I am both relieved and sad to know this board exists. I have googled a lot online about side effects of this vaccine and didn't read anything in literature that mirrored my experience so far. And it's been a rough ride, and reading all your messages from over the years tells me, well, it IS a rough ride. But many of you also seem to gradually get better, and that's good to see.

My story: Bitten by cat late November. Thought it was neighbor's cat, wasn't 100% sure. Panicked in December, and even though told 'very low risk' for the area, went ahead with three shots of Rabavert early December. (They were not originally going to give them to me.) The first shot wasn't that bad. After the second shot, got a bad headache and some nausea. Hangover headache, I called it. After the third, I was okay until 4 days later when all hell broke loose. Bad headache, severe nausea, muscle aches, joint pain... the works.

Part of the immune response after #3 was weird. I had a moment where it felt like there was a squeezing in the middle of my head, deep inside my brain stem and I couldn't voluntarily control my breathing. It felt like my medulla was getting squeezed. I have no other way to describe it. But after that, it felt like pressure filling the whole base of my skull and it was constant.

The day I was supposed to get my 4th shot, I went to the ER instead and told them I had a really bad headache. I had a CT scan and bloodwork done, but nothing awful was found. I consulted with my immunologist (I have an underlying mast cell condition) and he said to hold off on shot 4.

Fast forward to a week later, and the headache is less of an issue. Still there, but not as prominent. Now it's my abdomen's turn. I found over several days I lost my appetite, couldn't eat much, and eating more hurt. I'd been dealing with nausea since the second shot, and here it was worse plus there was added epigastric/left upper abdominal pain that wrapped around my ribs and sometimes shot through my back.

I saw a doctor and he thought I might have pancreatitis, and he ordered labs and tried to get me an urgent outpatient abdominal CT. That attempt failed, and he sent me to the ER where they scanned me and ran a ton of blood tests and told me I should be relieved they found nothing life threatening.

I was really floored. I thought they would find out I had pancreatitis - I even had yellow floating stool. But no. So they told me since I hadn't eaten in 3 days (by recommendation of the doctor I saw) to start clear liquid diet and move to soft plain food, which I've begun doing.

And now, I have shooting pains all over my thighs, and pain in my hips and knees, and something that resembles the 'MS hug' - like someone tightened a belt around my waist so it's harder to breathe. I can walk, I can eat (if I don't eat much at one sitting), and do some household tasks but I get tired with exertion easily. It's not clear if I feel better walking or lying down as both hurt.

So this is where I am right now... I don't really know what to do or expect. I hope I am going to be okay. I hope my titer is in a good range with fewer shots - I have no idea.

All I know is I'm in a lot of pain right now and I haven't had a shot since the second week of December and here it's January. It doesn't seem normal.

I hope I can find a comfortable position to sleep in. I hope I'll be okay. (Yes, I said that before - I'm anxious, and I've been traumatized by what happened.)

So, that's my story.