This is a long hard story to write, but I hope it will help others. I think that is what this forum is about - our experience in an effort to help others. And it is to ask questions. I would ask that this be given respect and not be turned into a debate. I just want to tell my sad story and my many "wonderings." I apologize for the length.
Immediately after my second Pfizer I had a month of shortness of breath. As an AFib patient, this was of serious concern to my cardiologist. His response: a deferral from boosters. I didn't argue.
The following year I was sick during the Omicron era, lost my smell and taste but tested negative twice. Thankfully it wasn't serious. I had been taking vitamin D and had stocked up on other help from my local pharmacy - oil of oregano, zinc, quercetin and a nasal rinse. Covid was deadly and I knew historically effective treatments had been shut down. That was puzzling when normally medicine looks first to what has worked before in similar situations.
I continued to wonder...why weren't we, the vulnerable and immunocompromised, immediately given information with specific protocols to follow if we got sick? Even as simple as mine? Weren't the hospitals overrun? Why didn't the CDC jump up and down when treatments were suggested? It was all so negative and discouraging. My doctor refused to see me if I got the virus. He told me not to call him but to stay home with Tylenol and if I had trouble breathing to go to the ER. He even discouraged supplements. This was frightening to me. I knew I was on my own.
Back to my story. Also after my second jab, which was months before I contracted Covid, I went into a full-body inflammatory response. This resulted in a flare in my autoimmune condition and triggered my back issues (multiple) which had been stable for 25 years. Over the past year I gradually became less mobile and had to give up my cherished walks at the lake - exercise ordered for my heart condition. My physical therapist who had given me relief for years gave up on me. I am in pain day and night and if I go anywhere, I need a cane. I can't believe I'm applying for a handicapped parking tag this week. I feel like I've aged 20 years.
Because my heart ablation has been undone, my wonderful electrophysiologist put me back on his list for a second procedure. I had been AFib free until my second Pfizer but it came back, worse than ever. My medic-alert bracelet is arriving in a few weeks. My cardiologist says my increased shortness of breath (which is debilitating) is due to myocarditis. He hasn't suggested that it's rare and temporary. He's seen this before.
I continue to wonder: Why are stats the most dismal for the countries that have the highest vaccination rates? Why was Africa not decimated? A friend who lived there during the height of the pandemic tells me they all used prophylactics. Why did Sweden fare so well?
I've learned to trust doctors who are willing to stay with their training and their own professional judgment; doctors who use traditional scientific tried-and-true methods, who go beyond media narratives and are willing to question. Isn't that always how science has advanced? How is it possible that media and politics played such a prominent role in defining "science" for the past three years?
Why were traditional medical practices abandoned? Was it fear as we were told daily how high the numbers were? Fear is very effective in gaining power over the masses. Why use PCR tests that were not intended as a diagnostic tool? And when it was decided to use them, why was the cycle threshold score not standardized? Why the sudden one-size-fits-all approach? What happened to patient-centered care? Why were deceased patients who were hospitalized for other reasons but tested positive during their stay, tallied as Covid deaths? Could it have been to keep us afraid? Could it have been for the huge payouts to hospitals?
I thank God for the immunologists, virologists, epidemiologists, pulmonologists, cardiologists, pathologists and psychiatrists who didn't flinch. They retained their professional autonomy, perhaps mindful of Einstein's warning that "science can flourish only in an atmosphere of free speech." They continued as they had been trained, thinking scientifically and continuing to do studies and analyses, thereby preventing hospitalizations and saving lives. They drew up their own narratives in the beginning and they've been right all along. Sadly, it cost many of them their careers.
I know what it is for research to come to a prescribed conclusion rather than stay true to its purpose. It happened many years ago to a professor in our family. If my memory serves me correctly, his study showed the dangers of smoking. But he was threatened with a terminated contract if it did. That's scary. My nurse friend worked for Pfizer for 10 years and quit because they were cutting corners with trials. When she went to her supervisor with her decision he told her he was quitting too. That was also years ago. Are we to trust these people with EUA injections? With mRNA technology that was poorly trialed? They knew they hadn't done proper studies. Follow the money...?
My story includes a lot of sorrow and many questions. A final question: Are we wiser now?
Sincere best wishes to all,
marcyh
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COVID vaccine
Sweden didn’t fare that well.
science.org/content/article...