Side effects after Covid Vaccine - symptoms seem like PMR

@janiceem. I wholeheartedly agree with your diet recommendations and have eaten this way for many years. Unfortunately my system doesn’t tolerate turmeric well. It gives me the scoots if I take it as a supplement or eat foods that contain it. Other than that, I tolerate a healthy diet successfully.

I stay away from turmeric too. It's high in oxalates which bind to calcium and stop it being absorbed. Calcium oxalates can cause kidney stones, and calcium oxalate crystals in joints and soft tissue are involved in oxalate arthritis. A lot of so-called "superfoods" are said to be anti-inflammatory but are very high oxalate.

@janiceem I admire and respect your knowledge as a nutritionist. I guess my body is doing me a favor by rejecting tumeric! Who knew 🤗

It's interesting that turmeric isn't tolerated by some people. I hadn't heard that before. Just an FYI, I did have a kidney stone episode in my 50's, when I didn't take turmeric or drink a green smoothie each day. I am almost 70 now and have been taking turmeric and eating many anti-inflammatory superfoods for at least 10 years now, with no reoccurence of stones. I do drink a lot more water, though. The only food that I avoid is raw spinach in my green smoothie because of oxalates.

I had the covid vaccines and then when I went to have the shingles vaccine, I had horrible pain in my neck shoulders. It felt just like when I had PMR. No doctor would listen to me because my blood tests did not show inflammation. After months of pain I finally got cortisone shots in my shoulders and for the spasms coming from my neck. I went to a new rheumatologist and he felt because of the family history, I definitely had PMR but my IGg levels were so low, I wasn't registering inflammation.

@bpyle47 I developed PMR after my second mRNA vaccination in 2021 and had no inflammation markers at all. It took 4 months to diagnose because of this and the fact that I only hurt while laying in bed! Once i started taking 10 mg. of Prednisone, my pain went away and I tapered off of that dose in about a year. There is another thread just discussing the COVID vaccine and PMR. You can probably find it by searching this site.

@megz maybe I misunderstood, but if calcium oxalate is formed and excreted i.e. not absorbed it won’t get into the blood stream and eventually the kidneys? So is turmeric helping remove excess calcium?

@janiceem @bpyle47 We are not doctors, and probably cannot say until a lot more studies are completed. My COVID booster was November 17, 2025, exactly 2 weeks later I started having classic PMR symptoms. Sever muscle pain, could not get out of bed without strategizing for 45 minutes. Figured PMR early January but refused Prednisone due to side effects. Instead made drastic changes to diet and fasted. Yep, a long time. Finally March 20, 2026 started Pred since I could not get up the stairs to bedroom. Pain was gone in 1-2 hours, incredibly fast. Sooooo, 6 doctors said: 'since COVID boosters, we have seen a significant increase in PMR'. And increase in children with type 1 diabetes. Doc in Canada, doc in California (from fasting clinic) husband's doc and several more. These are all (but 1) without examination. But still, that is a lot saying the same thing. Scary that your life can change on a dime.

Yes, It is amazing how life can change. I also got PMR but not sure how. It was awful.

@pmrnew Sounds a lot like my onset. As soon as my arm stopped hurting from the shot, I had bilateral pain in my shoulders and then my thighs, but only when I was in bed! As soon as I got up, I was fine! My inflammation markers were normal, so it took a long time to diagnose. I attribute my mild case to eating right and exercising regulary. I am also a registered dietitian and eat a primarily whole foods, organic diet, hight in anti-inflammatory foods, with very little meat or poultry. Good luck to you!