J.S. – Oregon
Describe the symptoms and the timeline of the reaction.
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8/24/21
After doing my own research and talking to my physician who is also a good friend, I chose the Moderna vaccine. I have several co-morbidities that had me concerned about contracting this new virus, but also felt very hesitant about being a guinea pig in the ongoing studies of this rushed to market vaccine.
Last September, I had a stroke event. Doctors still can't explain exactly what happened, but I was left with speech deficits, memory loss, concentration issues, and global anxiety. I also was working with my neurologist to control recurrent migraines that also started after the stroke. By May they were nearly under complete control. That is when I had my first jab. No fever, some muscle aches and fatigue for a few days. Mostly not too bad. Then on June 15th I had my 2nd jab. Ever since that day I have had a non-stop headache. There is no relief. No amount of medicines I've tried have helped, and I can no longer take traditional migraine treatment medicines after my stroke.
The constant pain has made all the other brain injury symptoms worse. I am having severe difficulty with sleep, and I'm exhausted all day from that. Trying to continue my speech therapy is excruciating, because the amount of concentration involved just makes my head pound like a sledgehammer.
I finally broke down and told my neurologist of the vaccine headache, and he's given me steroids. While the course I'm on isn't finished, it hasn't touched the pain. It's difficult to describe, but I feel like I'm losing my mind, and imagining living like this for the rest of my life blacks out any light at the end of the tunnel.
Most people wouldn't know, as I try to hide it. Talking about things like this in public causes so much hatred to be spewed back and forth. It's extremely lonely living this reality.
-J.S. - Oregon
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