Vaccine Injury of Lauren Goldenberg

Life was hopeful- I had a new puppy, boyfriend, new career and was getting back into shape after the extended lockdown.

Oct 22 2022 bivalent Covid Vaccine received (2nd booster, first bivalent)
Oct 31 severe gastrointestinal distress with high fever- treated for camplyobacter infection
Nov 6 2022 severe joint pain begins concentrated in knees and wrists, but nearly every joint unexplained conjunctivitis. Nov 6 evening hospitalization with severe, crippling pain (10/10) fever and joint swelling. Tests revealed severe rheumatic markers; diagnosis reactive arthritis. I stayed in the hospital for a few days with a schedule of pain meds and prednisone and had joints drained of fluid. Treatment reduced symptoms but the prednisone became less and less effective even at the highest doses and my symptoms wood return between doses. I was hospitalized 2 more times in November, with unsuccessful courses of prednisone. I needed a walker to get around, and had to hire people to take care of my dogs. In addition to the pain and loss of mobility, I suffered severe fatigue and depression. Enteracept injections eventually worked, but recovery took nearly a year, and I am still affected today (I still have to take the medication or I will have ReA symptoms). In 2023 I asked if it was possible that the covid vaccine could have triggered the reA and was summarily shut down (this is California where we “believe science” by denying the possibility that vaccines could have side effects and shame anyone who thinks that maybe we should investigate that possibility) In 2024 I asked the same rheumatologist the same question, and that time she said it was possible.

enteracept injections, NSAIDs, dilaudid, oxymorphone/contin

prednisone, Tylenol

I have the HLA-27 gene that makes me susceptible to ReA. My theory is that the bivalent vaccine timed 1 week prior to the campylobacter infection caused long term REA ( I still suffer symptoms today, 3 years later, even though most people’s resolve within 6 months) because the vaccine causes your cells to manufacture the antibodies, but my genetic makeup tell these antibodies to attack my joints. My theory is based upon not just the timing of the vaccine and my illness, but because I have had other supposed triggering bacterial infections in the past without the resulting reactive arthritis prior to the COVID crisis.