Thursday, February 24, 2011

Gardasil - Friend or Foe? Read this story before you decide.


My name is KarlyAnn! I am one of thousands of girls who have fallen as a victim to the vaccination: Gardasil. This, as well as any other drug has adverse side effects, only with a much more devastating outcome. The symptoms are basically any neurological problems you can think of! Now, the reason for this vaccine is to help prevent Girls from getting Cervical Cancer; which, actually has several strands- and Gardasil can only prevent one of them, the one that is caused by an STD known as HPV (the Human Papiloma Virus). If I would have known this, I would have had no chance of getting cancer- I’m not sexually active! Along with many girls, my doctor strongly suggested I get it. So I did! Bad idea! I am now suffering the effects along with thousands of others in my same position. Unfortunately, some have already passed away. I wouldn’t have ever thought my sickness would have originated from a series of shots, but a friend, Tracey, saw me my flaring symptoms and talked to us about how her best friend’s niece had died from similar symptoms. She was one of the many victims who have passed away from the Gardasil vaccination. After our conversation, my parents and I started researching the different adverse reactions girls all around the world are having from Gardasil. It made us sick! The hardest part of reading the stories, was to know the pain and suffering was being caused a by a pharmaceutical company, Merck. It was so strange, all the stories were the exact same. Almost copied. I could have written all those myself. It’s amazing how everyone’s symptoms are identical, and how their diagnoses are the same- a Conversion Disorder or Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. And yet, researching those, we saw that all cases are different, not one case is the same. We are all being told we are mentally ill to cover up the damage being done by this horrible vaccine. 


In January of 2008, I got the first shot. Soon after, I started getting flu type symptoms: ie. Diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, extreme fatigue, and horrible stomach pains and horrid head aches. Some stronger symptoms I had, which were new to me, were sudden loss of consciousness, and extreme irritability (though my sister says I‘ve always been irritable!). I had an Ultrasound to check my abdomen and pelvic areas of the body because of the severe pain I was suffering, everything came back completely normal. I was getting so sick, I had to leave for work early almost on a daily basis, if I even made it to work at all. Luckily, my boss was very understanding.

In April of 2008, I got the second shot and I started having seizures. Thank goodness only starring episodes, and not full on convulsions. Unfortunately though, most the girls do end up having convulsions. But, this is when the neurological symptoms began: ie. Seizure activity, blurry vision, loss of vision, double vision, loss of balance, hallucinations, heat and light sensitivity, left arm going numb and feeling tingly, and severe chest and stomach pains- along with really bad head and back aches. Now, I am luckier than most. Some girls started getting the neurological symptoms after the first shot, not second. Working at this point was almost impossible. I was constantly sick! I moved out of my apartment and back in with my parents for help and support. My parents have been truly amazing through all of this!!!  Shortly after, my pains grew worse, and I went in for more Ultrasounds and blood work, and sure enough- nothing was found.

In June of 2008, I was so sick I called my cousin, Katie, to help me. My eyes were blurry, my head was racing, I was having hallucination after hallucination, I was un-responsive for quite a while, and my body kept twitching all over. Katie called 911, and they told her over the phone it sounds like an over-dose. Before they even arrived to my house, they had their mind made up, and nothing could change that. However, when the blood work was run, there were no drugs in my system. Go figure! While in the ER, my heart would not stop racing. They found SVT (an irregular heart arrhythmia) and they couldn’t slow my pace down, so they hospitalized me. I had several tests run during my 4 days there in Room #311. Some of the tests were: Hidascans, CT scans, MRIs, EEGs, and blood tests. Once again, nothing was found except the SVT. My general practitioner kept telling my mom that I am extremely sick but he doesn’t know why.

In October of 2008, I had my third shot. At this point in time, I had no clue the Gardasil series was behind all my sickness. Within a couple days, I was back in for an MRI and C-spine exam, along with more blood tests. And of course, nothing. I started feeling worse and worse as the weeks went on. I seemed normal for the most part, but I had days that I just felt I couldn’t even get out of bed. I constantly had headaches and stomach cramps, and I just sort of got used to it. I had no energy, which made it really hard to really do much of anything.

In December of 2008, the real concerns began. I love to sing and dance! That’s it! That’s what I live for! I was in a performing group called “Inspiration” an  LDS Institute of Religion Show Choir. We were doing our Christmas concert, and I collapsed and had a seizure right on stage. That was honestly the most embarrassing moment of my entire life. It was bad enough that people knew about my condition, but then it was something entirely new to feel like everyone was starring at me! I was unconscious for a little while. I was carried off the stage by my dad and my good friend, Nick. This was the first time my body had visible twitching, I’d felt it many times before, but it was all interior. My face had muscle spasms for 4 hours. The vision was off and on, I couldn’t carry a conversation, my speech was slurred and mumbled, I was miserable! There are things I don’t remember though- so my parents have filled the gaps of my memory. They were even ready to take me to the ER, but the hospital said there was no Neurologist on site and it wouldn’t do any good. So, we waited it out. I have had bad memory loss and a hard time staying focused ever since.
In February of 2009, I was diagnosed with Severe Hypoglycemia, almost Diabetic. Now I have to check my blood several times a day to be sure I am with in the correct limits. It should be in the 90’s, but I am all over the board. I have had as low as 24 (coma level) and as high as 391 (Diabetic level). This, for the most part, explains the problems with my random cravings, my extreme fatigue, and my moodiness. Though, there were still problems we couldn’t find answers to. At this point, I was a regular at the doctors office. Everyone there knows me by name, in fact we are great friends now!

In April of 2009, is when I had the worst problem of all. This is extremely personal, but in order to help other girls like me, I’m willing to admit it. I lost control of my bladder and bowels. I would pee and poo my pants with no control what so ever. No warning, just suddenly it would happen, and I would start to bawl. I am 22 years old. I should not have to have these problems!! Thank goodness it doesn’t happen often. It has only happened a few times. Over the next few months, I was constantly sick. Same old, same old. I was sleeping as much as 17 hours a day.

In June of 2009, everything escalated horribly! I woke up one morning, went to go to the bathroom and fell hard to the floor. I had no use of my legs what so ever! I was paralyzed. I started hysterically screaming, like you could not even imagine!! My mom was out of town, and so dad came in, held me for a bit, and then dragged me into the living room and put me on the couch. I was in tears for ever it seemed! The days were long from then on. I went into the doctors office, again! He sent me up to the University of Utah research hospital. I was diagnosed with a Conversion Disorder. I actually died on the way there… I came back after few minutes, though I was still completely out of it. I’m not sure what happened, I really don’t remember all that much to be honest. I just remember all my pain going away, every ounce! Even my emotions were at ease. It was the most peaceful I have ever felt in the history of my lifetime!! Then when I came back, all the pain came back. My mom was hysterical and screaming, and it was a very hard day! No- it was a very hard month!

In July of 2009, I was in a wheelchair with no speech. I could talk, but it wasn’t understandable in the least. Luckily my visiting teacher was a speech pathologist, so that helped immensely! I was bedridden for the most part, sleeping constantly and maybe be awake for 4 hours, if that. I was in coma like state repeatedly! I couldn’t even blink. I had no control over my body what so ever. I could think and hear, but I couldn’t do anything with my body. My brain just wasn’t functioning. I even started retaining water, I had random sacks of gush. My back had boobs bigger than my front! Closer to the end of the month, I started gagging all the time, as if I had to throw up, but nothing would come out. I mean sometimes I would actually vomit, but most the time I was just gagging and choking.

In August of 2009, my parents decided to take me to the Mayo Clinic. My mom and I went, along with my sister and niece. I spent a grueling week going through out-patient testing for hours and hours a day. Several of them were painful, painful exams! They decided after that week to admit me into the hospital as an in-patient. I got to know Room #503 very well! After a few days, and no new news, I was ready to go home and fight it on my own. I signed the necessary papers and checked myself out, despite the doctors wishes. The only thing we found out, with all this testing, was that my ANA count was at a 2.3- which is a red-flag for Lupus. Which, ironically, I have been being tested for from the beginning of the sickness. It can take many years to diagnose, and at least now the levels have elevated.  After coming home, my dad talked to a friend who owns an herbal remedy store, and asked if there was anything we might try. He suggested an herbal blood cleansing “DeTox”. It takes the bad toxins out of the blood, which would be a great idea considering the ingredients in Gardasil. It is full of Aluminum, Mercury, Sodium Borate* aka: Roach Killer, and many more damaging ingredients. Dad said we have nothing to lose, so lets give it a try! And we did. The first 3 days kicked my butt!! I was sicker than a dog! I was throwing up and having diarrhea like crazy!!!! (Thank goodness I could control my bowels at this point in time!) It was then I understood what it means by “flushing it from your system” Yikes! But after the first 3 days, I felt great, and a little closer to normal! These herbs were the answer I needed. If you want more information about them, contact Kevin at “www.grandmasherbs.com

It is now almost Christmas 2009, and though I have improved immensely, I know the Gardasil journey isn’t over! I know I will have episodes off and on, but at least it isn’t 24/7 like it was before. I’m grateful for the cooler weather so I can go outside again! I couldn’t go in the heat because it would throw me into a relapse within minutes. I hope this helps you other girls that are suffering! It’s hard to talk about, I know! My parents are practically forcing me to even do this much. However, it’s been really nice being able to talk with those who understand, especially my new really great friend, Kristin! Let’s pray we can get this vaccination off the market somehow, so we can protect innocent and healthy girls in the future! It is also helpful to know that there is help, answers and hope through the wonder of herbs!

Karly Lowe (Utah)

3 comments:

  1. What an incredible story I am so glad that you have found something so amazing and helpful.

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  2. Here are the facts on Gardasil:

    http://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/vaccines/hpv/gardasil.html

    I had the vaccination and I'm glad I did. I feel bad that KarlyAnn has experienced such awful side effects. I hope she continues to feel better.

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  3. Thank you for your story Karly, you are an amazing young women and help many of us mom's make informed choices for our children by sharing your story!

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