Posted on 10/15/2009 10:12:05 AM PDT by BGHater
ASHBURN, Va. -- Desiree Jennings thought it would be a good idea to get the seasonal flu shot. Her job offered incentives for it, and she didn't want to get sick.
Ten days after she got the shot at a Reston Safeway, she did get sick.
"I got flu-like symptoms -- nausea, vomiting, body aches, fever -- then was lethargic for a week and started blacking out," said Jennings, an AOL employee and Washington Redskins ambassador hoping to one day be a cheerleader for the team, the Loudoun Times-Mirror reported.
Doctors couldn't figure out why her ability to speak and walk were so adversely affected. She saw neurologists, physical therapists and psychologists.
"I was hoping for Lyme, praying for lupus, even Graves' disease," she said. "Unfortunately they were all ruled out."
Finally, doctors at Johns Hopkins figured it out, diagnosing dystonia, a rare neurological condition with no cure brought on by infections, brain trauma or, as is believed in her case, reaction to medication. It causes body jerks and abnormal or repetitive movements.
"A simple conversation with two people -- you and I could converse on the couch, and if the phone were to ring it would send her into a violent convulsion," said her husband, Brendan Jennings.
Strangely enough -- as she can't walk forward five feet without stumbling -- with some effort, she can perform one of her life's passions: running. And she walks backward with ease -- oddly empowering, now. After her ordeal began, "My insurance wasn't going to pay for another hospital visit. Matter of fact, they called us as we were driving to Johns Hopkins not to offer a specialist but instead to offer a hospital bed and a wheelchair for our house. I told them I wanted to know what was happening to me and that I didn't want to be in a wheelchair."
Her reaction is one in a million, doctors said.
"I would've much rather won the lottery and bought that ticket instead of gotten the flu shot if I knew that risk existed," she said.
Prayers for her.
Just a fluke ? I don’t trust this vaccine for some reason and refuse to take it. I am voicing my concern to my family and friends(even the young liberal ones)
Remember that this was the seasonal flu shot, not the H1N1. I have never gotten a flu shot and never will, let alone the swine flu shot.
My uncle got a swine flu shot in late 1970s. Shortly after, he became partially paralyzed and had to use a cane to walk until his death 30 years later. I will not be taking a flu shot.
My mother has had dystonia for 23 years and it has been hell. Nobody can figure out how she got it, she just had DBS in July. Usually when younger folks get dystonia it shows up when they in elementary school. It could have been the shot.
So they say, I for one will not get one.
Yeah, right.
Most victims don’t come to the public’s attention and the one that does is just a fluke, you see. All these kids with autism are suffering this condition for some reason that is common to them all.
Caused by the shot? Who knows.......
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