Can PMR (Polymyalgia Rheumatica) be induced by vaccine?

Hi dose flu vaccine in Oct. 2021 witn inability to move my legs at 3am the following morning…. Diagnosed with PMR three weeks later. Coincidence??

Oddly enough, it may well be coincidence because PMR is a "sudden emergence" condition. Frustrating not to be able to tie down the "lose ends" but although the triggers for PMR are not identified, it's emergence pattern is well established (so says my research and my doctor). It comes on literally overnight and can grow in intensity over a period of hours or days, case depending. One day you're feeling the age you always were -- the next day you're at least 82 and feeling more enfeebled by the minute.

I, myself, have been very suspicious of my PMR being the result of a senior flu shot since it began 2-3 days following the shot, last Novmber. However, I've read and studied and thought more about it, and I really can't make a direct connection (though in some ways that would be satisfying). Because the Covid shots and the flu shots introduce a very specific viral target, they are not capable (theoretically) of being able to trigger a wide-spreading immune response -- which is what PMR is believed to be. This is the data the pro-vaccine folk understand and rely on. The rest of us, who struggle with PMR which appeared subsequent to "a jab" of one sort or another, are left wondering. The trouble is that PMR has historically "simply appeared" without identified causation, so for many of us at this point in time at least, it's proximity to "vaccination" is part of our history, but not necessarily or even likely to be connected.

I'm sorry you are having to deal with this miserable condition and I have been where you are - wondering about connections with shots. Certainly I am leary of taking more "vaccinations" for flu I've never contracted in the past. I think I'd trade getting the flu for up-to-5-years-of-PMR any day. And COVID shots? No relation to PMR in my experience, but people are unique and the territory is uncharted as we sail through it. I wish you the very best in care and recovery, friend.

Laurel

I had a similar experience after receiving the Shingrix vaccine on March, 27 2021. I’ve been suffering with PMR ever since the first week of April 2021. I am convinced it is linked to the vaccine.

Mine started suddenly overnight 10 days after my second jab. But when I think about it my neck gave me huge problems all summer after the first jab in May. I believe there is a direct connection and also, 2 other people I know have been diagnosed with PMR over the last month, which probably coincides with their jabs too. Booster? Not me...not yet. Not until this settles down. It has taken 5 months to get a diagnosis, prednisone is working and I'm not messing that up. I have never had a flu vax of any kind and I'm 72. PMR makes me feel my age, otherwise I'm still 40. LOL.

So sorry to hear this...it was very difficult to get anyone to hear me so I suffered with it for 5 months without a diagnosis. Feel it's directly related to the Covid jabs, as began 10 days after. Does not run in the family. Never even heard of it. Prednisone has been miraculous for me. Too bad I had to wait so long to get on it. Most of what I learned I had to research myself on line (sadly) and as it turns out...I was right at a time when I didn't want to be. 🙂 All the best to you m'friend ~ Deb

It IS frustrating not to have anything "proved" which connects the "jabs" with PMR isn't it? I support anyone who is wary of further "vaccines" (of any sort) and count myself among them. And I am SO sorry you had to wait 5 miserable months to get a diagnosis. Without that, medication to alleviate the pain and disability is impossible to come by. I only struggled for a month and was at the point of conceding I no longer wanted to live if I had to bear the crippling and pain when my doctor diagnosed me and started me on prednisone. 5 months would have been an absolute nightmare!!

My difficulty in coming down FIRMLY on the conviction that PMR follows vaccines for some people, is that as with ALL sudden onset conditions, they always follow SOMETHING. How many people have had, say, a heart attack after working out, or eating, or trying a new medication? Even if many did (and probably have in the course of history) no direct connection can be drawn. That may be a poor analogy, but it's all that occurs to me at the moment. I see the potential connection, and as a result, am not interested in further experimentation with any vaccine -- I just wish someone with medical skill and resources would make an effort to study and research the issue, for all our sakes. But then, of course, we'd have the great difficulty of knowing whether to trust what conclusions they promoted. Another (not very amusing) LOL. Best of luck with your PMR settling down.

Yes, my PMR symptoms emerged within 2 days of my senior flu shot in October. It only took 1 month (1 VERY miserable month) to get a diagnosis of PMR. The jury is still out in my mind on any direct link because sudden onset conditions like PMR are always going to follow "something", and for a certain percentage of us, it will be a vaccination of some sort. However, I think the possibility is there - especially since they don't know WHAT triggers PMR. Frustrating for us all. I wish you the best in managing your PMR - that you may be one of the fortunate ones whose bout is short rather than extended.

My belief is that they already have studied it and know, but of course won't tell us. The PMR has settled down very well. Progress every day. I almost gave up as well, because I could not face getting up in the morning. Last night was my first "sleep right thru" night in months and months. On to our remissions....

Thank you for commenting @mild835. It does not run in my family either, nor had I heard of it before. It took 5 months for my doctor to test me and 7 months to get an appointment with a rheumatologist. I, too, suffered for far too long. I did a lot of digging on the web for more information. I would never have taken the shingrix vaccine if I knew about this possible adverse reaction.
I am very disappointed in Merck for not declaring this as a possible adverse reaction. I would rather have had a case of shingles than acquire Polymyalgia Rheumatica. This has changed my entire life for the worse. I have so much discomfort and it’s difficult to sleep at night and go about my daily activities. I can not workout anymore. I used to work out 5 times per week. I’m so unhappy. 🥲

I'm so sorry that you're going through all of this. Do you live in Canada by any chance? It's so difficult to get a good doctor, if you can get one at all and appointments with specialists can take up to a year. I was retired and went back to work last April. Working from home. Love it, but have been off since October, when I asked for my hours to be cut in half. Was getting up at 5 to take some pain killers so they would kick in before I started working at 8AM. The pain...excruciating. So as unable to move neck, arms and hands, then hips, I'm now on EI. Sleeping and getting caught up in the sheets and comforter was impossible, so I started to sleep in the nude (eye roll). But it worked.

Are you not on Prednisone? It has helped me immensely after only a week and 4 days. Prior to that...I can't even go there right now. It indeed changed my entire life. A 180. I'm fairly active (sort of) but a young 71.9. It seems like I grew into my age over night on August 15th. Then the morning after I took my first dose of Prednisone, I reached over to my night stand to check the time and did so without having to lift my right hand with my left arm and I knew there was hope and it just kept getting better every day. Then I thought to myself "Oh, I just did that." Going from being unable to wipe one's self and using a riser seat and splints on both hands to being the way I am even today is such a miracle to me. My bloodwork CRP which was taken today is normal. Last going off it was 42.4 or 44.2. I have a few more tests to be taken, but feel very positive and the neurologist is so nice and he listens. It is a very exhausting disease. Just fighting the pain is exhausting. I would say keep moving on all levels. I live alone. My daughter has been my angel, but she lives on the other side of town.

There is NOT 1 day that I haven't gotten dressed (and it took forever, often with tears), put on a little make-up. Gotten a meal. In spite of the pain it took to do so. Mum always used to say "the better you look, the better you feel" and she was right. I would look in the mirror and tell myself "I am successful", "I am courageous", "I am strong", "I am victorious". The power of positive words is real (as is the power of negative words). I think it became my mantra for all these months. This is not being braggadocious. This is me imparting hope to you. Positive vibes only. ~ Deb