer jab (with no side effects) I developed progressively worsening stiffness in my pelvis, hips, knees and neck. It would last all day but ease in the evening. Blood tests led to my diagnosis of PMR even though I've had no shoulder pain, and prescribed prednisolone relieved all my symptoms straight away. My husband also developed different symptoms of fatigue, breathlessness, chest pain and stomach trouble as well as muscle aches, back in January. He had a blood test which indicated possible lupus but he has to wait a year to see a rheumatologist. Meanwhile he had to take a month off work and is really struggling. My point is, two of us have developed auto immune conditions during Covid. I have read that PMR can be triggered as a response to a virus.
Did either of you have Covid at any point? Long Covid is pretty likely an autoimmune response to the virus. But PMR has no single underlying cause - it is most likely as the result of a lifetime of insults to the immune system and eventually it can't take any more and one apparently single event sends it haywire and it starts attacking your body by mistake instead of foreign bodies. It can be anything - a virus, other illness, trauma, emotional or physical stress, environmental or chemical stresses - even a vaccine can be the final straw, some people say their PMR appeared after having a flu or shingles jab - but there are load of us whose PMR appeared even though we'd never had a flu or shingles jabs. The virus you read of is just one possibility and no virus has been identified that everyone has had.
Thanks. No, neither of us has had Covid or long Covid. Hubby was still working during lockdown. I have the G type antibodies for Covid. They're the ones that last. So maybe my immune system responded strongly to the virus so I didn't actually get the disease. Or maybe it was just stress - though I don't remember feeling stressed!
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