First Dose of Moderna on 04/21/21 Lot #039B21A
Second Dose of Moderna on 05/21/21 Lot #004C21A
Spokane, Washington
45 yrs old
"I don't take serious pictures" - said Michelle Marcoccia, whose fun-loving and joyful personality shines through her photos.
Q: What was your life like before you got the vaccine?
I was an active nanny who loved to hike, bike, and camp.
Q: Would you like to share your reasons for getting vaccinated?
I work with children and infants. The woman I was nannying for at the time is a doctor, and she basically convinced me that getting the shot would be beneficial to my career with infants. She said it was safe. She and her husband had gotten the shot, and they were fine. She gave me info to read, and I just thought I was doing what I could to protect the kiddos!
Q: What was your reaction, symptoms, & timeline?
April 21, 2021: First shot. Side effects seemed minimal, just some arm pain and a headache, malaise, feeling tired.
April 23 - 30: I got my regularly scheduled period. I was expecting my period, so that wasn’t the issue. The issue was intense menstrual pain I have never felt before in my life….and then there was the bleeding. Things were coming out of me I had never seen before. I definitely have a history of one small fibroid that could cause extra bleeding, but I was used to that. This was very, very different.
May 1 - May 21: I was bleeding this entire time. Some days were light, some days were not. The pain was intense at times.
May 21, 2021: Second shot. I don’t know if the nurse screwed up, but my arm hurt so much more than it did for the first shot. I felt more flu like than I did with the first shot and spent a few days just resting. I was still bleeding at this point.
May 25 - End of June: Still bleeding daily. At this point, I had purchased some period underpants and wouldn’t go anywhere without pads, underwear and extra pants, because now my entire cycle was unpredictable.
At the end of June, I told my primary doc about the never ending bleeding, and how I felt it was vax related. She said it could be that. She too had some issues, but they passed. She said my issues would likely pass, so I just chalked it up to the articles I was reading about women having menstrual issues after vaccination.
July - September: Again, I am bleeding almost daily. It just kept getting weirder and weirder with the kind of blood and other things coming out. I started documenting more photos of these things, and writing down every day what my uterus was doing. I contacted my doc again in October, and she still said it was fine.
November 2021: I basically had an entire month of heavy bleeding. I was no longer doing anything I liked doing outside or anywhere really, except going to work and constantly having to use the bathroom.
I contacted my doctor again and asked for a GYN referral.
Dec - Jan: Still bleeding.
Feb: Still bleeding. I went to the referred GYN who was an awful human being, who didn’t care about my notes, my photos, and my story. I did get a scan from her, and then switched docs again.
March 15: I met a new doctor who went over my ultrasounds with me. I have two infant head-sized cysts. Somehow, they grew in this past year to such a large size, I will be soon having surgery to remove my right ovary and my entire uterus.
Q: What is your life like now, after getting the vaccine?
I am still able to work, but I have to be near a bathroom. I have to still carry pads, underpants, and extra clothes with me wherever I go. I don’t hike anymore. I haven’t been camping at all, and no biking. I am sad more often, and I was very afraid of what was happening before I met this new doctor.
Q: Share your experience with any medical care and any diagnoses you have received:
My primary doc told me twice in the span of 6-7 months that I was fine, and nothing was happening to me that wasn’t happening to many other women who received the vaccine.
The first GYN told me that the vaccine had zero to do with what was going on, and she said I was just stressed out and anxious. She wanted to just put me on birth control. I said no, because I had never taken birth control in my life. She didn’t care, saying that we HAD to do these treatments to see if they worked. I got the ultrasound referral from her though. I had that done, and then I went to a new GYN this past week. I love this woman. She listened to me, and she understood where I was coming from. Most of all, she believed that the vaccine had a part in what has occurred in my uterus and ovaries.
The scans I had a couple years ago show one tiny cyst that was POINT 6 CM. That cyst now is 11 CM, hence the need for surgery before that one bursts. The other cyst is in the center of my uterus and is just as large as the one in my ovary. I am hoping that the surgery will remove the issues, so that I can be free again to do the things I like to do.
Q: Was your reaction reported, and what was the response?
In June of last year, a woman posted a survey online for women, regarding the vaccines and their periods. I received a follow up in the fall from this team out of the University of Illinois. Since then, nothing. I told my doctors, but I have not reported to anything like VAERS, because it seems like they don’t care. I wrote detailed messages every time I got that stupid vax check-in, week after week, and I never heard from anyone (to be fair, as time went on I got increasingly frustrated and would type my messages in all caps).
Q: Is there anything that has helped, and have your symptoms improved?
CBD and THC
Soy-based foods (weird!)
I think removing my lady bits will improve a lot of these things!
Q: Have you had Covid before? What was your experience if so?
I have never tested positive for covid. I had close contact with someone who tested positive for Alpha, and I had very close contact watching two children who ended up testing positive for Delta. I never once was positive. I have never taken flu shots or any other shots for that matter, besides the tetanus and whooping cough ones, because I work with infants.
Q: What do you wish others knew?
I wish I had googled "vaccine and periods" before I took the vaccine. I will never get another corona shot, and I hope to see more data on women and their reproductive and immune systems after this vaccine. My heart goes out to everyone here, as I read these stories.
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