A beauty queen hopeful has told of her freak reaction to a routine jab for teenage girls that is a proven life saver.
In rare cases, everyday treatments such as flu vaccines have made people ill.
And the anti-HPV inoculation to protect against deadly cervical and oral cancer might also have bad side-effects on some.
But few can have been as unlucky as Christy Cormack.
A Miss England semi-finalist, she was 14 when she had the recommended Gardasil vaccine.
Back then, she loved ballet and horse riding. But afterwards she struggled to walk and was passing out up to eight times a day.
Christy, 23, said: “The day after the jab I was unbelievably tired. I had a terrible headache and chest pain and couldn’t stay awake. Then I kept feeling numbness in my limbs, so Mum made a GP appointment.”
Before she got to see her doc, she had the second Gardasil shot and her symptoms worsened.
She recalled: “They listened to my heart then immediately referred me for an ECG.”
After the third shot, Christy collapsed at home.
She said: “Some days, my chest pains would get so bad, I’d think ‘This is it – I’m going to die.’ I lost count of my trips to A&E.”
A year later she was skeletal, having constant blackouts, breathing difficulties, loss of vision and digestive problems.
Christy said: “Every part of my body hurt. I’d lost sensation in my legs and found it hard to walk. I couldn’t go outside as I was hypersensitive to light and temperature.” She was prescribed beta blockers, which made her symptoms worse, and she spiralled into a depression.
“I hate to admit it but at times I did feel suicidal. Life was hell.”
The Gardasil vaccine was introduced in 2008. It guards against some cancers and is routinely offered to girls at school. It will soon be offered to boys aged 12 and 13.
Christy was eventually diagnosed with suspected postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, with means her heart rate increases with the slightest movement.
Aged 18, she was put on medication, which she still takes. Today she is studying for a degree in child development.
She said: “I’m not an anti-vaxxer, I just want people to research possible side-effects and check they are not allergic to any ingredients.
“For the last ten years, young women have been used as guinea pigs. I don’t know whether I’ll be able to have kids.
“So many girls have suffered worse damage than me. Many are confined to wheelchairs.”
Freda Birrell, who set up the UK Association of Vaccine Injured Daughters, said: “We have 536 families as members. Christy is one of many girls injured by the HPV vaccine.”
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