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What Causes Tinnitus, Tremors And Dizziness Post Vaccination?
Question: After nearly 2 months of my local docs trying to figure out what is wrong with me and giving me every test in the book (all results negative) I think we are finally closing in on the problem. But OMG, it is not pretty and I have no idea what to do as it seems to be virgin territory. History: I was a healthy, happy 65 YO woman 2 months ago, feeling great with no health problems at all, on top of the world physically. I was hiking, jogging and working out at the gym. Then I made the mistake of going to my local health care provider for my annual flu shot. Because I had turned 65 they automatically gave me the new, fast-tracked 4x shot. Well, I woke up early the next morning with terrible tinnitus, dizziness and shaking and tremors all over my body, especially in my neck, back, spine and legs, but also on the left side of my chest near where the shot went in. My left eye also feels funny like I can't open it. I cannot lie down or sleep for very long anymore and I used to have wonderful, peaceful sleep. I am not getting better after 2 months. Right now I feel like there's a vibrator in my back going from my tailbone to my neck. I'm also feeling the vibrations in my feet at the moment. The neurologist has FINALLY determined the tinnitus is probably due to a virus, perhaps herpes, but he has not seen the shaking and tremors with herpes (hundreds of cases), only the tinnitus. I found this info on the internet about the so-called killed virus: When manufactured correctly, the vaccine is not infectious, but improper inactivation can result in intact and infectious particles. So, invoking the principle of cause and effect, I am very suspicious that I have been injected with live influenza virus, as it has been implicated along with herpes in causing tinnitus. I am not optimistic since I have not improved at all in 2 months. The zonky drugs I have been given so far make things worse (eg, Ativan) so I've stopped them and I am now on methylprednisolone and Valacyclovir. I don't know if they will help - they haven't yet - but they are not zonky drugs so I don't mind taking them. I'm seeing a very good neurologist but my PCP is on another planet. As an example of a typical response from her, when I expressed concern about the so-called killed virus containing live particles due to improper manufacturing (as mentioned above) she said she called Vons (a local grocery chain that dispenses flu shots) and they assured her the virus was killed. I just want to be the same happy, healthy person I was before the shot, but I fear I will feel sick and shaky and trembly with horrible ringing in my head for the rest of my life. I even seem to be getting worse at times, though the symptoms do fluctuate in intensity. They are really quite bad now. Is there anything that can be done for someone injected with live influenza virus by accident to at least make them feel better??
Brief Answer:
vestibular sedative group of drugs may help
Detailed Answer:
Hi, thanks for posting the concern in HCM.
As you have posted above, you started having symptoms of tinnitus, tremor, dizziness one day after being vaccinated with annual Flu shot. You are being with treated Valacyclovir. Steroid and sedative were also included. Now, the symptoms still persist and you want to know what needs to be done for relief.
Now, first thing is you have been having neurological symptoms involving the vestibular pathway. Although tremors cannot be classically incriminated to problems of that pathway. Rather this is usually related to some area of the brain or CNS, which I don't want to go into any technical details.
Now, unfortunately all these problems started after flu shot. These are called adverse effects following immunization. These may be due to faulty vaccine processing, due to the vaccine itself or may be coincidental. As you have been focusing on improper vaccine processing, that is a matter of debate and epidemiological investigations including people receiving same batch number vaccine needs to be carried out before concluding the same, which is not possible from individual point of view. However, such adverse events as specified by you do happen with flu shots.
Now, regarding the treatment, my understanding is instillation of steroid and if considered to be due to herpes, antiviral drug were correct. But, to get rid of the symptoms, I think vestibular sedative group of drugs may help. But, before that evaluation by an ENT surgeon will be needed. The next thing is for the tremors. Detailed investigations including the following may be needed -
Complete blood count, urea, creatinine, electrolytes
Fasting sugar, TSH, HbA1c
MRI of brain
For the time being you may have vitamin B complex available at local medicine stores.
Sedatives are no longer needed. However, you must consult your neurologist for further investigations so that other causes can be ruled out.
If you find this answer helpful, please close the thread and rate my answer.
Regards
Dr Kaushik Sarkar
vestibular sedative group of drugs may help
Detailed Answer:
Hi, thanks for posting the concern in HCM.
As you have posted above, you started having symptoms of tinnitus, tremor, dizziness one day after being vaccinated with annual Flu shot. You are being with treated Valacyclovir. Steroid and sedative were also included. Now, the symptoms still persist and you want to know what needs to be done for relief.
Now, first thing is you have been having neurological symptoms involving the vestibular pathway. Although tremors cannot be classically incriminated to problems of that pathway. Rather this is usually related to some area of the brain or CNS, which I don't want to go into any technical details.
Now, unfortunately all these problems started after flu shot. These are called adverse effects following immunization. These may be due to faulty vaccine processing, due to the vaccine itself or may be coincidental. As you have been focusing on improper vaccine processing, that is a matter of debate and epidemiological investigations including people receiving same batch number vaccine needs to be carried out before concluding the same, which is not possible from individual point of view. However, such adverse events as specified by you do happen with flu shots.
Now, regarding the treatment, my understanding is instillation of steroid and if considered to be due to herpes, antiviral drug were correct. But, to get rid of the symptoms, I think vestibular sedative group of drugs may help. But, before that evaluation by an ENT surgeon will be needed. The next thing is for the tremors. Detailed investigations including the following may be needed -
Complete blood count, urea, creatinine, electrolytes
Fasting sugar, TSH, HbA1c
MRI of brain
For the time being you may have vitamin B complex available at local medicine stores.
Sedatives are no longer needed. However, you must consult your neurologist for further investigations so that other causes can be ruled out.
If you find this answer helpful, please close the thread and rate my answer.
Regards
Dr Kaushik Sarkar
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Shanthi.E
Thank you for your excellent response. I do have a few follow-up questions. Regarding the tinnitus, after 2 months it has not decreased at all even though I have finished all the Valacyclovir and the methylprednisolone. The Ativan didn’t help or hurt the condition but it made me feel overall worse when I was taking it. My understanding is that Ativan is a vestibular sedative. My doctor wants to try me on clonazepam, which I have read is related to but somewhat different from Ativan. I will start that drug tonight. My question is, what do you think about trying an OTC drug called meclizine since I have some dizziness associated with the tinnitus? I tried an OTC drug called Benadryl but it made me feel like I wanted to die so I am wary of taking OTC drugs.
Regarding the tremors and vibrations in my spine, arms and legs, I thought they were getting better but last night they hit me really hard again so they are not going away either. They are not continuous like the tinnitus. For almost 3 days I hardly noticed them except for slightly on my left side, but then they came back again very strong yesterday. I had many of the tests you suggested, all normal. (At the end are the results of the brain MRI.) Blood tests: TSH, normal; creatinine, normal; electrolytes, normal; CBC, normal; urea – not tested for. I was not given the diabetes tests, however I get tested every year and neither I nor any family member has ever had diabetes. My BMI is 19.5 and I am fairly physically active. So I think diabetes is not a problem. I also had a C-spine MRI which was normal. My legs and spine feel rather ill right now but I honestly don’t sense any weakness, just a feeling of malaise. I still work out at the gym and I think I would notice if I were getting weaker. I am not getting too much cardio exercise right now but that is due to a knee injury and not the flu shot. My suspicion is that the brain pathologies also have nothing to do with the flu shot but are due to “old age.” All the females in my family have advanced dementia by age 85 but it is a slow process which undoubtedly begins years earlier. I have noticed that I am losing short-term memory so I believe the process has already begun for me too and that those spots on my brain are incipient dementia. I bought vitamin B complex about a month ago and take it about once every 3 days. I don’t know if it helps or not.
From the information provided above, I hope you can answer my final question. In the winter of 1982-83 (32 years ago) I contracted a very strange, nasty disease that lasted for 9 months and had several neurological symptoms (though not anything like I’m having now). I had some type of dyskinesia (all over my whole body) and another symptom that felt like my blood was on fire. (I also had shooting pains though all my joints, a depressed temperature, incredible fatigue, headaches and a feeling that my head was disconnected from my body.) I was bedridden for two of the 9 months. I believe now that I could have had untreated Lyme disease, which was unheard of here at that early date, though now it is not uncommon where I live. I have read that untreated Lyme disease can cause “problems” later in life but I don’t know what problems and I have never had any recurrence of whatever it was over the past 32 years. My doctor thinks the flu shot somehow triggered a Herpes simplex infection but I haven’t had cold sores in years and I had a shingles shot several years ago. Could the flu shot have triggered Lyme disease “problems”?
Brain MRI:
CLINICAL HISTORY
Tinnitus and paresthesia which has been persistent after Flu shot.
TECHNIQUE
MR imaging was performed on a 1.5 Tesla superconducting magnet using T2,
FLAIR, T1, gradient-echo, and diffusion weighted pulse sequences.
COMPARISON
None available
FINDINGS
The cortical sulci are mildly enlarged. Ventricles are normal in size and
position. Scattered focal T2 hyperintensities are present in the subcortical
white matter a few of each are in close relation to the right corpus callosum.
The cerebral hemispheres, deep nuclei, brain stem, and cerebellum are
normally formed. There is no evidence of hemorrhage, acute stroke, or mass
lesion.
IMPRESSION
A few subcortical T2 hyperintensities are most consistent with chronic
small vessel ischemia usually seen in this age population. However, a few of these
foci are in close relation to the corpus callosum. Demyelination disease
cannot be entirely excluded and post contrast images would be helpful for
better assessment if there is a high clinical concern- need clinical correlation
Regarding the tremors and vibrations in my spine, arms and legs, I thought they were getting better but last night they hit me really hard again so they are not going away either. They are not continuous like the tinnitus. For almost 3 days I hardly noticed them except for slightly on my left side, but then they came back again very strong yesterday. I had many of the tests you suggested, all normal. (At the end are the results of the brain MRI.) Blood tests: TSH, normal; creatinine, normal; electrolytes, normal; CBC, normal; urea – not tested for. I was not given the diabetes tests, however I get tested every year and neither I nor any family member has ever had diabetes. My BMI is 19.5 and I am fairly physically active. So I think diabetes is not a problem. I also had a C-spine MRI which was normal. My legs and spine feel rather ill right now but I honestly don’t sense any weakness, just a feeling of malaise. I still work out at the gym and I think I would notice if I were getting weaker. I am not getting too much cardio exercise right now but that is due to a knee injury and not the flu shot. My suspicion is that the brain pathologies also have nothing to do with the flu shot but are due to “old age.” All the females in my family have advanced dementia by age 85 but it is a slow process which undoubtedly begins years earlier. I have noticed that I am losing short-term memory so I believe the process has already begun for me too and that those spots on my brain are incipient dementia. I bought vitamin B complex about a month ago and take it about once every 3 days. I don’t know if it helps or not.
From the information provided above, I hope you can answer my final question. In the winter of 1982-83 (32 years ago) I contracted a very strange, nasty disease that lasted for 9 months and had several neurological symptoms (though not anything like I’m having now). I had some type of dyskinesia (all over my whole body) and another symptom that felt like my blood was on fire. (I also had shooting pains though all my joints, a depressed temperature, incredible fatigue, headaches and a feeling that my head was disconnected from my body.) I was bedridden for two of the 9 months. I believe now that I could have had untreated Lyme disease, which was unheard of here at that early date, though now it is not uncommon where I live. I have read that untreated Lyme disease can cause “problems” later in life but I don’t know what problems and I have never had any recurrence of whatever it was over the past 32 years. My doctor thinks the flu shot somehow triggered a Herpes simplex infection but I haven’t had cold sores in years and I had a shingles shot several years ago. Could the flu shot have triggered Lyme disease “problems”?
Brain MRI:
CLINICAL HISTORY
Tinnitus and paresthesia which has been persistent after Flu shot.
TECHNIQUE
MR imaging was performed on a 1.5 Tesla superconducting magnet using T2,
FLAIR, T1, gradient-echo, and diffusion weighted pulse sequences.
COMPARISON
None available
FINDINGS
The cortical sulci are mildly enlarged. Ventricles are normal in size and
position. Scattered focal T2 hyperintensities are present in the subcortical
white matter a few of each are in close relation to the right corpus callosum.
The cerebral hemispheres, deep nuclei, brain stem, and cerebellum are
normally formed. There is no evidence of hemorrhage, acute stroke, or mass
lesion.
IMPRESSION
A few subcortical T2 hyperintensities are most consistent with chronic
small vessel ischemia usually seen in this age population. However, a few of these
foci are in close relation to the corpus callosum. Demyelination disease
cannot be entirely excluded and post contrast images would be helpful for
better assessment if there is a high clinical concern- need clinical correlation
Brief Answer:
Vestibular sedative + evaluation for PD
Detailed Answer:
Thanks for providing such a detailed history.
To answer your first question, I would say No. Meclizine is not a vestibular sedative, neither was Ativan. Vestibular sedatives include Flunarizine, Cinnarizine, Prochlorperazine etc, commonly prescribed as Tab Stemetil MD sublingual tablet. You should consult your ENT surgeon regarding necessary evaluation and he/she would prescribe you similar drug for symptomatic relief.
Now, secondly, I found out several relevant information from the history -
1. Family history of dementia
2. Past history of Lyme disease
3. Small vascular lesion in MRI brain
4. No abnormality in routine tests
5. Normal spine MRI
All these helped me to conclude that you must get thoroughly examined to rule out Parkinsonism and vascular dementia. I think your neurologist may be able to do so. After all this history, I think the problem you got after flu shot may be a coincidental AEFI and the tremor issue is not related to the flu shot. Rather it seems to be related to some CNS problem, particularly atypical PD and Lyme disease. Tinnitus may be related to the flu shot and that can be relieved by what I mentioned above.
Now, it is not possible to confirmly conclude whether the flu shot aggravated or caused relapse of Lyme disease. However, there are reports of such relapse in some patients. Therefore, it's possible but cannot be confirmed.
I hope I have satisfactorily answered your questions. If you find this answer helpful, please close the thread and rate my answer.
Regards
Dr Kaushik Sarkar
Vestibular sedative + evaluation for PD
Detailed Answer:
Thanks for providing such a detailed history.
To answer your first question, I would say No. Meclizine is not a vestibular sedative, neither was Ativan. Vestibular sedatives include Flunarizine, Cinnarizine, Prochlorperazine etc, commonly prescribed as Tab Stemetil MD sublingual tablet. You should consult your ENT surgeon regarding necessary evaluation and he/she would prescribe you similar drug for symptomatic relief.
Now, secondly, I found out several relevant information from the history -
1. Family history of dementia
2. Past history of Lyme disease
3. Small vascular lesion in MRI brain
4. No abnormality in routine tests
5. Normal spine MRI
All these helped me to conclude that you must get thoroughly examined to rule out Parkinsonism and vascular dementia. I think your neurologist may be able to do so. After all this history, I think the problem you got after flu shot may be a coincidental AEFI and the tremor issue is not related to the flu shot. Rather it seems to be related to some CNS problem, particularly atypical PD and Lyme disease. Tinnitus may be related to the flu shot and that can be relieved by what I mentioned above.
Now, it is not possible to confirmly conclude whether the flu shot aggravated or caused relapse of Lyme disease. However, there are reports of such relapse in some patients. Therefore, it's possible but cannot be confirmed.
I hope I have satisfactorily answered your questions. If you find this answer helpful, please close the thread and rate my answer.
Regards
Dr Kaushik Sarkar
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Vinay Bhardwaj
Answered by
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