I started this post kind of buzzed. I had got a phone call booking me into the vaccination system on Monday. I said I’d go and using my FB page I said I was pleased about it. Only to unleash conspiracy theories, and the conspiracy theory about why it’s WRONG to take it and how the vaccines I’ve had have contributed to my health as it stands. Accordingly the vaccines I had to have to go to the US in my twenties also contributed. Given that we know NOTHING factual about the cause of my MS and I am the one living with it, I ask for the right to accept a Covid jab if it allows me to feel a bit safer in the world again. All these lockdowns and catastrophic actions to stop us getting sick have to have a positive ending, and the sooner the better.

I will look at the evidence with open eyes, believe me, and consider the future of the restrictions lifting as soon as possible. The government have rolled out a programme and over 15 million jabs have been delivered. I’ve seen stats of problems and there have been issues but are they due to underlying health issues? And although maybe triggered by the presence of the vaccine, would they have happened anyway? People I know, and communicate with, who have health issues, are reporting no issues, or no more than a few days rest after, so I think I will go ahead. I have read conspiracy theories about the spread of MS till I’m blue in the face, and for all the similarities, the variants are too high. Injections I received in the USA in the 90s have been the result of some big court settlements, but not for MS. It’s so far from the only thing that causes this insidious condition that I can’t go there and lose myself in the blame game. I’ve also been part of too many MS FB groups to attribute any one thing to the development of MS. Lots have had a common denominator but then someone pipes up to say ‘No and I’ve been diagnosed for longer…’

Similarly the garden FB groups are full of comments about neighbours killing your plants if they overhang? Ongoing disputes over conifer hedges and cuttings being chucked over fences? Not being free to paint your side of a fence… Seriously there is so much anger and bitterness out there? Gardening should give you pleasure and an area of peace, contemplation and solitude, but not if we can’t talk out our differences. We have to find a way of getting along!

So the conclusion to the post comes from a late-night call from the gp, who said there’s nothing in my MS medication to negate taking the vaccine, she has heard of very few issues, and she has sent my antidepressant prescription to the chemists. This was the one my MS consultant recommended after our zoom in September. I am hoping it will help me through the gloom of February, my seasonally-affected depression month. Look out for some happy-clappy posting! Hey did I tell you the company who produced the Covid vaccine are in trials with an MS vaccine that fools your body into repairing the damaged myelin? An MS cure no less! By vaccine!