NeuroTalk Support Groups - Post Vaccine Neuropathy Rabies Vaccine

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- - Post Vaccine Neuropathy Rabies Vaccine (https://www.neurotalk.org/peripheral-neuropathy/175475-post-vaccine-neuropathy-rabies-vaccine.html)

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Originally Posted by peacefulday (Post 1251492)

So these past few days (as I somewhat suspected would happen) my negative thoughts regarding rabies started coming back. I think it started coming about because I was looking up cold/flu symptoms since I was trying to self-diagnose (like Batbite mentioned).

Somehow through that, the questions about rabies symptoms started popping back into my head. Before I knew it, I was reading message boards that were saying how the vaccine doesn't guarantee anything (especially the longer you wait) and the titer doesn't guarantee protection. Medicine and science is all based on probabilities of how much something might be effective. I don't WANT probabilities, I WANT to know that I'll be 100% okay.

I had all the positive facts and logic behind me (I got vaccinated within 36 hrs, I have a great titer level, I've had no major symptoms in the last month, etc). But I still fell to the same level of self-induced anxiety and panic that I had fallen to in the past.

My mom called it an addiction, and I'd say that's a pretty good description. My mind is addicted to this morbid fear, and sometimes it feels like I just can't get away from it. Its also coming back at the worst time, while I'm trying to study for two exams coming this Monday.

Most of my cold symptoms are going away, which is good. But I have a feeling the anxiety is gonna stick around for a little bit.

I know its probably only Batbite hanging around here now, but this group has once again served as a great source of support for an issue that very few people understand.

Hey! How are you feeling now? With anxiety, tingling, etc.? Was your tingling all over or by the bite?

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Originally Posted by Batbite24 (Post 1252072)

monkeyman, what happened with the monkey anyway? You said you were scratched. Was the monkey in the wild? In an animal park? Was there no way to confine and watch or necropsy and test the monkey for rabies so that you might have been spared the vaccine? In my case, I was definitely bitten by a bat. The bat may or may not have been rabid, we'll never know because we never caught it. I was VERY unwilling to bet on the health or lack thereof of my bat. As we all know, with rabies there's no "wait and see if symptoms present." Just curious as to what happened to you and the monkey.

Did you ever see the bat? My husband and I have bag bite marks, but no bat was ever found in our house.

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Originally Posted by Hope21 (Post 1261064)

Hi everyone,

I'm new here and I just finished my 3rd rabies vaccine shot 5 days ago. Ever since, I've been feeling tingling sensations on my left hand and because of it, I've had a lot of anxiety and am feeling pretty stressed out about it. Finding this forum was a huge relief for me and I'm hoping that it'll continue to help me find peace of mind!

For those of you who have experienced these tingling sensations, how would you describe them? And would you say that the location of your shot (i.e. whether you had it on your left or right arm) impacts the place at which the tingling sensations start? I had my last Imovax shot on my left arm. However, the sensations seem to have started close to where the bite was (in my palms, close to the base of my left thumb), but now I can feel them every now and then, along the edges of my palms and close to the base of my fingers. I do have tingling sensations occasionally on my right hand and both of my feet, but it is not as frequent.

Also, for those of you who have done titers, how far along in your treatment did you get your blood test? My doctor initially recommended against doing a titer for antibodies, saying that if it comes back negative, then it could simply mean that my body is taking longer than average to created the IgG and that it would be a source of severe stress for me. However, after seeing how anxious I was about this whole ordeal, he said that we should probably do it 3 weeks after my last shot. Is that in line with what you've experienced?

Just a bit of background, I was bit by a stray cat (it was not unprovoked, as a few of my classmates and I were petting it). The cat seemed pretty affectionate, as it was rubbing its body against our legs, but it may have been overstimulated by all the attention when it bit me on my left hand. Although there was no puncture wound, there were 2 pink lines (which disappeared the next day). I was still freaked out about it, so I started PEP immediately (within 3 hours of the incident) with rabies vaccine injections (along with HRIG), another on Day 3, 7 and I will have my last one in 2 days.

I am going through the same thing now. How are you? Did tingling go away?

Quote:

Originally Posted by battyinthemountains (Post 1290728)

4 months ago I completed the rabies vaccine. During that time I had many undesirable effects. Many mirrored rabies symptoms and honestly ruined nearly 3 months of my life, but as of now I have things mostly under control and wanted to share what helped me in hopes future readers can get over the reaction as I have in the past few weeks. I have upped my vitamins. I had been taking magnesium, D3, Omega3, and zinc as a precaution for COVID, so these where already in my routine, but found when I added liquid vitamin B and a nerve tonic tincture my pins and needles/spasms really got better, the migraines have been treated with an essential oil blend and ice packs, body aches with a menthol body rub. I try to not overdo anything and so far things have been immensely better.
I’m grateful I found this community and I hope everyone here continues to do well or finds some treatment that helps ease these reactions and future readers know there is hope.
Take care.

Hey, thank you for sharing this! We are just starting this journey. Did you also have tingling at the site of the bite?

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Originally Posted by TrainRide1 (Post 1291151)

Did you ever see the bat? My husband and I have bag bite marks, but no bat was ever found in our house.

Hi TrainRide1!
No, we never did see the bat, but the entire night of chaos with the dog going crazy, and feeling "breezy" air disturbances in the dark bedroom as though something was flying around, plus the bite marks and the fact that our daughter and son-in-law admitted to catching bats in the house occasionally.....all added up....not worth the risk of not taking the vaccine series.

I generally wait until Christmas Eve to post, since that is the anniversary of being bitten, but here it is a few days early: "Four years out and I'm still here, still doing well. Hoping the same for everyone who is living this experience now.":grouphug:

Quote:

Originally Posted by TrainRide1 (Post 1291153)

Hey, thank you for sharing this! We are just starting this journey. Did you also have tingling at the site of the bite?

Yes! I actually would have never noticed the bite marks, but it itched and that’s when I saw the marks. I didn’t think much of it at first, but when our house was invaded it all clicked.

I did get tingling and itching around three months post bite at the site. I’m nearing 6 months from noticing my bite and the teeth marks are still visible.

I hope your symptoms let up quickly!

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.

Hello TiredNWired. I am so sorry to hear yet another person has had an adverse reaction to the rabies vaccine. Sounds like you are going through a lot worse than myself, but there are many others who posted to this site that were or are dealing with major side effects like yours. I also came in contact with a stray cat, got scratched, told by PCP wound was healing and very low risk for the virus, no vaccine needed. But, my mind would not rest, anxiety building, and 16 days later I opted to get the vaccine. I got thru all the shots with minimal side effects.only light headed/dizzy and muscle aches. But within a couple weeks after last shot more obvious side effects started, continued muscle pains all over, sharp nerve pains, ice pick headache pains and the extreme FEAR THAT I HAD GOTTEN THE SHOTS TOO LATE. Panic attacks, anxiety) I am over 1 year out from my event (10/2019) and still have intermittent muscle aches and nerve pain, but I'm positive that given more time, these too will go away. Keep positive, take care of yourself...wishing you a full/complete recovery.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pryjmak (Post 1291315)

Thank you for reading my story and sharing your experience. I'm sorry we have experienced pain in common. I'm glad to hear that a year later you are doing better. I'm sorry that you still experience pain.

I am having a rough time lately. Almost a month after my last shot and I am cycling through new symptoms and the previous set ends. It was first a really bad constant headache for 2 weeks, and that got better. Then this round of upper abdominal pain like pancreatitis - except there was no evidence of it in tests. I now wonder if it's gastroparesis instead? And now, within the past two days, it's urinary retention time and not knowing when to pee. I am hardly producing urine and have lower abdominal pain.

The whole thing is weird. Like the Forest Gump line about life being like a box of chocolates and not knowing what you're going to get. I hope it gets better soon.

Well, here I am roughly 7 months since beginning these shots (6.5 from finishing) and I’m back on the rollercoaster of symptoms. I’m having pins and needles, muscle spasms everywhere, sore throat/lump in throat feeling, and of course this makes the worries begin all over again.

I know I’ll get through this, but it is distressing. I hope you’re all hanging in there.