A single dose of a seasonal flu shot has changed a cheerleader’s life forever. Ten days after receiving the shot, Desiree Jennings, 25, came down with a painful debilitating neurological disorder.
Prior to getting the flu shot in August, Desiree’s health was good. However, 10 days afterward she contracted flu-like symptoms. Matters only got worse from there, and she was put in the hospital for seizures on two occasions before being diagnosed with a condition known as Dystonia. Medical experts only speculated that the flu shot was the cause.
Walking is agonizing for Jennings whose muscle cramps means she twists and jerks before collapsing. When standing still or sitting she is overwhelmed by incapacitating muscle spasms which stop her walking or talking properly. However, the symptoms disappear when she runs or walks backwards.
“It’s been unreal. I didn’t think anyone would even care about my story. People are sitting there crying and I can’t understand why.” Jennings said. “This has ruined my life … running is all I have left now.”
With the advent of the new H1N1 vaccine, a large number of people are questioning both the seasonal and H1N1 vaccines. Still, the Center for control of disease and prevention, getting a flu vaccination is the single best way to help prevent influenza.
This hoax will trump balloon boy. People are such idiots to believe this story. Riddle me this: if her spasms are so uncontrollable, how does she keep her balance? And the backwards thing is just ridiculous.
you’ve got to be kidding me. why would she intentionally want to be hospitalized and give up her career? look up the symptoms of dystonia on an offical website-they match perfectly. just because you are uneducated doesnt mean that you have to be unsupportive to real people with real disorders that need help.
And people are not idiots for taking the vaccination in the first place?
But who is complaining? Less idiots in the world is a good thing. Go ahead, take the flu shot!
i think this “chris” needs to get a job instead of bashing the sick
Chris you are a moron
This is not just a hoax, it’s a blatantly obvious hoax. She’s a terrible actor, and you’re morons for buying it.
I’d like you all to go take a good look at how many people have died from the flu (MILLIONS) and how many illnesses are actually directly attributable to the flu shot (very, very few if any), and realize that you’re a bunch of scared ninnies with no grasp of basic probability.
Okay may be a hoax. But..it could also be psychogenic. Leigh Vinocur, M.D., of the University of Maryland School of Medicine, said her condition may be “psychogenic”. Consequently not caused by the vaccine. In addition, the vaccine is NOT live, and therefore CANNOT cause one to develop a virus. I do not have an agenda as I sit on the fence on this issue, but any converation that we have about this should be balanced, with a scientific approach. Unless cause and effect can be established between two variables a link cannot be made. If I go for a flu shot and then get a cold, it does not neccessarly mean that my cold was the result of the shot. Flu viruses are very contagious,and no vaccine protects against them all. As the flu shot is not live, my cold is a coincidence.
Should be easy to figure out. I’m pretty sure there are indisputable test that can be done to confirm dystonia, it’s a neurological disorder.
Seriously, This is a Hoax. Dystonia has not link with the flu shot and they keep emphasizing she got it from the flu shot. Most people with serious disabilities do not go on television because its too painful, and even if they did it would be about the disability and not about the flu shot. The way they portrayed this on television is way too cheesy and smells of a hoax. She was running then at the right moment she goes into spasms. The closing line is equally as cheesy, if it was so serious why are they making things so cheesy. This shit is a hoax.
i agree wit T cuz who wud want 2 ruin their career where they wud make alot of money in something professional
It may not be a hoax, it may be a hoax, who knows? It may be psychogenic as Ive seen things like this in the hospital. the fact that she can walk backwards and run and speak fine clearly states that this isnt neurological. It just doesnt make sens. As a physician, I just could not make sense of this. If you have dustonia then it will affect all movements, not just one or two. Medically this doesnt make sense at all.
Besides, 38,000 people die from the Flu each year. If the government. Do you really want to know what that number will be if there were no flu shot? Do you really want to take a chance and be one of the 38,000? Come on people! There will always be side effects, that is a fact, but you have to look at the risks and the benefits of the medications. the number that will actually harm from vaccines is less than 1%. The number that would harm from not getting the vaccines would be in the millions. Think about it!
Who knows if this is even real….you never know what people will do for attention
who would want to get no income in this economy and have to pay for treatment. though rare, people all over the world dystonia….i am 100% with d and jr.
A little wary on this.
Yes, I do believe she is suffering from some medical condition.
BUT I am on the fence if it was indeed triggerd by a flu shot. I mean, 10 days AFTER her shot she comes down with this illness/disorder? I think it is completely unrelated, and just really bad timing.
After doing some research into dystonia, the most common cause is trauma. Which sets my skepticism at high alert since she has been “training to be a professional cheerleader” has she done any training that resulted in an accidental injury?
I just find it hard to believe a DEAD virus infected her and triggered this.
I feel sorry for this girl.
Well, if you ask me I would say that if her “condition” is real I would be willing to bet its from something else. Just doesnt make sense. AT ALL……..
The shot isnt a dead virus, its alive but weakened I believe
Wow this is real freaky but i was a cheerleader once and it is painful to quit but i really hope she gets better and one of the readoins my sister doesnt want to get the short is that one.!
I think its real
whoever said to get a grasp on the brain and probability (or w/e they said) is ignorant. do they know everything about the brain? no, and they never will!!! thats why this is so scary/crazy
i saw a documentary about this guy that had this weird symptom where his head would cock to the right when he was awake, but would straighten out when he was asleep… (AND DONT tell me oh that was a hoax, bc i saw a true documentary on it, the scary part is it was legit. when he slept, something turned off the mechanism that made his neck bend…..i think that applies to this story as well. something must trigger her to be nrmal while she walks backwards….
and this is a temporary condition i though, so whoever argued that the vaccine needs to be alive or active for the girl to have these kinds of symptoms can suck it
A mediocre looking cheerleader with a need for attention concocts “symptoms” that appear and dissapear on cue for the camera and we think this not a hoax? She claims to have been diagnosed by several doctors who will not confirm it, she then shops for a MD that will give her a diagnosis that is sufficiently oscure, she then claims that some doctor known to be a quack is better able to treat her than doctors at Hopkins, then she claims to be magically cured. There are at least two plausible explanations here. One, she has developed a reaction that no one in 200 years of medical history has had, which is then cured by treatments with no plausible link to the symptoms, or she is a fraud. The second explanation is infinitely more believable than the first.
Very nice article.