Hi Amy, we’re not medical professionals in the Connect forum but we can rely on our personal experiences to help other members.

Your fiancé has certainly had his share of medical issues over the years. The Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy is a serious neurological disease that damages the myelin sheath around the spinal cord.
As a side effect from my stem cell transplant, I had a severe reaction which led to demyelination of areas of my spinal cord with similar debilitating symptoms as your fiancé. With treatment, it regenerated and I was fine. However, two weeks after my first Pfizer vaccination, March 2021, I began experiencing similar symptoms to the situation which led to my loss of feeling from waist to toes a year before. The feelings were mild but needless to say, it raised some red flags. So a quick call to my transplant Dr at Mayo prompted an immediate visit with him and a neurologist at Mayo for an MRI. Thankfully there was no repeat of the disease.

However, my neurologist told me there is evidence in some people with pre-existing neurological conditions, such as Bells Palsy, Shingles, neuropathy, etc, that the virus itself and/or the vaccine may cause the body to have an immune response and temporarily reactivate symptoms of the pre existing neurological condition but that it’s usually short-lived. Without treatment, my symptoms all disappeared within 2 weeks. The subsequent vaccine and booster had no ill effects.

I can understand your and your fiancé’s hesitation in getting the vaccination under these circumstances. This is something that needs to be discussed with his neurologist. You don’t want to do anything that may spur a new reaction CIDP. In the meantime, since his condition makes him vulnerable to the virus, you both need to be vigilant in the avoidance of covid.

Have you discussed this with his neurologist?

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