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PMR and the new Shingles vaccine
Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) | Last Active: Dec 27, 2021 | Replies (67)Comment receiving replies
I have the same story. I received the second Shingles vaccine in March and within 3 weeks my primary care physician diagnosed me with PMR. I don’t know if those events are related, but I sure wonder! I see the Rheumatologist Wednesday for the first time on a video conference. I am on three 5mg Prednisone per day and Vicodin as needed. I tend to take two 750 mg Vicodin cut in half (so four pills) 2 hours before bedtime, bedtime, 3 and 6 hours later. That seems to be working enough so I can sleep through the pain. The pain is minimal during the day and I can walk three miles each day but can barely raise my arms sometimes. I’ll just have to see how this plays out. I’m 70 years old and was very active. I do apply ice or Bio-freeze to my upper arms before bed and usually again in the middle of the night.
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Hello @drtiminaz, Welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. Thank you for sharing your experience with the Shingrix vaccine. I have not had the new Shingrix vaccine but after reading some experiences here and already going through 2 bouts with PMR I really don't want to chance having my PMR come back. I'm 76 and plan to discuss this with my primary care doctor at my next appointment hopefully a little later this year when the COVID-19 quiets down some. For both occurrences of PMR I was started at 20mg of prednisone and it immediately took away all of pain for me. Then after a few weeks I started tapering off but it took me a little over 3 years to taper off with my first round of PMR.
It's good that you are active. Exercise does help with the PMR symptoms as long as you don't overdue it. Do you have more pain at night or in the morning from the PMR? You may want to discuss dosage and possibly splitting the prednisone dosage between morning and evening. I think other members have mentioned that has helped them when they have more pain at night and have trouble sleeping.
I did a little research and found some information that you may want to share with your primary care physician from the drug manufacturer Merck. The information below was taken from the following link:
https://www.merckvaccines.com/zostavax/
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"Select Safety Information for ZOSTAVAX
Vaccination with ZOSTAVAX does not result in protection of all vaccine recipients.
Do not administer ZOSTAVAX to individuals who are immunodeficient or immunosuppressed due to disease or therapy, as serious or fatal disseminated vaccine strain varicella-zoster virus disease may occur. Causes of immunodeficiency or immunosuppression may include, but are not limited to, primary or acquired immunodeficiency states, AIDS or other clinical manifestations of infection with human immunodeficiency viruses, leukemia, lymphoma or other malignant neoplasms affecting the bone marrow or lymphatic system, and immunosuppressive therapy.
A reduced immune response to ZOSTAVAX was observed in individuals who received concurrent administration of PNEUMOVAX®23 (Pneumococcal Vaccine Polyvalent) and ZOSTAVAX compared with individuals who received these vaccines 4 weeks apart. Consider administration of the two vaccines separated by at least 4 weeks.
Serious vaccine-related adverse reactions that have occurred following vaccination with ZOSTAVAX include asthma exacerbation and polymyalgia rheumatica. Other serious adverse events reported following vaccination with ZOSTAVAX include cardiovascular events (congestive heart failure, pulmonary edema). Common adverse reactions occurring in ≥1% of vaccinated individuals during clinical trials include injection-site reactions (erythema, pain/tenderness, swelling, hematoma, pruritus, warmth) and headache."
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