ppd or chest xray

[mysticmomma]

I'm nursing my 14 month old several times a day, and as I start nursing school I've got waivers for everything but this. So, if it where you, would you do the ppd/skin test or the chest xray?

Trisha

[Emmeline II]

Do the blood test.

QuantiFERON

QuantiFERON®-TB Gold Fact Sheet

[mysticmomma]

Not covered by insurance. No money for out of pocket. Ideally I'd do the sputum test. 

[mysticmomma]

this year I'm doing the chest xray and in the future when I have more time, I'll do the sputum or blood test whichever happens to be covered by my future insurance plan that is giong to be wonderful. :)

[Marnica]

I'd do the blood test is possible or the x-ray.

[amnesiac]

Since this is about TB testing rather than vaccines I'm moving it over to H&H.

[prothyraia]

Between the two, I'd do the PPD.  It's not intended to be a systemic thing like vaccines are; I'd be more worried about radiation exposure from the x-rays for myself than I would be any issues with transfering anything to my nursling. 

Just so you know where I'm coming from- I'm in nursing school at the moment as well, and I wasn't able to get waivers for anything, so I delayed starting until my children were almost completely weaned.  They haven't had any vaccinations, and I would have preferred to skip everything but HepB for myself.

[mysticmomma]

It's the preservative that worries me. I"m doing the chest xray this year and the blood test from now on.

[ma2two]

If I had no money for the blood test, I would go into debt for it rather than get the PPD or chest xray.  People don't know how valuable their health is until they lose it.

[coyotemist]

Originally Posted by Emmeline II 

Do the blood test.

QuantiFERON

QuantiFERON®-TB Gold Fact Sheet

I was going to say that, too.  Any small amount of preservatives in the PPD are nothing compared to a chest x-ray.  The PPD is dirt cheap, but if you test with a false positive (as many many people do) you'll need the Quantiferon Gold and/or a chest x-ray anyway.

If you want more children you'll minimize your x-ray exposure, as you get deeper and deeper into nursing school and nursing you are probably going to have a lot of unintended radiation exposure (as a respiratory therapist, I do). 

[mysticmomma]

Money limits me. Those were my only choices this time around. I'm sensitive to phenol, so can't do the skin test anyway. I'll be doing the chest x ray this year and the blood test in future years.