Was your doctor able to adequately address your concerns about vaccines

[kathymuggle]

Poll time!  

Was your doctor able to adequately address your concerns about vaccines?

Multiple votes allowed in case you had different experience with different doctors.

Let's keep it to medical doctors and nurse, not naturopaths, chiropractors, etc.

Edited by kathymuggle - 11/27/12 at 7:56pm

[Bokonon]

One doctor didn't give me any more than "Vaccines don't cause autism, and thimerosal was removed years ago", but he was ok with my decision to stop vaxxing.

I've never needed to discuss vaccine concerns with our current pediatrician because he is very non-vax friendly and has many of the same concerns about vaccine safety as I do.

[Taximom5]

We had horrible experiences with the pediatrican's nurse, whom I called several times during my oldest kid's worst vaccine reaction.  She kept telling me I was over-reacting, that I was an over-protective, hysterical new mommy and I should just put my screeching/ flailing/arching baby in the crib and walk away until he cried it out.  He was 2 months old, with a heart defect, and at that point, just under 8 pounds. (He was 4 1/2 pounds at birth, but was still vaxed on schedule, with thimerosal-preserved vaccines.)

When I asked if I could just bring him in and have the pediatrician take a look, she said that they would refuse to see me.  When I asked if I could just bring him to the ER, she told me that my insurance wouldn't pay for an unnecessary ER visit when the pediatrician's office was open. (But..she said I couldn't bring him IN.   What the heck?!?!) She kept insisting that "vaccines don't do that" (it started 1 hour after vaccination), and that I was over-reacting, and the he was just fine.

He wasn't just fine.  He'd had a seizure reaction to the vaccine.  But we didn't know it was a seizure reaction until we got to see the pediatrician after the fact.  If you've never seen a seizure of any kind before, and a medical professional keeps telling you on the phone that everything's fine, that you're over-reacting, and if you are a new, sleepless mother with no family in town--well, how are you to know what it is?  This was backin the stone ages, before we had internet at home, so it wasn't like I could look it up, either.

The nurse was fired.

The pediatrician said it was a one-in-a-million fluke, and still had him vaxed mostly on schedule, but did allow us to skip a few vaccines that he felt were unnecessary (like rotavirus); we didn't see another seizure reaction, but there were other reactions.  And our other kids had different serious reactions. They were sent to specialists, who diagnosed vaccine reactions, and said that they saw a lot of them.  Eventually, our pediatrician said, "you know what, this is no longer a fluke, obviously there is something in your family where vaccines are a serious problem; we don't know what it is or why, but it's obviously a serious problem, so we will suspend vaccination for your children."

So we have no trouble getting him to write the exemption NOW.

I just wish he'd been on top of this from the beginning. And maybe he might have been if he'd actually SEEN my first kid's reaction.

So my vote was 1 "not at all" and one "other, please explain."

[kathymuggle]

1st born:  the doctor did not give out vaccines, the healthcare unit did.  I would give the nurse (whom I did like, btw) an F for being able to answer question.  She was the nurse assigned to my area, so I did see her a few time.    She was not able to answer my questions on disease prevalence - not even ballpark figures.  This was somewhat pre-internet, so the figures were not at my fingertips.

2nd - I remember speaking to the doctor about vaccines after DD was born and he was reasonably good.  I voted a little bit, mostly over him. He did not address my concerns, per se, but he seemed Ok with a sel/delayed POV. He did try and argue that we should get the DTaP as pertussis was particularly hard on parents and infants.   I appreciate that he was able to prioritise vaccines, did not try to make me feel naughty or hand me party lines.  I think he is the best doctor I have ever had; we moved though, which leads us to ….

3rd child and doctor.  I have had this doctor for 10 years now.  I like her, I would not say I love her, but that does not only come down to vaccines.  She was not much help at all in vaccines, no better than the public health nurse actually and she sounded like she had soundbites she wanted to deliver in our conversations on vaccines.  She did not come across as really listenning to me.  That being said, she did not harp on about vaccines, bring them up over and over again, or get bent out of shape when I said no - so, better than some stories we hear...

[Chicharronita]

Originally Posted by Bokonon 

One doctor didn't give me any more than "Vaccines don't cause autism, and thimerosal was removed years ago", but he was ok with my decision to stop vaxxing.

I had one doctor give me a similar spiel. 

I tried to vote twice, but can't find out how to do that.

I wanted to vote "extremely helpful" for my current doctor, who by some miracle is a regular MD and takes my insurance.

He is vehemently against vaccines. When I go back for a visit, I have to remember to ask him if there's any pressure from the insurance companies for not promoting vaccines. I take it he doesn't have to worry about his practice since it's his own and I don't think there are other doctors in it.

[Turquesa]

I went with "not at all." With one ped, every question that I had was just met with guilt and fear. I find the emotional manipulation insulting and intellectually bankrupt; there really is no need to talk down to parents like that.

When I changed peds, I was relieved to find one who never presses the issue with me. She said she's there for questions, which I totally respect, but she's never the one to broach the topic.

I was actually surprised to learn of all of the pediatric research stating how much stock parents place in their doctors on this topic. Vaccinations, for me, are far too complex of an issue for one biased, fallible human source to cover adequately during a 15-minute pediatric visit. By the way, I also don't ask for vax advice from my anti-vax pediatric chiropractor. Really, there's only time for someone to rehash the same 'ol talking points that, frankly, I've already seen ad nauseum in the comments sections of vax-related media articles, (and no, those aren't a source for my decision-making, either).

ETA: I didn't base my vote on my chiro experience. I just mentioned it here to make my point, but I followed the poll's Rules.
Edited by Turquesa - 11/30/12 at 4:29am