Heather Lane

First Dose of Moderna on 05/11/21 Lot #633c21a

California

Q: What was your life like before you got the vaccine?

I swim four days a week, walk about 3 miles a day. The week before the vaccine I did a 7 mile hike, 1500 ft elevation with no issues. I've had no medical issues other than the occasional cold etc. I had normal blood pressure as shown by dental records. Three blood pressure readings within a 6 month period prior to vaccine. I also took my BP at the pharmacy while waiting for the vaccine.

Q: What was your reaction, symptoms, & timeline?

May 13th I had chest pain. I went to urgent care and my BP was 136/86.

May 16 I had fatigue, chest pressure when laying down, racing heart, and palpitations. My BP was 145/82.

May 17 was my 2nd visit to urgent care.

Q: What is your life like now, after getting the vaccine?

I monitored my Blood Pressure for about two weeks after the Vaccine and slowly my BP started to return to Normal. For about a month after, I would be woken up several times in the night out of breath and my heart racing. If I tried any type of physical exertions I would get a pain in my chest and/or palpitations. It felt like in one week I had aged ten years. I would say it took about three months until I started feeling like myself again and have just recently started to go hiking. I did just have a dentist appointment and my resting pulse rate is still high 111 so I need to get that checked out.

Q: Share your experience with any medical care and any diagnoses you have received:

At my first urgent care visit I was shocked to see my Blood Pressure reading and I explained that it is not normal for me, but no one seemed to believe me. They said not to worry that it wasn't too high, but that I needed to follow up with a Primary to discuss lifestyle changes. Because of the chest pain they ran EKG and ran blood tests , but everything came back normal. I asked if they thought it was safe to get the 2nd dose and they said yes. A few days later I was feeling terrible and tried to make an appointment to come back to urgent care, but they told me not to come. They weren't concerned about my blood pressure or other symptoms. They said to avoid salty foods like potato chips (I don't even like potato chips). I ended up going to a different urgent care, but they said they couldn't order any tests and that I needed to follow up with a primary. I tried to make an appointment with a primary doctor. Ironically because I've been healthy I didn't have a primary and it's pretty much impossible to get an appointment as a new patient. The earliest was two months out. Feeling helpless I started researching what could be going on. I assumed it was probably myocarditis or pericarditis and it didn't seem like much could be done for treatment other than time. I started taking turmeric. So I have no diagnosis other than temporary hypertension. Because of the mandate I'm trying to get an appointment now, but the earliest I could get so far is March 2022.

Q: Was your reaction reported, and what was the response?

VAERS. I have not heard anything.

Q: Is there anything that has helped, and have your symptoms improved?

The majority of my symptoms started to fade after about a month and it took about 3 months to start to feel like my old self. Also when I was first having the chest pain I took baby aspirin and that seemed to help, but the urgent care Dr. told me to stop and that I was going to get an ulcer. I wish I hadn't stopped because now I've seen research from Israel that people with covid recovered more quickly if they were on aspirin so I assume that it would have a similar beneficial aspect towards the spike from the vaccine. I also took turmeric pills, but have no way of knowing whether or not it helped.

Q: What do you wish others knew?

I have heard of others in my social circle having similar heart issues, so I suspect that it is much more common than is being reported even in VAERS.

#WeWantToBeHeard #RealNotRare