COVID vaccines and neuropathy

Posted by cue @cue, Feb 15, 2021

I am 85 with small fiber neuropathy that is getting worse. My neurologist thought it would be a good idea for me to wait with the covid vaccine and not be first in line to see how it affected other people with neuropathy. Probably because it is a new technology. Has anyone had a problem with neuropathy after receiving the vaccine? If so, which vaccine?

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Neuropathy Support Group.

I have it bad but went ahead with my Covid booster jabs. I don't see a connection. If there was a lot would have been said in the media by now...

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@dgneal13

I am in the same situation. I was a healthy 54 year old. I got moderna shot on march 18 2021 with in a week started developing neuropathy and just turned into a mess. I am now at northwestern trying to figure it out. I just wonder how many other people are struggling like us

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I am looking for a doctor that can help my daughter she also was in perfect health and developed neuropathy and other reactions to moderna. It’s been 6 month of going to one specialist after another.
Looking for a doctor that is focusing on this-
Need help

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@cids

Thank you, Colleen. That is very reassuring.

I would like to point out that VAERS might have been a good idea at one time, but it has become a repository of useless data. Anyone can report anything and they do just that. In fact, anti-vaxxers are probably flooding it with false reports. The noise-to-signal ratio is such that it is virtually useless as a research tool. The reports themselves are not vetted, and, as CDC states in a prominent disclaimer, they "may include incomplete, inaccurate, coincidental and unverified information."

People may misinterpret VAERS, which is easily searchable, as a catalog of actual side effects, rather than possible or suspected ones. And it's easy to pull data out of context. "For those who are out to scare, there's a lot of material there," says Heidi Larson, director of the Vaccine Confidence Project at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

The other problem is that it isn't a database of all people who had X vaccine. Hundreds of millions have had any one vaccine but the only people who report to VAERS are those who think they may have had an adverse reaction. So the nmbers are basically meaningless. Say 20,000 people report what they think is an adverse reaction to the flu vaccine and (if anyone were to assess each of those reports, which they don't) it turns out that only 1300 could be medically attributed to the vaccine. The rate is not 13,00/20,000. The rate is 1300/hundreds of millions.

And no matter how many times you say it, people can't get through their heads that correlation (even if statistically significant, which it rarely is in VAERS) is not causation.

As you said, "People who don't experience adverse events tend not to participate in forums because they are not looking for support and solutions." It is just the same with VAERS.

And the fact that this forum is hosted by the Mayo Clinic may give the false impression that the information offered by an individual is somehow endorsed by a highly respected medical institution.

From the very soggy East Coast,

Ellen

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Ellen -
It’s really hard to argue with what you’re saying. Having idiopathic neuropathy for 6 years, over that time, I’ve had ideas I’ve thrown out at my doctors for things to test because I “felt” there could be a correlation worth checking (uti at exact time of my sudden crippling neuropathy, lower back pain ever since, working at a (now) US EPA Superfund Site for mercury contamination for 13 years, a cancer I was later discovered to have etc etc) Most suggestions I had were dismissed right off the tops of their heads without data or even making their visit notes, telling me it was all coincidental while not being able to offer cause ideas of their own. It’s been frustrating. I am very happy to report that I never had a change in my neuropathy after the vaccines and boosters, nor have I had Covid. (And of course my happy news of that doesn’t go into VAERS)
You’re right, VAERS only captures adverse reactions people think they MAY have had, and isn’t in the same database as total population that received it, so scientists could never use that data alone as statistical evidence. However, I’m a firm believer of “where there’s smoke there’s often a fire”. I do not have data, but I have to believe a whole lot of people started getting sick (and dying) in different parts of the world with something unusual with very similar symptoms (not identical) for a bit of time before somehow enough data reached a high enough level of authority to make someone realize there was Covid going on out here. The system of collecting that “data” to realize something big was (and had been) going on wasn’t VAERS of course, and I’m sure the first of the many people going to doctors and getting sick (and the families of those who died) were frustrated as heck to not have a clue of what the illness was early on and how to treat it, and how to stop spreading it . Many probably felt dismissed by their doctors. Now look at how long they searched backward (and may be still searching) for “Patient Zero”. Most of us with idiopathic disease feel the same way) But somehow enough “events” surfaced to put the world on notice that something terrible was going on and all hands on deck were needed to help understand this terrible Covid thing and to help stop it.
So I personally see the benefit of VAERS - it’s a collection of unproven ideas, but at least it’s a system! I don’t know how many people get sick or die eating salmonella on their sprouts before companies issue a product recall, but I doubt it’s not from an organized database. I’m hoping that with VAERS, even if filled with some biased and tainted reporting, that educated scientists see enough smoke at times to determine there might be a fire; then of course they’d use proper data collection and statistical analysis to see if major research should be allocated to testing the theory and solve if it’s warranted. So I’m just suggesting that any database is good and I’m trusting that the educated know how to use it.
Many of us with idiopathic PN probably wish there was a formal system of collecting our ideas so maybe enough smoke can be seen to put tons of resources on it to put out our fires.
Debbie (drying out in the Carolina’s)

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@lorikalodimos

I am looking for a doctor that can help my daughter she also was in perfect health and developed neuropathy and other reactions to moderna. It’s been 6 month of going to one specialist after another.
Looking for a doctor that is focusing on this-
Need help

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The doctors are still trying to figure it out. I am sorry can't help with your daughter. I will post if they change for me

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@dbeshears1

Ellen -
It’s really hard to argue with what you’re saying. Having idiopathic neuropathy for 6 years, over that time, I’ve had ideas I’ve thrown out at my doctors for things to test because I “felt” there could be a correlation worth checking (uti at exact time of my sudden crippling neuropathy, lower back pain ever since, working at a (now) US EPA Superfund Site for mercury contamination for 13 years, a cancer I was later discovered to have etc etc) Most suggestions I had were dismissed right off the tops of their heads without data or even making their visit notes, telling me it was all coincidental while not being able to offer cause ideas of their own. It’s been frustrating. I am very happy to report that I never had a change in my neuropathy after the vaccines and boosters, nor have I had Covid. (And of course my happy news of that doesn’t go into VAERS)
You’re right, VAERS only captures adverse reactions people think they MAY have had, and isn’t in the same database as total population that received it, so scientists could never use that data alone as statistical evidence. However, I’m a firm believer of “where there’s smoke there’s often a fire”. I do not have data, but I have to believe a whole lot of people started getting sick (and dying) in different parts of the world with something unusual with very similar symptoms (not identical) for a bit of time before somehow enough data reached a high enough level of authority to make someone realize there was Covid going on out here. The system of collecting that “data” to realize something big was (and had been) going on wasn’t VAERS of course, and I’m sure the first of the many people going to doctors and getting sick (and the families of those who died) were frustrated as heck to not have a clue of what the illness was early on and how to treat it, and how to stop spreading it . Many probably felt dismissed by their doctors. Now look at how long they searched backward (and may be still searching) for “Patient Zero”. Most of us with idiopathic disease feel the same way) But somehow enough “events” surfaced to put the world on notice that something terrible was going on and all hands on deck were needed to help understand this terrible Covid thing and to help stop it.
So I personally see the benefit of VAERS - it’s a collection of unproven ideas, but at least it’s a system! I don’t know how many people get sick or die eating salmonella on their sprouts before companies issue a product recall, but I doubt it’s not from an organized database. I’m hoping that with VAERS, even if filled with some biased and tainted reporting, that educated scientists see enough smoke at times to determine there might be a fire; then of course they’d use proper data collection and statistical analysis to see if major research should be allocated to testing the theory and solve if it’s warranted. So I’m just suggesting that any database is good and I’m trusting that the educated know how to use it.
Many of us with idiopathic PN probably wish there was a formal system of collecting our ideas so maybe enough smoke can be seen to put tons of resources on it to put out our fires.
Debbie (drying out in the Carolina’s)

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Thank you, Debbie. In my own year-long quest for a diagnosis of what turned out to be "likely clinically isolated demyelination syndrome" I went down many rabbit holes of this type, including B6 toxicity. I'd had two doses of Shingrix several months before onset. Not knowing what I had made it easy to make wild guesses at causation. I finally got a diagnosis but of course causation was still an open question. In the past year, two very strong papers have come out suggestion that MS (and CIDS) are auto-immune reactions to re-activated Epstein-Barr. But most neurological conditions have no known cause other than genetics.

I have to disagree with you about "any database is good." The educated know that a database like VAERS is "GIGO" - garbage in, garbage out. A good database is one that is designed to answer a specific question and the manner of data collection is critically important.

There is no indication that SARS-CoV-2 started in multiple places in the world. The World Health Organization has a reporting system. There was a rapid outbreak in China, centered in Wuhan. The WHO was alerted on 12/31/19. https://www.cdc.gov/museum/timeline/covid19.html

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@cids

Thank you, Debbie. In my own year-long quest for a diagnosis of what turned out to be "likely clinically isolated demyelination syndrome" I went down many rabbit holes of this type, including B6 toxicity. I'd had two doses of Shingrix several months before onset. Not knowing what I had made it easy to make wild guesses at causation. I finally got a diagnosis but of course causation was still an open question. In the past year, two very strong papers have come out suggestion that MS (and CIDS) are auto-immune reactions to re-activated Epstein-Barr. But most neurological conditions have no known cause other than genetics.

I have to disagree with you about "any database is good." The educated know that a database like VAERS is "GIGO" - garbage in, garbage out. A good database is one that is designed to answer a specific question and the manner of data collection is critically important.

There is no indication that SARS-CoV-2 started in multiple places in the world. The World Health Organization has a reporting system. There was a rapid outbreak in China, centered in Wuhan. The WHO was alerted on 12/31/19. https://www.cdc.gov/museum/timeline/covid19.html

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Kind of like weather forecasting, you take what data you have, experience, make all these models, and still hard to predict! But sometimes they get it right, and for many of us it’s not close enough.
Sorry to hear what you’ve been going through. I will say that the Shingrex vaccine is the worst I’ve ever had in my life! But not the cause of my neuropathy, since I already had that. But the shingles I had 6 months before my Shingrex vaccine was a lot lot worse.
As for this site, we read of those who think the Covid vaccine is the cause of their neuropathy. I know people who reported it’s caused their hair loss, heart palpitations, eczema, GI issues, and blurred vision. So the VAERS reports on what this vaccine is thought to have caused have to be all over the map and certainly no way of knowing true cause of people’s reported conditions. I wouldn’t want to be the one employed to decipher it. You are obviously well informed, and I do rely on WHO and CDC on providing information that they’re resourced better than we are to inform, but how do you propose that real, statistically correct data is collected and folks can contribute? Quite the conundrum…

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We rely on trained epidemiologists. And adequate funding for the research and analysis.

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Awhile back I read an article about a study done on neuropathy caused by the covid vaccine. I'm sorry I cannot locate it to share, but it basically found that the vaccine could cause neuropthy in a small percentage of cases, but the covid infection caused it in a much larger percentage. The conclusion seemed to be that the risk of neuropathy is much great with an infection. I am providing a link to a somewhat similar article which is a bit more technical but pretty much tells the same story.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35233819/

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@cids

If there is a moderator for this forum, I hope the moderator will step in and review these comments. Individual experiences are not evidence of anything. It is more likely that these are temporal coincidences as anything related to a vaccine. Not to say that there aren't reactions to vaccines. There are. But there are also temporal coincidences and they are far more common than vaccine reactions.

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Sadly, this is the reaction by, not only those who have not experienced an adverse reaction to the Covid specific vaccines, but the medical community, governments and the media. Those of us who had never had any adverse reactions to any other vaccines, who were healthy and well prior to the Covid vaccine, and who experienced devastating and long-term injury immediately after the vaccine, know full well the cause. Many of us have spent months or years trying to find 1. Doctors who will believe us. 2. Testing that shows something. SFN seems to be one of the few definitive diagnosis’ amidst the cascade of other ‘typical’ symptoms following Covid vaccination (for those unlucky enough to have an adverse reaction) which also mimics long-covid. Future study (should it take place) may find that those of us so affected are particularly sensitive to the spike protein itself, as opposed to any other ingredient in the vaccine. But until those of us vaccine-injured are taken seriously, there will never be an answer. My personal cascade of symptoms happened within 15 minutes and progressed over the next few days - tremors, facial numbness, brain-fog, cranial pressure, heart pain, lung pain, paresthesia, tinnitus, insomnia, and ultimately neuropathy. 17months on I still suffer from tinnitus, paresthesia and neuropathy. I am still trying to get medical assistance. I am still met with skepticism. Those of us who rolled up our sleeves to do the right thing are, by that very act, demonstrably not anti-vax. We played our part to protect ourselves, our loved ones, and strangers on the street. Yes, adverse reactions are rare, but all we wanted is for those entities who encouraged us to get jabbed to say, “if you’ve had a problem, we’ve got your back.”

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The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines do not contain the spike protein. It contains mRNA (messenger RNA) that make antibodies to the spike protein, should that protein (i.e., the COVID virus) enter your body.

If you were exposed to the spike protein, it was because you contracted COVID.

That you were affected within 15 min is unusual but it couldn't have been due to exposure to the spike protein because the Prizer and Moderna vaccines do not contain the spike protein.

The J&J vaccine is basically a modified adenovirus that carries instructions to your cells to make the spike protein, to provoke your immune system to create antibodies. Did you have the J&J vaccine?

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