Can PMR (Polymyalgia Rheumatica) be induced by vaccine?
Good evening, I’ve recently been diagnosed with PMR. It came on a week after my flu shot October 23, 2020.
Has anyone experienced the same diagnosis after a flu shot?
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YES!!!! I as well got pmr and then unfortunately it morphed into gca 4 months later. I am mad at myself for taking it too. I thought i was doing the right thing and now this had ruined my life. I will never take another covid vaccine again. The first 3 shots i got a yeast infection about 2 weeks after. I have never had a yeast infection in my life. The 4th booster got a yeast infection again and then a week after that i was really stiff and felt lousy. Pmr was diagnosed may of 2021. Sept i got gca. These are not coincidence, the booster did this. I hope more people hear our stories so they have more info to make a decision on whether to get a booster or not.
I have always thought that mine was tied to a botched flu shot injection in October, 2018, but the onset was not immediate. It’s just that I had to work through a frozen shoulder for months and months and then the rest of my body fell apart. Who knows? The disease is so mysterious. But they do say it can be a result of an injury. I had no issues with any of the COVID shots, barely a sore arm.
I honestly don't see a connection, but I came down with PMR the day after having my most recent Covid booster - this would be my 6th or 7th shot including the initial ones. I'm a 79-year-old woman in mostly good health, only reaction after shots was the mildest pain at the injection site, and not even that with the last one. On that same day I was doing a lot of physical activity, mowing, weed-wacking, shifting furniture around because a new bed was coming in, and then sleeping on an unfamiliar and overly soft mattress. Next morning, huge shoulder and upper arm pain that I assumed was from over-work... until it wouldn't go away and got worse.
Bottom line is that before Covid, I'm guessing that most of us only had annual innoculations for flu. With all the millions of Covid jabs, if vaccines brought on the condition, wouldn't there have to be one heck of a jump in the number of PMR cases?
Regarding the relationship between COVID vaccinations and the incidence of PMR, I think the jury is still out. Hee is what the NIH said in March 2022:
"In the context of worldwide vaccination against COVID-19, physicians must be aware of the possibility of the onset or relapse of PMR, notably in the first 2 weeks after vaccination. This short delay between the first PMR symptoms and vaccination strengthens the probable role of the vaccines in the occurrence of incident PMR. The start for vaccination for individuals over 75 years with comorbidities or living in nursing home started in France in January 2021. The intensification of COVID-19 vaccination for all individuals over 55 years occurred in France until May 15th of 2021. During this period (May to October 2021), 12 patients were diagnosed PMR including our nine vaccinated patients. Regarding the same period of May to October from previous years, PMR were diagnosed in 3 (2020 with confinement) and 6 (2018 and 2019) patients suggesting an increasing incidence of PMR. Despite this possible link, we cannot exclude that these patients would have developed PMR also without vaccination. In view of the spread of COVID-19 pandemic, the interest of the vaccination remains superior to the risk of PMR or GCA.
We report here series of patients with incident PMR occurring within 2 weeks after mRNA COVID-19 vaccination. Our findings suggest a possible vaccine causality and, in the context of the ongoing international COVID-19 vaccination campaign, encourage a search for recent vaccination in patients with incident PMR."
Here is the link to the article:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8694785/#:~:text=During%20this%20period%20(May%20to,an%20increasing%20incidence%20of%20PMR.
I personally believe my PMR is vax related and there has been a spike in PMR diagnosis since the vaccines were released.
My PMR is linked. An odd symptom surfaced a few months after my first Pfizer injection. Out of the blue my arm was extremely sore at the site of the injection and lasted a couple of days. This happened about three times over the course of a year. Then I developed shoulder pain after walking. Then about 2 months later, all the symptoms kicked in—extreme muscle soreness and stiffness, low grade fever, discomfort when sitting, difficulty standing after sitting, extreme stiffness upon waking in the morning (my knee joints wouldn’t bend for about 20 minutes).
My rheumatologist feels the 2 shot vaccine for Covid triggered the disease. I was told NOT to have any vaccines now, including the boosters. Covid desrtoyed more lives than we can imagine.
Amen, Kristem2020
Amen. I'm with you no more vaccines for me
I'll continue to take whatever the Health Department has on offer unless medically advised otherwise. My memory is very fresh of all those early Covid news stories with hospital images where you could barely see the patient because they were hooked up to so much equipment. And the refrigerated trucks used as temporary morgues.
I came down with PMR the day after having my most recent booster. However, I'm not making the connection with the vaccine as much as doing a lot of yard work and moving furniture on the same day - that is, some soreness from a needle aggravated by over-work.