Rhee

Tuesday 30 November 2021

I had the Pfizer vaccine. I had the following symptoms:

eyes went funny
dry mouth
pain in the side of my left breast
pins and needles and tingling in my feet, toes and legs.

Wednesday 1 December 2021

Chest pain started. I ignored it because I’d been told it was a normal side effect.

Thursday 2 December 2021

My toes, feet, legs went numb.
The chest pain got worse and I had stabbing into my heart.

This resulted in my first visit to the doctor. Sitting in the waiting room my thighs went numb. The doctor wasn’t concerned about me losing feeling. They did an ECG and regarding chest pain, told me it was fine and to go to the hospital to get further tests to make sure everything was 100 per cent fine with my heart.

I went to emergency. They also were not concerned about the numbness in my legs. They did another ECG and some blood tests to rule out clots.

The ECG was fine, but my liver enzymes were raised. They told me I had transaminitis.

Monday 6 December 2021

I went back to the doctor to follow up about the raised liver enzymes, and to also ask about the numbness in my legs, that was spreading further up my thighs. The doctor said that he would monitor my symptoms but couldn’t do anything for me because, “We don’t know enough about these vaccines to be able to know how to help. Just wait it out and see if it goes away. I believe that this is caused from the vaccine, but can’t say for sure, but this has affected your whole nervous system, I do not know how to help you.”

I had the vaccine in my left arm. My right hand had started to go numb and tingly. I couldn’t even close my right hand because I was too weak, but it felt like there was pressure, as if it was filled with fluid or something, but didn’t look swollen.

Friday 10 December 2021

My saddle region went numb. Yes, inside of my vagina was numb. I could not feel intimate interaction.

Sunday 12 December 2021

My right hand went freezing cold but hadn’t changed colour. I went to emergency again. This time I was admitted into hospital and stayed for five days. They did so many blood tests and I spoke to so many different doctors. All the bloods were normal.

It took an hour and a half to do an MRI on my brain and complete spine. The results showed that my brain was physically fine, no nerves in my back were compressed, and there was nothing physical to cause these symptoms. There was an abnormality in my lower spine which raised concerns about Guillain Barre Syndrome.

My legs got weaker and it spread to my throat. It was numb to swallow. But here’s the catch: I could still speak and still walk, although a bit stumbly and I walked funny due to pins and needles and numbness. At that point I could still hold my bladder and bowel, but couldn’t feel it when I had a bowel motion.

By Thursday 16th December I was completely numb from the waist down, my right hand was numb, and the numbness was travelling up my right arm, along with my throat.

I had chest pain and was on a heart monitor, they did five ECG tests in one night. All they could tell me was that my chest pain was from anxiety.

I was discharged and told to see my General Practitioner to be referred to physio and to a psychologist to do cognitive behavioural therapy and referred to see the neurological team as an outpatient.

The diagnosis: Possible functional neurological disorder, that the receptors in my brain have shut down to parts of my body. But that they’re not 100 per cent sure. They wanted to do a lumber puncture to test for Guillain Barre Syndrome but were short of staff, so didn’t bother.

My hospital discharge letter states that concerns were raised about Guillain Barre Syndrome and that a cerebral spinal fluid leak (CSF) needs to be investigated (by a lumber puncture).

Tuesday 21 December 2021

I went and saw my General Practitioner. He told me that physio and cognitive behavioural therapy would not help me, to wait to see the neurological team and to ride it out. He gave me an exemption to not get any more COVID vaccines for the time being. He told me that he did not believe that I had FND.

Saturday 8 January 2022

It is nearly six weeks from having the Pfizer vaccine and four weeks from being admitted into hospital. I am now numb from my breasts down. Both hands and arms are tingly and go numb.

My stomach muscles contract.
I cannot hold my bladder or bowel.
I have not even been put on a wait list yet to see the neurological team.
I can’t feel to wipe myself.
I can’t shower or bath myself.
I struggle to pick up my toddler.
My legs give way at any time causing me to fall to the ground.
I struggle to dress myself.

I can’t even cross my legs because my muscles are so tight that it hurts to stretch them or to cross my legs. I’m the weakest that I have ever been.

I also believe that I was pregnant, but not ultrasound confirmed. After I had that Pfizer vaccine, I bled for 6 days straight, extremely heavy with clots. I believe that I miscarried from that vaccine, as I had a missed period beforehand with a very faint positive pregnancy test. Technically I can’t be 100 per cent sure, but I believe that I was pregnant and I lost my baby.

I have tightness in my chest and if I speak too much or do too much, I become breathless.

Previously I was fit and healthy. I would play with my daughter every day, I had my own cleaning business, I was always active. I was studying, and now can’t because I can’t do work placement as I am at risk of falling just from standing, and struggle to type to be able to do assessments.

I now struggle to do basic normal things. I am now disabled, with no medical diagnoses. I have unfinished tests because they failed to do the lumber puncture, which means I haven’t been able to have any treatment and my symptoms have progressed. If the CSF test was done, and GBS was confirmed, I could have had treatment and possibly been back to normal, four weeks ago. But I was told to go home and wait.

My whole life has been turned upside down because of a vaccine that was meant to protect me from a virus, that I probably would have survived.

I would also like to add that the first three days after having the Pfizer vaccine I was so out of it and my brain was foggy. I couldn’t remember conversations I’d had literally 30 seconds beforehand. I still can’t recall those conversations. I couldn’t even remember the pin to my daughter’s day care. I still get brain fog and have moments where I can’t even speak properly because it’s like my words are kind of mumbled or my brain is mashed.