In serious pain after Tdap

[Steven Palmer]

Dear All,

I have no idea how an infant tolerates this. I have a swollen arm and now my lymph node under my arm is swollen. The injection site is red and hot. I'm running a low grade fever of 100.4. I was in so much pain that after two hours of sleeping I woke up screaming, there's no comfortable position for my arm.

I'm a 31 year old man weighing in at 250 pounds and I think I have a high tolerance for pain but this is nuts, I seriously want to deck my doctor. I'm considering going into the ER but from what I hear pain, swelling, redness, and lymph node swelling is a side effect and other than Aleeve and Vicodin there's not much more to be done. I admit I even cut myself and tried to drain the swelling but only blood came out, hopefully I didn't make it worse. Jesh.

Just seriously make sure the mother and father get this before giving it to your infant to see if there's a good chance that there will be side effects, I'd think if you share similar genetics the outcome was the same. And trust me, you'll never give this to your kid before the age of 5 after what I've gone through. This is h****.

Vaccines are the devil, I swear.

[emmy526]

You should DEF file a report with the manufacturer, and VAERS...call the place where you got the shot, get the lot# and manufacturer, and file your complaints with the lot# included.  If they "lost" the lot number, the amount of complaints to file just tripled. 

[prosciencemum]

Yeah that doesn't sound like a normal reaction. Given that you cut into the location with the swelling I would definitely go get it checked out in case it now gets infected. 

As emmy526 says it's important to report all vaccination reactions so that we can get the best picture of the statistics of these usually rare reactions. 

So sorry you drew a short straw with this one.

[tiqa]

Yikes.  I got the TDAP two weeks ago and just had a little soreness in my arm, not even as badly as the nurse had said it would get.  Sorry your experience was so much worse!

[erigeron]

I agree with reporting the reaction. My husband and I both had the Tdap after our daughter was born. We had no reactions and neither did she when she had her version. Since it's recommended for adults to get boosters anyway, getting the shot before your child does isn't a bad idea. 

[ElizHart]

Steven, why did you have a TdaP?

I've been interested to read articles recently about vaccine-resistant pertussis/whooping cough.  

I find it odd that while it is being acknowledged that "whooping cough may be becoming resistant to vaccines", people are being urged to have repeat TdaP vaccinations with the existing vaccine, e.g. refer to this article "Protecting babies against pertussis: pregnant moms and caretakers need the vaccine".  

If there is a new strain of pertussis circulating, what is the point of revaccinating people with the existing vaccine?  I question the ethics of this.  

I also question revaccination of children with this vaccine, i.e. as recommended by the CDC schedule.

The USA Today article also warns that "the protection offered by the whooping cough vaccine fades more quickly than previously thought".  I really have a problem with this concept of a vaccine that provides ‘protection’ that 'fades'.  Is this what passes for the science of immunisation?  

Here's another interesting quote from the USA Today article: "Part of the difficulty in producing a better whooping cough vaccine stems from the fact that researchers know relatively little about the bacteria itself, at least compared with germs such as measles, Schaffner says.  Doctors don't know why, for example, even people "naturally" infected with whooping cough may become reinfected a decade or so later.  In comparison, people who catch measles or chickenpox don't typically get those infections again."  (My emphasis.)

It seems to me there's a lot that researchers don't know about vaccines, but this doesn't stop them pressing an increasing number of questionable vaccines (e.g. pertussis/whooping cough ‘boosters’, annual flu vaccines, HPV vaccination etc) upon people in a most cavalier manner.

Based on my current knowledge (as detailed in my letter to the Australian Federal Minister for Health re the MMR vaccine), it seems likely that one effective dose of live measles vaccine will provide life-time immunity.  That's my idea of immunity.  But vaccines (e.g. whooping cough, flu vaccines) that provide ‘protection’ that 'fades'?  That doesn't qualify as immunity in my book, and repeated vaccination with these dodgy vaccines is highly questionable. 

I suggest ‘recommendations’ to revaccinate with the current DtaP vaccine should be subjected to scrutiny, including issues re lack of informed consent.

Elizabeth Hart

Over-vaccination – Challenging Big Pharma’s over-vaccination of people and animals

[Rrrrrachel]

There may be a new strain circulating (or it may just be drift), but the strains covered by the vaccine are also still circulating. The vaccine still lowers your chances of contracting pertussis.

It bothers me when I hear people say that pertussis is becoming resistant. I think that's kind of misleading. The disease has mutated to the point that the antibodies produced by the vaccine are no longer similar enough. It's not becoming resistant to vaccines or more virulent, we just need an updated vaccine.

[ElizHart]

Further to my previous comments…

For some more information refer to my emails to Professor Lyn Gilbert and Professor Ruiting Lan (forwarded in December 2012) re the Journal of Infectious Diseases Brief Report re the Australian pertussis epidemic in 2008-2010.  

I conclude my email to Professor Lan with the following questions:

Q. Professor Lan can you please clarify for me how increasing the number of 'boosters' of the existing vaccine protects against the new strain?

Q. Also, how is vaccination "still the best way to reduce transmission of the disease and reduce cases" particularly if "vaccine-induced selection could contribute to the expansion of cluster I"?

As yet I have not received any response to my emails.

[Marnica]

Originally Posted by ElizHart 

Further to my previous comments…

For some more information refer to my emails to Professor Lyn Gilbert and Professor Ruiting Lan (forwarded in December 2012) re the Journal of Infectious Diseases Brief Report re the Australian pertussis epidemic in 2008-2010.  

I conclude my email to Professor Lan with the following questions:

Q. Professor Lan can you please clarify for me how increasing the number of 'boosters' of the existing vaccine protects against the new strain?

Q. Also, how is vaccination "still the best way to reduce transmission of the disease and reduce cases" particularly if "vaccine-induced selection could contribute to the expansion of cluster I"?

As yet I have not received any response to my emails.

100 bucks says you never will........

[Pookietooth]

It's a lot like a religion, in that if you don't believe in it, questioning a believer will only get them angry.

[erigeron]

I wouldn't be surprised if they don't answer correspondence from non-academics at all. If you don't receive a response, it's probably tempting to blame it on them not wanting to answer the points you brought up, but it might have nothing to do with it. 

[prosciencemum]

I'm an fairly junior physical scientist - and I get 50-100 emails/day. I don't have a policy of not answering questions related to my research from non-academics, but it is entirely possible I would just not get to it. 

Do you actually want to hear their response, or are you just trying to make a point? 

[emmy526]

Originally Posted by Pookietooth 

It's a lot like a religion, in that if you don't believe in it, questioning a believer will only get them angry.

http://thinkingmomsrevolution.com/christianity-and-the-false-god-of-modern-medicine/

[Alenushka]

I had sore arm but nothing too bad. My kid had no reaction at all.  Call your doctor and see what they say

[IdentityCrisisMama]

I also had a fairly bad reaction - not more than what is listed is common and mild but still...it did make me think of the babies that are getting vaccinated every couple of months or so for the first year of life. I think being able to verbalize any reaction isn't a bad reason to delay if that feels like a good fit for a family.