JinJer 47: Sparking J-O-Y

[Rik_Bik]

86 people in my town alone died of measles in 2018. People here blame American missionaries for bringing over anti-vax rhetoric. I can’t verify that, but 86 people died because of anti-vax lies. Good thing those kids weren’t autistic though, that would’ve been worse 

[welshdoll]

3 hours ago, Rik_Bik said:

86 people in my town alone died of measles in 2018. People here blame American missionaries for bringing over anti-vax rhetoric. I can’t verify that, but 86 people died because of anti-vax lies. Good thing those kids weren’t autistic though, that would’ve been worse 

I'm so sorry. What a nightmare for you and your town. I have no words to express how sorry I am.

I graduated from an Upstate NY high school back in 1991. That year, all the Seniors (or graduating class) were lined up in the auditorium and given booster shots to prepare us for college, as most of the colleges at the time required proof of vaccination or a medical exemption. Measles was the main concern. 

[mstee]

11 hours ago, JDuggs said:

My son had the chicken pox vaccine and never had chicken pox. He still got shingles as a teenager. The doctor didn’t seem surprised by this, but I didn’t get much of an explanation either.

Because the vaccine is a live form of the virus, it can remain in the body dormant and show up later as shingles. 

[FrozenSmile]

5 hours ago, Rik_Bik said:

86 people in my town alone died of measles in 2018. People here blame American missionaries for bringing over anti-vax rhetoric. I can’t verify that, but 86 people died because of anti-vax lies. Good thing those kids weren’t autistic though, that would’ve been worse 

But my friend posted a link that said that there have been zero measles related deaths & the CDC is making up numbers so people will be scared & vaccinate their kids! ? (editing to make sure the sarcasm came through!)

I totally agree with public schools requiring vaccines. You don’t want to vaccinate? Fine, that’s your choice. But if you want to put your kids in a government funded school, where they could infect other kids, you should be required to vaccinate. The problem is that i don’t personally know any anti-vaxxers that have kids in public schools, so this doesn’t do anything except put them on their “choice” pedastal (which is usually super ironic). 

[clueliss]

I can remember circa 1970 or so (born in the mid-60s)  getting vaccinated at school.  Specifically measles* and polio (sugar cubes I believe).  

* the first time I got the measles vax it was apparently a year in which both a live and a dead virus was given.  They did not know which I had gotten and circa 1976 or so I had to get a second vax for said same due to an outbreak at school.  I was ill the day the vax was given so mom took me to the doctor after my sister and other kids in the neighborhood got measles (my sister got the vax at school when I missed it - but she's probably already been exposed).  I didn't get measles (I'm going to guess that my initial shot in kindergarten was good).

note with the flu that the flu virus changes over time which is why you need a new one each year.  

[Timetostoplurking]

17 minutes ago, clueliss said:

I can remember circa 1970 or so (born in the mid-60s)  getting vaccinated at school.  Specifically measles* and polio (sugar cubes I believe).  

* the first time I got the measles vax it was apparently a year in which both a live and a dead virus was given.  They did not know which I had gotten and circa 1976 or so I had to get a second vax for said same due to an outbreak at school.  I was ill the day the vax was given so mom took me to the doctor after my sister and other kids in the neighborhood got measles (my sister got the vax at school when I missed it - but she's probably already been exposed).  I didn't get measles (I'm going to guess that my initial shot in kindergarten was good).

note with the flu that the flu virus changes over time which is why you need a new one each year.  

I remember this too.   Measles and mumps.   We were vaccinated at school for both of these.  This was in the Midwest around 1974-75

[Sullie06]

20 hours ago, Kailash said:

Can’t you get the vaccine now? It would be worth it to prevent the possibility of shingles, imo.

I couldn't at the time because I was pregnant and then nursing and then I got pregnant again  and my doctor advised against it but I should be able to now that I'm no longer nursing. I actually see my doctor next week, I'm going to ask her about it. 

14 hours ago, JillyO said:

Seriously, like @Kailash said, get vaccinated now (unless you are currently pregnant)! Getting chicken pox as an adult is absolutely no joke, so why risk it?

For sure don't want to risk it, when I found out I didn't carry the antibodies I freaked out, to be honest. My whole life everyone just assumed I had  "mild case" even though nobody, myself included ever actually witnessed me having it. I worked in a school, then a hospital and now public service, I'm amazed I haven't gotten it. Hopefully my doc can give it to me on Monday.

[front hugs > duggs]

When my husband was applying for his green card, he had to show proof of the immunizations he had gotten. Unfortunately, we couldn't get it from his parents in England before we had to provide it, and he had to go to a USCIS approved physician and get all the required ones in one day. My poor husband - he had to get vaccinations against mumps, measles, rubella, polio, tetanus, dtap, hep b, and the flu shot all in one sitting.

[JDuggs]

5 hours ago, mstee said:

Because the vaccine is a live form of the virus, it can remain in the body dormant and show up later as shingles. 

That’s what I thought, but it’s been repeated a couple of times that having the chicken pox vaccine is also prevention against shingles, but it isn’t.

[Cheetah]

Article about how the use of Gardasil has put Australia on track to eliminate cervical cancer:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/03/world/australia/cervical-cancer-hpv-vaccine.html

[freshlemonade]

 As a mom of a preemie and someone who also found out during pregnancy that she was not protected from Rubella, I give a heartfelt thank you to all of you who have vaccinated your children.  

I have an anti-vax acquaintance who is very vocal about it on IG.  She references Lisa Bonet in her anti-vax posts.  Like, seriously?  Lisa Bonet?  I think I'll stick with the advice of medical professionals.   

I hate the idea of social media influencers convincing young moms not to vaccinate based on what certain celebrities think.

[Kailash]

52 minutes ago, JDuggs said:

That’s what I thought, but it’s been repeated a couple of times that having the chicken pox vaccine is also prevention against shingles, but it isn’t.

It is very very rare for someone to have shingles if they never had chicken pox. 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.livescience.com/45804-chickenpox-vaccine-cause-shingles.html

Eta: It seems more likely that people who later had shingles did in fact have a mild case of chicken pox at one time. 

[Blessings of the Corn]

I have a friend who is over the river from Clark County here in WA state. He's terrified to leave his house because he's had cancer and he is on immune suppressing medication. It's so selfish to not vaccinate your children on the VERY slight risk that they may have a reaction to it. Yes, some people do. I am allergic to penicillin. Or people who don't vaccinate for a bunch of woo, non-scientific reasons. 

Re: chicken pox. I was born in 82 and when I was 12 (I think. Maybe 10) my mom made us go to our bestfriends next door to get the chicken pox because we hadn't had it. My brother and sister got a mild case and the next week I got it. I was sicker than I've ever been. I was covered head to toe and so sick.

[TeaELSee]

15 hours ago, neurogirl said:

 I am so sorry to hear about your son, and I'm so thankful that you have absolved yourself. I am actually studying Dravet syndrome and another epilepsy, GEFS+ for my PhD.

 

I’m so glad to see research is being done and thank you! I know little about Dravet actually other than I am 95% sure that is what my son had.  I self diagnosed him and of course I could be wrong. He was never diagnosed with anything and I had never heard of Dravet until I saw a special about medical marijuana on CNN.  (He had already passed 8 years) I had only heard of Lennox Gastau, Battens and a few other that Dr’s ruled out.  I looked it up afterwards and my son ticked every box listed for Dravet so I feel pretty confident that is what he had. 

He had every metabolic test etc done throughout his life.  The multiple specialists he saw never had a diagnosis so hanging on to the adverse reaction to the vaccine was easier for me. This was the early 90’s and from what I’ve read it was a pretty new diagnosis then.  It really came out of left field, zero history on either side of the family.

Sorry to jump in with this, I’m just really grateful you are working on such complex and relatively rare pediatric disorders. 

[Audrey2]

45 minutes ago, Blessings of the Corn said:

I have a friend who is over the river from Clark County here in WA state. He's terrified to leave his house because he's had cancer and he is on immune suppressing medication. It's so selfish to not vaccinate your children on the VERY slight risk that they may have a reaction to it. Yes, some people do. I am allergic to penicillin. Or people who don't vaccinate for a bunch of woo, non-scientific reasons. 

 

I live on the Oregon side and I, too, have been more mindful about where I've been going, even though I had the measles vaccination as a child and then again before I went to college. I still go to my local grocery stores and libraries, but I'm not planning a trip to IKEA or any of the other stores by Ikea anytime soon. I am not even planning a trip to Del Taco in Vancouver to get the shrimp tacos that come out this month, which is something I count down the days to every year!

[Don'tlikekoolaid]

I’m out of touch re little kids, do they still of those Petri dish pits full of plastic balls for kids at IKEA and McDonalds or have they finally smartened up?  I really hated those things.

[Knight of Ni]

I haven’t seen one at a McDonalds in a very long time. I’m not sure about IKEA. I loved them at McDonald’s when I was a kid but now as an adult it’s just nasty. Kids definitely don’t have a concept of germ theory. I took my three year old daughter to the bathroom at a fast food joint one time and there was a french fry sitting in a puddle of water on the floor. I just barely stopped her before she had popped it into her mouth. 

[seraaa]

11 hours ago, Rik_Bik said:

86 people in my town alone died of measles in 2018. People here blame American missionaries for bringing over anti-vax rhetoric. I can’t verify that, but 86 people died because of anti-vax lies. Good thing those kids weren’t autistic though, that would’ve been worse 

Former doctor Andrew Wakefield, whose fraudulent paper sparked the MMR controversy, was struck off for being a lying liar, and yet this myth still persists. Like, your man is not allowed to practice as a medical doctor any more because of what he did but the door he opened has jet to be jammed shut. He propagated these lies and people suffered as a direct result. 

It is infuriating. 

[Bad Wolf]

4 hours ago, seraaa said:

Former doctor Andrew Wakefield, whose fraudulent paper sparked the MMR controversy, was struck off for being a lying liar, and yet this myth still persists. Like, your man is not allowed to practice as a medical doctor any more because of what he did but the door he opened has jet to be jammed shut. He propagated these lies and people suffered as a direct result. 

It is infuriating. 

It's all a big pharmacy/government conspiracy right? Some people will never accept the facts.

[Coconut Flan]

7 hours ago, Kailash said:

 

Eta: It seems more likely that people who later had shingles did in fact have a mild case of chicken pox at one time. 

I had a dispute with the kids' pediatrician swearing that the two (yeah two) bumps on her back were chickenpox while he swore they were flea bites.  There were no fleas in a home with no pets in February with snow on the ground.  There was, however, a chickenpox epidemic and her best friend had them.  All was resolved twenty years later when she had shingles. 

Very, very mild cases of chickenpox can happen.

[JDuggs]

I saw this about the link between the chickenpox vaccine and shingles. I’m very pro-vaccine and I don’t regret my kids getting any of their vaccinations, but I believe that people who have had the chickenpox vaccination are still at risk for shingles even without having a mild case of chickenpox.

[adidas]

5 hours ago, Coconut Flan said:

I had a dispute with the kids' pediatrician swearing that the two (yeah two) bumps on her back were chickenpox while he swore they were flea bites.  There were no fleas in a home with no pets in February with snow on the ground.  There was, however, a chickenpox epidemic and her best friend had them.  All was resolved twenty years later when she had shingles. 

Very, very mild cases of chickenpox can happen.

Absolutely.

I had a really mild case of chicken pox when I was 4 - my doctor and parents expected me to get it again when my siblings got it a few years later. But I didn’t. 

There was no chicken pox vaccine when my kids were little and they not got it really badly. I even half expected to get a few spots because I was rubbing calamine lotion into them (I avoided my siblings when they had it) but again I didn’t. 

 I somehow got immunity from the 5 tiny spots I had when I was 4 years old. 

[Carm_88]

My brother got the chicken pox at 7 and spread them to me, I was 13. He had a mild case and I was out of school for 8 days completely covered with chicken pox. On top of that, as I have mentioned before, I had my period to add to the misery. If I have kids I would get them vaccinated just to save them and me that type of misery! 

[libgirl2]

23 hours ago, Cheetah said:

Article about how the use of Gardasil has put Australia on track to eliminate cervical cancer:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/03/world/australia/cervical-cancer-hpv-vaccine.html

This wasn't available to me when I was younger. I ended up with cervical cancer. I had a hysterectomy when my son was 4. I had an ex-classmate on FB asking if she should get the shot for her daughter. Another classmate, home schooling non-vaxxer, wanted to "share articles" as to how horrible it is. Yes, because cervical cancer and possibly not having children is a joy. 

[byzant]

Absolutely my mum was caught up in an earlier antivax trend so didn't get 2 yr old me and my 3 month old brother the whopping cough vacinne. Of course we both got it and  were so sick for over a year( literally I had a little red vomit bucket to carry about so I could throw up and breath) that my super unemotive uc grandfather cried and sent us to Italy for 6 months to recover. I went from a tiny but healthy girl to a skeleton who fell off the bottom of the growth chart. 

 

Not vaccinating ( if you don't have a real medical reason) is super selfish and should mean you can't participate in society!