PMR after vaccination

[Annie1975]

I had my covid booster jab and then developed PMR - is there a connection

[PMRpro Ambassador]

Lots of people have had flares and there are quite a few whose PMR appeared soon after the Covid jab. However, it is a bit unfair to blame the vaccine alone.

My usual explanation: there is no single cause of PMR or other autoimmune disorders, it is a culmination of what are called insults to the immune system over a long period. All sorts of things can put stress on and upset the immune system: illness, infections, trauma from an accident, emotional or physical stress, a bad work climate, bereavement, environmental or chemical exposure. Eventually something is the straw that breaks the camels back, the immune system flips out and goes haywire. It becomes unable to recognise your body as self and starts to attack body tissues in error. That causes inflammation - and symptoms. No two people have the same history and people have very different ideas as to what causes their illness. It may have been after the flu jab, or the shingles vaccine. Or the flu, or shingles. Or someone may never have had any of them. Or it might have appeared soon after the Covid jab.

Very often you may think it appeared suddenly and relates to a given event - but often if you look back you can identify aches and pains previously that you had dismissed as due to something else. Mine started as it being uncomfortable to sleep with my arms above my head. Later I was struggling with the fitness classes I went to and couldn't use the gym equipment. Then it hit harder and I suddenly felt really bad. But some people don't have a slow build up - they literally wake up in the morning and can't move!

So it possibly did appear soon after the Covid jab - but that was only the final kick - if it hadn't been that, it would have been the next stress on the immune system.

[Seacat30]

What does your GP/rheumatologist think? I fell fast into PMR starting 5 days after my first Covid vaccination. Would it have happened if I hadn't already been severely stressed for a long period? I don't know and probably never will.