I’m 41 years old and have three children. I’m a non smoker, social drinker and I run my own cafe.
I was already vaccine injured from the Gardasil vaccine in 2008. I did absolutely no research into Gardasil. I just trusted my GP was giving me the best advice and didn’t question anything. I ended up having a mini stroke and losing the use of my hands for months. I was unable to even carry my new-born baby. I ended up with chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia. It was recorded that I had an adverse reaction on my medical files and I was not able to have the third Gardasil.
My life significantly changed when I hit 34. My fatigue eased and I started running and going to the gym again. I am the type of person who will sign up for a half marathon with no training! I was living a normal happy life.
I didn’t want to get the COVID vaccine. I went to my GP and begged for an exemption because of my previous reactions to the Gardasil vaccine. All he did was strongly advise me against AstraZeneca and told me, with uncertainty, that I should be okay. This left me with no confidence at all. I told him that he was playing with my life. He shrugged me off, telling me that it was in my best interest to protect others. I was also under a great deal of peer pressure from those around me and was being told I was selfish if I didn’t get it.
Fast forward to 12th September 2021. I hesitantly arrived at the clinic and begged the nurse to pretend to give me the jab. She actually told me, “So many people ask me to do that”. She continued with the procedure and gave me the Pfizer jab in my left arm. Immediately I felt a warm sensation at the site and from this day I lost my appetite for the next few months. I actually lost 20 kilos in this time.
After I’d left the clinic, I went to meet a friend at a local lookout. A couple of hours in, I started experiencing a headache. I had whole body muscle aches and the most intense pain was coming from my legs. They felt extremely heavy and it was hard to walk. I was also experiencing shortness of breath and light headedness. The friend who I was with, had also experienced some issues with the jab. I was relaying to her what I was experiencing at that moment, but I kind of felt like it just came down to me overworking myself.
My friend told me to go to the hospital, but I just didn’t want to. I went home and took Nurofen and put myself to sleep. The next day I woke up and I was still achey, but I went to work as normal. Over the next few months my symptoms faded and I was able to get on with life as usual. This was up until early January 2022. I was at home watching TV with a glass of wine and my heart suddenly started beating out of my chest. I called my friend and told her that something wasn’t feeling right. She made me call an ambulance.
The ambulance arrived and they tested me for COVID, which came back negative. Then I was taken to Emergency. On arrival they hooked me up to an ECG and ran blood and urine tests. I was observed for four hours and the results came back that I had blood in my urine. They told me my heart was beating fast due to anxiety and I was labeled anorexic by the doctor. They discharged me at 3am and sent me home. I was told that I just needed to eat more food. Overall, I felt let down and I just wanted to forget the whole experience.
Between January and June 2022, my health, fitness and mental health worsened.
I wasn’t enjoying running like I used to. When I run, I want to run fast and found it frustrating not being able to do this anymore. I was having dizzy spells and vomiting. Basically, since my first hospital visit, I didn’t feel like there was anyone that could really help me. I did however see my local GP on and off, as new symptoms were arising. I started experiencing blurred vision, heart pains, palpitations, extreme brain fog, noise sensitivity, shortness of breath and extreme insomnia. I just could not sleep! I also had a headache that never went away, no matter how much Nurofen I took. My hands were always shaking.
This continued, and on June 22nd 2022, I got up to go to work and I felt a little off. I drove my son to school and started work. At 9.30am, I was walking over to a table to clean, as some customers had just left. I felt a pain in my neck and collapsed. My recollection isn’t the best from this point onwards, but I remember being sat up on a chair and trying to use my phone. I couldn’t. The whole left-hand side of my body was weak and it was as if I couldn’t connect my brain to my left-hand side.
My beautiful work colleague called an ambulance, insisting that I needed more help. The ambulance treated me on the scene. They treated me as a stroke patient but didn’t say it was a stroke. They called it a TIA, which is a mini stroke. I was taken to emergency where the stroke doctor was awaiting me. At this point, I just want to say I was delighted to see one of the paramedics was one of my customers. They are a truly beautiful soul and I was given the best care… thank you.
As I was a stroke patient, they treated me immediately. It was very scary as I had no control over the left-hand side of my body. I couldn’t lift my foot off the ground, couldn’t raise my left arm, couldn’t squeeze hard with the left hand and my power to move my body was not there.
I was admitted to hospital for four days. I was tossed around and they didn’t know which ward I was to go to. I first went to the stroke ward, but something funky was happening with my heart, so I was moved to cardiology. My heart was racing. The cardiologist on duty asked me straight up if I had had the vaccine and when it was administered. She was very focused on the vaccine and everything started to make sense to both of us.
I had blood tests, ECG, chest X-ray and a CT scan. From the blood test they discovered there may be a blood clot. Sure enough, after many scans I had a blood clot! I had a Clexane injection straight away, which did its job. All other results were clear. On day three of my stay, I got all my movement back and discharged myself the next day. On the papers it was written that my injury was possibly related to the COVID vaccine.
It is now three weeks since I left hospital and I’m now an outpatient. I had to wear a Holter monitor for 24 hours this week and I also had an MRI on my brain. I see the stroke team and cardiologist in a few weeks, for follow-ups and results.
The best advice I’ve ever been given medically is that doctors are are just people with opinions.
Just because they are a doctor, it doesn’t mean they are right. I’m now living day to day with more questions than answers and I have no idea where to go from here. As this is ongoing, it is costing me a fortune. I’m still working, but every day is a struggle.