A Medical Mystery

[rachelmanija]

Shows how spacey I am that I forgot to mention by far the most interesting part of my vaccine reaction. I'm having all-over body aches, but they're most severe and pronounced at the sites of previous injuries - including the foot I broke two years ago, which hasn't hurt at all for at least a year! It's at the exact site of the breaks, too. It currently feels like it did when I'd only had the cast off for a month or two.

What is the likely mechanism for this odd effect? I've only ever heard of old injuries being reactivated in scurvy, which I'm pretty sure I don't have.

Comments

[yhlee]

I'm having that too - largely joints for me, including the ankle I sprained very badly about a decade ago. I almost fell over earlier today when my hip joint complained.

[alessandriana]

My right knee joint (the bad knee) also ached very sharply the night after my first shot, enough that it woke me up. Didn't notice an issue anywhere else, but I didn't have a very strong reaction in general.

[ratcreature]

I think it must be similar to how weather changes can make old injuries hurt. Somehow the healed tissue must be very sensitive to pressure, and the inflammation from the immune system reaction probably also causes some internal pressure changes. I've read that some people have old injuries hurt with the flu too on top if the regular body aches.

[oracne]

General inflammation being worse at the site of old injuries?

[jadelennox]

that was my thought as well.

[sholio]

I had that a little bit too, but that's pretty normal for me - when the rest of me is achy, I still get an ache where my leg was broken 30 years ago. I don't know the science behind it, but I think the deal is that your body never heals entirely from anything like that. It's always going to be a little different from the surrounding bone/ligaments/muscle, and it feels normal most of the time, but when you're run down, you can feel it.

Maybe the immune system reactivates very easily at the site of an old injury, on the general principle that if you were hurt there once, maybe it should pay special attention to that area in the future? (I'm just guessing, though.)

[em_h]

In a different but also intriguing development, I've found that, although I am now five weeks past my second shot, the area around the injection site (which was VERY sore right afterwards) still aches intermittently, especially if I'm tired or under a lot of stress ...

[loligo]

And here's another related yet different effect: I got "covid arm" after the second shot (a big rashy area that showed up almost a week after the shot, and lasted a couple weeks), and I find that when my arm gets really warm, like in the shower, the rash is visible again.

[rosefox]

Whoa, I'd never heard of "covid arm"! A friend of mine got a rash on her arms and legs a week after her second shot and both she and the urgent care doctors were totally mystified; she's not allergic to anything as far as she knows. Benadryl made it go away. I wonder whether it was related to the vaccine.

[rachelmanija]

It seems to be a thing, though this article just mentions it being on one arm:

https://www.prevention.com/health/a35470369/delayed-arm-rash-covid-19-vaccine/

[alessandriana]

Yeah, my mom got this on the arm she got her shot in-- showed up about a week later.

[benbenberi]

I got the vaccine rash too, showed up around day 12 after the first Moderna shot. it's mostly fading now.

[lilacsigil]

Inflammation! Whenever my Crohns flares up, all my arthritis/old broken bones/surgical sites flare up too.

[ellenmillion]

Hmm! I had all-over body aches so bad I didn't notice if it was in my back more than other places.

[sartorias]

As I think I told you, the first shot flared all the nerve damage I took during my stroke. I was terrified I was having another, which drove my blood pressure through the roof (called doc, upped meds, bp fine after that). Finally figured out it was the shot. So I knew what to expect for the second one. The effects are lingering, but mostly improving. I bet I'm an outlier.

[adrian_turtle]

Thank you SO much for the advance warning! This would scare me out of my mind if I didn't anticipate it as a possibility. What is the time scale for the improvement?

[sartorias]

For me about three weeks. I am the only one I know who has lingering effects that long, among my family and immediate friends.

[batdina]

No clue what the mechanism is, but I had the exact same effect: knees, hips, etc. (all surgery locales) ached worse than anything else. 'Twas very strange. Then again, I've never been happy to be so miserable, so there's that too.

[minoanmiss]

*reads and contemplates*
*sends you analgesic vibes*

[vicki_rae]

Same! The exact site of the breaks. Broken foot 16 years ago, broken wrist 6 years ago, other wrist broken 50 years ago. These are all places that hurt with weather changes. The 25 year old giant surgical scar from eviction with extreme prejudice of non-functional uterus & ovaries (the surgery was totally worth it even with the associated six months of chemo) and from where the surgical team went digging around from pelvic bone to diaphragm? Nada, doesn't hurt at all. Bodies are weird.

Also side effects I had with each shot were a hot flash right after the shot, rash on my arm/shoulder that started overnight and lasted several days, really sore arm for a couple of days. I'm 10 days after the second shot and my deltoid muscle still aches a bit all the time, and goes ouch when I reach up or out to the side.

[sholio]

I got the hot flash too! I've since heard from several people who also had it. (My husband, who got his at the same time as mine, didn't have that at all.)