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Worton’s Injury Onset After Mandated COVID Vaccination

Day 2 · 0:19:30 · Shawn Buckley · Dr. Michelle Worton · Vienna Demeduk

  • 💉 As a BC dental hygienist board member she was mandated; first dose caused tachycardia and chest tightness within an hour.
  • 🧠 Second dose brought severe neurological onset within 48 hours: vision loss, burning legs, incontinence, tinnitus, and imbalance.
  • 👩‍⚕️ Her first physician blamed the acute neurological cascade on menopause, which she calls medical gaslighting.

Worton recounts how board mandate led to vaccination and sudden injury.

← Dr. Michelle Worton Sworn and Explains Why Stories Matter | Brain Cysts, US Surgery, and Gatekept Canadian Care →

Transcript

Shawn Buckley · 0:19:30

Um, I'm just going to talk very briefly about who you are to save time. So you're 42, you're the mother of two, Joshua and Paige. Your partner Dave is here to support you, and thank you for being here, Dave. Um, you were a business owner. I mean, you basically built up a dental hygienist practice. I think you had like 2,000 clients. Highly successful. You were on the regulatory board, the national regulatory board for your profession. You physically were extremely active, hiking. You played soccer, you coached children's soccer. Zero health problems before this journey that you're going to speak to us about. Can you share with us now your journey with the COVID-19 vaccine?

Dr. Michelle Worton · 0:20:16

Yeah. I'm now 47, so I was injured at 42.

Shawn Buckley · 0:20:21

Sorry about that. And you know, because people, especially females, hate it when we say they're younger than they are, so I apologize.

Dr. Michelle Worton · 0:20:29

I, I don't mind at all because I've earned these 5 years. I've fought for every moment these last 5 years. Um, when Michael spoke yesterday, he spoke of moral injury, and I have not yet heard anyone explain it quite to the degree that absolutely echoes my experience. I was not vaccinated until December of— November was my first dose, my second December 2021. And a underlining factor to me receiving those injections was being a member of our regulatory board. So I served on the College of Dental Hygienists, and in British Columbia, Bonnie Henry not only mandated government employees, but she wasn't satisfied, so she extended that and began to extend that to all regulated healthcare professionals in the province, and that meant me.

Dr. Michelle Worton · 0:21:45

And so when the email, confidential mandatory vaccine requirements, came along my inbox, my life changed. I sat at the board table discussing risk versus benefit, informed consent, bodily autonomy.

Shawn Buckley · 0:22:01

And I'm, I'm going to fast forward to your injury just because I think that's more important with the time we have.

Vienna Demeduk · 0:22:06

Of course.

Dr. Michelle Worton · 0:22:08

Um, so that's my— ultimately what led me to receive these injections. Uh, within an hour of my first dose, high heart rate, um, erratic blood pressure, tightness in my chest, shortness of breath, under— generally just unwell, subsided somewhat. I perhaps wanted to relate that more to moral injury than physical injury.

Shawn Buckley · 0:22:31

I was wrong.

Dr. Michelle Worton · 0:22:33

And my second injection, um, within 48 hours, severe neurological onset, uh, blurred, tunnel, double vision, hot spots in my legs, urinary incontinence, tinnitus, dizziness, imbalance, inability to regulate um, hot and cold. And my first appointment with a physician was roughly about 3 weeks. That's when I could get in. And when I explained the serious acute onslaught of neurological symptoms, he blamed it on menopause.

Shawn Buckley · 0:23:13

Because I, as I understand it, I mean, you're having vision problems, like serious vision problems, basically blurred and tunnel vision. You're— when you're talking about hot burning, like really severe pain, burning, you actually lost some incontinence. You were having incontinent issues, chest tightness, dizziness, and vertigo that's actually affecting your ability to walk. And you're told this is menopause.

Dr. Michelle Worton · 0:23:39

That's correct.

Shawn Buckley · 0:23:40

How did that make you feel?

Dr. Michelle Worton · 0:23:46

Having been someone that worked in the medical profession for over 2 decades, Um, the level of medical gaslighting I had never anticipated. I received these injections because I was told they were safe and effective, and coercion is not consent. And then I'm injured, and that's how I'm treated. And we're here now in 2026. I would spend my life in and out of the emergency room being treated for migraines, laughed at, mocked at, condescending. Often they'll talk to Dave, not to me, because I'm a female. So this is something that people need to realize, is that to have chronic illness and be a female does absolutely set you apart for the type of care you receive, because it's very easily, um, displayed and, uh, You know, anxiety, stress, of course, being a business owner navigating the pandemic, but I was, it must have been very stressful.

Shawn Buckley · 0:24:54

And, um, can you share with us about the cystic masses and then what that led to?