Two days ago at 11:00 am, John got his second shingles vaccination. Within an hour or so of getting it, his arm hurt so bad that he could not lift it. We thought the nurse had given it too high and hit his bursa or shoulder socket instead of his muscle. Then, by the evening, he was warm to the touch with a low grade fever, had some chills, and was totally miserable. He did not sleep well and actually hallucinated in the early morning hours the next day.
The hallucination was annoying and funny. We were both asleep. Well, I was sound asleep and dreaming. John was trying to sleep but had not slept well all night. Suddenly, I was awoken by John saying to me in a loud, clear voice, “You know, you’ll go blind if you keep doing that.” It was shocking and totally roused me from sleep. After a few moments pause, getting my brain to comprehend what he had just said and figuring out that I was awake and not dreaming; I replied, “What?!”
There was another long pause after which he said back, “I thought you were reading on your phone.” (Note, I am as blind as a bat without my contacts in or glasses on. I do not sleep with my contacts in so everything is fuzzy. I am nearsighted and can only see something clearly if I have it within a few inches of my face. There are times when I will read my phone for a moment with it like that but do not do that for long.) He then started to realize that I had been asleep and had not been reading; that he woke me up. He apologized.
Yet, the damage was done. I was unable to get back to sleep. It was doubly annoying because the previous morning I had woken myself up at 4:30 am and not been able to get back to sleep. Of course, after this he was able to fall back asleep. (Sigh)
John tends to have a high sensitivity to medications as well as to vaccinations. I have not done research on this but I do wonder if it is not caused in part from the autonomic disregulation he experiences because of his TBI. We do not often take similar medications but when we do, he takes a lower dose than I do. He is double my size. It has always struck me as sort of odd.
Has anyone else with a TBI also experienced this with the shingles vaccine or with other medications?
The good news here is that I was able to get a good night sleep last night. I was not woken up by the husband, the kid, nor the cats. Yay! (Hey, it’s these small things in life that matter.) 🙂
I hope everyone is doing well. It was a chilly morning today…16 degrees F. Winter is upon us here in northern Utah I am afraid.
TBI Spouse (and Others) 
Hi Erin, I don’t know about the TBI/vaccine tolerance question, but I do have to say that when I got the old shingles vaccine a decade ago, I was miserable and sick and had a welt the size of a silver dollar on my arm for 10 days. I could barely lift my arm, had chills, fever, etc. It was a live virus vaccine, though. But I do think some people are more sensitive to vaccines and medications. Even a tetanus shot will put me in bed for a day. And there are a bunch of medications that make me throw up for an entire day, all day.
Are you still pursuing your RN degree? I thought of you during the pandemic and wondered if you were okay with on line course work. My significant other retired from teaching for good after 3 terms of teaching on Zoom.
Hope you are all well and happy out there in Utah. It’s cold here in Denver.