Hi all, before I launch into the update, there is another urgent opportunity to please submit public comments, this time with a deadline in 2 days (2/16/21). This appears to be a different item in the Federal Register than the earlier one, so even if you have filled one out before, please do it again:
There is some older background information here. Here is a news article about the delay by the Biden Administration:
And as usual, here is my round-up of new things I’ve seen or heard about Shoulder Injury Related to Vaccine Administration (SIRVA) in the past few months.
SIRVA in the News
It’s been a whirlwind for many of us as we watch (or receive, for the lucky folks) covid-19 vaccines being rapidly distributed. SIRVA has caught the attention of some reporters, particularly, as referenced above, the move by the former Trump Administration’s health secretary Alex Azar to remove SIRVA from the Vaccine Injury table. Here are some general news stories about it:
USA Today: ‘The worst possible time’: HHS gives cold shoulder to victims of common vaccine injury
New SIRVA Research
Seems like a quiet time; I have found only one new article about SIRVA in the peer-reviewed medical literature. For a complete list of all SIRVA papers, please see the Resources page. This one is a new set of SIRVA case studies:
My Personal Update
The last time I posted about how things were going in my SIRVA journey was shortly after my second surgery on my shoulder. I’m now almost one year out from that surgery and I am doing great. My shoulder is 99.9% better and I’m still working on the last 0.1%, but I’m able to confidently rock climb again. I hope all of you still suffering will also find an end in sight and will regain all your old abilities with the shoulder. I would say, in total, it has taken me about 3 years to recover (Dec. 2017 – Dec. 2020). If you look through old blog posts you’ll see the whole journey.
I am just starting this journey of recovery. Got the flu shot in October of 2020. Severe pain started that day. It hurt so bad I could not believe it. Iced it and it felt better. However, from that day forward certain movements would really hurt. Now, 5 months later I cannot take my coat off like normal, my husband has to put my arm out. I have changed the way I dress daily, left arm always goes in first. I cannot hook a bra in the back, I only wear front closure bras. I have been painting and drawing a lot lately and I noticed my left arm/hand hurts and gets painful, so another limiting problem. A couple of months or so ago I saw a nurse practitioner because my doctor was not available and I knew I had to do something about this pain. NP had me take a muscle relaxer and ibuprofen for a week or two and ice the shoulder/arm. It seemed to help and I thought it was getting better. Then one day it just started hurting badly again. The new regimen is to take prednisone for weeks and then Advil for two more weeks, ice, and wear a sling. Just starting this. I am contemplating trying acupuncture if this new regimen does not improve the SIRVA.
Hi Sandra,
I strongly suggest contacting Dr. Marko Bodor in Napa, CA. He’s the leading sirva researcher in the world and has come up with a method that may be able to cure it.
Acupuncture will not help. Don’t waste any time trying to get a real resolution.
I’m looking for a doctor in washington State who is experienced in SIRVIA