I haI think this is a difficult topic. Many are ignoring that it is happening. Others feel defensive about talking about it.

We’d chatted on the phone before making the appointment and Louise* had told me that she’d been a well, happy, busy mum prior to having her Covid vaccine booster which she’d had a bad reaction to. We first met in August 2023.
 
*Name changed for privacy.
 
I think this is a difficult topic. Many are ignoring that it is happening. Others feel defensive about talking about it. I’m not interested in entering into a debate on the topic and 3 years in from it all beginning I recognise that the virus isn’t a joyful one, and at times the effects from the preventative measures can be challenging too.
 
The MHRA states: ‘All vaccines and medicines have some side effects although not everybody gets them. These side effects need to be continuously balanced against the expected benefits in preventing illness.’
 
This is the case of one individual and her experience of using homeopathy to help with the side effects she experienced.
 
Case shared with full permission.
 
Louise’s intake form read:
 
‘In November 2021 I had the covid vaccine booster, within three hours I started to have stroke symptoms. Then my gait changed, I was unable to pick up my left leg (dragged) and my right leg was turned in. I used walking backwards and grounding eventually which helped. My legs can often stop working, I have absence episodes, brain fog, tics and what appear to be functional seizures. I have pain and sensations in my arms and legs, struggle hugely to travel and can feel really funny headed, not dizzy but not well.’
 
In terms of what she’d already tried she said:
 
‘The things listed are what I have tried and seem to have helped, EFT, yoga, meditations, deep heat cream, hot showers, heated bags, lip trills, cold water on my face daily, regulating breathing, had hypnotherapy, resetting myself, pacing, being kind to myself, reducing pressure and expectations I have. Managing sensory sensitivities that were identified including ear plugs etc
Had few sessions of physio and have been asked to be referred back.’
 
And in terms of what effects it has on her lifestyle:
 
‘I can no longer drive, travelling is really hard, walking is difficult or the aftermath from it so getting out is hard in fact pretty much everything is impacted, quality of life affected, can’t be the Mum I was, feel I have lost myself through it and also lost my joy. Every aspect of my life has changed I generally just feel pretty unwell a lot of the time.’
 
We met by Zoom, being easier for her as travel was an issue. I worked online (mostly Skype back in the day) pre 2020, but took everything online when Covid hit. Still now people locally may choose to consult online, saving them travel time or costs. Others are more than happy for a return to in person living and travel to see me.
 
We discussed Louise’s current symptoms and she was kind enough to send me a video to show what it could be like for her. It made difficult viewing and she asked for it to be deleted after I’d seen it, which of course I did. Often seeing symptoms gives another insight into them as well as hearing about them so it can be helpful to do. We talked about who she was before this had happened and lots more. I went away and worked on her case to confirm what I’d thought in our consultation.
 
Where I can I like to feedback about my thoughts on why I’m giving a remedy. It enables the client to tell me I’ve not understood them at all, or confirm/clarify my thinking. I’d been wanting to give her a commonly used remedy in homeopathy and when I went away I checked that I was really happy with my selection. I gave a 30c potency of the remedy to take twice then to repeat in 2 weeks. We amended the repetition of dose over the month via email conversations.
 
We met a month later. We had communicated by email over the month, describing improvements and at times setbacks.  She reported to me that her symptoms had changed. After taking the first two remedies, travelling felt better than it had for the last 2 years. Then the symptoms had worsened again, and she realised that she had covid for the first time which made things worse again – she felt wiped out.
 
However, I was encouraged to hear her say ‘I feel like when I have the remedy my head feels clearer. I’m seeing glimmers of myself.’
 
Before we’d met it could take 50 minutes to get downstairs because her legs wouldn’t work, she might end up with tics or even seizures in the process; now? ‘I just walk down the stairs’. She was still having tics, but apart from a couple during the covid period, she wasn’t having seizures anymore. She definitely felt as if it was helping, and described feeling as if her nervous system was calming down. 2 weekends ago she went swimming 2 days in a row, which meant taking 2 buses each way. She told me that before starting the remedies, she couldn’t have imagined doing that.
 
The tics before, rating them out of 10 she said would have been an 8 or 9/10. Now? Probably at least half reduced, if not more. Travelling on a bus could be challenging, and whilst recently on getting off she felt as if the episodes were coming on, they didn’t. She described feeling more present.
 
When we first met she would be waking with a seizure most days and preceding that there would be a strange taste in her mouth. Now she was getting the taste but no seizures. Hooray!
 
It was also wonderful to hear that she had felt joy over the last month. She’d noted being more playful and that her head was feeling better in general.

Others had noted changes too, and someone close to her told her that after the initial two doses it was like having her back in that moment.
 
She said she felt finally in the here and now. I have a wonderful teacher who talks about how a well matched remedy can bring us from the ‘there and then’ into the ‘here and now’. It was delightful to hear this was the case here. And now. She had had some flashbacks, but was aware of a lot of old stress held in her body and was dealing with this using yoga, TRE® (Tension & Trauma Releasing Exercises) or and other somatic work.
 
Louise told me: ‘On reflection I do feel a lot better. I have hope – things are different sat here. I want to continue with this. It’s been a hard two years, but working with homeopathy has been transformative.’
 
Side effects are being reported via the Yellow Card scheme that MHRA operates. The client here was told several times by medical doctors that her condition was caused by the Covid shots, but was never advised to report them. Official estimates are that only around 10% of serious side effects are reported.
 
From the Medicines Healthcare Regulatory Authority website: ‘It is estimated that only 10% of serious reactions and between 2 and 4% of non-serious reactions are reported. Under-reporting coupled with a decline in reporting makes it especially important to report all suspicions of adverse drug reactions to the Yellow Card Scheme.’
 
And elsewhere on their site:
 
As of 22 February 2023, for the UK, 4,096 Yellow Cards have been reported for the bivalent COVID-19 Vaccine Pfizer/BioNTech, 5,108 for the bivalent COVID-19 Vaccine Moderna, 57 for the COVID-19 Vaccine Novavax and 2,319 have been reported where the brand of the vaccine was not specified (please note this may also include vaccines which were used in the primary and initial booster campaign where the brand was not reported).
 
For all COVID-19 vaccines, the overwhelming majority of reports relate to injection-site reactions (sore arm for example) and generalised symptoms such as ‘flu-like’ illness, headache, chills, fatigue (tiredness), nausea (feeling sick), fever, dizziness, weakness, aching muscles, and rapid heartbeat. Generally, these happen shortly after the vaccination and are not associated with more serious or lasting illness.
 
Most people clearly do not have a response like Louise did. However statistics aside, more importantly to me is that some people are suffering, like the case I share here. And sometimes, something may help.
 
I’m hopeful of a good recovery for Louise on the horizon. 
 
I’ll let the last words be hers: ‘'Em listened intently, asked questions with curiosity, really heard what I was saying and from this suggested the remedy that I've come to see as magic - a magic that I don't question, I go with it, I accept, appreciate, value and I am grateful for it for it because of what it is - it is life changing.'’
 
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-vaccine-adverse-reactions/coronavirus-vaccine-summary-of-yellow-card-reporting
 
https://www.gov.uk/drug-safety-update/yellow-card-please-help-to-reverse-the-decline-in-reporting-of-suspected-adverse-drug-reactions

People are fighting for those who have experienced challenges like this in Parliament and in Courts in the UK. There are some MPs speaking out for people who are struggling. There are Drs talking about the challenges, and others exploring issues but I'm not hearing about much that's changing. People like Louise did what they were told, what they were told was the right thing for themselves and those around them, but now?

https://www.bmj.com/content/383/bmj.p2582

https://parallelparliament.co.uk/mp/andrew-bridgen/debate/2022-10-24/commons/westminster-hall/covid-19-vaccines-safety

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/11/08/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-astrazeneca-vaccine/

https://www.parallelparliament.co.uk/mp/esther-mcvey/debate/2023-10-20/commons/commons-chamber/covid-19-vaccine-damage-payments-bill

https://www.bmj.com/content/377/bmj.o1565

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-61898694