Pfizer # 1: FH9678
I’m 58 and from Copenhagen and moved to NZ at the age of 24. I lived on Waiheke Island for majority of my life, and in 2020 transferred to Taranaki with a Regional Air NZ cabin crew sole charge role, to be closer to family. I have always been energetic, fit, and healthy with no pre-existing health issues. I’ve traditionally always had a focus around health and wellbeing. I love to socialise, dance, do Zumba, go to the gym, and be outdoors walking.
I was made redundant in 2020 due to Covid and the travel industry shutdown, so then studied to become a support worker as I love to help others. I finished the training in 2021 and was ready for placement. The 1st placement I applied for was declined as I wasn’t vaccinated, although it wasn’t mandated at the time. I didn’t have a good feeling about the vaccine, but I didn’t want to miss out on another opportunity. I had my 2nd placement interview on the morning of 16/09 and my first (and only) vaccine in the afternoon. The only side effect at the time was a sore arm. I ended up getting the Recovery Facilitator job with Healthcare New Zealand (working with mental health and addiction) and was due to start in October but was unable to, due to events that followed.
On the 25th of September my world started to fall apart. I was out for a brisk walk and had a sudden sharp extreme pain and what felt like a contraction of my heart, I clutched at it as I stood waiting for it to subside, it lasted about 5 minutes. I was close to home so just walked slowly the rest of the way.
On 27th of September, I had palpitations, felt dizzy, lightheaded, and fatigued so went to the doctor. I was put on an ECG, had my BP taken and even though I could barely stand and was feeling faint, he told me to go across the road to get bloods done, he did not seem to care of my current state. He did mention that it could be Myocarditis and if things didn’t improve to call an ambulance (when I got access to all my files much later, I saw that the doctor’s had questioned whether it was the vaccine at this appointment.).
I went back there on the 30th of September due to a racing heart and feeling nauseous. I noticed the nurse say my pulse and BP were up, but they waited until it stabilised before they did the ECG. A different doctor came in after a while and spent 15 mins explaining things I didn’t understand, so I asked him plainly what was going on with my body and why was I having symptoms I’d never had before? He leaned over and whispered, “You’ve had a reaction to the vaccine” but on my medical records I’ve since obtained, he had written diagnosis of “Anxiety”, and prescribed me Diazepam (which I didn’t take). I was quite shocked, I’m not and have never been an anxious person – anyone I know can vouch for this. The days following, I wasn’t doing well, even having a day I couldn’t get out of bed or eat. A friend commented that ‘it was like you lost some of your life force’, I was looking grey in my face.
On the 8th of October I went to Hawera ED as I had symptoms of feeling cold, faint, dizzy, irregular heartbeat, and cold hands. I was only there for 4 hours – they did an X-Ray, Ultrasound, and took my BP. They discharged me due to my BP and X-Ray results being normal and diagnosed me with ‘Fatigue’. They said they didn’t think there was anything to be alarmed about and that I would receive appointment details in the mail for an exercise tolerance test. I’d found in the medical records later that the ultrasound results from this day found a complex cyst on my liver with the notes stipulating ‘could be in relation to the vaccine’, and ‘Angina?’.
On the 13th of October I rang the Covid Healthline, the nurse advised me to go to ED because I was breathless, sweaty, extremely cold and could barely talk to her. They took me for an X-Ray, and I was not able to stand properly, I had issues trying to get it done and a few nurses needed to help me. I was admitted into Hawera overnight with a Heart Holter monitor on. Later I mentioned to a doctor that perhaps I had a reaction, he stated it was just Tachycardia. About 4am, I woke feeling, nauseous, weak, cold, and clammy, and found it hard to swallow, I didn’t want to bother them at the time so when the nurse came at 7am I told her about it, and she said I should have called them. (They are signs of a heart attack, but I didn’t realise), I also had a rash across my belly.
I was to be transferred to New Plymouth Hospital that afternoon, so they could do more testing there, but was left in a wheelchair waiting in Hawara for the ambulance from 1pm, with the ambulance arriving to pick me up around 4pm. I was dehydrated and without access to water. A nurse was assigned to me in the ambulance to monitor my heart and was about 5.30pm by the time we arrived at New Plymouth Hospital. While waiting to be admitted in New Plymouth, a young fella came in as a patient in his work gear. The admin lady was reading loudly what sounded exactly like my symptoms, so I thought she was doing my admission, but they were admitting the young fella. When I realised it wasn’t just me experiencing this, I felt I was in a horror movie. Soon after that, the administrator said to me “You’re the one with the adverse reaction to the vaccine” – this was the first time someone had said this out loud to me. When I asked about the young fella to a nurse the next day, she said she knew exactly who I meant as he was on her ward. she told me he had collapsed at work and was given a diagnosis of vaccine induced Myocarditis. When one of the nurses was pushing me in the bed down to the Ultrasound, she whispered to me “You MUST NOT have the 2nd vaccine, I’ve seen too much of what it’s done to people, even young people having strokes, heart issues, and miscarriages and I’ll be leaving my job shortly’.
On 16/10 I was supposed to be discharged and decided to ask a doctor about having the 2nd vaccine (I was not going to consider it but wanted to see how he would respond as it had been 4 weeks since my first). He said to “Wait a week and then have the second shot”. He did not voice any concern or caution at all. When it was time to be discharged, I was feeling faint and couldn’t stand up, so I was kept in for another couple of days. On 18/10, they were checking me over prior to being discharged. My heart rate was erratic at the time, so they adjusted the bed to lying down position, and my heartrate and BP soon normalised, and they followed through with the discharge, giving a diagnosis of ‘Dehydration’ and ‘Low BP’.
On 23/10 I had the exercise test on the treadmill at the hospital. I was walking at a slow pace for 1-2 minutes and they told me the speed would increase at 3 mins. My heart was beating hard, I was short of breath and fatigued and said, “I need to get off” (Prior to the vaccine, I was doing 1 hour Zumba workouts and now I was unable to walk 3 minutes!). I mentioned the vaccine and the nurses came straight over and quite aggressively ripped off the heart monitors. It felt like I had run a marathon and was completely exhausted. Because they’d removed the monitors, I have no records of the aftereffects from the exertion. If I had my time again, perhaps I might’ve stayed on, then if something happened, it will have been dealt with differently and I might have a proper diagnosis.
In November I developed headaches that felt like I was being squeezed with pressure on my temples from the outside (never experienced something like this). In December I got in touch with the NZDSOS team. They had blood tests taken (and I was told at this time there was still a ‘Tropinin’ blood test request from September on my file that hadn’t been done – this is a heart related one), and they prescribed me Antihistamines and prednisone. I used to donate blood so am familiar with sensation of having blood taken, but when I went to the lab for a blood test it was a very different sensation (stinging and painful), and my blood is thicker and doesn’t run it just stays in a glob. I also went to a Homeopath who put me on a protocol to try to detox the vaccine and I started going out walking again. One night at home about 17th December I felt like I was going to have a heart attack, stroke, or both. I had pain down my arm, across my chest and was cold and clammy. I didn’t want to deal with being dismissed and not heard again, nor wanted to spend Christmas in hospital, so I rode it out, then another day I was out, and my heart was racing so I went into a pharmacy. They said I didn’t look well and wanted to call me an ambulance, but I had said No. (again, I didn’t want to just be told I had low BP etc), I sat for a while to recover. It was around this time that I first noticed my skin had changed and had become thick and leathery.
Early January I did the interview with Liz Gunn on FreeNZ which was aired on 14/01 and on 16/01 I was back in hospital. I was freezing cold, rapid pulse and heart racing, could barely walk and difficulty breathing. ED took bloods and did an ECG, which came back abnormal, so they admitted me. A bedside Ultrasound result showed ‘LV (Left Ventricular) Impairment’ plus they took my BP and had me on the Heart Monitor. I was sent in ambulance to New Plymouth the next day for a CT scan on my brain for reassurance due to the headaches, haze, and pressure I was feeling in my left eye – but they never did a CT Scan on my heart which was where the major issue was! I was discharged on 18/01 and It seemed they just didn’t know what to do with me. On my medical records it says, ‘Symptoms ongoing post-vaccine, POTS, possibly chronic fatigue also’. It seemed they were avoiding looking into it further but had prescribed me beta blocker ‘Bisoprolol’. They advised me to follow up with my doctor which I did in early February. He told me I didn’t have Myocarditis and don’t need to see him for 3 months.
I then had an injured nurse (suffering blood clots) contact me as she watched the Liz Gunn video and referred me to a doctor who advised me to halve my dose of Bisoprolol. Initially it helped but I’ve since gone backwards again. The help I’ve received from others such as NZDSOS team, Helping Hands Kiwis Facebook page team and Voices for Freedom team has been great.
ACC declined my vaccine claim because I don’t have a ‘recognised’ heart diagnosis from the vaccine. My diagnoses are of Fatigue, Low BP, Dehydration, POTS (Tachycardia) – I note that I have not yet had an Echocardiogram or a CT scan or MRI on my heart, I’ve have not been referred to a cardiologist appt and just got a letter about an ultrasound to investigate my neck in relation to stroke – why are they investigating different parts of my body and not the heart?
I don’t recognise myself. My hands go from extreme cold to feeling like my hands and fingers are going to ignite as they are burning hot. My digestive system is now terrible, they’ve found a new cyst on my liver, I’m still having the headaches and pain and pressure in my sinus area and have also just found a small growth on the side of my head. Since the vaccine it feels like there’s something going around in my body attacking all the different parts. As well as being physically unwell and having to deal with all the above symptoms and others, I’ve also not been able to work for the past 7 months so have no income, I have been ostracized from society, I’ve not been able to have a haircut since September, my regular café won’t see me, and places have treated me terribly because I don’t have a vaccine passport. I have felt totally dismissed, not believed, and disheartened by the medical system.
My advice to people is to make sure you get evidence of everything in writing, Ask questions such as what are specific tests for? If they discharge you, ask what you should be wary of to look out for and what should I be doing/not doing? The doctors in the beginning never told me to rest – I could have made matters worse by trying to go about normal life and could have done more damage.