PMR and Pfizer Covid Vaccine

[heartsonfire]

Within 5 days of my husband and I receiving the first Pfizer Covid jab, he started getting pains in his legs and shoulders. He took paracetamol & used Bio Freeze, similar to deep heat. He got progressively worse, a GP diagnosed Frozen Shoulder over the phone, prescribed Co-Codamol & Naproxen. Within days he was in a state of collapse, couldn’t walk and lost a lot of weight. After the Second Pfizer jab he deteriorated further, however I must say at this stage we hadn’t made any connection between the two. After the Autumn booster, again it was Pfizer, he deteriorated further to the stage he needed a wheelchair. Eventually after a year of suffering, having lost 3 stone in weight, he was diagnosed by a Rheumatologist with PMR. Within 18 hours of starting Prednisolone he was like a new man. Neither of us have had any more Covid vaccines, and will never have any other experimental emergency vaccines again. However two years later he’s not seen a rheumatologist again, and I muddled through the reducing steroid dose by myself doing the best I could with no help from anyone. He’s currently on 8mg each day as the lowest dose to keep the symptoms at bay. It’s my humble opinion that there has been a massive increase in cases of PMR due to the Covid vaccines, consequently impacting the follow up from rheumatology.

[Lenore58]

Yes, there is a good deal of speculation on this subject, as it does seem to be on the rise. (Both PMR and GCA.) Some people suspect the vaccine as a contributor, some suspect Covid itself, as it is an inflammatory process. Some suspect either or both. I became ill with PMR 2 months after having Covid (3 months after vaccine) and then acquired GCA 2 months after a 2nd Covid bout. Enough time has not passed for conclusive studies to have yet been done. But data is being gathered.

healio.com/news/rheumatolog...

[DogAgilityObsessed]

Interesting and I’ve read other similar tales. I don’t know where you live but in the uk most PMR is managed by GPs than rheumatologists (although your husband’s situation could well be different and warrant specialist support).

Of course I imagine that many, if not most, new cases of PMR and GCA in the past three years have occurred a few months post vaccine. It would certainly be interesting to see more research into numbers etc.

I hope your husband continues to improve.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

ANY vaccine could have triggered the onset of PMR - the flu and old shingles vaccines both have form. But they are just the final trigger - had it not been the vaccine, it might have been the next illness, Covid even, or an operation or accident or some form of stress. There is no single cause of PMR, it is an accumulation of stresses on the immune system over a period of many years and eventually there is a final straw and the immune system's back is broken and it goes haywire, In your husband's case it is clear what the final straw was - it isn't often so clear, but I can assure you that the vast majority of PMR cases for the last 130 years since it was first described had nothing to do with a vaccine of any sort.

The vaccines WEREN'T experimental - they had been researched as well as any other vaccine, more than some. Work on the type had been going on for years - the only reason they got approved quickly was money was available and priority was given to the process so the only delays were the actual work and not waiting in queues for the pieces of paper. A much greater impact on rheumatology services has been the exodus of many foreign doctors as a result of Brexit and other problems in the NHS either home or to Australia and the wide choice available to new doctors. The shortage of rheumatologists is worldwide - because it is a difficult specialism. Rheumatologists were in great demand during the pandemic as specialists in using some of the medications used in Covid and that helped create a massive backlog in appointments. PMR has been regarded as a disorder that can be well managed by primary care since the main medication was, and still is, corticosteroids, so the backlog of rheumatology appointments is devoted to the conditions regarded as more complex and which need specialist care because of the medications being used. There has possibly been an increase in PMR - but I don't think it is massive.

[heartsonfire in reply to PMRpro]

Thank you for your comprehensive reply.

My husband was supposed to see his rheumatologist again 4 months after initial diagnosis, as stated in the letter to the GP, the Covid Vaccines were only approved for Emergency Use.

As I said it is only my own opinion about the cause and effect!

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to heartsonfire]

Ah yes - but Emergency Use is something that pretty much ALL medications get as an approval first as opposed to first line use. I suppose you have to put it down to terminology used by the FDA.

Yes, a 4-month recall is desirable - almost never happens and it's a bit like waiting in the ED, if you aren't in the first few to be seen you should be comforted as it means you are not about to circle the drain and they aren't too worried about you.