What would you do?

[disneygirlatheart]

Just a little what would you do in my shoes, I am not asking for medical advice just getting the opinions and seeing the majority. My dd is now 14, when she was 3 months old she had bacterial menigitis and almost lost her life. She is due some shots on Friday and they said she could get the menigitis vaccine to keep her from getting it again. It kind of makes me nervous, I am afraid the vaccine may cause her to get it again. So my what would you do question is, Would you go ahead and get the vaccine for extra protection or would you be afraid to give it to her? Thanks in advance for all the replies.

 

[mommagoof]

Hi, I myself had meningitis as a child, I had episodes of sezuires for years as a result (luckily havent had one in over 10 years).Dh and I were just discussing this last night, we are going to have dd 11 get the vaccine as I do not want her to have to go through that herself.

 

[C.Ann]

How much faith do you have in your doctor? What does he (or she) say? At 14, I think I would be more afraid of her getting it again sometime in the next few years without the shot than with it..

Good luck with your decision..

 

[minkydog]

http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/vis/downloads/vis-mening.pdf

Here's some information about the Meningitis vaccine. It might put your mind at ease. They advise pregnant women and those who are immunocompromised to have it, so it must be pretty safe. I don't think that it is possible to get meningitis from the vaccine, however, you should check with her doctor..

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I would get the shot. My 13yodd got the vaccine a few months ago.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

Vaccines are usually made with dead forms of the virus so you can build immunity from them but not get the disease. They give meningitis shots around 12-14 so kids will be immune when they go to college where cases have risen in the past few years. I would definitely get the shot for your DD. Talk to your doctor or do some additional research to put your mind at ease.

 

[disneygirlatheart]

Thanks for the replies. The website posted was helpful. The doctor she had, whom I trusted very well, left this area about 5 years ago. Now she just goes to an urgent care clinic when the need arises. I have been to the pediatriac doctors in this area but do not care for them at all. I had a misdiagnosis once on her and have heard of many complaints on them. I called the clinic and they said it would be ok, it would keep her from getting it again. I just cant help but be nervous about it, though. I sure do not want to go through all that again, nor do I want her to get it again. She may not be so lucky to get over it next time. I guess I have decided to go ahead and let her get it. I will post and let you know on Sat. how she does. She is going tommorrow afternoon. Thanks again!

 

[NHdisneylover]

I would get it. I think the odds of her contracting the disease by being exposed to it and not having the vaccine are much higher than any possibility of her somehow coming down with it from getting the vaccine. Then again, one of the first things i did when I moved to Germany was to get the kids (and myself) started on the series of vaccines against Tick Borne Encephalitis which is not available on the US (but used heavily for a number of years in Austria and Germany with a great safety record--so no I was not going for something very new or unsafe). I have a particular fear of meningitis for some reason.
Good luck deciding and I am glad your DD is okay now.

 

[disfan07]

The meningicocoal vaccine is a dead vaccine which means it cant cause the disease. This was our concern because I am on methotrexate (an immunosuppresent) and cannot receive live vaccines but I was able to get it a few months ago.

 

[disneygirlatheart]

Update! Her arm is sore, but everything turned out fine. So far so good. Thanks for all the info on the vaccine. It helped a lot.