I am 54 year old male from Auckland.
My life has not been the same since my 1st Pfizer vaccine.
I had the vaccine in September 2021 at about 11am in the morning. I had the vaccine because I thought it was the right thing to do. The rest of my day was normal however I awoke at around 1am to go to the loo and when I got back to bed my heart was racing and I got very little sleep for the rest of the night. Later that morning I felt quite exhausted and unwell and it took a huge effort just to go up the stairs to the kitchen to get some breakfast.
My symptoms were racing heart, pressure in the left side of my chest, neck pain, headaches, sweats, Tinnitus and severe indigestion amongst other things. Later that evening my heart started racing more and I started to feel dizzy and more unwell so I got a lift to White Cross emergency medical centre.
Once past the protocols I was assessed with resting heart rate of around 130 and blood pressure of 165/95. I suggested to the GP that I thought my condition was from the Covid vaccine and was immediately dismissed. The GP said something along the lines of “no chance, this could only happen to 1 in a million people. After the GP made a call to a specialist I was sent home and told to call an ambulance if I got any worse. I wish I had because I might have got some tests and diagnosed. I struggled along for 3 or 4 days, I notice in this time that I had sudden food intolerances, coffee, fatty food, sugar, Spicy food, potato chips, nightshade foods etc etc. All basically overnight since my vaccine. I had a phone consult with my GP about 4 days later and she virtually scoffed at me when I said I thought I had a vaccine injury and she instructed me to double my dose of omeprazole for reflux which I have had for some years on and off.
After my insistence I was referred to a cardiologist and at that appointment I was initially put on the treadmill where about 2/3 of the way though the test I was forced to stop because my heart rate was up in the 160’s and my blood pressure also very high. Previous to the covid vaccine I was a regular gym member and during lockdown was doing 5 – 10km walks sometimes every day or at least every second day. I never returned to the gym and I was not up to doing even a short walk. The cardiologist talked to me a bit denying that I could be unwell from the vaccine and after my insistence I was given instructions to wear a 24 hour heart rate monitor then a 24 hour blood pressure monitor.
At my appointment after those monitors I was told even though both of my results were higher than normal and definitely way higher for someone who was fit and active that I was ‘not a person of interest’ I asked more questions and asked if I could have more tests but was again told I was ‘not a person of interest’. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing and went home thinking that maybe I was being silly. Over the following weeks I had more phone consults with my GP. She wanted me to have more tests saying that it was very important once I got cleared by the cardi stuff that I needed to have my 2nd shot which I eventually did under duress.
I was so unwell and not sleeping well with horrible night sweats and just kind of went along with my GP’s advice. I was even sent to a gastroenterologist where I had a camera up and a camera down to check everything – again I was having tests which didn’t relate to a vaccine injury, instead my GP was looking for anything else possible. I didn’t stop asking questions and in December was referred to the Cardiologist where I asked for a different doctor. He was the first specialist I saw that said ‘right, I can see that you are struggling, lets do some tests to rule anything out’. He immediately put me on blood pressure medication and I had a scan on around the 18th of December and on the 22nd of December I got a phone call from the cardiologist saying there was a flare on my pericardium and that I had acute pericarditis from the vaccine.
Finally someone had listened to me. I was really angry that it had taken 3 months to get the right test and when I spoke to my GP on December 24th she actually made an attempt at apologising and she told me that they didn’t know there would be problems with the vaccine and she admitted that she had other patients with issues too. The Pericarditis cleared up after another couple of months but I was still having problems with racing heart, blood pressure and digestion. I kept asking questions of my GP, at one stage I was prescribed anti-depressants, I felt like they were trying to dumb me down and shut me up.
Eventually I was sent back to the cardiologist again and was referred by him to a specialist who diagnosed me with POTS syndrome from the Covid vaccine. Finally I had some real and clear idea of what was going on and I was no longer worried I wouldn’t wake up in the mornings and that I wasn’t going to randomly drop dead. This all took about 6-7 months though.
I am still suffering from the POTS syndrome, I have learned things that triggered it and have changed my diet and lifestyle. I have had therapists to help me develop an exercise routine I can handle, I am still have psychotherapy to help me deal with the day to day issue the POTS causes and just last week I received a lump sum payment from ACC covering a lot of my costs. I am waiting to hear back exactly what they have covered as I didn’t receive the full amount. My health is at about 90% of where I used to be on a good day and about 65-70% on a bad day. The best way to describe living with POTS is like being on a rollercoaster.
I would be more than happy to be contacted and share any more info with you if you want.