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Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR): Meet others & Share Your Story
Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) | Last Active: Jun 8 11:23pm | Replies (2096)Comment receiving replies
Hi,
I'm curious if anyone had their PMR start shortly (maybe 2 to4 weeks) after a vaccine shot. Mine did about a year ago after a Prevnar-20 vaccination! While trying to deal with the pain through physical therapy I discovered 3 more patients with similar beginnings to their PMR stories. Two had symptoms that began after COVID vaccine shots and one after the current flu vaccine. Research has revealed a small number of additional patients starting PMR following COVID shots. Manufactures have little or no info to share. I lived with the pain 6 months until my MD son came home and recommended CRP & ESR tests which confirmed it. I still have it after slowly stepping down the dose conc. to zero over several months. The only potential allergen I find common to all three vaccines is Tween-80. Two new surfactants have been developed that in the future may replace Tween-80 in vaccines and other drugs.
Replies to "Hi, I'm curious if anyone had their PMR start shortly (maybe 2 to4 weeks) after a..."
@pmr100 In short: yes. I had flu vaccine and COVID booster shot 17 NOV 2025 and started inexplicable muscle pain early December. By March SIX docs (all MDs we spoke with extensively, but only 1 my own doctor) had said that they have seem PMR show up after boosters. I never had any health issues and thought pain was from hiking/skiing/stairs but not really, just could not figure it out. Early January my husband told me about classic PMR symptoms, which matches exactly, and took CRP and ESR, all way high. Due to Prednisone side effects I refused for months until getting out of bed took an hour. Admittedly I fasted for 31 days and 6 days, which was a great decision. March 20 2026 I started Prednisone, 30MG and tapering each week down 5MG. Hope this answers partly your question.
Has anyone tapered from Prednisone in just a few months and not had PMR return? Zero pain during what seems a quick and fast taper if reading about others suffering for a much longer time.
@pmr100 Hello, I just found this forum and started reading the newest part of this megathread and yes. I had the flu and Covid booster vaccines in October of 2025, and within two weeks or so had my first PMR symptoms but wasn't diagnosed until January of this year as we were living in Europe for a few months (US resident), and I didn't really have regular medical care access, so the diagnosis was delayed.
Most doctors I have spoken to disagree that it could be causally related, but as someone else said here, the immune system trigger may well be all it took.
Good luck.
@pmr100
I have a similar story. I received both a Covid and Flu vaccine in October 2015. I hesitate to link it to my PMR diagnosis in early December, 2025 because I am a strong supporter of vaccines but….. My quick diagnosis was due to a family history of PMR ( older brother). I am currently in my late 70’s but did have fibromyalgia in my late 40’s for about 5 years. I started on 15 g of prednisone in December and am down to 7 mg now. Struggling with fatigue, weight gain, increased thirst.
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@pmr100 Yes, I did. You can use the Search feature on Mayo Connect - I would suggest the one for this Group and not all Groups. You will find plenty of others with the same experience.
I believe it is not the vaccine directly, it is because vaccinations all super charge your immune system to produce the antibodies and that sets off a reaction the ends up being PMR. In my case I believe any vaccination would have caused it because my immune system was low due to a prior short course of steroids. I now make certain that my immune system is as good as possible and I never get more than one vaccine at a time.