P.C. Tennessee

"9-17-21

How could I have not, after all we're in the midst of a global pandemic, so I really should do my part mustn't I? Watching the television and seeing so many of the who's who in the world not to mention the various local dignitaries, and news celebrities getting the covid-19 vaccine. Witnessing Dolly Parton benevolently advocating for and getting it, seeing my father and stepmother, many friends and other family members including my own mother taking the shot and everyone seemingly handled it rather well and all were now safe to carry on smartly. Seeing the president and others in the upper echelon of our company getting it and encouraging others to do so, even hearing other co-workers talk about having taken it. Just look around, here a jab there jab, with billboards all over town telling me that ""it's safe and effective"", I truly did want to do what's right, just simply to do my part. After a wee bit of anxious anticipation it was now my turn, in good will my employer rolled out the red carpet, everything was a go for my wife and myself. We went and received our first shots from the DFHC together, my wife has shellfish allergies so I was nervous to see how she was going to handle it, like a champ she did, neither of us had any immediate adverse side effects nor any for the coming weeks. We were now halfway inoculated against this savage virus.

Salutations, my name is Daryl, I'm a male, 47 years of age and this my personal experience with getting the Moderna covid-19 vaccine. It was on 4/16/21 that I received my 1st dose (Moderna 039B21A), administered from our health clinic where I work here in Athens, TN. On 5/14/21 I was given my second dose (Moderna 024C21A) also by the same clinic where at work. After receiving my first shot I experienced no noticeable adverse side effects at any time. Upon receiving my second shot and for the next few days I again experienced no noticeable side effects. It wasn't until four days later on the evening of May 18th that it all began, I had been running around the yard with my grandson rough housing and playing for approximately 30 to 45 minutes. When we stopped and I walked into my house I had a strange sensation come over my entire body, unfortunately indescribable is how I would best describe it. At this point I began to get real hot, I felt really anxious, the initial feeling that swept over my body kept coming back wave after wave and with each wave the intensity increased and I got really nervous as my entire body felt so anxious, it was filled with it. My initial gut feeling was wow, I've never felt anything like this before, it must be my body reacting to the vaccine. So I sat down and that wasn't good, that was too still, so I began pacing back and forth all the while thinking am I going to die as this was so disturbingly bizarre and I felt as if I was spacing out and leaving my body? This lasted for about 5 - 10 long minutes before it began to lessen in intensity, it left me exhausted and with a sickly feeling throughout my entire body. For the next couple of days I felt sick, and for the next two months I never felt just right, not my normal self, something was amiss that I just couldn't put my finger on however I just kept writing if off as over exertion, tired, sinuses, work stress, etc.

Fast forward to the evening of July 22nd, I had just gotten home from work and had headed out to cut some brush and had done so for about 15 - 30 minutes. Then here it comes again, that same sensation I had experienced four days after my second dose, it came on fast and hard with every wave getting stronger and more powerful, I immediately recognized these feelings, oh no here I go again. This time I began sweating profusely like I've never sweat before, just oozing big ole puddles, especially from the top of my head. My body was so hot, I was overheating, I was extremely nervous, my entire body was filled with anxiety, I made my way inside to air conditioning and I sat down in front of a box fan in an attempt to cool down and could not get comfortable, I couldn't just sit still. While moving around the floor rolling and flopping back and forth I was thinking was this is it, was I dying, was this a heart attack as the heart palpations were shaking me to my core, I made my peace with God all the while getting so nauseous, the ringing in my ears became so loud, my body was shaking and trembling, I was so dizzy, this occurrence was outrageously frightening. This second episode was far more extreme and profound than the first. At some point in I had decided that I needed to go the hospital and I began to get up to seek out some help then I started to notice these raging waves of bodily terror began to ever so slowly subside. Coming down took a bit but was such an incredible relief, what a disturbingly ruinous rush all of that was. What had just happened to me, I wasn't sure but knew that I needed to know, I wanted to understand what had just happened? This spell lasted approximately 15 - 20 minutes, start to finish.

For the next approximately three weeks I felt just terrible, I was having two or three of these lesser bad spells a day for the first one and a half to two weeks, these bad spells would last about 15 - 30, maybe even 45 minutes each. These spells were definitely intense but nothing like the two big events I had gone through, they were more like just going from sick to really sick. At about the two week mark I began having less of these a day and about the three week mark I began skipping days without these bad spells, they just came here and there. During these bad spells for some reason it felt as if it helped to eat something as crazy at that may sound but it wasn't like just a normal being hungry or my body just needing some fuel feeling. Since about week four after the biggie I have only had a couple of these lesser bad spells, however I am still having them. Ever since this event on July 22nd my body has felt just plain sick, like having the flu sick, my arms, legs and torso all just have this sickly feeling that will not go away. My body feels totally drained of energy, my arms and legs feel as if they want to tremble, they are just shy of being shaky. My heart palpations were strong and abundant in the weeks following but are coming less often and some days I hardly notice any or just a few, but the ringing in my ears is absolutely still maddening. The tinnitus had been there before but this seems to have only exacerbated it, it has now elevated into a whole new level of suck.

The following Monday after the second big episode I was still feeling terrible so I made a doctor’s appointment with my primary care physician on July 27th. We discussed these two events in detail, he suspected severe heat exhaustion as the day before the spell had been an extremely hot, humid and strenuous day for me and he said I needed to replace my electrolytes and stay out of the heat. The day before the first episode had also been a very hot and strenuous day and he surmised that I had possibly never really gotten over what he suspected was the first heat related event. He listened to my heart, ordered additional blood work, urinalysis test, an EKG and put me on a heart monitor for three days. Recently I had just had my annual blood work done a 7/2 and all of that was in spec. He told me to come back in 2 -3 weeks if need be? Man I really wanted to believe that this was a heat related event but I just kept coming back to my gut feeling telling me it wasn't. My mind was dueling my gut and my body was wrecked, was I living with heat exhaustion or had my body had been wrecked by this vaccine, or what? So back I went on August 17th, we discussed what could be going on and I was curious if it could be myocarditis or something of that nature from the vaccine? He said that he didn't suspect that since my chest didn't hurt and my heart looked good from what he had seen from the previous testing. He ordered me another ekg, additional bloodwork and sent me to a cardiologist the next day, August 18. That day the cardiologist listened to my heart intently, studied my two ekgs and my three day monitor recordings, to him everything seemed fine, and he even discussed my palpations. Since my doctor the day before had also ordered a chest x-ray and ecg he said lets go ahead and have a closer look. When I mentioned the vaccine he didn't as much as say a word about it. He also said that I was free to return to my normal daily activities, but to proceed with caution and not overdo it, to just let my body be my guide. At this point my body was in no shape to be a guide, it was just down right pathetic. And just to give you some kind of background of who I was up until this second episode, I rode my mountain bike at least once every week even through the winter months, I also whitewater kayaked once if not more every week during the season and I hike, I had even made it rock climbing once this summer not to mention I volunteer on a regular basis and most of that's manual labor. As for all of the other active things that I do I will save your time but I just feel the need for you know that I'm not some hypochondriac couch potato.

At one point during all of this insanity my left arm looked as if was bruised and swollen deep down the inside of it, on into the palm of my hand. There were also days where my eyes were totally blood shot and at times during all of this where it has been so hard for me to maintain focus, often times reading the same thing five, six even seven or who knows how many times before I could get any of it to totally register. For a while sleep was hard to come by, it has gotten somewhat better. On some occasions I have felt the need for a walking cane as my legs and body have been so feeble. When I did venture back out into the heat after a month's hiatus, I could tell that the heat really put a stress on my body and it would get that real sick feeling when I would get hot. On 8/23 I visited a chiropractor who specializes in neuropathy, gave her my spiel and she informed me that she was treating another couple of patients with a similar story to mine including the part about the vaccine and wanted to see me on a weekly basis as she wanted to try to keep my nerves stimulated, I have been visiting here weekly ever since. On August 23rd I returned to my primary care physician, we discussed my heart test results being ok, the additional blood work was fine, if it's the vaccine causing this then it may began to subside as my antibodies began to dwindle, of course we just don't know enough about that at this point, he then mentioned that stress may be the culprit? He mentioned trying me out on an anti-depressant and I said that I would like to see a professional in that area to work all of that out and pretty much just to seek a second opinion at this point.

On September 2nd I visited a local Psychiatric Center. After giving my spiel yet again I was recommend and encouraged to see a neurologist. At this time he did not recommend me for an anti-depressant and has me scheduled for a follow up after the neurologist's visit. Since this all began and for the time being nothing over the counter has brought me any relief whatsoever, not ibuprofen, not aspirin, not Gaba, not Formula 303, not 5 HTP, not even melatonin. The only thing that is currently working is Alprazolam and Hydroxyzine, and it only helps. Currently I'm utilizing ¼, ½ or 1 mg Xanax as needed during the day and one 10 mg Hydroxyzine prior to bedtime. Even at its worst and up until this point I have not had more than 1 mg of Xanax nor more than 10 mg of Hydroxyzine in total per day. Also just to take a moment to acknowledge my diet, as for caffeine, it's now gone for the most part, I was a four cup of coffee every morning kind of guy, now I may have an occasional green tea. My diet is what I'd say pretty good overall, almost all of my meals except maybe twice a week are from home. My wife is an exceptional scratch cook and she also makes me spinach and fruit smoothies six days a week, in edition I also eat a great deal of fruits and some vegetables and drink lots of water. Prior to all of this I was imbibing two or three beers a day on the weekends and on rare occasions a shot of bourbon, then every once in a while I’ll enjoy a glass or two of wine.

For the first time in a couple of weeks I began to have another bizarre episode on 9/1, this one was different than all of the other small episodes following the second big one. This one came on after a wee bit of genuine excitement, wow this was strange. The first bit of excitement my body had felt in over six weeks and it made me feel so mysteriously sick, at times like needles sticking in me, all over my neck shoulders and arms. Looking back at all of the mini-episodes, they seem to have occurred when I was stressed, happening mostly at work. During one of the very last bad mini-spells at work I checked my blood pressure and it was 134/80, that morning it had been 111/78. Also I do have hypertension, so I keep an eye on my blood pressure and take Amlodipine/Benazepril 5-40 mg × 1 daily. The previous day prior to this mini-bad spell my b/p was 110/80 and the day after it was 123/76. In the days since some of my daily readings have been 126/81, 101/80, 117/74 & 116/80. The weekends and evenings I seem to manage somewhat better, it's as if my body isn't handling stress the way it should so I have had to go above and beyond in attempts to lessen anything that would have me waiver from an even keel. Currently, even when I have absolutely no known evidence of stress, I still have this sick feeling in my arms, legs and stomach that seems to be getting somewhat better at times but has not yet gone away, at this point it’s as if the vast majority of my overall physical wellbeing is directly proportional to my emotional state. For the first time since all of this started I made myself ride my bicycle a few miles the other day, the very next two days were disastrous for me, I felt so terrible, maybe it was the the bike ride egging it on or maybe it wasn't? As soon as I think it’s kind of getting somewhat better and get my hopes up, within a few minutes or the very next day bang, here it goes again, it just won’t stop thrashing my body. Everyday I hope to wake up and hopes it's all over with just like a bad nightmare.

Since this became apparent that heat exhaustion doesn’t seem to be the culprit, my doctors thus far have now pointed me to the intersection of psychiatry and neurology. Over the last several weeks I have sought as much information as I could possibly find from the likes of Dr. Bing and Dr. Yahoo, I’m desperate. They have only left me with more questions, worry and dread, questions about post vaccine neurological disorders, autoimmune inflammatory response disorders, functional neurological disorders, etc., etc., etc.. Could a serotonin reuptake inhibitor by way of an anti-depressant be of any help? Just what is wrong with me, is it curable, is it treatable, will it eventually just go away, is there no real solution except to wait it out, or am I permanently stuck in the midst of this misery, malady, and madness?

-D.S. - Tennessee"