Vaccine Damage

Post Vaccination Neuritis

After cutting my foot on a rusty nail on Saturday of Labor Day Weekend, I went to the CMC in Scranton for a precautionary tetanus shot. The following morning, I began to experience shooting pain and numbness in the back of my head, pain in my lower back, and a progressing weakness in my legs. I returned to the hospital the following night, only to be told to take some Advil and be sent home quickly. I returned to the hospital the following night as the numbness and pain in the back of my head had increased and I was feeling dizzy and nauseous. I was once again sent home quickly, only this time with a prescription for a stronger pain reliever. In hindsight, I now realize that CMC was only covering for themselves. The nerves of the body are coated in a substance called myelin that is essential to nervous system function. This substance is similar to the rubber surrounding a cable on any electrical device. When the tetanus vaccination entered my system, the virus was so foreign that it confused my immune system, so much so that my antibodies began attacking the myelin on my nerves. My immune system was literally waging war on my central nervous system. This kind of reaction is the exact same thing that happens to a person suffering from MS, only in MS it will happen frequently and unexpectedly. For me, this was an isolated event brought on by my body’s response to the tetanus vaccination. After the doctors at CMC completely failed to diagnose me, I conducted diligent research myself in order to find out what was going on with me. I was extremely scared, as this numbness and pain seemed as if it were actually occurring in my brain. Through some research, I was under the impression that I had brain inflammation, and on Tuesday of that week, I went to see my Primary Care Physician. I persuaded him to prescribe me a steroid to stop the inflammation. I was prescribed a 6 day Medrol dose pack and given an appointment to see a neurologist on October 7th. I was certainly wrong about the inflammation, as the shooting pain and numbness in my head turned out to be damage being done to my occipital nerve. However, I was luckily correct about the steroid. Steroids are strong immunosuppressants, and for the time being the Medrol put my immune system’s response on hold. It was around this time that I began to experience so many weird symptoms. My vision was blurred, I was constantly nauseous and dizzy, and I was feeling weak and unable to stand for a prolonged amount of time. This was of course coupled with the numbness and pain in the back of my head, as well as lower back pain. These symptoms even warranted another trip to the emergency room on Thursday, where I was told I had “serum sickness”. They said I would be fine in a few days. Well, I waited a few days for this to go away. Then a few more. I kept hoping my symptoms would magically disappear. But a week later I was still in about the same shape. That Friday I had a follow up with my Primary Care Physician. He was amazed that I was still feeling so terrible, and he was luckily able to move up my appointment with the Neurologist to Monday. My doctor also told me my symptoms should go away soon, and he prescribed me more pain relievers. Over the weekend I began feeling new symptoms. There was tingling all throughout my arms, and a pain at the top of my spine. Then on Monday I went to the Neurologist. I was diagnosed with “post vaccination neuritis”, which is damage to my nerves caused by the tetanus vaccination. He explained to me about myelin, and how the immune system can actually attack the central nervous system. A number of tests showed that I had suffered nerve damage, particularly in my feet and legs. He told me that I am lucky that I was prescribed a steroid so shortly after the immunization, because had I not acted quickly, I could have ended up completely paralyzed, requiring a feeding tube and artificial respiration. When the damage done to the nerves reaches that extent, it is called Guillain-Barre syndrome, and recovery can take months to years, and it is usually not a complete recovery. He prescribed me Neurontin for my occipital nerve pain, and told me that I should be okay, as the tingling feeling I was getting was actually a symptom of my nerves rebuilding the myelin. But he said to stay on top of how I was feeling. If I felt any more weakness, I should call him. On Wednesday night, I was indeed feeling some increased weakness in my legs, so I called him and was prescribed another steroid. I am now on a strong regimen of prednisone. The side effects have been pretty harsh, as I had a severe headache all day yesterday. I am monitoring how I feel, and with any more increase in weakness, I need to be admitted to the hospital to be given IV steroids.