Post Covid Vaccine Neuropathic Arm
This post is by Mary Lynch – see Credentials in Cause and Effect. A neuropathic arm sounds like something terrible from an Edgar Allan Poe horror story.
Anette Diamond (name changed) is a 66 year-old woman. She has approved this post.
She had been living with chronic low back pain and fibromyalgia for several years when she was referred to me. She was very motivated in pursuing active strategies for pain management suggested by the team at the pain clinic and had made good progress in living with her pain.
I saw her for a routine follow-up appointment in September 2021. At that time she presented as very distressed and her first request of me was “Doctor please tell me I don’t have to have another one of those vaccines”.
Anette and I had never discussed the vaccines. She was referring to the Moderna vaccine, which she had received in August 2021.
She described severe pain in her vaccinated arm along with a widespread rash, which developed shortly after the injection. These were new symptoms that had not previously been an issue for her. She had lost lost function in the previously fully functional arm and could not move it without experiencing severe pain. On examination her range of motion at the shoulder was quite restricted, and she exhibited the sensory findings one would expect for neuropathic pain.
I am a psychiatrist and have worked in the field of pain management for over thirty years. In September of 2012, I was granted Founder status in Pain Medicine at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, Canada, meaning that I have been recognized as a Fellow who has been instrumental in the creation of a new discipline approved by the Royal College. I have seen thousands of patients with chronic pain and thousands with mental health disorders.
I made a diagnosis of post vaccine neuropathic pain in Anette’s vaccinated arm. There was no evidence that this was caused by a psychiatric disorder and she had not reported these symptoms prior to the vaccine. I contacted her family doctor suggesting Anette be supported for a medical exemption from having a second vaccination until she had fully recovered, at which point we could reassess the situation.
Her family physician agreed and completed an adverse event following immunization (AEFI) report form, supporting a medical exemption until December when I was scheduled to see her again for follow-up.
Anette contacted me several weeks later indicating that she had been advised that she should go ahead and have the second vaccination. She was very upset and anxious about this. I contacted her family doctor again who provided me with a copy of correspondence he had received from the Physician Lead with AEFI Management, Provincial Health and Wellness.
In this correspondence dated October 15, 2021, this public health doctor stated:
“I recommend that she is medically safe to receive a second dose. Post vaccine neuralgia in the face of pre-existing complex chronic pain and depressive illness is difficult to predict. I cannot tell her whether this will happen again, but the response is not specific to COVID vaccine, and could be caused by any kind of IM injection. She has several options-she can take the second dose in her opposite shoulder, or in her thigh or gluteal region if she prefers”
I saw Anette for follow-up in December 2021. She continued to experience severe pain in the vaccinated arm and could barely move it. I diagnosed continued neuropathic pain dating back to the vaccination and advised her not to have another vaccine as there was a significant risk she would experience a similar reaction to a similar vaccine.
In all of my years of practice I have never seen a patient present with regional neuropathic pain that started after a vaccination. I was concerned about her losing the use of another limb if she were to receive another.
During the Summer and Fall of 2021, I had several other patients who reported adverse events following the Covid vaccine and yet, as of when I saw each of them they indicated that an adverse event form had not been completed. I completed AEFIs on 3 and contacted their family doctors and in one case the rheumatologist to ask them if they would be completing an AEFI. After discussion they agreed to do so. See Table below.
On December 8, 2021, I contacted the Physician Lead for AEFI Management who had advised Anette to have a second dose and gave her my opinion.
While I had this doctor on the phone I asked a few questions. My understanding previously was that adverse events following receipt of the vaccine should be reported, regardless of attribution, so that appropriate signals could be picked up by Health Canada regarding vaccine safety.
She said that it was “not regardless of attribution”, that they do make a judgement at the provincial level and that “anything serious” is reported to Health Canada. I asked if there had been any serious adverse events that had been reported and the physician said yes and mentioned:
“we knew going into this that the vaccines might exacerbate inflammation and autoimmune illnesses”
I asked if there had been others and how these were being addressed. She listed acute renal failure, hepatitis and MS and indicated that a public health nurse would be the first contact and that there were physicians from several specialties who had been identified to help, these included infectious disease, immunology and allergy, neurology and others.
My understanding at the end of the phone call was that my patient was not going to be pressured to have another vaccine.
Anette’s post vaccine neuropathic arm pain persists to this date, nine months later. It has continued to be extremely distressing to her.
Other Cases
| Problem | Vaccine | Action | Reported to AEFI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Exacerbation of follicular eczema | Pfizer | Referred to Dermatologist who said steroids needed and perhaps light therapy | Yes |
| MS Exacerbation and new painful joints | Pfizer | MS Clinic said Vaccine can't worsen MS | Yes after talking to Family Doctor |
| SAPHO Exacerbation - an inflammatory disorder of bone, joints and skin | Pfizer | Patient much worse | Rheumatologist agreed to submit AEFI form |
| Psoriasis Exacerbation with new onset multi joint pain in Patient living with HIV for decades | mRNA | After 30 years doing well, I have never been so sick | Family doctor reported to AEFI |
| Sarcoidosis Exacerbated Temporary hearing and sight loss, facial paralysis and cognitive problems | Pfizer | Rheumatologist started methotrexate and prednisone - no improvment after 6 months | ML completed report to AEFI - Public Health attributed this to prior illness. |
All patients were 50-70 years old. All were seen in Summer/Fall of 2021.
MS: multiple sclerosis
SAPHO: A chronic inflammatory disorder of bone, joint, skin characterized by synovitis, osteitis, hyperostosis, enthesitis with pain, swelling, and tenderness and skin acne and pustulosis
In the comments below there are multiple references to Parsonage-Turner Syndrome. The link gives a recent update on this syndrome that may help some people.
The Raven
You’d have to wonder if any of the public health doctors who have been denying any possible links to vaccines, and denying clearly indicated exemptions, will, like the dying Cardinal Wolsey (in his Orson Welles Man for All Seasons incarnation), wonder if they had served people half so well as they served their public health masters, whether they would have ended up dying so isolated and guilt-ridden.
Will they find like Edgar Allan Poe that:
Yeah, And?
Pfizer Trial Whistleblower Presses Forward With Lawsuit Without US Government’s Help
https://www.ntd.com/pfizer-trial-whistleblower-presses-forward-with-lawsuit-without-us-governments-help_740039.html?msclkid=776bf241d13d11ecaf8c72a760bab118
Brook Jackson
@IamBrookJackson
·
Just reviewing Pfizer’s motion to dismiss. Yeah. And?
https://twitter.com/IamBrookJackson/status/1524255176797872128
Yeah, And?
https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/investigations/i-became-paralyzed-after-taking-the-moderna-vaccine/2776312/?msclkid=7ab6cc61d10f11ec96cb27c9b280ff5f
‘I Became Paralyzed After Taking Moderna Vaccine’: Woman Diagnosed With Rare Reaction
NBC 7 Investigates interviewed a young woman whose life changed, potentially forever, after she received her first dose of the COVID vaccine
Yeah, And?
“I was concerned about her losing the use of another limb if she were to receive another.”
Well, duh. That public health doctor quacks me up. rofl
“Anette’s post vaccine neuropathic arm pain persists to this date.”
I wonder if her arm is continuing to produce spike protein? Perhaps Anette’s body cannot dispose of the pseudo-mRNA properly.
The arm is the thing – thanks for mentioning it.
Spike unicorns are just that – unicorns. We all have lots of coronavirus fragments wandering around in us largely harmlessly. We have spike proteins from vaccines wandering around with not a hint of a problem – there is every chance that something else among the not-readibly removable material in vaccine broths is causing difficulties.
‘Pseudo-mRNA’ from viruses is inside us and our DNA where it accumulate as junk.
It may take decades before we have answers to some of this but in the meantime we hae an Arm. And a public health system, aided by commentators who focus on Spike proteins and mRNA, that seems unable to see and appreciate that arm.
The need here is to acknowledge how little we know – nothing except this lady has a seriously damaged arm – and for a public health doctor to ask themself if they would force their child or partner or parent to take a second shot knowing how little we know about all this. And for commentators to stop talking about Spikes and say ‘Guys look there are terribly obvious injuries in front of you – 12 year olds would make a better judgement can than you seem to be making’.
D
I attended the meeting of the expert panel convened by Senator Ron Johnson on federal vaccine mandates. Dr. Aaron Kheriarty told the attendees “There is no clearer contraindication to taking a medication than having already been harmed by that medication,” adding angrily “A four-year-old could have figured that one out.”
https://patrickdhahn.substack.com/p/standing-up-to-tyranny-the-expert?s=w
Here’s the blog post that got me kicked of Medium:
https://patrickdhahn.substack.com/p/covid-19-a-second-opinion?s=w
Parsonage Turner Syndrome
This is almost certainly what is going on here.
Inflammation of the brachial plexus – the bunch of nerves that pass from the neck to the shoulder and then supply the arm is a well-recognised adverse event associated with various infections and vaccines, including both Covid and Covid vaccines.
There is a recent case report out of the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, which feeds the epicentre of Covid Research: The New England Journal of Medicine. The article includes a useful review of the medical literature.
https://surgicalneurologyint.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/11531/SNI-13-152.pdf
I wonder why this article was not published in the NEJM.
This is a great comment – thanks for posting. It reminded me immediately of two other cases I’ve seen. One of them reported this:
“I immediately started to have nerve and neurological issues starting in the car ride back from the vaccine administration site – where I had pain, numbness and tingling/pins and needles in my mid back on the left side. Throughout the rest of the day (and into the next day), these symptoms gradually moved through the rest of the left side of my body – including the back of my head. I eventually started to feel these symptoms on the right side of my body too.
A couple months later, I started to have shaking all over my body at random times; at first it was mostly just when I was lying down trying to fall asleep at night, but now it is throughout the daytime as well and it happens while I am sitting or standing too.
My fingers and hands tremble/shake/vibrate constantly – my left hand is slightly worse than my right. Aside from the pain in my mid-back and head, none of the other symptoms have gone away (though some of the symptoms are less noticeable as I have learned to live with them). However, the body-shaking has gotten a lot worse recently and I have not gotten used to the feelings in my fingers whatsoever (e.g. it really affects my ability to type fast)”.
DH: Having had a previous case something like this, and thought about it, it seemed to be this was Turner-Parsonage syndrome (or P-T syndrome – take your pick) which essentially appears to be a variant of Guillian-Barre Syndrome – and would provide the basis for a medical exemption.
GBS and PTS can be triggered by viruses. vaccines and even drugs like SSRIs. In the drug cases there are clearly no Spike proteins or mRNA. But what is worth noting is that mRNA, Spike protein and SSRIs have drug effects in common – actions on ACE2 receptors and p63 proteins.
D
Here is another case:
J had a sore arm after his injection. In the days afterwards, his left arm became numb, starting with his 4th and 5th finger. His hand became inflamed and swollen, feeling like it would pop. His skin seemed mottled.
These reactions escalated during the 3 weeks after the vaccine, and then progressed to a more extensive set of clinical features. He had a clear numbness in his left hand, primarily affecting the 4th and 5th fingers. He developed severe elbow pain.
He had twitching of muscles at the injection site that then extended down the arm and escalated into a visible tremor in his whole body, when severe, and an uncomfortable sense of vibration when less severe.
His hand became swollen, mottled and painful and close to non-functional. Between neurological and vascular features, he has little grip strength and doesn’t have the dexterity to type – he uses voice inputs for his computer.
His right arm developed similar problems some weeks after his left. His legs then developed problems; he had numb feet and hands, alternating with burning skin sensations, a twitching in his muscles, difficulties in raising his legs or arms, pains down his back, and temporary episodes of paralysis.
His sensory and motor problems in his legs escalated up to 3 months after the vaccine after which they have partially subsided. These have been replaced by calf pain and weakness. There has been little comparable improvement in his arms.
His original Family Doctor refused to meet him on several occasions owing to a lack of treatment options. Another Family Doctor refused to concede a link to the vaccine. Telehealth appeared to accept a possible vaccine related reaction and prescribed prednisone, which offered a temporary benefit. Other doctors have since blamed the steroids he was given.
He was told not to consult Google. He googled and found GBS which typically begins in the feet and legs and works up the body bringing paralysis with it. It is constant prior to finally receding. His problems differ in their distribution and in coming in waves – escalating and then receding before escalating again.
He then found Parsonage-Turner’s Syndrome (PTS), which seemed a better fit than GBS. But his reaction is more extensive than PTS so is perhaps better viewed as a Post-Vaccine-Polyneuritic Syndrome (PVPS).
There has now been a sequence of referrals to neurologists, hand specialists, spinal specialists, Lyme Disease specialists and back to neurologists. There has been a reluctance to make a link to vaccines, an interest to bounce him if the problem lies outside a specialist area of interest (like hand), and, if privately conceding the problem is vaccine related, a reluctance to state so publicly.
The doctors have also shown an embarrassment at the lack of options for treatment.
One of his big problems is being incapacitated at one point in time and then able to move freely soon afterwards. This makes his problems look all in his mind.
D
There is also the fact that if reactions like this after injections were even rare, mental health services would be full of people with neuropathic legs and arms. Do public health doctors expect to be able to get away with comments like this?
D
I always found unilateral illnesses very interesting.
For instance, why hay fever might give marked conjunctival oedema – just in one eye.
How do SSRIs affect, say, the left arm only? There is so much we don’t know.
I suspect some people with symptoms in the opposite arm wouldn’t associate it with the vaccination and wouldn’t report the adverse event.
I also suspect that some neuropathic arm problems post vaccination are misdiagnosed as frozen shoulder etc. “as a result of inadvertent injection of vaccine into, or too close to the shoulder joint”.
I’m flabbergasted by how we ordinary people are used as Guinea pigs for men like Anthony Fauci…
“The doctors have also shown an embarrassment at the lack of options for treatment.”
Would a large dose of calcifediol and a strong antihistamine perhaps help? Calcifediol will help with reducing inflammation from infection (the spike protein) and the antihistamine will help with the…histamine problem.
Of course, in order to even consider those options, doctors would have to admit that the problem could be the vaccine.
Armfuls of stuff here, particularly in the interview with two ‘health’ journalists and a lawyer…
Can we talk about deadly side effects of the Covid vaccine……
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-10816505/Covid-jabs-rare-effects-explored-public-inquiry-pandemic.html
Arming herself with clear-evidence of death and disability, the lawyer is seeking recognition and compensation
Can we talk about deadly side effects of the Covid vaccine……
“Not too much of a tricky subject”
“Amateur detective”
“Somehow been hushed up”
“Incredibly safe and incredibly effective”
Armed against the back-drop
https://react19.org/stories/
Silence: The story of COVID vaccine victims…
Many thousands of people were recruited as vaccinators Were they all competent to do it? Many were working 12hrs shifts without a break .They were given targets to achieve high rates rather than safe rates. News items in close up showed some squeezed a roll of skin to inject, others stretched the area for injecting. Could there be side effects if done incorrectly? Some people have been vaccinated in the thigh or groin. Is there any difference compared with arms in reports of ADs.? (By the way the ‘volunteer injectors ‘were made redundant with one days notice when the tide turned).
Some of the faulty technique might appear to faulty but actually be Parsonage Turner
A couple of articles about “shoulder injuries” from “faulty vaccination techniques”
See these articles
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8930777/
https://www.racgp.org.au/afp/2016/may/don-t-aim-too-high-avoiding-shoulder-injury-relate
D
Interesting Rapid Response in the BMJ on this Should post
A full vaccination history and appropriate neurophysiological tests may be necessary in patients presenting with acute onset non-traumatic shoulder pain.
Plain radiographs may be useful to check for arthritic changes in the glenohumeral joint to exclude other causes of a painful shoulder, but these changes are fairly common in asymptomatic populations (1).
Frozen shoulder or adhesive capsulitis of the shoulder, usually unilateral, has been reported in patients recovering from Covid-19 infection (2) and after Covid-19 vaccination (3).
Furthermore, Parsonage-Turner syndrome – the acute onset of shoulder pain followed by progressive motor weakness, dysaesthesia, and numbness of the upper extremities, has been described after immunisation against several viral diseases, including Covid-19 (4). The affected shoulder may be opposite to the side of the vaccinated arm.
Even so, there is a tendency to associate shoulder pain after vaccination with the vaccine being injected too close to the shoulder joint – indeed there is a condition – Shoulder Injury Related to Vaccine Administration (SIRVA) – often blamed on “improper vaccine delivery” (5).
Several factors support the need for taking a vaccination history and arranging appropriate neurophysiological tests in patients who appear to have “frozen shoulder”.
• The difficulty in interpreting the significance of radiographic abnormalities of the shoulder joint
• The tendency for shoulder problems to be the province of orthopaedic surgeons
• The understandable reluctance of patients or their doctors to associate shoulder pain with a vaccination, especially in the contralateral arm.
References
1. Ibounig T. et al. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1457496920935018
2. Ascani C. et al. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.jse.2021.04.024
3. Sahu D et al. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.jseint.2022.02.013
4. Shields L. et al. https://doi.org/10.1159/000521462
5. Cross G. et al. Don’t aim too high: Avoiding shoulder injury related to vaccine administration. Australian Family Physician Volume 45, Issue 5, May 2016