Faith
Faith was training to be a pharmacy assistant during the pandemic so she was offered her vaccination early.
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Afterwards, she started to feel hot and itchy and the pharmacist recommended anti-histamines. However two days later her arm was swollen, her breathing was laboured and she struggled to hold a pen.
When her whole body started to swell up so she went to A&E where staff later described her hands as looking like “blown up marigold gloves”.
Faith spent three days in hospital with a severe allergic reaction and her case was later written up as a case study by her Rheumatologist. However her reaction remains unexplained and the symptoms are still evolving.
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“I was young, I was healthy and I had no pre-existing conditions. If I hadn’t had the vaccine life would have been very different. It is very difficult to not resent it”
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She has been diagnosed with multiple auto-immune issues, and fibromyalgia. Her doctors have warned her that her conditions are permanent and she has a blue badge. She’s had to abandon her career as it was too physically demanding and now works in a shop. She worries what the future holds.
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“At the moment I can't even go to Bristol shopping because I'll feel so exhausted the next day. You question what is the quality of life for the next 50 years: if I can't do this when I'm 23 how am I going to do it when I'm 60 or 70?”
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Being so young, doctors are reluctant to prescribe the medications recommended to manage her conditions as they worry about the side effects. She feels strongly that she should be allowed to make an informed choice in order to live a fuller life now.
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“They wont prescribe me medication now due to the side effects which is ironic. But that means they wont treat my pain now due to the risk of a glaucoma when I’m 60 or 70, but what if I don't get there? I need a higher quality of life now!"
