angry about school's policy on MMR

[sacausa]

EDITED TO ADD: I WAS WRONG, THE SCHOOL WAS RIGHT....... AND THE TWO IMMUNIZATIONS AGAINST MMR MUST BE DONE AFTER 12 MONTHS OF AGE FOR ADEQUATE IMMUNITY

Well, I had my first dosage of MMR when I was 11months old instead of the standard 1yr old............. b/c I was in South Africa!

Now my idiotic health center has put a student stop on my account that prevents me from registering for fall classes until I get the vaccine done by them (which is $60 cash btw, and they won't take any insurance... interesting, huh?!)...

How can they not understand that the 1yr thing isn't a rule but a GUIDELINE!!!

look: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/mea...331/DSECTION=9

even the Mayo Clinic talks about how it may be administered before 12months of age in certain countries, and it's not a big deal as long as you have your 2nd dose of it (which I did have!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ugh)

I mean seriously, I'd rather believe the Mayo Clinic than the UM's opinion!!!!!!!

and to me, the biggest deal is that I may feel sick/sore afterwards and I have exams to study for!

if I end up HAVING to get it done again, I'm going to ANOTHER doctor so that they can't make any money from my uneccesary suffering!

ISN'T THE BIGGEST STRESS OF SCHOOL SUPPOSED TO BE ACADEMIC?

craziness

oh, and I don't want something like an MMR shot to upset the delicate balance of having my IC under control either.......... I mean, I JUST recently went into remission and I don't want something stupid like this upset the delicate balance......

maybe I should just have a blood test done to check my immunity?

hmmmmmmmm, private schools are seriously just out to make money

Does anyone know of any other valid sources that talk about the guidelines for MMR shots?

[kadi]

I don't know about the vaccine, but I did want to mention that when I was a student & needed a full physical/medical release to get my teaching credential (thank God I don't have to get that now with IC!), I looked in the phone book & went to the county public health clinic. It cost barely anything, it was one of the most thorough exams I've ever had, & I got the paperwork I needed done.

Just a thought, maybe you can get it done inexpensively that way.

I'm sorry for your hassle. Bureaucracy! (spelling?) Hope it all gets worked out soon--

[vm]

Did you check the NIH to see if they have info about the guidelines?

[Sarojini]

You can check out the CDC too...

Yeah, colleges can be really petty. It's not health related, but I remember when I was an undergrad, my school started telling me my graduation was on hold because we owed THREE CENTS on our bill (and it was THEIR miscalculation anyway) -- I went to a private college and the bill was not small for any of the students. How they could ever care enough to cause someone not to graduate over three cents is beyond me. I walked to the Bursar's office with three pennies I got in change when I bought a sticky donut at Dunkin' Donuts, and then tossed them on the receptionist's desk all gooey

[sacausa]

Sorojini......that's hilarious!

I'll check out the CDC and NIH...... and I'm going there tommorow to talk with them in person because this is just ridiculous! It's not the money that's the issue, it's my health and doing something that's uneccesary.....just so they can make a profit!

[sacausa]

both the NIH and CDC have the EXACT same information, just printed in different font...and it says that it should be given in the first 12-15months of life. That's just a rough guideline though, I mean we are people not robots.

I was living in Africa at the time, and there many native kids don't get immunized and you lose your mother's immunity at 6 months old..... I mean, seriously, would they rather have me dead or crippled but have been fully compliant with their rough guideline? hmmm, I'm learning about this stuff in my history of medicine class too which I guess is why this is ticking me so much.... I just learned how we aren't robots and each patient is an individual, and physicians should take guidelines etc. in consideration but not have that be the determining factor.

[catlover2]

Some medications cannot be taken if you are required to get another MMR. I know one of the meds is CyA. I would go to the health dept. or your doc and get a letter stating that you do not need another MMR just because you got your first shot when you were 11 months old. Another idea: Can you claim that getting the MMR shot is against your religion? Most schools have a policy stating that you can tell them your religious beliefs prevent you from getting vaccines.

[dancemomof2]

You mean they won't even consider a Health Dept. or vaccine clinic that excepts your insurance. How insane

[sacausa]

This school really is insane...... you'd think $42K a year would be enough to keep them happy!!!!!!!

[sacausa]

Ok, I can admit if I was wrong!

I went to the school computer lab to go print some of mayo clinic stuff to take with me to clinic tommorow..... but being my curious self, I did more searches for "MMR under 12 months" on only .gov sites

soooooooooo a CDC site says that while children MAY be immunized before 12 months that it isn't valid....... furthermore, I found a CDC study with kids who were immunized (first dose) at 9 months vs. kids who got their first dose of MMR at 12 months...... and it has a much higher success rate in kids over 12months for the first dose....... so the CDC says that if you got your first dose before 12 months, that you should get two more after 12 months.

so I WAS WRONG

booo hooo.... now I'm going to have to get the MMR tommorow.... not only because my school wants me to, but because I don't ever want to get measles, mumps, or rubella...... and ever want to deal with not having gotten the proper MMR sequence ever again.

THE END.

[sacausa]

I had the MMR today, and my arm hurts horribly! I now know why babies scream bloody murder when they get their shots!

[Berkshire Road]

I actually HAD the measles, mumps, and chickenpox all at the same time, when I was ten months old. I caught them from my four year old sister. (That must have been a lot of fun for my poor mother, especially after my father came down with measles and mumps as well!) Well, I got the chickenpox again when I was ten years old, and many years later in grad school I ran into a similar policy, couldn't register for classes bc. of no MMR, so I went and got titered (sp? -- anyway, the blood test to see if you have antibodies against the disease, which means you have been exposed to it), and I was negative for both measles and mumps. So I did need the MMR.

Just today I took my daughter to her pediatrician, and they think she has mono. He mentioned that she will always test positive for mono in the future, and then my daughter said something about my having had chickenpox twice, and the pedicatrician said that is impossible. I explained that the first case was before age one, and he still insists it's impossible. But it really did happen.

[sacausa]

One of my dad's friends had chicken pox 3 times!!! some people just never develop antibodies against it (I have to add, that the 3rd time he was in a different country so it was probably a different strain of chicken pox)

[Berkshire Road]

Oh, yeah, I never thought about there being different strains. Are there? Actually, though, I'm pretty sure I was in the US both times I had the c'pox. Now that they are routinely vaccinating kids, I worry less about getting it again -- from my daughter. She is vaccinated against c'pox and so are most of the kids her age. When I became a mother, one of the things I thought was, "Oh yeah, here comes my third bout with chickenpox..." The vaccine came out a few years later. Whew!

[sacausa]

I would have liked to have the chickenpox vaccine lol! I suffered through chickenpox when I was three, along with my brother, aunt, uncle, and newborn cousin!