I got my first vaccination in September. It was a Pfizer jab, and was before the mandates. I developed chest pain two weeks later. I went to hospital, then to my GP, then to a cardiologist. Confirmed as pericarditis brought on by the vaccine.

Prior to this I was a healthy, fit, 30-odd year old who enjoyed running, rock climbing, going to the gym, and generally quite active.

I was told to take iboprofin regularly and rest, and if it didn't get better they would prescribe something else (can't remember the name). Oh yay, more drugs to treat the drug I was given.

I rested and took the iboprofin. Sometimes the chest pain was so bad it felt like something was going through my chest. A couple of months of doing nothing I started having less chest pain. I started to do some light gym work. Chest pain. Right. Rest some more. Another month later the chest pain was almost gone. So was my temporary exemption.

I was told to not get another mRNA vaccine, and had to get AZ. Great, I get double the risk: heart issues with one and clot issues with the other (and it was not recommended for my age group at one point). No choice now. Mandates are in. Vaccinate or lose my livelihood. No exemption for AZ. So AZ I did. The pharmacist commented I'd be unlucky to get both adverse reactions. I didn't have the heart or motivation to explain how statistics work. Spoiler: I did not get a blood clot after the AZ.

Now here I am, 15 weeks after the Pfizer shot, laying here with chest pain again. I have had a big couple of weeks physically and it appears I have hit a ceiling that never existed in the past. Because I've had a relatively short period of no chest pain I don't feel like I'll be prescribed the drug that treats it beyond iboprofin, and in some ways I don't want to take more drugs to combat a drug. I have a liver issue and medications can be a problem. Next thing will be medication to help my liver after dealing with the previous medications...

So. To those of you with zero experience here who love to sprout the line that myocarditis and pericarditis are mild and easy to treat I say to you it isn't. This vaccine has severely affected my life. I know there will be the comments saying "imagine if you got the virus". There is data out there that shows younger people are far more prone to pericarditis from the vaccines, meanwhile older people are more at risk from it from the virus. I would have preferred to take my chances with covid to be honest. Instead I had to "do my bit" to help out the old and the fat (and has now been shown to be a false argument with omicron infections not slowed down by vaccination). Who is there to help me out? No one. Harden up sonny, she'll be right. Just deal with your "long vaccine side effects".