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← Return to COVID vaccines and neuropathy
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I am a 53 yr old female, had covid back in December. I received the Moderna vaccine in March, second shot in April and immediately started symptoms of peripheral neuropathy. No other variables in my life or lifestyle, so I am sure it was the vaccine that caused this. Maybe because I already had the virus, my body produced too many antibodies and they started to attack my nerves? Started with numb toes, pain in ball of foot, now have burning and cold sensation, worse at night, and it radiates up my ankles. I went to my primary care doc, she prescribed steroids for a week. The symptoms were much better, but came back after discontinuing the meds. I have been trying to get into a neurologist since- and where I live, the resources are very limited. New patient waits are well into the winter. My doctor recommended seeing a podiatrist that deals with neuropathy. I have an appointment today. I do not think it matters which vaccine you receive. I too have been researching the correlation between the vaccine and new onset neuropathy, and you are right. More and more cases being reported. Back in Feb, there was only 27 cases reported to VAERS. I too believe that physicians do not want to link the vaccine to any side effects, and am sure there are more cases out there than are being reported. I will update my own case after I see the podiatrist today, and see what they say.
Replies to "I am a 53 yr old female, had covid back in December. I received the Moderna..."
I am a physician and now feel strongly that we are going to see this blow up. I have had a similar reaction to Pfizer. Huge workup, all neg. Very healthy prior. I've had it for 5 months now. Look up Senator Johnson's press release on YouTube about it. Thankfully I've been able to get into 2 different neurologists since in the medical profession here in Dallas and seeing one more next Tuesday at UT Southwestern. My few tips: heat and over exertion makes the following day worse. I have not discovered anything that helps but time, but many are starting to see some relief who had the vaccine back in Dec/Jan so hope is there!! I believe heavy prednisone dosing when symptoms first appear will help but will see what the research and experience shows over the next year. Keep calling for a cancellation. Maybe send cookies to the neurologist with a request to get the first cancellation opening?? Food goes a long way for staff..... Many of us have an internal trembling type sensation along with weakness, fatigue. My legs shake and give out at times though finally seems to not be getting worse. Are you having any of these symptoms? The hand movement is very bizarre and I think is going to be a signature side effect to this vaccine for some. The file size limit isn't letting me upload my videos of this.
As a person who mounted a strong autoimmune response (whole body inflammatory reaction) after the vaccine, and as a Mentor for the Covid discussions on Mayo Connect, I follow all of the vaccine reaction reports closely.
You are correct that there are more people reporting neueropathy after the vaccine, but as of today, VAERS, with 413,000 events reported out of 333,000,000 injections given, reports 1147 instances of neuropathy (all types.) that is .34 for every 100,000 doses. While it is not a little thing if it is you suffering, it is still an extremely rare occurence.
Please also remember that there are many cases of post-Covid neuropathy, some occurring several months after the virus. So it is possible that cases which are being blamed on the vaccine could have happened because someone had the virus previously.
Finally, even if neuropathy and other vaccine effects are FAR underreported, they number and severity does not begin to compare to the number and severity of adverse reactions, including hospitalization, ICU and death, that come from the virus itself. Please read the analysis in this recent post: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/covid-19-vaccination/?pg=1#comment-615736
Sue
Here's the Fox News article. Go to Fox News site and July 11, video named, "Sen. Johnson demands answers on adverse reactions to covid vaccine". Doctor said everyone has to report their conditions to the CDC!
I think most of these cases go unreported so it’s hard to trust the VAERS numbers
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I'm was a healthy 61 yr. old male, with mild idiopathic neuropathy in both feet prior to receiving the Moderna vaccine in March. Within 48 hours I was in the emergency room with extreme paresthesia throughout my entire body. The following 2 weeks the partial paralysis subsided but the foot neuropathy has increased from a 2 to a 9 on a 10 scale. My neurologist said to keep taking gabapentin, which frankly is almost useless for pain in this case. I agree with you that it's probably our immune system's over response to the vaccine. And that no one wants to talk about that possibility or have any idea about how to treat it. It sounds like we both need very competent neurologist/immunologist's help, but we could spend years and a fortune tracking down and securing that help. My thought's are mainly surrounding the question of why the pain doesn't subside? What can we do to dampen that response our bodies had to the vaccine? I wish you luck with your podiatrist today, might be able to directly address your pain.