.. to be really hacked off with my Mum over vaccinations

[MrsTwinks]

Me and DH are TTC. A passing comment from a relative about my mum and doctors got me thinking about my jabs so thought I'd better get my rubella checked.

Just back from the doctor and it turns out all vaccinations on me stopped when I was about 2. Everything. Now IIRC 1988 was pre the MMR scare, but even so I could understand that, except its all of them. They have recommended I have a polio and tetanus now, but I'm also missing BCG etc.

AIBU to be really fucked off at my mum for a)kinda for just doing it to start with but honestly really b) never bloody telling me!!

I work with kids, shes been on at me to TTC for literally years, and not once has she mentioned me not having had my jabs. The tetanus one really fucks me off too because as a teen I cut my leg open really badly on rusty metal, it got infected so bad even the holes from the stitches got all infected and she didn't let/make sure I had a tetanus booster. I suspect also she never told my Dad because he went ape when I nearly didn't have my meningitis c when I was 17. He was a SAHP with me at first as he was a student so I wonder if maybe it was only him who took me in the first place.

I'm still really mad 'cos I ust discovered it ontop of alot of other stuff she did but now its like she coulda been playing russian roulette with not only my health as a child but my kid's if I hadnt thought to check it iykwim.

and breathe

my ds2 had a single tetanus jab (without dipth/pertussis) from dr halvorsen - that was 2 years ago so possibly it's no longer available but worth looking into if you want it. (as it happens he had a strong reaction to jab 2 of 3 so we never completed the course on halvorsen's advice, but there we are!)

Oh that's interesting sidge thanks. Ds2 in nearly 10 and I'm nit too worried about the diphtheria vaccine although am a bit more ambivalent about ipolio.

Mrs ravel - did you have to get three shots from dr halvorsen for coverage or was one enough? I have thought about getting measles and tetanus from him but it is so hard for us to get to London with the younger two. We could manage one trip bit if tetanus needed three it was going to be really tricky.

I nearly persuaded a local private GP but he said although he sympathised he didn't want to have to end up at the gmc and preferred to try and change ways of thinking from within the system. I'm amazed halvorsen hasn't been hauled up there yet. I should get everything sorted before he is!

Not read all but i would def get blood tests to check immunity. When i went to study in the us i had to get anotherr mmr beacuse i only got 1 as a kid. I asked for a bloood test to check immunity-i was fine and the college were happy with that so no jag needed
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KouklaMoo you know how the "silent majority" think now, do you? hahahahahaha

OP I don't blame your mother for not telling you if she knew you were going to get all over-excited and go ape-shit at her. Just have your jabs if that's what you want. Life is a risk.

Leonie
Do you mean Andrew Wakefield? Wrongly struck off?? You are joking aren't you? He lied, paid people to test their children and basically made up a load of crap leading to a huge dip in numbers being given MMR ( and children subsequently died of measles)
Wrongly struck off- I don't bloody think so

um, the dip in uptake of mmr started before wakefield (et al - lets not forget the others) published the 1998 paper.

possibly it was due to the horrific safety record of MMRI, which lead to its withdrawal in the UK (long after it had been withdrawn elsewhere globally)

Aha, I see we are off to the races ....

Yes Sossiges, by the uptake rate - approx 90% - the majority.

I think he was most successful in getting people to think other was link between MMR and autism which has subsequently been proved to be untrue.
Hardly a hero figure in my book, completely unethical and very correctly struck off. Or maybe you think he should still be practicing?

it;s funny that you should say that.

because he never said there was a link between mmr and autism.

the media did, for sure.

but am not sure you can blame someone for NOT saying what everyone thinks they said.

interesting that you did not address my point about mmr numbers falling before the 1998 paper.

There's dropping and then there is plummeting for a prolonged spell ie years. He did untold damage and I believe was being pay-rolled by some big pharmaceutical company.
Seriously does anyone actually think he was wrongly struck off (except leonie who apparently does)?

I also think the press played a huge part in this as they tend to do increasingly these days causing 'scares' based on incomplete information such as one small study or even an editorial

Btw regardless of what he said his paper was seriously flawed, pretty indefensible imo

I very much doubt that the uptake rate of anything (including free beer) is "90%".

ok, so:

he was to blame for the drop in rates, except he wasn't
he was to blame because he linked mmr and autism, except he didn't

he is, of course, according to the majority, still to blame.

I just wish that the blame could be accurately apportioned.

Yanbu OP
Sorry for derailing thread but couldn't let leonie's post pass without comment

He paid children money to get their blood tested. Good science???

YANBU she has been extremely irresponsible, make sure you get the MMR.
MY dsds are not immunised (their mum is against it) and I will discuss this with them as soon as they are 18, as I'm sure she won't.

whether he paid the children or not has absolutely no bearing on how good (or not, according to opinoin) the science was - surely you can see that?

and, btw, one of the charges at the gmc relates to that - but not to the actual paying, but to the fact that he made a joke about it afterwards at a conference. you honestly couldn't make htis stuff up.

"because he never said there was a link between mmr and autism."

if you keep repeating those myths it doesn't make them true! Both the paper and his media converence more than insinuated there was a link.

"that you did not address my point about mmr numbers falling before the 1998 paper."

again not true it had been consistantly 92% until 1997 then went to 91% in 1998 and downwards after that for some reason UK doesn't appear unless you down load the spreadsheet

The study only had about 8 cases ie far too small to make any judgement from it's results. Ethics are an important part of science too, and his were dubious to say the least.
You didn't reply as to whether you think he should still be practicing?
Anyway we won't agree on this, I'm off to bake muffins.

As you were OP

"without in any way wantng to downplay the seriousness of paralytic polio, maybe the OPs mum has taken a view wrt the fact that over 95% of polio cases are subclinical?"

I didn't know that. I am old enough to remember seeing people wearing leg irons as a result of childhood polio. Parents used to live in fear of their child contracting polio pretty much the same way we live in fear of meningitis.

Incidentally, the polio vaccine is a live one and you need to be even more scrupulous about washing your hands after using the toilet for about 6 weeks afterwards.

MrsTwinks Have you had chicken pox? A friend of mine contracted chicken pox during the first trimester when she was expecting her first child and her daughter has shortened limbs as a result.

I really wish people would stop with this type of line: "having the jabs doesn't mean guaranteed immunity"...as if this was some kind of reason not to do it. Using a condom doesn't guarantee against pregnancy or STD's but it vastly reduces the risk and is a v good idea. Same with vax.

Anyway, the rights or wrongs are a seperate issue, she should have told you, for sure.