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AIBU?

To be worried about dd having the Cervical cancer jab after the fuss about it on here the other day

140 replies

Supervet · 01/08/2015 03:07

DD is due to have it shortly in school.
I had not heard anything about it and presumed she would have it because cervical cancer is horrid.

Now I am really worried because there was lots of fuss over it the other day on here with many comments about serious side effects. I have now read it has been banned in Japan and there are worries elsewhere.

Can anyone point me in the right direction of accurate none scare mongering information or does anyone have any medical experience in relation to this?

OP posts:
sykadelic · 01/08/2015 03:51

I had it 6 years ago. Never had any side effects or indeed heard of any...

nooka · 01/08/2015 04:06

My dd had her last jab about six months ago and is in a follow up study (looking to see whether two or three jabs are needed for long term coverage). We read lots of interested research data as a result and none of it was scary, in fact the study is being conducted in the hope that fewer jabs are needed and so it can be used in much poorer countries.

I'd not heard about the issue in Japan, but google turned upthis research study from the Lancet, which states that there was no foundation for the concerns in Japan.

NB It's also not been banned, they have just stopped promoting it.

WishIWasWonderwoman · 01/08/2015 04:47

I have had it (about four years ago) as part of a mass immunisation scheme. None of my friends had a reaction and neither did I.

YANBU to throughly research a vaccine before giving it to your DD.

But... YAB a bit U to be really worried about this particular one.

FortyCoats · 01/08/2015 04:49

Goodness, I really feel for you. I have numerous friends sharing some very scary information on Facebook about it.

Dd has had it and didn't experience any of the bad side effects or life-altering illness being talked about on FB and such. She had it before I read any of the scaremongering stuff and to be honest, I'm glad. There are some terrifying stories out there, I'm sure I would have wobbled before signing the consent form.

With my rational, unafraid mind I would say have a look at the statistics of CC and those of the jab. Arm yourself with as much reliable information as possible (sorry fellow MNers but here is not going to be the best source of factual information)

Try to avoid the Facebook links regarding the jab and stick to recognised bodies for guidance.

There are risks with every medication. Have you ever read the leaflet that comes with prescription meds? I don't think many people do (I sometimes have to for work) and let me tell you, there's some scary stuff in there. We never worry about it though because whatever medication it is, it's most likely one we know is long established. The CC jab is new(ish) and still frightening but I think in decades to come we will see its true worth and associate it with saving lives rather than causing hysteria on Facebook.

shouldnthavesaid · 01/08/2015 05:05

I had it way back in 2008. I was one of the first girls to get it. It's done neither me nor any of my classmates any harm that I know of.

WishIWasWonderwoman · 01/08/2015 05:21

Hmm, I have just looked up the vaccine after rereading this thread (I missed the fuss on mn). I guess you're not wrong to be cautious, maybe chat over it with a health professional before your daughter has it?

angstyaunty · 01/08/2015 05:22

Here is a study, published in the Danish Medical Journal, which looks at a group of girls who presented with very similar debilitating symptoms, consistent with autonomic dysfunction, shortly after vaccination with HPV.
www.danmedj.dk/portal/page/portal/danmedj.dk/dmj_forside/PAST_ISSUE/2015/DMJ_2015_04/A5064
A documentary screened recently on Denmark's TV2 follows the girls in the study, and features the doctors who are researching this issue.

angstyaunty · 01/08/2015 05:27

I meant to add, the DMJ abstract found it worthy to mention that the girls all shared at least one common characteristic pre-vaccination- strikingly high levels of athletic fitness. How this rendered them vulnerable to suffering severe side effects to HPV is as yet unknown (if, indeed, it is at all relevant), but it was deemed worthy of comment by the researchers.

angstyaunty · 01/08/2015 05:28

severe side effects to HPV vaccination

FortyCoats · 01/08/2015 05:45

aunty are there any percentages yet? Everything (bad) I've read makes it seems the chances are actually quiet high. I know 10's out of thousands on paper doesn't look much but when talking about young healthy girls, it really is scary.

Is there a timeframe for the adverse reactions?

Im wondering now if we've just been lucky and dodged a bullet.

sebsmummy1 · 01/08/2015 05:53

Having had CIN2 off the back of HPV and needing a LLETZ procedure in my early twenties I would say please let your daughter have the vaccine. I still have the virus active in my system at 40, it's the cancerous strain but isn't presenting itself as abnormal cells yet on my cervix (last smear and coloscopy totally clear thankfully). It's a worry, particularly since I am now pregnant again after recurrent MC and I'm concerned my cervix may be incompetent after the LLETZ.

sebsmummy1 · 01/08/2015 05:53

*early thirties that should have said

angstyaunty · 01/08/2015 06:03

I don't know, Forty. The study only looked at girls who had a very narrow window between vaccination and onset of these particular symptoms. Two weeks, I think. Most girls, of course, are not affected by the vaccination. I guess the issue is how to identify what makes one susceptible to a severe reaction (if one agrees that the illness suffered by these girls is related to the vaccine.)

softhedgehog · 01/08/2015 06:05

I'm a GP, in a practice of 12,000 patients. I have never seen a patient affected by it.

angstyaunty · 01/08/2015 06:07

sebsmummy1 Flowers

angstyaunty · 01/08/2015 06:38

But that's 12,000 patients, not 12,000 vaccinated adolescent girls. If this condition, this collection of symptoms which seems to be appearing in recently vaccinated girls, is related to the HPV vaccination, it is clearly a rare side-effect, because most girls are ok. If a link is firmly established between the vaccine and this collection of symptoms then I imagine it will be for the appropriate authorities - and parents - to determine whether this is acceptable collateral damage, or demand a safer vaccine.

BeakyMinder · 01/08/2015 07:29

YABU to pay attention to the Danish study. This is why:

All over the country this weekend many girls are going clothes shopping. Some of these girls will get ill next week, because that's what happens in a normal week - some girls somewhere will get ill.

A scientist comes along and notices some of the girls went clothes shopping the weekend before becoming ill. Does this prove that buying clothes caused the illness?

Itsbloodyraining · 01/08/2015 07:30

I didn't see the fuss on mn and I'm extremely pro-vaccination, but I've heard so much about this vaccine that has made me think that when it's my dds turn I will have to look into it further. A girl died from having it in our local school, so I think it has affected me more than it perhaps would have.

WishIWasWonderwoman · 01/08/2015 07:33

itsbloodyraining that's shocking. Was it proven to be directly related?

Mermaidhair · 01/08/2015 07:33

My dd was meant to have it 6 years ago and I wouldn't let her have it. I am very for immunisation to. There were just to many people having issues and dying from it for me to consider it.

BeakyMinder · 01/08/2015 07:33

A girl died from having it? Was that the coroner's verdict? Hmm

I suspect you mean died AFTER having it, which is a different thing entirely. If indeed anyone died at all.

Some serious scaremongering going on in this forum.

BeakyMinder · 01/08/2015 07:35

Too many people dying FFS!!!

Don't you think the NHS would have noticed if that was the case? Shock

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ollieplimsoles · 01/08/2015 07:45

YANBU to research EVERY vaccine before you consider it for your dc at any age.

This vaccine is too new and studies are too shaky for me to consider this for my dc personally.

Gileswithachainsaw · 01/08/2015 07:53

My dd is only 9 so a while til she gets it.. but I will be thoroughly researching it first. I first doubted if I'd get it after I saw drs discussing it on tv and talking to people who'd had bad effects from it.

I'm not sure either way yet.

LorelaiVictoriaGilmore · 01/08/2015 07:56

I had this vaccine when I was 18 after a smear test showed I had a strain of HPV. My mum was pro the vaccine (and I myself am totally pro vaccination) not least because my mum had cervical cancer in her early 40s which was thankfully successfully treated by a hysterectomy. I had the jabs sometime during autumn 2002. In early January 2003 I came down with something that kept me in bed for 3/4 months and was diagnosed as ME. I have no idea if there was any connection but given all the stories recently, I can't help but wonder. That said, following the jab, I've never had another abnormal smear and if I had a daughter, I think I would still be pro-vaccination.

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