A young woman who alleged the swine flu injection caused her to develop a sleep disorder fears she will never live a normal life.
Aoife Bennett, 26, said her life "changed drastically" following her narcolepsy diagnosis.
The then 16-year-old received the Pandemrix vaccine in school in December 2009, as part of the State’s campaign to combat swine flu.
She revealed that she began to notice a change in her health on Christmas Day in 2009, a few weeks after receiving the jab.
She explained: “I found myself sneaking up the stairs to go to bed for the day and I had to absolutely force myself to come down for the Christmas dinner. After that I was up in bed all day.”
Ms Bennett, from Naas, Co Kildare, took legal action against the Minister for Health, the HSE, and vaccine manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals, as well as the Health Products Regulatory Authority after she claimed the vaccine wasn’t tested properly on ten to 17-year-olds before being rolled out.
The case was settled this week, with no admission of liability, for an undisclosed sum.
She says that she also developed cataplexy as a result which she explained can lead to her eyes rolling, her knees buckling and can even cause her to “collapse to the floor”.
Ms Bennett, who described herself as an active person before developing her health issues, said was she forced to give up playing sport as a result.
She also revealed that she had to stay back a year in school while her friends went on to study in college ahead of her.
Speaking on RTE’s Today with Sean O’Rourke, Ms Bennett said medication initially “worked wonders” for her, but added that she found studying for her degree, her masters and teaching practice “really tough” as she struggled to stay alert.
Her current medication allows her to get five hours of sleep each night but Ms Bennett admitted there are times where she gets less than that.
She explained that her quality of life now is “up and down” adding, “the busier I am the harder it is.”
She said: “The more energy I have to take care of myself the better I am.”
When asked about how her condition has affected her career as a teacher she said: “I always would have said I’m not settling for part-time [work]... but realistically I will have to job share, I can’t see myself being able to live a normal life while teaching full time, it’s just not really an option for me.”
