I’m 38, mother of two kids and working part time. I lived a very active healthy lifestyle playing touch rugby for Australia before having kids and since have been maintaining my health and fitness with district and state level competition. So, I was in peak health.
I got the vaccine because it was mandated at my work, and if I didn’t it meant I wouldn’t be able to put a roof over my head and food on the table for my family. I got the Pfizer vaccine on the 27th November 2021 in my left arm. After I had it I didn’t even have a sore arm, but 2 days later I broke out in what looked like chicken pox all over my body.
I decided to go to the GP because of what I thought it was. I mentioned I had the COVID vaccination but I didn’t think much of it. The doctor swabbed me and said he’d get back to me later in the week. The next day I woke up to more of red spots, so I took some Phenergan during the day. It didn’t do anything. Later that night the areas around the spots started to tingle and burn and it was bearable at that stage. I was also experiencing, blurry vision and confusion. I knew something wasn’t right and I went to Emergency at 10pm that night.
On arrival I mentioned I’d had the COVID vaccination. I waited for five hours in the waiting room before I was taken through. They ran bloods and swabs and they came back all clear. I told a number of doctors I had the vaccination and they looked confused. They gave me some strong steroids and some oxycodone which is a strong pain killer, as my hands were burning to the point of being unbearable.
In the next few hours it got worse and my hands were swollen and numb but I had shooting sharp pains through my arm. Around the site of the vaccination it felt like nerve pain. It was burning and extremely itchy to the point I was drawing blood from the blisters that were appearing. It was a 10/10 pain. It literally felt like I was on fire. It didn’t matter what I took, the pain didn’t go away for weeks.
They were going to discharge me from hospital because they didn’t know what to do with me. But I put up a fight and demanded to speak to someone higher up. They transferred me to a different hospital where they took biopsies, more bloods and swabs. Results came back clear once again and I was apparently healthy. A skin specialist came in and treated me for an immune reaction and said that it was most probably a reaction the to the vaccine.
They gave me a referral to a neurologist and an immunologist, and discharged me with papers that stated my symptoms were related to the vaccine. They prescribed stronger steroids, antibiotics and an anti-inflammatory.
This happened back in the first week of December and I was making a trip to the hospital every week for 3 weeks after that to see the skin specialist who helped with my prescription and also admitted to me that he thought it was because of the vaccine. But other than that I’ve had to deal with the recovery on my own. It’s not until the 1st of April that I see a viral immunology specialist. My neurologist appointment has been pushed back so I need to follow up.
This brings me to the current day where I have mostly healed but I’m still experiencing tingling in my fingers that makes them feel like they’re dead. For the most part of six weeks I was in excruciating pain. I want to share my story because I don’t want this to happen to anyone else.