Hi Sandy,

I never got your message asking for personal stories, but I would be more than happy to share mine.

I was 39 and working as a nursing assistant when I was told that I needed the hep B vaccine as a precaution for my job since I sometimes came into contact with blood on the job. But of course we were told absolutely nothing about the vaccine at the time, so I had it. The first dose on 4/6/92, second dose on 5/6/92, and the third dose on 10/5/92. Later in the week I was scheduled to work 3 doubles (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) which I did every other week. So Friday I got up and began to get ready for work. Since it was getting cold outside I was going to take a hot shower to warm up before going out, as was my custom when the weather began to get cold. But this time I had a strange experience that I had never had before, when I attempted to get into the hot shower. Suddenly everything got black, I began to get dizzy and felt as though I were going to pass out. I jumped out of the shower till the spell passed, then cooled the water down and got back in and took my shower with no further problems. The only person I told of that reaction was my fiance who I lived with, because I thought if I told my doctor he would laugh me out of his office. I never realized it was a heat sensitivity symptom. Had I realized that I may have figured what was going on, since some of the residents I cared for had MS.

I was NEVER sick! Never got the flu, never got a cold, just was never sick for the next almost 5 years. (And I worked in a nursing home, none the less!) But in late 96 I began to have dizzy spells, and when I went to the doctor, he diagnosed me as having a middle ear infection, even though his Physician’s Assistant saw NOTHING when she examined me. This happened a number of times, but the last time it happened was while I was at work. I went to the medical center and was given Antivert, with no noticeable difference. But they did give me a doctor’s excuse for the next three days.

I was SO sick, and my physical condition began to get worse and worse till I began to experience double vision, which of course I would not admit. At this point my fiance insisted on taking me to the hospital, which was an hour away. By the time we got there and parked in the emergency parking, it took me at least 10 minutes to walk the 30 or 40 yards to the ER. I told them in the ER that I thought maybe I had a stroke, because nothing else made any sense to me. I was admitted for testing, and ultimately spent 6 weeks in there. Finally after a CAT scan, an MRI, lumbar puncture, and evoked potentials, I remember the neuro who saw me saying “You’re a little old for this, but you have MS”. Funny most of my symptoms were leftsided, the same side as I had the vaccine!

It wasn’t till we got internet access and I just happened to look up MS in search, that it finally dawned on me what had happened. The first thing that came up in search was the hep B vaccine! Then it all made sense! The first symptoms I had were heat related! I had never heard of that type of reaction to a vaccine, but since then have had many occasions to talk to those who have been injured permanently by vaccines, some who also have MS as I do thanks to the hep B vaccine. I now know it isn’t as farfetched as what I thought it was. Seems the more I look into the vaccine issue, the more I find out! And I don’t like what I find out a bit!

Sue