Vaccine Injury of Alicia

Before my COVID-19 booster, I was healthy, active, and independent. I owned my own business, ran 2–3 miles almost every day, and loved hiking, camping, traveling, and spending time outdoors with my family. I had no history of neurological or autonomic disorders and never imagined my life could change so dramatically.

I tested positive for COVID-19 on December 31, 2021, and recovered over the following two weeks. During that illness, I was prescribed an antibiotic with a black box warning. After recovering, I was advised to receive a Moderna COVID-19 booster because I had become so ill with COVID. I received the booster on February 2, 2022.

Immediately after receiving the vaccine, I knew something was wrong. I began experiencing symptoms I had never experienced before, including tachycardia, dizziness, impaired coordination, difficulty with balance and depth perception, visual disturbances, brain fog, migraines, tinnitus, light and sound sensitivity, exercise intolerance, severe fatigue, orthostatic intolerance, and episodes of numbness involving my entire body, as well as intermittent numbness affecting one side of my face and my tongue.

On February 15, 2022, I was transported by ambulance to the emergency department due to severe tachycardia. Over the following months and years, extensive neurological and cardiac testing ultimately led to diagnoses of dysautonomia/Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS), vestibular migraine, Persistent Postural-Perceptual Dizziness (PPPD), chronic autonomic dysfunction, and Chronic Fatigue with Immune Dysfunction Syndrome (CFIDS). I continue to receive treatment through Stanford Neurology and the Stanford Post-Acute COVID Clinic.

Finding knowledgeable specialists at Stanford Neurology and the Stanford Post-Acute COVID Clinic has made the biggest difference. Staying hydrated, increasing salt intake, wearing compression garments, pacing my activities, vestibular therapy, physical therapy, certain medications, and learning to avoid overexertion have all helped me better manage my symptoms.

One of the most meaningful sources of support has been finding a community of people who have experienced many of the same symptoms. Being able to share our stories, compare experiences, and support one another has helped me feel less alone and has provided practical advice for navigating daily life. After feeling dismissed, gaslit, and abandoned by parts of the medical system and public institutions, it has meant everything to have a community of people who understand what I’ve been through and who I know I can count on.

I’ve also learned one of the hardest lessons of this illness: listening to my body. Before I became sick, I always pushed through discomfort. Now I’ve learned that pushing through severe symptoms often makes them significantly worse and can leave me bedridden for days. Learning to slow down, rest when my body is telling me to, and respect my limits has been one of the most important parts of managing this illness.

Personally, I also prefer taking as natural an approach as possible. Alongside my medical care, I’ve focused on nutrition, hydration, supplements, and other natural wellness practices that I feel have helped support my body and overall well-being. While I know everyone’s journey is different, these approaches have become an important part of mine.

Although I have not recovered, and every day is a reminder of that, these strategies have improved my quality of life, helped me regain some control over my symptoms, and continue to give me hope as I search for better treatments and answers.

Many of my early symptoms were dismissed or attributed to anxiety, delaying appropriate evaluation and treatment. Pushing through my symptoms, overexertion, heat, dehydration, illness, stress, and prolonged standing consistently made my condition worse. The uncertainty surrounding my illness and difficulty finding answers added to the emotional and physical burden.

It’s almost impossible to explain how different my life is today. There isn’t enough time or space to truly describe how profoundly this has affected every part of my life. The person I was before my COVID-19 booster no longer exists. Every single day feels like a battle just to survive. My body is in a constant state of fight-or-flight, and I wake up every morning not knowing what symptoms I’ll be facing or whether I’ll have the strength to make it through the day.

I now live with dysautonomia/POTS, chronic autonomic dysfunction, vestibular migraine, Persistent Postural-Perceptual Dizziness (PPPD), and Chronic Fatigue with Immune Dysfunction Syndrome (CFIDS). My chronic migraines can become so severe that they mimic a stroke, causing arm weakness, slurred speech, blurred vision, facial and tongue numbness, difficulty with coordination, and problems with depth perception. Some days it feels as though my own body is attacking itself. The simplest things that most people never think twice about—taking a shower, going to the grocery store, making plans with family, or even getting out of bed—can require tremendous effort or may not be possible at all.

The physical symptoms have been devastating, but so has everything that came with them. Losing my health meant losing my independence, my career as I knew it, and the life I had worked so hard to build. Living with an invisible illness is incredibly isolating, especially when so many of us have felt dismissed, gaslit, or forgotten.

My hope is that by sharing my story, more people will understand that vaccine injury is not just a headline or a statistic—it is a life forever changed. I also hope it encourages continued research, greater recognition, better treatments, and, one day, answers for all of us who continue to live with these life-altering conditions.