A woman developed pain lesions on her tongue leaving her unable to eat for months in a rare reaction to the Pfizer Covid vaccine, DailyMail reports. Subsequent shots made the symptoms – which include dry mouth and inflammation – worse. It took nine months and her losing 17 pounds (8kg) of weight before doctors could find the cause.
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Rare reaction
Detailing the rather uncommon side effect in the American Journal of Case Reports, doctors who treated the 60-year-old Australian woman said her tongue had swollen to the point of splitting open. She was eventually diagnosed with Sjögren's syndrome, a condition that distorts one’s immune system, damaging otherwise healthy parts of the body. According to the doctors:
A subsequent review of the timeline of history and medications, including vaccinations, identified a clear relationship between the exacerbation of oral symptoms after each [Pfizer-BioNTech] vaccination.
She was put on topical steroids which helped clear the symptoms within six weeks.
Covid tongue
Writing in the journal, the doctors reported that the patient had received a total of three doses of the Covid vaccine with symptoms worsening after each shot. Although unrelated to vaccine intake, some Covid-19 patients had reported similar symptoms, prompting the nicknaming of the condition as Covid tongue.
It is not unheard of for people to experience these symptoms after being immunized against certain diseases including flu, hepatitis B and papillomavirus. However, very few have been reported for Covid-19 despite billions of doses being administered worldwide. The medical practitioners concluded:
This case demonstrates that oral symptoms can be associated with BNT162b2 vaccination, which is likely under recognized by practitioners outside the field of oral health.
As it stands now, the most common side effects of the Covid-19 vaccines include pain at the injection site, headaches, fatigue, dizziness, nausea, chills, and fever.
Sources used:
Daily Mail: EXCLUSIVE: Jab got your tongue? Pfizer Covid vaccine caused 'debilitating' lesions that left 60-year-old woman unable to eat for months
American Journal of Case Reports: Unusual Case of Painful Glossitis and Xerostomia Following Vaccination with Pfizer-BioNTech SARS-CoV-2 (BNT162b2)
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