Basic Stuff
- Name: Kitty
- Country: United States
- State: Rhode Island
- City: East Greenwich
- Gender: Female
- Age: 64
- Education: Masters Degree
- Primary Illness: Other
- Diagnosis:
- Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS)
- Fibromyalgia (FM)
- Irritable bowel syndrome
- Epstein Barr
- Year Illness Began: 2021
Functioning Interrupted
Work Interrupted
- Former Occupation: Women’s Boutique/Therapist
- Job Responsibilities at Former Occupation:
Running a women’s boutique store, which includes a lot of lifting being on your feet all day, remembering orders, and a lot of interaction with people which is also what I do in therapy practice but it’s a little easier because I don’t stand and I am dealing with one person at a time
- Current Occupation: Business owner/therapist
- Current Job Responsibilities:
Same as above
- Years of Work Lost: 1
- Current Work Status: Still working
Income Interrupted
- Yearly Income Before Becoming Ill:
$50,000
- Current Yearly Income:
$35,000
-
Minimum Current Annual Income Loss:
$21,538
- Total Projected Economic Losses For Years Not Worked:
$56,538
Other Interruptions
- I reduced my work hours
- I believe this illness contributed significantly to a divorce or loss of an important relationship
Most Impactful Loss
Well, maybe the relationship wasn’t worth investing in, but I did lose a friendship or two because I was not able to be present for them.
My Story
So I went from taking kickboxing, and working to one day, noticing I could barely do a push-up. This happened not long after receiving the Covid booster in January 2021. Of course I pass it off for many other reasons, until I finally have my physical that following August, and by that time my symptoms had exacerbated it. After many blood test it was discovered that my Epstein-Barr level was in the 600s and I was told there was nothing that could be done to treat it so I went to a functional medicine doctor for a while, and received IV cocktail infusions, which were really helpful, but they don’t last, and I ran out of money to be able to afford it and at this time I was paying people to run my store, which was costing me even more money. Additionally, I started going regularly to sauna(which really helps) spending all this money put me into a downward spiral financially, which I am still trying to crawl out of.
I have been able to function better even though my numbers have not improved probably with the help of all the supplements I am taking , trying to watch what I eat, in addition to infrared light therapy.
Well, this is somewhat limited my ability to get things done the way I used to. I am trying to learn how to live within the confines of chronic pain and brain fog.
I regret, listening to my wiser self about vaccinations and me, but I was trying to do the right thing at the time and being a nurse I wanted to believe. I would never been able to work in my full time nursing job feeling the way I do now . I had left just prior to getting the booster in May of 2020 because of stress having worked through Covid and being short staffed the entire time I was already physically and mentally challenged.
I appreciate all who are trying to help people with this and working as a nurse. I heard many opinions about fibromyalgia/CFS etc. and know how these patients are treated.
Thanks so much for your story, Kitty for a couple of reasons – you’re the first one to go from kick-boxing to sitting! You must have been quite athletic to engage in kick-boxing. You’re also the first I believe, to post a post-vaccination story! It was interesting and helpful to see that it reactivated your EBV. Lastly, it’s ALWAYS so good to hear from people in the medical profession.
It was good to hear that sauna helped – as it has helped in the past – was it infrared or the older kind?
Thank you for sharing. I hope you are feeling better soon My mom who is a retired nurse started experiencing tachycardia after her booster and was calling 911 twice a month from September to December last year. She was 81 then. Thank God she now only has mild symptoms and has controlled her tachycardia through medication. My sister as a nurse has to get the boosters to keep her job and now has tachycardia with heart palpitations and is so weak she can hardly do anything. She is severely anemic needs a blood transfusion but lost her insurance because she cannot work the hours she needs to as a traveling nurse due to her illness. Quite a catch 22. What can she and others do to get exempt from these boosters? My mom did not want to admit they were causing her symptoms at first. I was always against all of it.