This is a personal account of Camille’s Vaccine-related Story. Camille completed the Autoimmune Sisters vaccine-related story form and submitted with permission to share.
Camille’s Vaccine-related Story: From the first Covid-19 vaccine dose, my FitBit started recording an increase in resting heart rate… so subtle so I never noticed it until I ended up in the ER for tachycardia (130-140bom for 3 hrs) on May 19, 2021. No reactions from second dose though, but the damage has been done.
Meet Camille:
Name: Camille Koshi
Age: 35
Location: Kauai, HI
Occupation: Stay at home mom
Family/Children: I have such a supportive husband and we have our sweet 11 month old little boy
IG Handle: @camillekoshi
Autoimmune Diseases: Graves Disease – hyperthyroid (diagnosed in May 2021)
Chronic Viruses: Seborrheic dermatitis ever since I was young (more fungus-related than virus)
Physical Activity/Dietary/Lifestyle Preferences: Before diagnosis, about an equal amount of healthy foods and junk foods, always well hydrated, not too active, usually sleeps from 11pm-6:30am. This was all before the diagnosis and before working with a functional medicine doctor. Now a huge lifestyle change for the better in diet, sleep, supplements, breathing, exercise, etc.
Do you have any of the following COVID “high risk” factors? I have no COVID “high risk” factors
Are you under the care of a medical doctor?: Yes
What kind of doctor(s)/provider(s) do you work with? PCP, Endocrinologist, Functional medicine doctor
Did your doctor(s)/provider(s) advise you to get the vaccine? Yes.
What information or resources did you use to come to this conclusion on your own? I went to medical school for a few years before and vaccination is something I already believe in too even before doctors encouraged it
Health Related Questions:
Before receiving the vaccine, please describe your health along with any autoimmune, chronic or related illness symptoms you were experiencing.: I was pretty average, health-wise. Had annual physical exams every year and all normal. Have dental cleaning every 6 months and all good. Always had my multivitamins. Just before receiving the vaccine, I was 7 months postpartum with my first and only child… and I didn’t lose the pregnancy weight and was very overweight.
What kind of prescribed medications do you currently take?: Today, I am taking 25mg-50mg metoprolol to slow down my heart. I am refusing to take the methimazole for my thyroid for now, rather, am working with a functional medicine doctor to help strengthen my immune system instead. My doctor has me on different supplements and things to detox my body. I am also on the mini-pill until I get better and am allowed to start trying to get pregnant again.
What kind of vitamins/supplements do you currently take?: Probiotics, Avmacol, B-complex & Coq10 & Magnesium (because labs showed I am really deficient in these 3), Biocidin & GI detox (we found fungus in my system), and a methylation support
Was your autoimmune and any co-viruses in remission at the time you received your vaccine? No
Vaccine Related Questions:
Prior to receiving the vaccine, did you already have Covid-19?: No
Which vaccine did you receive?: Moderna
How many doses and when did you receive them?: April 21, 2021 (first dose) & May 27, 2021 (second dose)
Did you have any adverse reactions to the vaccine?: Yes
Describe your adverse reactions to the vaccine and reference which dose in your explanation. From the first dose, my FitBit started recording an increase in resting heart rate… so subtle so I never noticed it until I ended up in the ER for tachycardia (130-140bom for 3 hrs) on May 19, 2021. No reactions from second dose though, but the damage has been done.
Why do you regret getting the vaccine?
Not so much regretting the vaccine, but more regretting not taking care of my body better all these years and maybe regretting getting an mRNA vaccine. Pfizer and Moderna are mRNA vaccines and are the only ones I keep hearing pop up connected to thyroiditis after it. I try not to have regret because what’s done is done, but I had wondered before if things would’ve turned out differently if I got a Janssen or AztraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine instead.
How my functional medicine doctor explained it all to me was that my immune system was already whacked up before I got the vaccine. I had:
- 3 generations of autoimmune thyroid diseases in my family
- A leaky gut (& apparently fungi in it)
- Not the healthiest eater (sugar and gluten and dairy all day!)
- Over-stressing myself over looking for a job
- My hormones are still whacked up from pregnancy a few months before
- Really overweight, almost obese
- Weak immune system that wasn’t able to deal with the toxin load of the vaccine, which was the tipping point in my body to trigger the autoimmune gene that I had.
Does this experience change the way you perceive vaccines?
No, I still believe they have helped humanity eradicate diseases or at least lessen their effect or chance of death or mutation. And seeing the charts now of how so so much more unvaccinated people die of covid than the vaccinated, gives me a little more peace that I did what makes sense in my head and is right for my body and my family. I do wish the medical world was more up front about what may happen after taking the vaccine, and that they’d acknowledge the different cases like ours where there seemed to be quite a correlation between the vaccine triggering autoimmune in people who have weak immune systems like mine. Not just dismiss it completely as many do, although I also understand that they are trying to get to herd immunity and trying to not let others get even more discouraged from being vaccinated.
Since having the vaccine, have you been tested for Covid-19 antibodies? No
Additional Notes: I did become a close contact to someone who was diagnosed positive with covid in July 2021. I had myself tested on day 4 and day 6 since exposure and both tests came out negative. Not sure if that’s the same thing.
Interested in Sharing Your Autoimmune Sister Story?
Now that you’ve read Camille’s Vaccine-related story, if you are interested in sharing your autoimmune story keep reading. Sharing your story is the very core of what we believe in at Autoimmune Sisters. We believe in bio-individuality; that every woman is uniquely designed and therefore there is not a one-size-fits-all solution.
In addition to sharing your autoimmune story, we are now accepting submissions for those of you interested in sharing your story and how it relates to the Covid-19 vaccine. Keep reading to learn more!
Leave a Comment