A Deeper Understanding: My Vaccine Story

I received the Janssen, Johnson & Johnson vaccine at a local pharmacy on April 11, 2021.  The pharmacist took good care of me.  I experienced achy neck and shoulders, and fatigue for about five days.  I also experienced a flare in eczema.  I tripled my Quercetin from 1 to 3, and doubled my NAC from 1 to 2.  These two nutraceuticals have also been useful for all of my patients, post vaccine.

In mid-January, I was mildly sick.  It started with a headache that gradually increased throughout the day.  By the end of the day my ears were throbbing.  The next day I had two Covid tests and rescheduled my patients so I could isolate.  The results from both tests were negative.  Five days later I repeated the PCR test. Negative.  Meanwhile, all four of the Covid-19 points had been weak (via muscle test) since the day of the headache.  I only had the slightest increase in body temperature for half a day and it could not even qualify as a fever.  I was a little fatigued and my breathing was slightly congested.  I did however immediately begin my Active Covid Functional Medicine protocol. (If you want to know more, please contact me.)  Within 2.5 weeks all of my Covid points tested strong and I felt safe to return to work.  I did however begin to experience tinnitus, which never subsided.  I have heard anecdotal stories about people who received the vaccine and had their Long Covid symptoms cured.  That was not the case for me and the tinnitus squeals continuously in my brain as I write this.  It is predicted that millions will suffer with post-Covid tinnitus.  I do not consider myself to have Long Covid, however if I had a mutated form of the virus, undetected by the PCR molecular test (70% accuracy), then that could explain the tinnitus.

I thought I would explain a little bit about how the immune system functions.  This is so people who are hesitant about the vaccine can make an informed decision.  If you have already decided, feel free to skip ahead to the ugly truths or read on for more of my story.

What follows is a simplified/big concept model of the immune system. There are many more moving parts which I am leaving out.  On one side we have TH1 (Thymic Helper-1), also called innate or cellular immunity.  This mainly consists of white blood cells that sense and attack aberrant cells and infected cells.  The WBCs engulf damaged cells and then present identifying viral protein codes to TH2 lymphocytes (a small WBC).

The other side, TH2, is also called acquired or humoral immunity.  If you tend to be allergic, you have higher histamine which drives up TH2.  These smaller WBCs make antibodies against viruses and vaccines.  These vaccines deliver a nonvirulent (slightly flawed) protein copy of a portion of the virus for which it is designed to mimic.  When the TH2 WBCs ‘see’ the protein codes of the fake virus fragment, they get busy making antibodies to neutralize what looks like an attacking virus.  These antibodies and Memory T Cells then automatically defend us should we encounter the live virus.

I am a TH2 dominant person and for the first half of my life I suffered from hay fever allergies, eczema and asthma. (No longer, thanks to Functional Medicine.)  For this reason, I tend to shy away from vaccines because they push the immune system over to the TH2 side.  If TH2 becomes overstimulated, auto immunity can occur.  I am not surprised my eczema flared after I received the vaccine.  It shows my immune system was busy making antibodies! Since my immune system makes antibodies a little too zealously, I chose the milder J&J vaccine, which has shown good efficacy against all of the Variants of Concern by causing a gradual increase in immunity.  In theory, since I have not received a vaccine since childhood, my immune system is somewhat more balanced and I can ‘afford’ this challenge at a time when it is well worth doing.

If you are NOT an allergic person, you are less likely to have a strong push to TH2 from the vaccine and will likely do fine with an mRNA vaccine.  Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have been shown to cause abundant antibody production.

Vaccines are not 100% perfect.  How could they be?  There is infinite complexity in human phenotypic (genetic) expression.  In rare cases, some of us are going to have a severe adverse reaction.  This is a horrible thing to happen, and it is scary.  But one must step back and look at the big picture.  Covid vaccines work.  The US economy is making a comeback and we are in the lead.  If we did not have them, our picture would likely be similarly tragic as India right now!  Thank goodness the President is sharing our vaccine surplus with other countries and has supported waiving vaccine intellectual property rights.  It’s the right thing to do. Until the whole world is safe, we are not truly safe.

And for us in America…how incredibly fortunate we are to have access to Moderna and J&J vaccines!  Much of the world pretty much only has Pfizer if anything, and for those that do, it is in very short supply.

There is so much blind fear and distrust.  I assure you, there is no microchip!  The vaccines are far less toxic than childhood vaccines.  It is not some dark poison.  One cannot shed vaccine proteins that cause infertility and miscarriages.  Ask yourself, who is spreading this fear? Who wants to see us divided and fighting with each other? Who really is the enemy of the people and wants to divide and conquer?  If you start to feel anxious while reading your news feeds, know that you are likely being fed fear mongering propaganda.  Here in fact are the ingredients of the three vaccines.

Does it alter your DNA?  It has to, to some extent, on a temporary basis.  Just like your DNA would be altered by its response to fighting any virus.  A healthy body responds to challenges by activating different parts of the DNA through the epigenome.  It then repairs the DNA when we have a resilient immune system, which is something I have helped many of you achieve.  One of the focuses of Functional Medicine is to cause DNA repair.

And now for the ugly truths.  I illuminate these to show this part is based in fact.  I think that if leaders would have shared these facts from the beginning, there would be less mistrust.  When we’re not getting the whole picture, we sense it and in turn we feel suspicious or at least doubtful.  I will shine a little light here:  There is ample evidence that the virus came from an accidental lab leak.  Eyewitnesses allege that the lab had weak containment practices.  It is very interesting that a bat coronavirus suddenly had a spliced pangolin receptor code that has high affinity for the human ACE2 receptor.  The speed at which the virus mutates is not what usually happens in nature.  Now that you can separate fact from conspiracy, hopefully it’s a relief to know that yes, you were right about this in your gut. Nevertheless, we still have to deal with the virus at large.

Another not so pretty reality:  Vaccine manufacturers make a fortune from vaccines made for a pandemic.  I can see how this would thwart trust.  I can attest to you that the corporate boss businessmen who profit off the vaccine could not have done it without doctors and scientists.  These trained scientists have a passion for the truth because science is, in its pure form, about understanding the factual truth.  Maybe some of the scientists made some decent money, but nothing anywhere near the amount of the corporations.  And beyond that, we have been fortunate to receive the vaccines for free.  As demand decreases, the vaccines will likely no longer be free.  Something to consider.  I rather admire J&J for offering their vaccine to governments at cost: about $10/dose.

Many of you have trusted me for 25-30 years as your family physician.  I have always served with highest integrity in mind.  I am the same person still, while the world has become a fearsome environment.  I am standing for this:  now is the time to take heart and get the vaccine.  I hope the decades of my steadfast care will help you feel secure in my judgment of the science that I have reviewed in order to bring clarity and truth to you.

I have always taught you to make your choices from love and not fear.  I know that when one is fearful, one usually cannot make a good decision. Stewing in doubt on the side lines is not a good decision.

It is a small sacrifice to make to serve your community and fellow Americans.  I did not love getting the vaccine. And I am relieved and proud that I did.  90% of all physicians have taken the vaccine.  Physicians have studied the science and since we understand it, we take it.  We understand the benefits outweigh any potential negative risk, BY FAR.

California has the lowest positivity rate in the nation…and in the most populous state, that says a lot!!  Way to go California!  We are stepping up and doing our part!  The CDC’s new mask-free guidelines can be confusing, but here is something to know:  if you are fully vaccinated but suspect you have been exposed, the CDC says you do not have to be tested.  But if you do develop symptoms, put your mask back on and go get tested.  I would add:  you should wear a mask whenever you could potentially be exposed if you live with people who are vulnerable and/or unprotected.  I recommend that you wait at least six months to be vaccinated after getting well if you were sick with Covid.  The reason for this is that your immune system and Memory T Cells have already been activated.  If you give it a little time, you are less likely to have an overly strong reaction.

If you have loved ones who are undecided, please share this with them and share with me your vaccine experience as I am interested to learn in order to further help others.  If you have other fact-based questions I have not answered here, feel free to write me.  I will do my best to answer.  If it’s a conspiracy theory question, I’m sorry I don’t have time to respond to those.  If you’re not sure, here’s how to tell the difference:  if you feel calm about the question, it is likely fact based.  If you feel agitated/compelled, it is probably a conspiracy theory and you have fallen prey to those who would mislead you.  Hopefully you will find the truth above to be liberating and helpful for you to find peace of mind.

At the beginning of the pandemic, I pledged to keep you all safe and healthy.  I have supported about 50 positive Covid cases with Functional Medicine, and no one has been hospitalized nor lost their life.  I feel I have delivered on that promise and I am still protecting your health.  When we each do our part, we in turn defend the health of all humankind.

‍

Copyright © 2021 Dr. Jeanette Ryan, DC, IFMCP, All rights reserved.
If you would like to share this newsletter, please write to us.