So what happens....

[goingnatural2]

What happens when your child is sick and needs to go to the dr? (and she's not vaccinated) For example, my 6 month old right now has a nasty cold with an awful cough. No fever though - thank God! But, what would happen if say she developed a fever and it lasted a couple of days? I'd call the ped I guess and they'd see her but how will they react to her since she's not vax'd? I've read in other places where they will order every invasive test under the sun, just because of her vax status and that is NOT what I want to happen. I just want to prepare myself in case.

I guess my question is, since your children aren't vaccinated, and if they are sick enough to see the dr., does the dr. automatically start doing all kinds of tests that they would not do on a vaccinated child with the same symptoms?

TIA

[Marnica]

I guess that would depend on your doctor and how they feel about not vaccinating. I just went through this a few weeks ago. My unvaccinated son had a 103 fever that had been going on for 3 days so I called. At first they told me just watch him and if it doesn't go away in a few days bring him in...they called me back 2 seconds later and told he I HAD to bring him in because he was unvaccinated. Well I didn't and the fever broke less than 48 hours later. I am not going back to that MD office. It's ridiculous to assume that an unvaccinated child has something terrible just because they are unvaccinated and equally terrible to not assume that a vaccinated child could not be ill with a VPD and not follow up. Your LO obviosuly has a bug...let him get better on his own! the presence of a fever even one that lasts a few days doesn't mean they need to see an MD. Pick up a copy of "How to Raise a healthy child in spite of your doctor" They have a great chapter on fevers. I also ususally call my ND, but he was out of town when my son had this fever, otherwise I could have avoided the whole thing!!

[goingnatural2]

Yes, our ped is very pro-vax. So I assume if the situation presented itself, our ped would freak out and demand to see her too. I *wish* we had ND's around here, this whole area is very mainstream do whatever the dr. tells you, take tons of meds, vaccinate everyone and everything, etc.

[traycanadian]

We switched from a ped to an FP who is tolerant of our vax status. Still, we only see her for annual well child checks. If we are sick, we see a naturopath. I find they are much more helpful.

[lovemybubus]

I don't know how to say this without being blunt...I don't think kids need to go to the doc unless there is a VERY serious problem or a broken bone. Most fevers do what they need to do. I noticed that once I stopped treating fevers with tylenol and what not that my lo's rarely even got symptoms. If you haven't already read Dr. Mendelson's How to Raise a Healthy Child Inspite of Your Doctor. He gives good guidelines on when and if your child needs to see the ped.

[Full Heart]

I see a fp and never had any problems because of the kids vax status. Even in trips to the er really hasn't been an issue. Although some drs can be rather annoying.

But anyway, I have been in there for RSV, Scarlet Fever, Pink eye, salmonella, asthma, etc. Any one of those things has symptoms that could be something else - specifically vpd. Yet, there was no OMG you aren't vaxed - lets do all the tests to rule out a vpd. And when they have had a vpd they weren't overly aggressive.

Honestly I feel the test of a drs worth is when the kids are sick and how they handle it. The first time my dr saw my oldest was when she had salmonella. He handled it perfectly. He knew from the smell of her poop what it was, he did the culture himself (took the diaper and scrapped it and sent it to the lab). While the other dr we saw dismissed it out of hand as a fungal infection, without looking at her poop, without testing ANYTHING, and gave me a script for an antifungal. I knew then who our dr would be. Before that I didn't have a family dr. So don't be too worried you might find out how great your dr really is, or you might find out you really need a new one!

[abomgardner417]

We are fortunate enough to have a D.O. that doesn't vax so that doesn't worry me.

However, I'm dreading the day when we have to go to the ER cause I know it will be a battle there. We escaped it last time cause we had just moved and I used the excuse that we hadn't found a new doc yet and hadn't had 12 mo shots because of that.

I guess to be honest I live in fear that one of these days somebody is gonna give me a really, really hard time. But that doesn't mean I'm not comfortable w/ our decision to stop vaxing.

[I*V*Y*]

i've actually run into this...and when they as are their shots up to date i say yes. i know some would consider it lying...but they are up to date by MY standards. i see no need for them to have them so they're current in my book..kwim?

i try to avoid trips to the ER because they will make every assumption under the sun if you give them the information too.

[dex_millie]

Originally Posted by lovemybubus

I don't know how to say this without being blunt...I don't think kids need to go to the doc unless there is a VERY serious problem or a broken bone. Most fevers do what they need to do. I noticed that once I stopped treating fevers with tylenol and what not that my lo's rarely even got symptoms. If you haven't already read Dr. Mendelson's How to Raise a Healthy Child Inspite of Your Doctor. He gives good guidelines on when and if your child needs to see the ped.

: I agree with the above. I use to see my BIL them taking their children for every thing and all they got was medicines on top of medicines to gave them and the child was basically always sick when we saw them.

[jakesmama]

Originally Posted by I*V*Y*

i've actually run into this...and when they as are their shots up to date i say yes. i know some would consider it lying...but they are up to date by MY standards. i see no need for them to have them so they're current in my book..kwim?

i try to avoid trips to the ER because they will make every assumption under the sun if you give them the information too.

I do this in the urgent care too. It came out automatically one time and now I'm glad it did. The one time that I said no...I got the vax lecture from the pa while my kid is desperately needing a breathing treatment.

[I*V*Y*]

that's why i stopped telling them...they would rather give your kid a couple of shots before they even take a look at them. my dd2 fell on her bed rail and had blood in her panties...well it was her hymen (i didn't think of it so i took her in)...and they wanted to give her some shots...REALLY?!?!? ughhh...so lesson learned.

[Twinklefae]

The doctor asks if he is vax'd and I say no. Then they move on to diagnosing things. At least that's what happened last week, the first time I took DS to the doctor because he was sick. I thought it might be measles, turns out it was a viral rash and secondary ear infection.

I've gone to the ER with a friend as back up. (ie. She says "we aren't interested in vax'ing today, and I repeat it for her if the doctor tries harrasing her.) If you are worried take a friend/relative.

[MountainMamaGC]

I use a different health care practitioner. I have a consult with a chiroprator and i will ask his professional opinion before i ask my GP. He fully supports mothers that choose not to vax and he has advice on stregnthening the immune system.

[sahmama_12]

A fever is rarely a reason to go see a hcp. A fever actually fights the infection and if your child is over 6 months, it would take a fever of 107, sustained for a long time to do any damage. A fever is your child's body fighting something off, if you treat the fever you are in effect handicaping your child's immune response.

As for if you NEED to see a hcp; I go to the emergency room; if we need to see someone its an emergency and generally they don't even ask about vax; they just ask about current symptoms. If they suspect a VPD they might ask about vax status but at that point the vax makes no sense to be administered. YKWIM?

[rmzbm]

Originally Posted by lovemybubus

I don't know how to say this without being blunt...I don't think kids need to go to the doc unless there is a VERY serious problem or a broken bone. Most fevers do what they need to do. I noticed that once I stopped treating fevers with tylenol and what not that my lo's rarely even got symptoms. If you haven't already read Dr. Mendelson's How to Raise a Healthy Child Inspite of Your Doctor. He gives good guidelines on when and if your child needs to see the ped.

[momo7]

well first thing is that we don't not use a pediatrician, we use a fam. practice doc. He is very good and doesn't give us trouble....ever, about anything....and with nine children...that's really great.

We did have an incident this summer when my 3 yr old sliced her hand open reaqlly bad and we had to take her to Kan. City to Children's Mercy. I was really worried all the way up there about them giving me a hard time about not vaxing, but after we got there, they just asked if she was up to date or not and I told them we don't vax, the doctor wanted to know why, which I did not expect him to ask me ( I expected a million other things but for some reason that took me really off guard.) I just said we don't do it and he said ok and no one bothered me about it again. I was relieved to say the least and I really believed they were going to go around with me about it, but they never did.

When it comes to vaxing and the medical establishment, I just think you have to just be prepared for anything when it comes to this, and be prepared to be either shocked, dissapointed, surprised or thrilled depending on how your life is going at the moment. The most important thing is to remember what your child's rights are and just stick with your convictions.

[Purple Cat]

I take my children to an excellent clinic that is mainstream and pro-vaccination. However, they follow the AAP' guideline that pediatricians keep non-vaccinated patients because they have the opportunity to work with the parents and hopefully over time get them to change their mind.

I have NEVER had a problem at all with taking my twins to the pediatrician when they were sick. They were 2 months premature. They both caught RSV. They were hospitalized each year fbecause of dehydration or vicious GI infections -- rotavirus, noravirus, etc. Despite this, vaccines never came up during those visits, other than one time when the head of the clinic politely mentioned that he noticed we had a WBV scheduled and it was important to keep the appt. to discuss vaccines. They are polite and respectful. We both feel strongly about our positions, but work effectively together. (I also steer clear of the NP who screams about vaccines and the pediatrician there who tries to intimidate me into vaccine.)

I have had a couple of nurses gasp, "They haven't had any vaccines!" when they pull up the chart when I call them because my child is sick. I just politely and calmly say, "We have religious objections." That stops the conversation.

I even had to take my son to the ER for stitches after falling on a kiddie-train ride. The NP doing the stitches came in with an attitude and very challengingly asking me if my son was up to date on vaccines and his tetanus shot. I just calmly and politely said, "We have religious objections, so I guess, no." She completely backed up other than to say, "Well, I'm sure you are aware tetanus is a risk, but I guess you've considered that."

Don't worry about it. I wouldn't let my child's vaccination status stop me from getting care for my child. I think the less you make it an issue, the less it will be an issue.