For one year and six months, Anniken Jørgensen suffered from very heavy bleeding, exhaustion and unbearable pain.
– My whole year as a 25-year-old just disappeared from me. It felt like I was going to wither away, bleed away. It almost broke me completely. I couldn’t look in the mirror at the end, she told TV 2.
It affected my free time and life together with my boyfriend. It also resulted in several lost jobs.
Last spring, Jørgensen therefore decided to apply for compensation from Norwegian Patient Compensation (NPE). She has always been convinced that the bleeding disorders are due to the corona vaccine.
NPE does not share that conviction.
– Unlikely
The matter had been on the NPE’s table for approximately half a year, when the first defeat came in November. The NPE believed that the bleeding disorders Jørgensen had experienced were more likely due to the use of contraception.
Jørgensen complained, and shortly afterwards NPE decided to obtain a “second opinion”.
SICK: Annijor says that the bleeding has made her extremely exhausted. The pain has been so severe that it has been difficult to function in everyday life. Photo: Private
The influencer only managed to glimpse hope, before an even more crushing rejection landed in her inbox at the end of January.
NPE has previously believed that the bleeding disorders can is due to the vaccine, but that it is more likely to be due to the contraceptive injection.
In the latest rejection, the expert goes further in his conclusion:
“With the knowledge that has gradually been gathered about (possible) side effects of the corona vaccine, I can say with great certainty that it is very unlikely, if not improbable, that the complainant’s bleeding disorders have their cause in the fact that she has received a vaccine against the coronavirus ».
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The person believes that it is “highly likely” that the bleeding disorders are caused by the contraceptive injection.
The case is thus closed from NPE’s side. But not necessarily from Jørgensens.
SHARED: Anniken Jørgensen, also known as Annijor, has shared a lot about her bleeding disorders with her followers on social media. Screenshot: Private
– Proper drawer
The contraceptive injection is a type of contraception that is given as an injection every three months.
Jørgensen received two injections, approximately at the same time as she took doses one and two of the corona vaccine.
FHI has documented in a large study that the corona vaccine can lead to menstrual disorders.
The NPE nevertheless came to a different conclusion, as they believe bleeding disorders and pain after contraceptive injections “are very common”.
– Bleeding disorders and pain after injection are the most important reason why I generally advise against the method to my patients, writes the expert in Norwegian Patient Damage Compensation (NPE).
Jørgensen takes the rejection hard.
– I’m really disappointed. And I’m very sorry, says Jørgensen.
NOT TAKEN SERIOUSLY: Annijor does not feel that she is taken seriously for the menstrual disorders she has experienced. Photo: Private
She finds that she is not believed because she happened to take a contraceptive injection around the same time as she took the vaccine.
– It is unbelievably sad that this should end up being the reason for the refusal, she says.
That’s why she’s sure
– Why are you so sure that the bleeding disorders are due to the corona vaccine and not the contraceptive injection?
– There are several reasons for that, says Jørgensen.
She says that she had no side effects the first time she took the contraceptive injection. She took the second injection at about the same time as she received the corona vaccine. Then the bleeding started.
She was advised by her doctor at this time to take the pill at a faster interval to stop the bleeding.
– Since the bleeding still did not stop, the doctor believed that it could not be due to the contraceptive injection.
In addition, Jørgensen points out that she has had exactly the same symptoms that other women have told about after the corona vaccine.
– Also, I bled almost constantly for a year and a half and was in severe pain. A contraceptive injection should be out of the body after three months, she says.
NPE has received 266 applications for compensation from women dealing with menstrual disorders after the corona vaccine.
Only 39 of the cases have been processed. They show that the majority of applicants are rejected.
12 applicants have been successful, while 17 have been rejected.
In addition, ten cases have been dismissed, which means that either the claimant has dismissed the case, or that the person in question has not provided all the information that the NPE needs to process the case.
AMOUNT: The amount of compensation paid in eight cases where the applicant has been successful is a total of NOK 76,000, NPE states. Photo: Ingvild Gjerdsjø / TV 2
– Never been realistic
Throughout the compensation process, Jørgensen does not feel that NPE has done a thorough enough job of obtaining information.
– I have not been asked about anything. No one has asked what I am seeking compensation for, or what kind of lost income I have had. It gives me the feeling that it has never been realistic to get compensation, she says.
Jørgensen believes that the refusal is in line with how it has been to talk loudly about menstrual disorders after the corona vaccine.
She has long tried to get attention about her bleeding through the media, but does not feel that she has been taken seriously.
Countless visits to the doctor have also not been able to give her a definite answer as to what caused the menstrual disturbances, and none of the treatments she has been recommended have had an effect.
Although Jørgensen has paid a lot for doctor’s visits and has had to turn down jobs, it has never been about the money for her.
The most important thing has always been to get confirmation that what she has experienced is real.
BLEEDING: For two years in a row, TV 2 has mapped the menstrual disturbances experienced by more than 150 women after the corona vaccine. Many report heavy and prolonged bleeding, which is more painful. Photo: Ingvild Gjerdsjø / TV 2
– Not usual
Guri Bårdstu Majak is a senior physician at the gynecology department at Oslo University Hospital. She has previously told TV 2 that heavy, persistent bleeding on the contraceptive injection is completely contrary to how the hormone in the injection should work.
The head doctor explained that the contraceptive injection is a hormonal contraceptive, which basically stops ovulation and reduces the thickness of the uterine lining. This should result in reduced bleeding.
– I stand by what I was quoted on last. The contraceptive injection can cause spotting and irregular bleeding at the start, but if the next dose is given before 90 days, this will usually be controlled. Abnormal bleeding is not common, says Bårdsrud Majak.
RESEARCH CALLED: Guri Bårdstu Majak believes it is important to find the reason why the corona vaccine can affect menstruation, so that a treatment can also be found. Photo: Truls Aagedal / TV 2
An expert in NPE writes in her conclusion that she is not aware of any treatment, and that the only thing that helps is taking time to help.
– I have to say I feel for Anniken and the hopelessness she probably feels. There are many women with menstrual disorders after vaccination, and most do not get help or understanding, says Bårdsrud Majak.
Press contact Ingvild Endestad in Sex and society refers to the method book for sexual healthwhich is used by health nurses and doctors in contraception guidance.
The book says the following about the contraceptive injection:
“The bleeding is often irregular in the first half of the year. After that, they become few or none. The longer a woman uses the contraceptive injection, the greater the chance that the bleeding will disappear completely.”
– There’s still a lot we don’t know
Acting director Anne-Mette Gulaker of NPE says she fully understands that it has been difficult for Jørgensen to experience extensive bleeding disorders.
– The reason why her claim for compensation has been rejected is not that we doubt it, but that it appears more likely that the bleeding disorders are due to the contraceptive injection and not the vaccine, says Gulaker.
RULES: Anne-Mette Gulaker in NPE refers to the regulations, which state that compensation must be given if there are no other more likely causes of the bleeding than the vaccine. Photo: Martin Berg Isaksen / TV 2
She points out that two expert specialists have assessed the case, and that both have reached the same conclusion.
– How can an expert say that it is unlikely that the bleeding disorders are due to the corona vaccine, when it is common knowledge that the vaccine can lead to just that?
– When we have to decide this in each individual case, we start from the fact that there may be a connection between the bleeding disorders and the vaccine, and check whether there are other more likely causes. In Jørgensen’s case, the contraceptive injection appears to be a more likely cause than the vaccine.
– Is there enough research to rule out which bleeding disorders are caused by the corona vaccine and which are not?
– There is still a lot we don’t know about the vaccine and any side effects from it, and a lot of research is taking place which will be able to give us new answers in the future. In NPE, we have to make decisions on the basis of what is known at the time of the decision, says Gulaker.
She points out that any subsequent knowledge may lead to the NPE reopening previously decided cases.
Don’t want to lose the fight
If Jørgensen had been granted compensation, the biggest victory would have been to be believed.
– In addition, I was hoping that I would finally get a penny. Then I could at least donate it to women’s health research, because it is needed.
SERIOUSNESS: Anniken Jørgensen feels that she is one of many women who are not taken seriously after telling about menstrual disturbances after the corona vaccine. Photo: Håkon Mosvold Larsen/NTB
Although the NPE has concluded, Jørgensen is considering whether she should fight on.
– The whole thing is just absurd. I either have to give up or find a lawyer. I don’t want to lose this battle on behalf of everyone else who has struggled, she says.
The latest rejection from NPE awaits a comment from Jørgensen. If the NPE does not change the decision, the case can be sent to the Patient Injury Board for treatment there.
If the Patient Complaints Board also rejects the complaint, Jørgensen has the opportunity to take up the case in the courts.
I think the numbers are misleading
NPE has received a total of 1,187 claims for compensation related to side effects and injuries after corona vaccines. Of these, cases of menstrual disorders make up 22 per cent.
– The majority of those who apply for compensation after bleeding disorders are refused. What signal do you think it sends to women who have experienced this and who are considering applying?
– So far, we have only dealt with a few of the cases we have received regarding bleeding disorders after the vaccine. We therefore believe that the figures at the turn of the year can be very misleading as to how this will eventually be distributed, says Gulaker.
She encourages women who experience bleeding disorders after the vaccine to report the matter to the NPE.
– We investigate the case free of charge so that the women in question have nothing to lose by submitting an application.
