Gardasil

[precious pixie]

How did my mother really know about long term effects from the polio vaccine (which was new when I was little)? She didn't - she made the best decision she could at the time to protect her children against a known disease by giving them a relatively new vaccine.

couldn't agree more

 

[Jenvenza]

I am over the age limit to get this shot, but I wouldnt get it even if I could. My DD is way too young to even think about this yet, but as of now, I would say I would NOT give her this shot.

 

[NHdisneylover]

I wanted to add something to this. For all of those who have had their dds vaccinated with it and say that they have had no side effects- how do you really know? They have been no studies on the long term effects of this vaccine. How do you really know they have or will not have any side effects from it?
That is my concern. I do think it is up to the individual to decide but for me there is simply not enough scientific information about this vaccine. YMMV.

You are correct that all I really know is that she had no short term side effects. I was trying to give the OP more information about how at least my DD responded to this vaccine (she did not even think it hurt as much as most shots--which seems contrary to many people's reactions). In the long term I do not know how this vaccine may effect her. We have lots of new technology, food additives, etc. which I cannot know the long term effects of. I have to make the best decision I can now with the information I have now. As the pp mentioned--an entire generation received the polio vaccine before anyone knew the long term effects of that. Good thing they did in my opinion.
I certainly understand those who prefer to wait, but please also understand that some of us prefer to risk a "possible" unexpected, long term side effect to risking the known effects of cervical cancer.

 

[MaumeeMom]

That's true, but if both partners are virgins who have not engaged in any behavior that could spread this illness, then isn't it safe to assume that the vaccine would be unnecessary?

This may be your life situation at the moment but it could change. Say you marry the virgin BF, what if - heaven forbid - 5 years later there is a car wreck and he is killed. Five more years go by and you meet a nice Christian widowed man at church and get married. He may not have been as pure as you as a teen and may be a carrier. You never know. Life does not come with guarantees.

If you are uncomfortable with the vaccine for medical reasons, then don't do it, but if you are making the decision solely on who you are currently dating, you may wish to think again.

I have boys, if, or when, the vaccine is available for them I will do my research and make a decision at that time. If I were younger, I think that, given what I know now, I would get the shots.

 

[Feralpeg]

I wanted to add something to this. For all of those who have had their dds vaccinated with it and say that they have had no side effects- how do you really know? They have been no studies on the long term effects of this vaccine. How do you really know they have or will not have any side effects from it?
That is my concern. I do think it is up to the individual to decide but for me there is simply not enough scientific information about this vaccine. YMMV.

Does your child use a cell phone? How do you know that continued exposure to the cell phone will not cause side effects down the line? There are some studies that say they will.

I'm not trying to be flip, but we use things every day in our normal life routine that could potentially result in health issues years from now. Everything we eat has additives of some type. We are exposed to tons of things from electrical devices.

I realize that any drug we take could have potentially harmful consequences. Every prescription we get has a large list of potential side effects. We still take the drug because we know that it can help us. Sometimes it is a matter of taking the slight risk of something bad happening vs. the known good. I chose the known good for my daughter and went ahead with the vaccinations. She is now a college student. I know for a fact that most of the guys she dates have been sexually active in the past. I don't want their past to cause health issues for my daughter should she take the step to have sex with one of them.

 

[kristilew]

Some points -

It's not true what a pp said about men not getting HPV. This is the virus that causes genital warts. Men can get 'em and it's not pretty.

DH works with an international drug research company. They've been testing the vaccine for many years now. Other countries (Europe esp) have been more proactive than the US FDA, so have more data. Scotland, for example, provides this vaccine for every girl.

While it is true that not all strains of HPV are prevented by this virus, that doesn't mean it's not helpful. That's like saying "washing my hands won't prevent all chances of me getting the flu, so I'm not going to bother."

It's great to be in a committed relationship and even better to wait for marriage to have sex. I hope my dd will. Unfortunately, many girls will be forced into a sexual encounter at some point in their lives.

We did choose the vaccine for dd and had no ill effects from it. As pp's have said, that may change down the road, but it's been a couple of years now and I'm not sure how we would specifically link some future health problem back to this particular series of shots. She will have been exposed to so many millions of other health factors by the time she is an adult.

Finally, OP, you could ask the same question about ANY vaccine on these boards and you'd get pages and pages of why you should or shouldn't get it. Good luck with your choice!

 

[Rebelmom67]

Why did the OP delete the thread title?! I guess she didn't like the responses she was getting on this thread either....

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

I love how you assume to know my motivations. The editing of the thread title was weird and was not done intentionally, I did not even know it has been edited until I logged on today and will be changing it back.

I was on the front page and clicked on something. It didn't bring me to the thread but created a text box out of the title. I accidentally hit the = sign and clicked outside of it. Nothing happened and I assumed my computer was being weird.

 

[ReneeA]

To those with concerns about the fact that there are hundreds of strains of HPV, yet the vaccine only protects against a few...the majority of HPV causing the warts are caused by 2 strains of HPV - both covered with Gardisil. 80% of cervical cancer is caused by 2 or 3 strains of HPV - which are covered by this vaccine. So although it's only covering a select few strains of HPV, those are the ones that cause 90% of the problems for the human population (hence the reason money and time in research were spent on it).

I thought the same way many here do - why bother for just a couple strains? Then I attended a conference (NOT funded by the pharm company BTW) and learned the facts as we know them today.

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

I have another question for you all...

On another site somebody said that HPV is HIGHLY contagious and can be spread just from sitting on the same toilet as another person like in a public restroom.

I went onto CDC and a couple of other medical websites that I trust and not one place did I find this "fact." I'm wondering if anybody else has heard this and knows of a reputable website to back this assertion up?

 

[RichNKatHolly]

I have another question for you all...

On another site somebody said that HPV is HIGHLY contagious and can be spread just from sitting on the same toilet as another person like in a public restroom.

I went onto CDC and a couple of other medical websites that I trust and not one place did I find this "fact." I'm wondering if anybody else has heard this and knows of a reputable website to back this assertion up?

It is highly contangious but I believe the contact has to be skin to skin. Someone else will chime in if this is incorrect.

And please remember that that includes the skin around the genitals that is not covered even with the use of a condom.

 

[ReneeA]

I have another question for you all...

On another site somebody said that HPV is HIGHLY contagious and can be spread just from sitting on the same toilet as another person like in a public restroom.

I went onto CDC and a couple of other medical websites that I trust and not one place did I find this "fact." I'm wondering if anybody else has heard this and knows of a reputable website to back this assertion up?

Probably pretty doubtful about a toilet seat because the virus probably won't live that long on that kind of surface.

However, condoms DO NOT protect against HPV. It is carried throughout the body and you can get it with skin to skin contact. It's not just carried on the genitals, but on areas away from the genitals as well. It's been estimated that 75% of all humans carry this virus. Sometimes if you have a great immune system, then your body will fight it off. However, it will live in your nerve fibers for the rest of your life and can flare up during times of stress or illness or just times when your immune system isn't up to par.

This means you can get it with contact that isn't intercourse - heavy petting, etc. There are virgins that have HPV. It's still unknown (obviously) what the ratio is of people that contacted HPV through sexual contact versus those that got it in a non-sexual manner. The same virus that causes warts to grow on hands and feet and other parts of the body is a HPV virus.

 

[rie'smom]

Make double darn sure that no one who has had ANY sexual contact gets the Gardisil vaccine . As we all know some girls may not be honest about having been sexually active. If they do have HPV:

"PCR-based HPV detection device with provision for accurate HPV genotyping is more urgently needed now because vaccination with Gardasil of the women who are already sero-positive and PCR-positive for vaccine-relevant genotypes of HPV has been found to increase the risk of developing high-grade precancerous lesions by 44.6%, according to an FDA VRBPAC Background Document : Gardasil HPV Quadrivalent Vaccine. May 18, 2006 VRBPAC Meeting. www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/ac/06/bri...

In other words, it appears that if the vaccine is given to a young woman who already carries HPV in a "harmless" state, it may "activate" the infection and directly cause precancerous lesions to appear.

 

[hichewlova]

I feel strongly about taking the vaccination. But either way you have to get regular paps...it's heart breaking to hear about women that just let it slide and then discover years later that they have cancer.

From my understanding, it's really hard to test males for HPV and it can lie dormant for a long time. The blood tests for males just aren't as conclusive so I would be hesitant to think that my BF /DH ect had cheated on me, you know? Plus something like 75% of all women will have some form of HPV in their life so really it just goes back to getting a regular pap.

 

[NotUrsula]

I see your point, but I have worked for an OBGYM for 10 years and I remember asking one of the Docs (and this was way before the vaccine came out) why these young girls were getting HPV. Well lets just say that I won't repeat his answer because it may offend some people. But needless to say my daughter won't be getting the vaccine.

Presuming that he told you that it was some form of sex that you think is unnatural and very unusual, that's your prerogative, I guess. I can only tell you that I got HPV when I was very much a virgin. The worst I had done was outside-the-clothes necking -- I had had absolutely NO genital contact at that point in my life.

I was diagnosed at my first well-woman exam when I was 19, when I went to get birth-control pills prescribed because I had for the first time acquired an actual boyfriend, and wanted to be prepared in case my common sense ran away from me in the heat of the moment. My university health plan provided me with a very old-school physician, who removed the 14 lesions that I had at that point WITHOUT the aid of anesthesia, with snips.

I will remember the pain and humiliation of that procedure until the day that I die, because I got to experience being strapped spread-eagled on a table that resembled a cross, and then tilted backward at a 30-degree angle so that the doctor would have a good angle to work from. The nurse who assisted snickered when I was whimpering in pain, and made a dismissive remark about how I should have considered the consequences.
The consequences of WHAT? I did not do a darned thing to deserve that stupid disease.

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

NotUrsula: Did they ever determine how you had contracted the disease?

 

[NotUrsula]

No. I don't think that it occurred to anyone to even try to figure it out.

That was 18 years ago, and I think that the doctor who treated me just assumed that I was lying about my total lack of sexual experience --obviously the nurse certainly did.

 

[Mouse House Mama]

I did my research and I am comfortable with my decision. The vaccine has been tested enough for me to be OK with it - I would have loved to wait another 20 years and see the long term follow-up but unfortunately by then DD would have been in her 30's. The decision to protect her or not had to be made without the benefit of 20 years of research. If my decision (and hers because she got a vote too) turns out to be wrong, then we will deal with it.

I may not really know what the very long term effects of Gardasil are but I do know what the long term effects of cervical cancer are. To provide even some protection to my DD, I am willing to take what I consider to be the small risk of side effects from the vaccine.

How did my mother really know about long term effects from the polio vaccine (which was new when I was little)? She didn't - she made the best decision she could at the time to protect her children against a known disease by giving them a relatively new vaccine.

I can see where you are coming from. I do agree that you ultimately have to be the one who is comfortable with your choice. I completely respect that. I know that no two people will make the same decisions for the same reasons. Everyone's life experiences are different, so I totally can understand your point.

You are correct that all I really know is that she had no short term side effects. I was trying to give the OP more information about how at least my DD responded to this vaccine (she did not even think it hurt as much as most shots--which seems contrary to many people's reactions). In the long term I do not know how this vaccine may effect her. We have lots of new technology, food additives, etc. which I cannot know the long term effects of. I have to make the best decision I can now with the information I have now. As the pp mentioned--an entire generation received the polio vaccine before anyone knew the long term effects of that. Good thing they did in my opinion.
I certainly understand those who prefer to wait, but please also understand that some of us prefer to risk a "possible" unexpected, long term side effect to risking the known effects of cervical cancer.

I agree, we don't know about the side effects of many things. Like I said, I completely respect your choice and I think that you should make a choice that you are comfortable with. It is not for me or anyone to tell you otherwise.

Does your child use a cell phone? How do you know that continued exposure to the cell phone will not cause side effects down the line? There are some studies that say they will.

I'm not trying to be flip, but we use things every day in our normal life routine that could potentially result in health issues years from now. Everything we eat has additives of some type. We are exposed to tons of things from electrical devices.

I realize that any drug we take could have potentially harmful consequences. Every prescription we get has a large list of potential side effects. We still take the drug because we know that it can help us. Sometimes it is a matter of taking the slight risk of something bad happening vs. the known good. I chose the known good for my daughter and went ahead with the vaccinations. She is now a college student. I know for a fact that most of the guys she dates have been sexually active in the past. I don't want their past to cause health issues for my daughter should she take the step to have sex with one of them.

To be honest, no, my kids don't use cellphones. They are too young for them. As for food additives you are also correct in that there are so many that we can't possibly know that they won't harm us. (on a side note- we keep a mostly "clean" diet) Everything in life has a cause and effect. So I do understand what you are saying. Like everything though you have to make a choice that you feel is best for your family and what you are most comfortable with. For us, we are not comfortable with this vaccine. We have researched it and are not satisfied with the current data so we have to do what we feel is right. Our kids are young so who knows if new data will be out by the time the girls are of age that might change our minds.
I hope that the data shows that there are no ill effects from this vaccine. I would like to do everything I can to protect my children from harm. I like to think that every parent would.
So I am not disputing anyone's reasons for getting this vaccine, I am simply stating that for us, right now, if our kids were of age, it is not the right choice for us.

 

[PrincessKsMom]

Presuming that he told you that it was some form of sex that you think is unnatural and very unusual, that's your prerogative, I guess. I can only tell you that I got HPV when I was very much a virgin. The worst I had done was outside-the-clothes necking -- I had had absolutely NO genital contact at that point in my life.

I was diagnosed at my first well-woman exam when I was 19, when I went to get birth-control pills prescribed because I had for the first time acquired an actual boyfriend, and wanted to be prepared in case my common sense ran away from me in the heat of the moment. My university health plan provided me with a very old-school physician, who removed the 14 lesions that I had at that point WITHOUT the aid of anesthesia, with snips.

I will remember the pain and humiliation of that procedure until the day that I die, because I got to experience being strapped spread-eagled on a table that resembled a cross, and then tilted backward at a 30-degree angle so that the doctor would have a good angle to work from. The nurse who assisted snickered when I was whimpering in pain, and made a dismissive remark about how I should have considered the consequences.
The consequences of WHAT? I did not do a darned thing to deserve that stupid disease.

I'm so sorry to hear this happened to you. I'm sure it was extremely traumatic and so unnecessary.

I had multiple abnormal Paps 11 years ago. After multiple colposcopies my doctor finally decided on the LEEP procedure. I was fortunate in that he put me in the hospital and put me to sleep before performing the procedure. He said he could have done it in the office, but didn't want me to have to deal with the pain if it wasn't necessary. I was a little crampy afterwards, but nothing major. He said I would have to have a minimum of 4 Paps clear before I could return to yearly Paps. Needless to say, I think I've regularly gone every six months ever since. The good news is no reoccurrence that has needed any further medical intervention.

The kicker of it is, about 2 years ago I went for my Pap and I called to check the results. At that point my doctor said everything was good, but I was still HPV positive. WHAT? WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT HPV POSITIVE?! SINCE WHEN? I freaked! He then told me that HPV was what had caused my issues years earlier and was the reason why I needed the LEEP. He had never put a name on it then and he said in the past few years it's become commonplace that women are tested for HPV when they have their Paps done. No one had ever put a name on it for me until recently. Since the mention of Gardisil, HPV has come to the forefront of women's health issues. Whether you chose to vaccinate or not is a personal decision. However, I'm so glad this is a topic being discussed and people do not need to feel ashamed or stigmatized in their diagnosis.

 

[NotUrsula]

I had a recurrence when I was 25; that one was a lot less traumatic to resolve. My OB was worried about my ability to successfully carry when I had my first child at 35, but my cervix held up OK without a suture, and I was also testing negative by that time (I still am.)