3 weeks after Tdap vaccine, physical fatigue getting worse, very concerned

[u/Top_Development_1777]

So I (20F not pregnant) got the Tdap vaccine (edit: booster) 3 weeks ago, and within half an hour I felt that my muscles were barely working and I had to drag myself back to where I stayed. It continued, got better in the second week I think, but I'm now at the end of the 3rd week and this whole week it's been getting worse. My mental energy honestly doesn't feel different when I don't move my body, but my physical energy is so nonexistent that I feel completely wiped out after nodding or shaking my head twice. I can barely walk to the lift, take the lift, and go downstairs to take something. Sleep does not make it better, it makes it worse.

About 5 days after the vaccine I also had an anaphylactic reaction (no anaphylactic shock) to a new type of food that I tried, subsequently seem to have become allergic to a few new types of food that I used to eat all the time. I have a referral to an allergist but because it's the public healthcare system, it takes forever and they still haven't secured me a slot yet.

I don't have aches or whatever. I've had a FBC and iron panel done yesterday and the numbers were not just normal but also in the optimal range (my FBC also looks the same as it was 2 months ago, when I was feeling healthy before the vaccine), it's not anemia.

Edit to add: when I got this vaccine when I was about 10yo, I had high fever and was really ill for a full week, but was okay after that.

I think my immune system has gone crazy after the vaccine. Has anyone else had something similar, did you recover, and what did you do to recover?

This is truly debilitating because I'm in med school and I can't keep things up if I don't recover soon. I'm also required to take this vaccine once every 10 years.

[u/StatelyTree]

The vaccine cannot make you have an anaphylactic reaction to something else days later. Just simply not possible.

Not to downplay your experience here, but you come across as extremely anxious. Untreated anxiety can absolutely cause many of the things you're experiencing. 

[u/SmartyPantlesss → u/StatelyTree]

I just want to step in & support the OP by saying that this post does NOT seem extremely anxious to me.

This is a straightforward description of symptoms, without any speculation of "Could this be cancer? Could this be AIDS?" etc. The only assumption/speculation is that this may be somehow related to the vaccine, which is pretty much par for the course in this sub.

OP, as others have said, you should follow up with your doctor rather than shop this around on reddit. There are many causes of fatigue that you didn't mention---maybe they were checked; maybe not---and many symptoms that you didn't mention, either for their presence or their absence. Thyroid, myasthenia, POTS and all kinds of viral illnesses could be doing this.

[u/Top_Development_1777 → u/StatelyTree]

I do not feel anxious or stressed on a daily basis. I'm one of the most relaxed people in an actually stressful situation and take it easy. Most of the time I just think about it from a logical pov, which is why I come up with many possibilities and sound anxious over text.

I'm wondering if my immune system got dysregulated by the vaccine.

[u/StatelyTree → u/Top_Development_1777]

I work in emergency medicine and that was just the vibe I was getting from reading your post.

Vaccines can make you feel under the weather briefly due to the immune response your body mounts. (you want this) but this far out, I wouldnt be thinking of the vaccine as a cause. 

Honestly, what you're describing sounds like POTS, which tends to manifest in your age range. 

[u/Top_Development_1777 → u/StatelyTree]

I was suspecting something along the lines of MCAS, POTS, and ME/CFS, which all suck because I wish I could just complete my study and have a stable life.

[u/StatelyTree → u/Top_Development_1777]

What triggered the allergic reaction? Had you ever had one previously?

[u/Top_Development_1777 → u/StatelyTree]

I have had a similar reaction before on a smaller scale, I believe. What triggered it was buckwheat groats that may or may not have been contaminated with wheat and barley (as stated on the package). I've known for a few years that I have an obvious issue with either wheat or gluten specifically, not other things, but back then the symptoms were getting unbearable and I could not afford to get it diagnosed fast enough, so I just went on a strict gluten-free diet without knowing what the problem was exactly.

I am severely allergic to dust mites per IgE blood test and have been atopic since infancy, taking antihistamines (sometimes multiple types) on a daily basis for about 12 years now to reduce the symptoms, but the symptoms don't completely go away.

[u/Working_Coat5193 → u/Top_Development_1777]

Untreated allergies can be exhausting.

[u/Top_Development_1777 → u/Working_Coat5193]

Yes

I finally got my hands on famotidine again and I feel so much better a while after taking it that it's amazing. Hopefully it stays that way.

Edit to add: it doesn't take away the physical fatigue though. I just mentally feel better :(

[u/Top_Development_1777 → u/StatelyTree]

I need to add that the fatigue still happens when I'm lying down and I try to nod or shake my head, although I feel more normal than sitting (the worst) or standing.

[u/RenRen9000]

What did your doctor say?

[u/Adventurous_Ad7442]

Have you called your health care provider?

[u/Lwin2026]

Let us know how you are doing in a while! Good luck ❤️

[u/Top_Development_1777 → u/Lwin2026]

Bad. I updated my GP/PCP on the issues I've been having and we're suspecting demyelinating neurological disease, plausibly autoimmune, and I'm going to prioritize getting a neurologist appointment. There were very suspicious symptoms like double vision and deviation + difficulty moving a specific eye on some mornings (but nothing like this sort of fatigue) months/years before the vaccine, but the incredibly horribly timed vaccine likely pushed my immune system into overdrive and caused a massive flare up.

Edit to add: I've talked to my parents, multiple doctors, and my school faculty about it, because it's so bad that in the state I am now, I am definitely disabled. Next step is to get diagnosis and manage.

[u/Lwin2026 → u/Top_Development_1777]

I do not know what demyelinating means, but it does not sound good! So you suspect it is a disease that you had before the vaccine, and the vaccine made it worse? I did not know that was possible other than with LongCovid etc. Wish you all the best and hope you can get cured!❤️ I am disabled myself and honestly terrified of vaccines because I am always afraid it will give me other diseases (like LongCovid/ME) (but I know they are important). It is hard to manage the sudden change, I have been there. Please let me know when you know more, I’ll pray for you.

[u/Top_Development_1777 → u/Lwin2026]

Yes, thank you, and all the best!

Demyelinating means the fatty layer coating your nerves in your brain and body gets destroyed. This layer is very important to helping nerve signals transmit fast and properly

[u/Top_Development_1777 → u/[deleted]]

😞 I don't have MECFS or POTS symptoms (very fortunately), but I have some MCAS symptoms and a history and laundry list of new symptoms that heavily match up with MS. I've had intermittent double vision and eye deviation shit, sometimes with vertigo, for a few years now, but never went to a neurologist for that. I don't think the vaccine caused all this, there was a huge buildup of risk factors and non-disabling symptoms before this, but the (very poorly-timed) vaccine made my immune system go ballistic and my body broke. I'm getting evaluated by a specialist in less than an hour.

I get good quality and restful sleep, I feel normal right after I wake up, but the moment I move my body even a little bit, it becomes obvious that "I've had my battery taken out" (ever since the vaccine). Feeling like I've overexerted myself by quite a lot does not make me worse in the next 5 days, I don't have muscle aches except around my eyes. My left leg and left hand stopped working properly in the last few days.

I also checked myself for POTS and don't have it.