Shared from Michelle, in her own words:

Hi everyone! My name is Michelle and i’m 19 years old. I shared my story on here about a week ago, but then I freaked out by all the attention it got outside the group and so I deleted it. But here it is again!! I know every individual reacts differently to the vaccine, some better than others and so my heart goes out to each of you that have had some sort of adverse reaction ❤️ I especially think of those of you that have not been listened to, or have been dismissed by medical professionals during this time, it’s not at all easy when you have to advocate for yourself. I unfortunately have had quite a terrible experience with the AstraZeneca vaccine, and I have decided to share it with you all.

My entire life, I’ve been perfectly fine and healthy and early this year, I started working at a dental clinic and was asked to get the vaccine. This was before they suggested the age limits for the AstraZeneca, and so on April 2nd, I was given my first dose of AstraZeneca. Initially, I had the common side effects – painful arm, headache etc. but the next day (April 3rd), I fainted and was taken to hospital.

While in hospital, we realized that I couldn’t walk. I was having tremors all over my body and couldn’t hold myself up or balance. I was discharged from 2 hospitals still in terrible condition saying that this was due to mental ilness and completely unrelated to the vaccine. I tried to talk to my doctors, telling them that I do not have any mental illnesses and that I was perfectly fine before I had taken the vaccine. But I was dismissed by every doctor and told that it was a form of attention seeking. The same ER doctor who accused me of attention seeking even went to tell me and my mom not to go around telling people that this was a vaccine reaction because “that would stop 1000s of people from taking the vaccine”. I’m not even kidding. She said that it’s okay if this happens to only 1% of the population, to which my mom replied, “Your 1% is my 100%”.

Everyone’s life is important and valued, and this happening to anyone should be treated with care and empathy. Even if it is relatively uncommon, it should not be brushed under the rug and dismissed just because the other “99%” react fine. Thankfully, my family have been incredible during this time and have been with me every step of my recovery. Even my 14 year old brother has been super caring and helpful!

But my parents still had no idea what was happening and I was still shaking with tremors and unable to walk. So my parents tried a third hospital. I was finally admitted into the hospital and stayed in the neurology ward for 2 weeks and was then transferred to a rehabilitation hospital where I spent around 2 months as an inpatient, where I literally had to relearn how to walk. I continue to go to rehab during the day and have been told that recovery and gaining full mobility will most probably take a while.

I have been privileged enough to have never had any negative experiences with doctors or hospitals in the past UP UNTIL THIS POINT. Every single doctor and neurologist I have encountered during this time with my reaction has dismissed me and treated me like a patient with some sort of mental illness, despite me telling them that this was post vaccine AND that I know myself and am confident that I do not have any mental health issues. I noticed that as soon as I mention the possibility of this being related to the vaccine, everyone’s demeanor changes and they suddenly become so hostile and angry. They so quickly defend the vaccine without even listening to me. They were rude and condescending and they put it on anxiety and depression as the cause. I had a psych evaluation which came back completely normal and they eventually put it to “unknown causes, unrelated to the vaccine”.

My point is that before having this vaccine, I was a normal teenage girl going to uni, meeting up with friends, and spending time with family. And now the day after my vaccine, I’m unable to walk with tremors all over and now i’m on a wheelchair and have to go to rehab to try to get back to normal. Doctors still say it’s a coincidence but I don’t think so at all. We have reported this as a side effect but not sure what’s happening with that. NSW Health has even contacted me to get my second dose, which I obviously refused.

I was really hesitant to post this, mainly out of fear of being targeted or somehow one of the doctors finding this haha so I do ask that this please remain within this private group. On my other post (that is now deleted), I got a lot of comments asking if people could share this, and you can, but I ask if you could please remove my name and picture if you do.

I was nervous to post but I’ve done it anyway because I really do want to share what I’ve been through during the last 3.5 months. I’ve still got a while to go recovery wise but I’ve been assured by neurologists that with rehab for a couple of months, I should return back to what I was!! Thanks for reading, and take care ❤️

Shared from Michelle.