First Dose of Moderna on 09/16/21 Lot #048021A
Second Dose of Moderna on 10/14/21 Lot #048021A
Citrus Heights, California
Q: What was your life like before you got the vaccine?
Full time mom of two sons! Involved in their life style and sports. Sassy! Kind hearted, worked two jobs, always been a multitasker. We love taking road trips to different states for my younger son's sporting events. I am very family orientated. Love to get together with friends.
Q: What was your reaction, symptoms, & timeline?
After the first dose, I had an extreme migraine that left me unable to open my left eye for 2 days. The second, third and fourth day I was having issues standing up. My own body weight on my legs was causing a tremendous amount of pain, and my calf twitch made it almost impossible to stand. Red blotchiness on the injection site for days. Second dose, October 14th - Felt immediate irritation in the back of the throat, and a headache coming on and naturally within an hour or two a fever. A migraine developed sometime in the later hours that night. I slept that whole Thursday and the following Friday I was sicker than a dog! On the third day, I forced myself to get up feeling dizzy and confused with brain fog, disorientated with blurry vision. I figured it was coming from the migraine and the overall flu like symptoms from the vaccine. My child asked me to spell his name on a mirror in our bathroom. I spelled his name backwards. I didn’t even notice I did it. He had to point it out to me. As I looked at the name, I remember feeling scared. I knew it was wrong how I spelled it, but I couldn’t figure out how it was spelled wrong, and multiple symptoms have developed or continued since then - including Brain fog, dream-like state 24 hours a day, super forgetful, feel like I’m swaying when I’m standing still, extremely dizzy, crappy vision, blurred vision, double vision, white and black spots all over in my vision. I have internal non-stop shaking of the head, torso, legs, arms, and the left side seems to be worse then right. I have shaking of the hands, arms, head that you can see physically. My heart races and feels like it’s gonna pop out of my chest for minutes at a time, multiple times a day.The racing causes pain and tightness of the chest. I am fatigued and tired most the day with pain on the back of both legs behind the knee. I often forget current conversation as I’m talking, or lack the skills to understand what we are talking about at times. At times it is difficult to hold a pen, and I struggle writing certain letters in the alphabet. The scariest thing I’ve noticed lately is I feel like I am having problems converting my short term memory into long-term; or just flat out forgetting stuff all together. If I have to concentrate with my eyes, my surroundings will appear to move further away from me; and light at times is piercing on my eyes and causes immediate migraines. The majority of the day, I have a low-grade headache or pounding in my head. At times my speech feels slurred or shaky and I feel slow when I go to talk sometimes - among other symptoms.
Q: What was your life like after you got the vaccine?
About a month out, I can easily sleep between 14 to 18 hours each day. Engaging in anything is mentally taxing and most times impossible at this point. My arms at times feel like they’re full of helium and I cannot feel them. My legs tend to do the same thing, and when I can feel them I have pains or vibrations in the bottom of my feet. I have a hard problem holding a pen and writing. If I had to use words to sum up the way I feel - alone, scared, angry, disconnected from the world, stuck in limbo. Sadly I rely on my 16-year old son more than I should. I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have him. At times I isolate. I have posted notes everywhere to help me not forget things. I feel hopeless.
Q: Share your experience with any medical care and any diagnoses you have received:
I am very new to this, I am currently going through multiple appointments, I have already been to the ER, optometry, optometry surgeon (who thought I had a blood clot and minor stroke then ordered an MRI, but the MRI came back normal). Now they are sending me to the neurologist stroke specialist on November 19. So unsure.
Q: Was your reaction reported, and what was the response?
Haven’t gotten to this section yet - still in the process of doing so.
Q: Is there anything that has helped, and have your symptoms improved?
Not engaging in things that mentally stimulate your brain seems to keep the side effects more mellow, but they are never gone… so at this point I cannot engage in socializing, going to outdoor events, feeling happy, or mad, nothing - it is too extreme on my side effects. I probably shower three times a day because the hot water helps relax my mind. I sleep an unhealthy amount.
Q: What do you wish others knew?
Wish people knew… Manipulating people into taking a vaccine by threatening them with their livelihood is wrong. I was an active, healthy young person who had already tested positive for Covid last February. I am a single mom with two children. I have no help with my household other than MY income. I would have never taken this shot if I wasn’t manipulated into it.
