# Vaccines, Thyroid, Medical Gaslighting, and a story I hope can save someone's life



## Bob_ZimmerWoman (Sep 14, 2021)

Last October I had my first flu vaccine and descended into hell. 

Mild symptoms began about five days later. A tremor in my right hand. Mood swings. Shaky feeling. 

Then, about two weeks after the vaccine I woke up feeling really icky. The palms of my hands and soles of my feet were sweating. My heart rate was all over the place and something felt wrong. I turned to Google because at the time I had a contentious relationship with my PCP but hadn't had a chance to find a new one due to the pandemic.

Later that night my left arm and left side of my neck starting hurting fairly suddenly. I rushed to the ER. 

I'll try to make a very long story short. 

A) My system was already worn down. I had two surgery's in 2019. My labs were slightly off and no one knew or cared to know why. High WBC's, low potassium, low Vit. D, high RBC's. Lot's of things were just slightly off consistently. 

B) The flu vaccine put my system over the edge. 

C) I developed ASIA (autoimmune/inflammatory syndrome induced by adjuvants) 

D) Which caused Subacute Thyroiditis with a high risk of Thyroid Storm on the Burch-Wartofsky scale.

E) The doctors couldn't find a diagnosis so they ran test and blamed my mental health when the test gave them no answers.

I had two doses of Amiodarine (iodine) that first night.
I had two CT scans with iodine contrast dye
and a nuclear stress test with contrast

F) Because my thyroid was already sick, I then developed Job-Baselow syndrome due to the dye.

G) I was then admitted to the hospital and mis-diagnosed as being in a hyper state due to an acutely elevated TSH (8.2) it had been 0.01 a few days earlier. No one checked. I was given 100 mg of Synthroid. 

H) I started to go into shock. Syncope, orthostatic hypotension so severe I would break out in a cold sweat and pass out if I laid flat and I would see stars if i bent over. The heat was on 96 and I had a space heater blowing on me. 

I visited the ER about 15 times. I was in-patient 3x's. I saw the doctor in the office and then spoke with the supervisor. I cried. I screamed. I begged. I pleaded. 

Every doctor tried to prescribe SSRI's. Several drug tested me. When my liver enzymes elevated 9 fold in 72 hours they said it was "just fatty liver". When I retorted that fatty liver would not cause such a rapid increase, they agreed and then prescribed SSRI's.

When I had a CT scan showing fluid in the upper lobe of my right lung they blamed pneumonia. Initially they failed to test for any bacteria but prescribed a z pack. When I argued that my failing liver, pulmonary edema, and new onset cardia arrhythmia ALL IN A MONTH were certainly related to each other---I was prescribed 12 Ativan and discharged. "Just anxiety" they said. Anxiety did not make my liver enlarge 4cm I argued. 

I had lost 20 lbs, had no appetite, could no longer shower standing up and would get out of breath trying to make a phone call to the doctor. 

I gave up hope and bought a secret recorded. I told my husband I was sure I was going to die because no one would help me and my dying wish was that he go after every last one of them. 

On a Thursday I was discharged again (for the 2nd time in a week) with a prescription for Synthroid 88 mg (rather than 100) and discharge papers showing elevated thyroid levels. On the same page. They didn't even bother to read the test results because they had decided I just had anxiety. 

That night I was so close to death. I knew I had to save myself or be dead that weekend. My light was fading. I looked grey and my eyes were sunken, my skin dry and bruises were all over my body from IV's and test and liver failure. I looked like I'd been beaten to a pulp, and I had. 

I sat down and pulled up all my labs, put them in order. Figured out what was happening, took a beta blocker, a steroid, and some cholestyramine. By dawn I felt some fight coming back into me. Two days later I believed I would live. I administered electrolytes, took my BP, monitored my pulse and O2. Checked mt temp. Kept track of my meds...all while having a degree of rage and psychosis you can only understand if you've had extremely high thyroid levels, death staring you down, and gaslighting so bad that you lose touch with reality.

I have no idea how I did it. The lowest my BP got was 50/30 when I laid down once. I was sure I was hours, if not minutes away from crossing the line into shock and being unable to also be my own ICU nurse and doctor.

I will never forgive the doctors who gaslighted me. I hate them. Not for being unable to diagnose me, but for blaming anxiety and yet, leaving me that way. I refused the SSRI's every time. For breaking my confidence in myself and making me wonder if I was already dead because nothing made sense. First they would drug test me and when the results were clean they would blame anxiety. One doctor even ordered an ETOH panel when my drug screen was clean. 

Rage against the dying of the light. 

I short...

Vaccines can cause thyroid dysfunction and you have to advocate for yourself. Remember if you've recently had a vaccine to mention it at the hospital. Don't take their word for it. If you know something is wrong, fight. 

In my case

A) Weak system
B) Flu vaccine
C) ASIA syndrome w/high risk of thyroid storm
D)Job-Baselow due to 3 iodine exposures
E) Thyroid Storm
F) Mis-Diagnosis and treatment w/100mg Synthroid
G) Shock

Symptoms:

Tremor
Mood Swings
Jittery
Tachycardia and arrhythmia
Left side neck pain
Pain down left arm
Nausea
Vomiting
Loss of appetite
cold sweats
diarrhea
weight loss (20 lbs in two weeks)
activity intolerance
chest pain (late development after treated with synthroid)
low bp
low fever
URQ pain

Abnormal test:

Low potassium (2.6)
Elevated liver enzymes
Enlarged liver
upper right lobe pulmonary edema
low and then high TSH
normal and then high T3
normal T4

I hope this helps someone. It was literally a walk through hell. I'm now dealing with the complex PTSD. Sadly afterwards, a few months later, I also developed a kidney stone and the CT scan for that showed uterine fibroids and bi-lateral ovarian cyst. I was diagnosed with PCOS. So maybe hormone related? Then, a week later I had my yearly mammogram and it was bad, had to have a 2nd which was also bad, and then a biopsy which thank the goddess was good. 

So yeah, it's been a year. Actually that all happened in six months. So the PTSD from the gaslighting is BAD. I don't trust doctors when they say things like my biopsy is good. I have nightmares and flashbacks.

One hospital, that last one, wrote off my bill and admitted fault but didn't provide therapy.

What was done to me is criminal. No one should ever feel that alone. Dying and being laughed at on the other side of the curtain. But all I can do now is hope some good comes from it and my story helps save the next person.


Treatment:

10mg Hydrocortisone tid
cholestramine powder 4g daily
25mg Metroprolol 

Plus antihistamines for anxiety


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## Lovlkn (Dec 20, 2009)

Not the norm for most people Sorry you had such issues and incompetent doctors.

I never get the flu shot as I got the flu shorty after my last shot 15 years ago. 

I did however get the Moderna Covid shot and had no issues other than sore arm and fever and body aches for 24 hours.

Based on your post - I imagine you have opted not to get - I highly encourage getting it.


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## Bob_ZimmerWoman (Sep 14, 2021)

Lovlkn said:


> Not the norm for most people Sorry you had such issues and incompetent doctors.
> 
> I never get the flu shot as I got the flu shorty after my last shot 15 years ago.
> 
> ...


Thank you. I got the Johnson and Johnson Covid vaccine in March and had no issues. I'm terrified of the flu vaccine now, but I really think my body was already worn down and that's what allowed the reaction. I'd had surgery twice in 2019 and was still not 100% when I got the flu vaccine. Still, I'm so traumatized that my doctor agreed I should skip the flu shot this year. I don't think I'll get another one until I'm likely to die of the flu when I'm 90 or something. 

However, I've been doing a lot of research on this since it happened to me. It's kinda therapeutic. And I've discovered a handful of peer-reviewed literature about the flu and covid causing thyroiditis. 

It shouldn't stop anyone from getting vaccinated, but it should be something doctors are aware of in the ER. It actually seems more common with Covid vaccine but I haven't researched that very much.


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## cujet (Feb 6, 2015)

Wow, that is a heck of a story. I'm a pilot and about as cool and non anxious as one can get. I just don't care about anything that stresses others out and nothing much makes me nervous or anxious. I sleep like a baby, and life is good.

So when my thyroid started screwing up, along with other health problems, such as low blood sugar episodes and AFIB, imagine my surprise when I was "told" I have anxiety/depression and offered SSRI's. Sorry, but when my heart went into AFIB and I passed out, it was not from anxiety. It was from infection, hormone imbalance and fluid retention. Looking back, it was also related to low cortisol.

Over the last 30 years, I've learned that lab tests are fantastic tools for ME to interpret. Only I will look at the trends. I then bring my concerns to my doctor.

By the way, if you can afford it, get a good concierge doctor. They will spend more time with you, and the result will be better. It won't fix anything, but you will have more control over things you want to try. For example, I want to try T3 only for my thyroid replacement. He will allow it. Other docs just say no, which leads to endless searching for a doc that will say yes.

This is not the picture of a man with depression or anxiety. It's a picture of a guy who loves life and really understands tomorrow will likely be fantastic.


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