angry about school's policy on MMR

[Berkshire Road]

Yeah, you just missed it. My daughter is only seven years younger than you. The entire time she's been in school, there hasn't been one chickenpox epidemic. I lived in such a small town growing up, that when the 'pox was doing its thing, entire Little League teams would have to forfeit because all their players were down. Sometimes BOTh teams had to forfeit... LOL, I swear this is a true story!

I don't remember it hitting my lycée when I lived in France, though. Maybe everyone had already had it by that age. The kids were 11 through 19 in that school, and it was huge.

[mary124]

My eldest son had chicken pox 3 times! The last time he had it, it was a family affair! First it was my youngest, then me, and then the eldest son. Let me tell you as an adult you don't want chicken pox! (I was 32 years old) I was in bed and couldn't get up for 7 days! I had to have my in-laws to help around the house which included talking me to the bathroom. The only one who didn't have it was my husband. I think he had them before when he was a kid.

[Moonheart]

My son and I got the chicken pox together when he was just six months old poor baby. Of course he was able to get the vaccine after he contracted them and it reduced the amount of them that expressed themselves. He really didn't suffer too much between that and benadryl.
I had it far worse than he did. My entire scalp was covered in oozing scabs and I had a few on my face that left minor pock marks.

I would far rather suffer than he or any of my children any old day of the week.

[ICNDonna]

I also had chicken pox, mumps, and measles. And because our bodies can hang onto the chicken pox virus throughout life, just this month my husband and I both had shingles vaccinations to the tune of $300+ each. We absolutely don't want shingles and our insurance refuses to cover the new vaccine.

Donna

[sacausa]

Wow that's really cool that there's a shingles vaccine also! One of my friends is only 18 and she's been getting shingles which has led to many trips to the ER for her luckily her significant other is a fireman/EMT so he caught it quick everytime!

That's so horrible that the insurance doesn't cover it though! I really don't understand when they are so anti-preventative healthcare...... it's so much cheaper to prevent something than to have something, not even to mention that the patient wouldn't have to suffer!

I really want to HPV vaccine but it costs a LOT and I'm not sure if my insurance covers it...... I'll have to check into that one too!

[mom_in_ma]

Actually, I think your insurance probably will cover it. They would rather pay for the immunization vs. the cost of cervical cancer!

As someone who contracted hpv when I was young and then had pre-cancerous cells....I say get the vaccine!

[born2swim]

Hey there! I just wanted to point out that I only had one MMR shot when I was an infant. I got a seizure from the vaccine and they couldn't give me a second shot (I think there are only 2 right?). Anyways, to volunteer at the hospital, to attend a medical conference, and to enroll in collge, I had to have a MMR Titer. Basically they draw my blood and test for the antigens or antibodies. If I have them, I am immune to it. If I didn't, they would have to give me another vaccine or my doctor would have to justify no further vaccines due to seizure risk (which is most likely over since that is generally infantile reaction to MMR).

I don't know if the Titer would cost less (through your primary care physician) or not, but I thought I'd throw it out there! I see you already had the shot though... wonder if you really needed it if you had a clean Titer...

[sacausa]

I actually did have a clean titer. My mom is on vacation overseas so I couldn't get hold of her when all of this was going on... but I spoke to her yesterday and when we moved to the US they had to do a titer to make sure that I had immunity against all that stuff........... I just wish I could have gotten a hold of her earlier. What's done is done, I guess...