My name is Caitlin, I’m 25 years old now. I was a perfectly fine 24-year-old when I got my first vaccine. My life before used to include working a fulltime job that I loved with a passion, going to the gym six days a week and loving life, going to the beach every weekend, and spending time with my friends and family.
I never wanted to be one of those people who assumed the worst about things until I saw the reactions people were having to the vaccines. I began thinking the worst and fearing for my friends and family who had received it.
I was forced to receive the Moderna vaccine on 9 October 2021 in my left arm, for work and to be able to travel interstate to see my nan who was dying of cancer. Everyone in my family and the community were telling me how selfish I would be to put her at risk and I should just suck it up and nothing would happen because I was young and healthy.
I did not have a reaction to my first vaccine, just a sore arm, so I assumed I was in the clear. I received my second Moderna jab on 30 October 2021 and within two weeks I started to feel sick. I started to experience dizzy spells, nausea, and horrible fatigue. On 19 November 2021 I woke up with a racing heart. I ignored it for a little but then it got to the point where I began to feel light-headedness and chest pain. I had blurred vision and felt like passing out.
I raced myself to the emergency room where my heart rate was 196bpm. I was told I was having a SVT (supraventricular tachycardia) episode and was rushed through. They tried many methods to lower my heart rate with no success. I was then given adenosine which stopped my heart for a few seconds to reset the rhythm.
As I was discharged, I was told my symptoms were happening because I was dehydrated and my body had dangerously low phosphate and potassium levels. I was then sent home with vitamin tablets and told to drink water.
For the next few weeks I experienced a constant high heart rate, fatigue and depression. I was no longer able to go to the gym and I began to take time off work. I couldn’t even seem to do simple daily tasks at this stage. I was then taken back to hospital on 2 December 2021 with the same symptoms. I was made to wait in the emergency room for six hours with a heart rate of 160bpm to then be told that I was dehydrated and if I drank more water it would go away.
I went home crying in disbelief, everyone was telling me all this bulls*** and I couldn’t grasp that they didn’t believe me! For the next couple weeks, it was a constant battle with severe depression from having these constant issues that didn’t seem to resolve.
I travelled interstate to see my grandmother for Christmas. Having a constantly high heart rate made the travel difficult but seeing my dying nan made it worth it to me. Once I made it interstate, it seemed the same as always until one day I woke up feeling so dizzy. I could feel pounding in my chest and couldn’t walk around without feeling like I was going to pass out, so I decided to walk outside to get some fresh air. As I got up to walk outside I had a shooting pain in my chest which made me drop to my knees. At this point I thought that I was having a heart attack, my whole body went limp, I couldn’t breathe, and I was violently shaking.
When the ambulance finally arrived they informed me that it was anxiety and I just needed to calm down and my heart rate would slow down, which it did not. They then tried to tell me that I had POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome), as when I would stand up my heart rate would skyrocket and my legs would give out on me.
I was admitted to hospital on 30 December and then spent six days there being monitored. I couldn’t lift my arms, shower, or do basic hygiene. I fell into a fit of depression and contemplated whether it was even worth living.
I was referred to a great cardiologist who, once he saw my results and listened to what I had to say, told me it was pericarditis. He then said that he assumed it was from my vaccine, as before the jab, I was a fit and healthy 24-year-old, and that he had seen a large number of younger people coming in with these new heart issues after the vaccine.
At that point I finally felt heard! I thought – finally, here we go.
But as the tests went on and I was discharged, I was referred to another cardiologist who informed me I didn’t have pericarditis and that it was my anxiety and low phosphate levels. I was devastated!!!
After being discharged on 5 January 2022 I had a follow up with the cardiologist who informed me that I couldn’t get an exemption from the vaccine because they couldn’t say for sure that my issues were from the jab. I then asked if I got another jab would I get more side effects? To which he informed me that I would! He said it was up to me if I wanted to or not but that there would be a very high chance!
DISBELIEF! How can someone so confidently tell me to risk my luck with heart issues at 24! For this stupid vaccine!! It was a spiral from there. Everyday I woke up in constant fear of heart issues or even death, only to be told I was overreacting and that it was not related to the vaccine!
For the next six months I was on beta blockers for my heart. I struggled constantly with daily activities and just waiting for this issue to go away like I was told it would!
When it came to July of 2022, I was at the shopping centre with my mother when I started to feel the pounding in my chest and difficulty breathing. I asked to be taken to the hospital where my heart rate was at 190bpm and I was experiencing severe pains in my chest, pain down my arms and in my jaw. I was spoken to so horribly when I told them about my pains and my heart. They yelled at me when I couldn’t answer their questions about my Medicare number as I was hunched over grabbing my chest in pain!
I was then made to wait in the waiting room for over an hour before being seen. They gave me fluids and did some blood tests. They found an infection in my body but couldn’t tell me where it was coming from. I was also told I had very low magnesium and potassium levels and that I just needed to stop stressing and eat “better foods”.
My questions were always “Why do I keep losing these important vitamins from my body? Even with all the drips and pure vitamin drinks provided by the hospital I keep losing them!”
To always be told that these issues are from the loss of important vitamins and stress and anxiety is horrifying! No one could tell me why this was happening, so I was referred to another cardiologist who told me I had inappropriate sinus tachycardia. He told me it was random, and no one knows why it happens but it would go away.
It is 10 months on now and I’m still seeing different cardiologists and doing tests and constantly dreading waking up and doing basic activities with these heart issues.
In April 2022 I contracted COVID. My dying grandmother who also contacted COVID had restrictions on visitors in hospital and I was unable to see her while she passed away from her four-year struggle with cancer. To be told I couldn’t see my dying grandmother because she had COVID and I had COVID broke my heart. My grandmother contracted it and got over it without any complications; she had two vaccines and a booster shot without any side effects while having cancer.
The lies the media tell are horrifying. Someone with the weakest immune system can have no side effects from the vaccine while myself a 24-year-old healthy girl has had nothing but issues from it! People need to help raise awareness for this BULL****! Seeing all these people struggle is truly sad!