This video about a Moncton man is being shared on social media by anti-vaxxors.
Edit: This man in the video did nothing wrong, he is clearly not against vaccines as he mentions in the video that he feels people should still get it. What he is experiencing is terrible and unfortunate, nobody can dispute this. Only purpose to this article is to prove one solid point, and that is the contents of the syringe used to vaccinate does not CAUSE this to happen but could be said that the needle triggered the onset of this illness (much like how other forms of injury or trauma does the same). Had he said “triggered” instead, I would have nothing to write about.
This video and others like it have been circulating social media with the claims that vaccines cause neurological damage. The video is of a Moncton man who claims to have been told that the vaccine caused this condition but that is not true.
The plot twist is that vaccines doesn’t cause this, misinformation and fear of vaccines though are the a serious contributing factors.
From what I understand this is an odd situation where psychological factors combines with slight injury (injection via needle) which triggers the manifestation of this neurological disorder. The more fear, stress, intense emotions people have before getting vaccine the greater chance of this condition will happen as a result.
So it could be said that anti vaxxors are contributing to the increased & likeliness of this disorder, on top of that, Higgs excessive use of fear to encourage vaccines is also contributing so fear and paranoia on both sides of the debate are making this worse.
CTV made an article to clear this up, and plenty other sources and studies back up what it explains.
“TORONTO — Beth Pardo is an insurance executive, former marathon runner, and one of the first patients to come out with her diagnosis of functional neurological disorder, an issue that surfaced after she got vaccinated against COVID-19.
But the disorder isn’t a side effect of the vaccine — and as doctors work to understand and identify cases, they are also fighting against misinformation and conspiracy theories spreading online.
Functional neurological disorder (FND) is a complex, but common neurological condition. Often FND happens after trauma, stressful life events, injury or car accidents, with people developing neurological symptoms that have no physical cause.” – Read more.
Additional Information
“To our knowledge, this is the first full description of a FND case associated to COVID-19 vaccine. We assessed at the bedside only the sensory loss with a clear edge on the facial midline, which is a sign with a good positive predictive value for FND, especially when thalamic lesions have been excluded [5]. We did not evaluate the other symptoms reported immediately after the jabs, but their features and course seemed to confirm the FND diagnosis. Indeed, acute and serious neurological adverse event after vaccine is thankfully rare, and bilateral facial palsy and transient weakness are likely to be transient ischemic attack mimics. Overall, the patients suffered from a variety of neurological symptoms in the last two months, confirming inconsistency over time.
Current hypothesis highlights the importance of attention and beliefs/expectation in the pathophysiology and phenomenology of FND [6]. Abnormal expectations about illness may be generated by a range of predisposing factors related to beliefs on and personal experience of illness. These may include physical illness in the patient him- or herself, exposure to illness in the family [7] or while in a medical or paramedical job, health scares in the media or within colleagues, or myriad other sociocultural means. Abnormal beliefs about illness may also be a source of increased attention towards symptoms. It is notable that a physical precipitating event is commonly reported close to the onset of FND [2], which may also provide an explanation as to why particular FND develops. In our patient, the stressful conditions associated to the pandemic [8], together with other predisposing factors, might have contributed to both increased attention towards body signals and abnormal expectations/belief about symptoms, while the content of the abnormal prior expectation might have arisen from vaccination-linked injury [4].” – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8319586/
Press release from the Functional Neurological Disorders Society
feelings of uncertainty about the vaccine and the normal transient physical symptoms, and discomfort after vaccination. If FND is not quickly detected and diagnosed with appropriate explanation and management, it can become a more prolonged condition. It is important that these conditions are recognized for what they are – in part so that the patient can be appropriately reassured and can, if necessary, access appropriate treatment, and to prevent a misleading
impression of neurological complications of the vaccines.
Serious neurological complications after vaccinations are well recognized although thankfully extremely rare. It is vital that, in the interests of public health, news outlets are aware of FND as a possible explanation for neurological symptoms after a vaccine, before rushing to report neurological side effects to a news hungry public who are understandably eager for information on vaccine safety. – https://www.fndsociety.org/UserFiles/file/FNDSSocietyPressReleaseCOVIDVaccines.pdf
“In at least 1 case reported on the news, a physician associated these symptoms with FND or conversion disorder. The Functional Neurological Disorder Society issued a statement which indicated that the features depicted in this video seemed to be consistent with FND.
The authors of this viewpoint commentary highlighted the fact that FND is among the most commonly observed conditions in the outpatient neurology setting and can be unrelated to vaccination.
FND is a brain-based disorder characterized by the development of a range of neurological symptoms exacerbated by biological, psychological, and/or environmental factors. FND may be triggered by physically/emotionally taxing events such as injury, medical or surgical procedure, or vaccination. Instead of being directly caused by these events, factors including expectations, beliefs, arousal, and emotional processing may play a mechanistic role in the pathophysiology of this disorder.
The treatment for FND comprises education about the disorder, physical rehabilitation, and cognitive behavioral therapy. These approaches seek to retrain the brain to revert to automatic movement and to provide patients with coping strategies which aid in lowering arousal states.” – https://www.neurologyadvisor.com/topics/general-neurology/functional-neurological-disorder-and-how-it-relates-to-covid-19-vaccines/
16 Comments on “This video about a Moncton man is being shared on social media by anti-vaxxors.”
Steve
Wow your narrative on this story is so disingenuous, have you been to the VAERS site, or any of the other national based adverse reaction sites from around the world? You have your head shoved so far up your vaxxide, that you wouldn’t consider/accept the truth or facts if they hit you in the head (which you’d likely excuse away as being due to a pre-existing bad haircut you got 3 years ago). Please try and be professional or a journalist and set aside your bias and investigate before reporting. This teacher effected by the Covid-19 shot has not even polarized but rather stated mid ground and asked that people stay informed of the actual facts before making the decision that best suits themselves.
Mike Landrry
Curious to know what part of this post implies that I am disingenuous?
Nothing in this post claims or indicates that adverse side effects do not exist with vaccines. This neurological condition is related to vaccines but does not cause cause it. If there is something in this article that inaccurate please indicate so and I’ll either backup and source what is saying or remove it as the accuracy of information is important.
“You have your head shoved so far up your vaxxide, that you wouldn’t consider/accept the truth or facts if they hit you in the head (which you’d likely excuse away as being due to a pre-existing bad haircut you got 3 years ago). “: Personal attacks are usually a sigh your going to lose this debate/discussion.
“Please try and be professional or a journalist and set aside your bias and investigate before reporting. “: What parts are bias/inaccurate, please tell me and we’ll see if I can back it up or edit it out in the name of keeping things professional.
“This teacher effected by the Covid-19 shot has not even polarised but rather stated mid ground and asked that people stay informed of the actual facts before making the decision that best suits themselves.”: The man in video did nothing wrong, his intentions are good and his message is not fake or fabricated. I believed everything he said except that this condition was caused by the vaccine, initially I did not doubt that part until I did more research. That misleading claim, in my opinion, without more understanding, is enough for this video to unintentionally make a bad situation into a worse one.
Ray
So, his story is not valid?
Mike Landrry
Ray, it’s not fake, only one thing mentioned is misleading, the guy in video is very sincere, his intentions were good, but the fact that he was informed that the vaccine “caused” this condition and he is presenting it as such is being used by anti-vax movement as this misleading claim is exactly what they needed to feel they proved their point.
The more fear of vaccines that is spread, the greater the chances of this condition popping up after vaccinations because of the stress and doubt from misinformation. The cause is more Psychological than physical.
Matt
I talked to this guy just before this. It’s clear it was the needle that did it. Tell yourselves whatever you need to but don’t say you weren’t warned that you may be the next victim!!
Mike Landrry
Your kind of right, the needles did contribute to this, but not the contents of the syringe. I’ll tell you what, you show me a solid source that proves that these vaccines cause neurotoxicity which leads to this medical condition I’ll take down the whole post. I bet you can’t.
E J
Get your facts straight He is not a antivaxer Says at the beginning of his video that he is not
Mike Landrry
Never once did I claim he was an anti vaxor, his story is just being used by them because of the disproved claim made that it was “caused” by vaccines fit their narrative. All 4 of the articles posted in this post disproves this claim. Feel free to disprove or discredit the source or the content of any of them.
Paul Watson
The vaccine didn’t cause this. Stop spreading misinformation.
Mike Landrry
This is true, it could be said it triggered it but the guy in video was just relaying what he was told by a doctor who didn’t put much thought into the difference between “cause” and “trigger”. Many things can trigger this conditions but the risk factors are more psychological than physical.
An injection of saline can do the same…
Julie M
I don’t want to influence anyone’s choice arround the vaccine, as it is a choice we make for ourselves at the end of the day. It is hard thought to be confident in your choices if you are not given all the most updated, non conspiraciational and based on science information on all sides of those choices. Maybe if the vaccine had gone through a proper lengthy trial testing period it could confirm the message of your article. If a patient on a placebo would of gotten those adverse neurological effects then we would know its not the content of the vaccine but the actual action and all the neurological implication that goes with receiving the jab. What this man has gone through requires medical attention, needing hospital care and costly diagnostic testing on top of all the rehabilitation ahead of him. He may not need a ventilator if he gets infected by the virus, but we dont know that, as I wonder if he is not in optimal health, does his neurolgical condition makes it harder for him to fight the virus if he gets infected? It is a very sensitive subject especially for those who were affected by receiving the jab, there is still a lot of suffering and fear that could of been eased by more clinicial trials of these new vaccines, in my opinion.
Mike Landrry
Well said, I feel you are right as even me saying the trigger being psychological does not due justice to the question of what “causes” this as the there is no no conclusiveness to the answer.
This idea of a placebo effect has been studied I believe, I seen a few articles claim that saline injections can trigger this illness. Here is one.
“Reporting in JAMA Neurology Viewpoint, researchers noted that FND can cause limb weakness, jerky movements, difficulty walking, tremors, or facial spasms. This neuropsychiatric disorder is sometimes seen after the injection of a vaccine or a saline placebo. It may also occur after other medical or surgical procedures or emotional or physical events including head injuries.” – https://www.labroots.com/trending/microbiology/20172/neurological-disorder-sometimes-seen-vaccinations
I seen it in other articles but have not read any studies about the placebo effects so I cannot say much beyond what I have.
I believe how article was presented was a mistake as it has put this man in the middle of the debate which was not my intentions, but I never once said he was against vaccine, he clearly still recommends them after all that he has been through.
Tracy
He and 60 others are suffering from this.. his Dr said so, those other 60 were seen by the Dr!! So it’s not anti-vaxers sharing his story, it’s his friends, family, community, and caring people that don’t want to see others getting hurt by being coerced into getting this!! If they want the vaccine that’s fine get it!! But you shouldn’t be forced out if a job if you don’t get it!! Who’s liable for this life changing injury he sustained from this non fda approved emergency use only gene therapy?? Are you gonna pay his wages, support him & his family? Big pharma & the govt aren’t going to!!
Mike Landrry
What if I told you the spreading of misinformation about vaccines would only increase the amount of people this happens to, because that is what I have come to conclude. With Higgs forcing these vaccines on people it’s a dangerous combination as fear, intense emotions and stress contribute to the onset of this illness more than physical injury’s. Just do a simple google/bing search for “what causes Functional Neurological Disorder”. I’m just using first one that shows up as example.
“Risk factors
Factors that may increase your risk of functional neurologic disorders include:
Having a neurological disease or disorder, such as epilepsy, migraines or a movement disorder
Recent significant stress or emotional or physical trauma
Having a mental health condition, such as a mood or anxiety disorder, dissociative disorder or certain personality disorders
Having a family member with a functional neurologic disorder
Possibly, having a history of physical or sexual abuse or neglect in childhood” – https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/conversion-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20355197
You’ll come to learn that rick factors are more psychological than anything and that physical injuries of all sorts are merely the trigger not the cause.
As for vaccines being forced on people, I agree, I’m not overly proud of the way our province is using every means to besides jailtime to force people into vaccinations. In fact the the fear n stress Higgs is causing technically will lead to more cases of FND after vaccination due to the emotional response to all this and the covid epidemic.
Brenda Phillips
This man is far from being against vaccines and I don’t think he was afraid of it either, he travels to Haiti to teach so he would have had many vaccines in the past. His family are all vaccinated, he is putting this out there so that people can be informed. So you are claiming that he and his Dr are lying!?! Did you speak to his Dr? Did you ask the Dr about all the other patients he is treating with this disorder after receiving u their vaccine? How can you know it isn’t caused by the vaccine? Look at the Astra vaccine that the country was using and then it was discovered world wide that it caused blood clots!
I’m not an anti-vaxxer, I am fully vaccinated for covid but I know this man and his family and he would not lie about this. He wanted people to be informed that these adverse effects MAY happen, he does not discourage people from getting the vaccine, he just warns that being mandated to have the vaccine is wrong! Do you think he can teach college or Haitians now with his director impediment? Will he be compensated so that he can still pay his bills and put food on the table? People need to be informed of the potential risks associated with the vaccine.
Mike Landrry
Some good points brought up, I have no issues with the video beyond that one claim, I never said he was an anti vaxxor, not even once, he even said in video he still currently recommends the vaccine. Now as for me claiming his doctor is lying, I don’t think he was really “lying” , I feel his choice of words were poorly chosen. The vaccine does not CAUSE this because the exact same thing can happen with a syringe full of salt water, this has been proven.
By saying “caused” it implies straight out that the needles contents is what caused this which isn’t true as slight or severe injury/trama is what triggers this illness. The real cause is psychological, had he said “triggered” instead of “caused” I would not have written about this at all as that word is much more accurate and much less misleading.
It’s less about the guy in the video and more about how this is presented and spread all over social media misleading everyone.