Seven Weeks Of Suffering Whooping Cough

[debrand]

I don't think that this mother is religious but we've discussed people who are anti vaccination in the past

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nati ... e/7007955/

USA Today has a story about the recent resurgence of childhood diseases that were thought to be nearly eliminated. Some of the stories are very heartbreaking like the mother was young infant died from whooping cough or the little boy who lost all his limbs, eye lids and jaw because of meningitis.

Sarah Pope has decided not to vaccinate

In 2006, all three of Pope's children — now 9, 11 and 15 — contracted whooping cough, the same disease that killed Brady. Seven years earlier, Pope had decided against vaccinating any of her children. After seven weeks of coughing, and with treatment by a holistic doctor and natural supplements, all three recovered without complications, she says.

I can't imagine letting my children suffer for seven weeks when a simple vaccination could prevent their suffering.

She has a website

thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/malibu-moms-vaccine-industry-take-shots-shove-em/

[ILoveJellybeans]

Why would anyone put their child through that??????? Just get them the vaccine, works out to way less suffering in the long run.

Im sure she has the same name as the woman who had a preemie at the same time as Josie was born, in the same hospital. Im glad its not her.

[debrand]

These are the symptoms of Whooping Cough according to the CDC

http://www.cdc.gov/pertussis/about/signs-symptoms.html

Paroxysms (fits) of many, rapid coughs followed by a high-pitched "whoop"

Vomiting (throwing up)

Exhaustion (very tired) after coughing fits

It sounds like a miserable way to spend seven weeks. Those poor kids.

I've had regular colds that have beaten my butt and left me feeling tired and uncomfortable. It is hard to imagine what seven weeks of Whooping Cough must be like but I'd imagine that it is really bad. :(

The CDC said that Pertussis causes some kids to have short episodes where they can't breathe.

[Burpies]

Not being able to breathe is one of the most scary things. I can't imagine listening to my children cough like that and be so sick for 7weeks! I would never want to torture my kids like that!

[Justme]

One of the reasons people had such big families 100+ years ago was because many children died. What next, polio?

[Grimalkin]

Our local highschool was nearly closed down several years ago due to whooping cough. Kids now need the booster when entering H.S. This illness is still around. It's nuts that people don't vaccinate young children.

[apple1]

I work at a pediatric hospital.

We have patients with pertussis nearly all the time (clarifying, they contracted it someplace else and came to the hospital for treatment; the hospital is NOT spreading it around our patients).

What's just as bad is that those with it are spreading it around the community and others who are immune-compromised, etc, get it, too.

I had a bronchitis-type thing this past winter, not pertussis, but still - I coughed severely for about 3 months, and the coughing is still not gone completely.

It is very hard for older adults (yeah, that's me) to kick some stuff. No-vax is extremely self-centered.

[Chowder Head]

I just got booster a year ago to make sure I would not expose my nephews or students to anything that can be preventable. I hope we never ever see polio again but measles are making a comeback ,unfortunately. :?

[RosyDaisy]

Let's see, a mild local reaction to a vaccine vs catching a deadly disease and infecting others? I'll take the reaction.

[dairyfreelife]

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And this is why you vaccinate and get boosters. I have zero desire to put any of my future children through what said child above had to go through. Poor little child. :cry:

[Jessica]

Oh, Sarah Pope. I cannot stand that woman. She is like another Zsuzsanna, with such hatred and anger in her face and voice and no matter what you say, no matter how many real doctors and scientists you cite, you're wrong because they're all funded by Big Pharma.

[hoipolloi]

One of the reasons people had such big families 100+ years ago was because many children died. What next, polio?

Polio may well be next: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/06/healt ... .html?_r=0

[Jinger Jar]

He points to states like Idaho, Illinois, Michigan, Oregon and Vermont — where more than 4.5% of kindergartners last year were unvaccinated for non-medical reasons — as examples of potential hot spots.

That shocks me. In California parents have to show proof of current vaccinations before kids can be enrolled in school and have to provide proof they're up-to-date on their shots or else they'll be medically excluded from school later on.

I really don't get the anti-vaccers. To me it smacks of irrational and irresponsible parenting.

[Jessica]

That shocks me. In California parents have to show proof of current vaccinations before kids can be enrolled in school and have to provide proof they're up-to-date on their shots or else they'll be medically excluded from school later on.

I really don't get the anti-vaccers. To me it smacks of irrational and irresponsible parenting.

You can get an exemption.

[GeoBQn]

I had a severe NotFlu back in September that left me with a cough so bad that I couldn't sleep through the night for weeks. Codeine-based cough medicine didn't do squat. The coughing destroyed my voice so badly that even as late as December people were telling me I "sounded better." Someone asked me if it could have been whooping cough, but I have had an adult booster. If that is what a run-of-the-mill illness can do, WHY would anybody roll the dice on whooping cough? "But it's more natural to let the kids get it the old fashioned way!" Natural isn't always good!

[Mama Mia]

That shocks me. In California parents have to show proof of current vaccinations before kids can be enrolled in school and have to provide proof they're up-to-date on their shots or else they'll be medically excluded from school later on.

I really don't get the anti-vaccers. To me it smacks of irrational and irresponsible parenting.

That's not true. You can waive vaccinations for personal beliefs in California. Unless things have changed drastically in the last few years. If you don't waive the vaccinations you have to show proof, but not if you sign the waiver. My daughter is a teacher in the most high income school in our county and she told me a couple years ago that they have an extremely high rate of non-vaccinated children.

[Jinger Jar]

That's not true. You can waive vaccinations for personal beliefs in California. Unless things have changed drastically in the last few years. If you don't waive the vaccinations you have to show proof, but not if you sign the waiver. My daughter is a teacher in the most high income school in our county and she told me a couple years ago that they have an extremely high rate of non-vaccinated children.

When the deadline for the DTAP vaccination came around, I want to say 2011 but I honestly can't remember, my school site morphed into a huge vaccination clinic to snag all the kids who'd not been vaccinated yet. Teachers and just about every adult on campus was given some part in it because we had more than 1,000 kids to jab and about six hours to do it in. And afterwards I had to field irate calls from parents whose kids had been absent that day and who were now medically excluded from school. I found it nuts that some of these parents were livid because they didn't know about the deadline (which was broadcast by every media outlet imaginable, in several languages, as well as by our own district, for months), while others wanted to blame me for not reminding them of the DTAP deadline, as if "holding parents responsible for meeting their kids' basic medical needs" was in my job description as an English teacher.

On DTAP day, I dealt with exactly one exemption, which I remember because she happened to be one of my students. The rest of the kids I helped process that day were simply unvaccinated because their parent/guardian couldn't manage to meet the deadline.

Over the years I've also had to make CPS calls on behalf of students who'd become medically excluded from school because of their vaccination status. It's interesting that once the courts become involved, people can suddenly find a way to get their kids shots so they can return to school.

Having large numbers of medical exemptions may be a product of the economic status or the culture of community the school or school district serves. Or it may be that counties in California have varying requirements relating to vaccinations and public schools or the individual districts push the availability of exemptions more aggressively than others. I don't know.

[dairyfreelife]

Many states do have philosophical exemptions. My state does not allow them and I am actually glad for that. They only allow medical exemptions for vaccines, though some people want that changed, state's not backing down on that issue. For all the backwardness people claim about my state, we care about preventing horrible diseases.

More than 4.5 percent of people not vaccinated for non medical reasons enrolled in school is insane. I am sorry, but no one was ever sick with measles, mumps, whooping cough, diphtheria or polio when I was in school. Those were unheard of because basically every single child in school was vaccinated. And no, chicken pox is becoming unheard of also. There wasn't a vaccine for it when I was a child, so I got a horrid case of it. I was miserable for like a week and had it everywhere, even in my mouth. :sick:

[Jinger Jar]

Many states do have philosophical exemptions. My state does not allow them and I am actually glad for that. They only allow medical exemptions for vaccines, though some people want that changed, state's not backing down on that issue. For all the backwardness people claim about my state, we care about preventing horrible diseases.

More than 4.5 percent of people not vaccinated for non medical reasons enrolled in school is insane. I am sorry, but no one was ever sick with measles, mumps, whooping cough, diphtheria or polio when I was in school. Those were unheard of because basically every single child in school was vaccinated. And no, chicken pox is becoming unheard of also. There wasn't a vaccine for it when I was a child, so I got a horrid case of it. I was miserable for like a week and had it everywhere, even in my mouth. :sick:

My brother contracted chicken pox as a newborn, many decades before the vaccine, either in the hospital or very shortly after he came home. He was covered in pustules, poor little guy.

When I was a kid we used to have pox parties, whereby one kid would get sick and parents would bring their kiddos over his house so that all of them were sick at the same time. I remember going to several of these shindigs, but for some reason I never got it. I did get a really bad case of shingles as an adult, though. I don't know if that is related.

[starfish]

I think measles are enjoying a nice resurgence as well.

Thanks anti-vaxxers!

(very sarcastic).

[Coconut Flan]

Uh oh. I've had kids counted in the exemptions even though they were vaccinated. The school wouldn't accept our alternate vaccines and vaccination schedule and I tired quickly of arguing with them and just said hand me a stack of exemption forms.

[Mama Mia]

When the deadline for the DTAP vaccination came around, I want to say 2011 but I honestly can't remember, my school site morphed into a huge vaccination clinic to snag all the kids who'd not been vaccinated yet. Teachers and just about every adult on campus was given some part in it because we had more than 1,000 kids to jab and about six hours to do it in. And afterwards I had to field irate calls from parents whose kids had been absent that day and who were now medically excluded from school. I found it nuts that some of these parents were livid because they didn't know about the deadline (which was broadcast by every media outlet imaginable, in several languages, as well as by our own district, for months), while others wanted to blame me for not reminding them of the DTAP deadline, as if "holding parents responsible for meeting their kids' basic medical needs" was in my job description as an English teacher.

On DTAP day, I dealt with exactly one exemption, which I remember because she happened to be one of my students. The rest of the kids I helped process that day were simply unvaccinated because their parent/guardian couldn't manage to meet the deadline.

Over the years I've also had to make CPS calls on behalf of students who'd become medically excluded from school because of their vaccination status. It's interesting that once the courts become involved, people can suddenly find a way to get their kids shots so they can return to school.

Having large numbers of medical exemptions may be a product of the economic status or the culture of community the school or school district serves. Or it may be that counties in California have varying requirements relating to vaccinations and public schools or the individual districts push the availability of exemptions more aggressively than others. I don't know.

I don't know, I googled it because I was curious. And apparently my county has a very high rate of non- vaccinators. In 2011 it was over 10% of the entering kindergarten ears. In this area it is most definitely the upper income white kids who don't vaccinate more frequently than other groups. In my experience the schools definitely do not push the personal exemptions, most people just seem to know about it, somehow.

[anniebgood]

I had an ER doctor tell me my sons cough was psychosomatic because he didn't cough continuously.

Because so few people knew what pertussis sounded like 15 years ago. He was diagnosed by an allergist who was walking by the waiting room at our PCPs. Luckily we got him on the right meds but he still coughed months on. He's 26 now and when he catches a cold, the cough memory comes back. I'll never forget that sound as long as I live.

He had a bad reaction to his initial DPT vaccination so I asked that he only got DT. A mistake I paid for years later.

[mockingbird]

I had a severe NotFlu back in September that left me with a cough so bad that I couldn't sleep through the night for weeks. Codeine-based cough medicine didn't do squat. The coughing destroyed my voice so badly that even as late as December people were telling me I "sounded better." Someone asked me if it could have been whooping cough, but I have had an adult booster. If that is what a run-of-the-mill illness can do, WHY would anybody roll the dice on whooping cough? "But it's more natural to let the kids get it the old fashioned way!" Natural isn't always good!

Exactly! I had a really bad chronic cough growing up, every winter. We still have no idea what it was (I didn't meet the criteria for "cough variant" asthma) but it kept me up at night and people who had been around for whooping cough, like my principal, told me it sounded like whooping cough. Luckily I was able to sleep with the codeine cough syrup, but I'm definitely glad I grew out of it. I am sure actual whooping cough is much worse. I have heard some people cough so much they throw up :( And then spells of not breathing obviously would be terrible.

Anyway... I swear, vaccines are one of the few topics I am really uncompromising about. With a lot of other topics I can appreciate other points of view, but honestly I think I just have no tolerance for anti-vaxxers not only because I am concerned about safety/health, but also because so much of the anti-vax movement is rooted in anti-intellectualism. I think I read someone on here compare them to a fundamentalist religious movement once and it does seem to be similar. I have argued with a lot of anti-vaxxers who seem aware of the facts, but just plain don't care because it doesn't fit their conspiracy theory thing, or whatever.

[debrand]

Oh, Sarah Pope. I cannot stand that woman. She is like another Zsuzsanna, with such hatred and anger in her face and voice and no matter what you say, no matter how many real doctors and scientists you cite, you're wrong because they're all funded by Big Pharma.

Before this article, I had never heard of Sarah Pope before but you are correct, she is very smug and obnoxious.

From a link in the comments on her blog, I found someone even more extreme.

Apparently, she has written a book about the wonders of measles

This book takes children aged 4 - 10 years on a journey of discovering about the ineffectiveness of vaccinations, while teaching them to embrace childhood disease, heal if they get a disease, and build their immune systems naturally.

She blames the death of her child from an unknown illness on vaccinations but the doctors apparently blame the death on a genetic disorder

naturematters.info/

Her kids have remained healthy unlike their vaccinated friends. :roll:

Unlike their vaccinated friends who have often succumb to the diseases they have been vaccinated against.