Can of worms anyone?

[FondestBianca]

Just curious what others think... especially parents of teens. (I won't actually have teens for another 11 years or so... heck, I'm barely out of my teens myself )

What do you think about this new HPV/cervical cancer vaccine?

I think we all know that it isn't specifically to prevent the cancer directly but, rather to prevent indivuals from contracting strains of HPV (only contracted through sexual contact involving the nether regions of an infected person) that are suspected to sometimes cause cervical cancer.

Furthermore what do you think about commercials, drug companies, and doctors specifically targeting teens?

[BedHead]

All I can say is that my 14 yo dd will not be getting it.

[mommyinIL1976]

One of my closest friends was diagnosed with cervical cancer (from HPV) at age 31. It progressed to uterine canver and eventually invaded the rest of her body despite agressive chemo and radiation treatments. She passed away last year at 33. My 11 yo dd will be getting the vax at her back to school physical this fall. And I really don't care what others think about it. :

[ThreeBeans]

My daughter is 2 right now. I'm glad there will be room for a decade's worth of research and statistics before I need to make my decision.

[bvnms]

I took Stephanie to the doctor at the health department (long story as I don't usually bother with any doctor unless the kids are sick) and they love to push the shots down there. The doctor explained to Stephanie what this shot is and Stephanie told her..."But I'm not having sex with anyone." I had actually told Stephanie that I didn't think it was needed. If she was sexually active, she would tell me and I told her that if she wasn't going to have sex with anyone right now then she didn't have to worry about this shot at all. She decided she didn't want the stupid thing. These are the same doctors who push me to get shots for my other kids and they can't stand that I won't consent for the chicken pox. My 4 oldest kids all had the disease.

[mama_ani]

My daughters will not be getting the shot.

[MizLiz]

My dd's are still young, but if nothing too scary happens between now and when they are the age to get this vaccine, then they will get it. I know a woman who passed away a couple of years ago who died of a cancer that started in her cervix. She had two young daughters (ages 7 and 9). IMO, anything that can possibly help prevent this type of cancer is something that is worth seriously considering.

[tessie]

Originally Posted by bvnms

I took Stephanie to the doctor at the health department (long story as I don't usually bother with any doctor unless the kids are sick) and they love to push the shots down there. The doctor explained to Stephanie what this shot is and Stephanie told her..."But I'm not having sex with anyone." I had actually told Stephanie that I didn't think it was needed. If she was sexually active, she would tell me and I told her that if she wasn't going to have sex with anyone right now then she didn't have to worry about this shot at all.

I thought the point was to give it before kids started being sexually active. After all, most teens aren't going to tell their partner they can't have sex until they've made an appointment for the hpv vax.

I think I'd want my kid to get the vax. Let's face it, neither hpv or cervical cancer are fun and even if we try to take preventative measures such as using condoms accidents do happen.

[bvnms]

Originally Posted by tessie

I thought the point was to give it before kids started being sexually active. After all, most teens aren't going to tell their partner they can't have sex until they've made an appointment for the hpv vax.

I think I'd want my kid to get the vax. Let's face it, neither hpv or cervical cancer are fun and even if we try to take preventative measures such as using condoms accidents do happen.

Is it? I've read about it a bit and this doctor made it sound like it's to prevent something that happens once sexual activity has happened. To me she made it sound like she assumed that all teenage girls are sexually active. I don't know, I will do some more research on it.

[Kabes]

food for thought. . .

There are over 200 strains of HPV, the vaccine protects against 6(or maybe its only 4).

There have been issues with vaccine related incidents. A poster on another board I'm on has had tons of issues with her DD. They ran millions of tests and couldn't figure out why her diagnoses of mono wasn't also being proven by bloodwork. Someone asked if she'd had the vaccine and the answer was yes. Her first symptoms showed up within 48 hours of the first shot. They got the second shot not realizing the correlation and things got significantly worst! Now 4 months since the last shot her DD is showing slow but steady improvement. Unfortunately, she will probably have to redo her 8th grade year. (maybe it was coincidence???)

[library lady]

I will not be getting my girls the vaccine.

For me, it gives a false sense of security and the ads are very misleading. They make it sound like it is a cervical cancer vaccine when in reality it only prevents 4 strains of HPV. Granted, those 4 strains address about 70% of cervical cancer cases. What about those other 30%? People are going to be getting the vaccine thinking that they are protected when in reality they are not. The vaccine is not 100% effective and does not provide full protection for everyone. The Gardasil website states all of this on their main page (http://www.gardasil.com/)

The ads that you see on TV are totally and completely misleading. My fear with the vaccine is that it will lull doctors into not fully checking for everything and missing a diagnosis because a woman has been vaccinated. Everything that I have read says that even with the vaccine, women are still very susceptible to cancer due to other strains of HPV and other factors. We don't have to worry about it now because we were vaccinated.

I don't have all the links but here are some things that I remember reading about and having questions about. Approximately 50% of the population gets HPV and it resolves itself over time. Very few cases actually turn into cervical cancer. The trials were not done on girls as young as the age that they are recommending get it. I don't remember all of the details but I had some questions about how the testing was done. Also, I don't think it has been in circulation long enough to get a full picture of the long and short term effects. I seem to recall that protection didn't last that long. If you get the vaccine at 12, you may have to get it again when you are older or something like that. My oldest is only 6 but I have done quite a bit of research on HPV and the issues related to the vaccine.

For those of you that have had friends pass from cervical cancer, was it caused by HPV? Was the HPV that caused it one of the strains covered by the vaccine? I have heard a lot of people use that as an argument in favor of the vaccine. I think it is a very valid point and it would scare the daylights out of me if I had anybody close to me pass from any form of cancer. I guess the only reason that I ask is because if the cervical cancer that your friend had was not caused by one of the strains covered in the vaccine, vaccinating would not have prevented it.

[Ann-Marita]

I will NOT be getting my dd this!

There have been serious side effects and even deaths associated with the vaccine.

It only protects against certain strains of HPV, and there is the good possibility that, if those strains are "out of the picture", other strains will step up and cause cancer.

It hasn't been researched long enough to prove that the benefits outweigh the risks.

[Pancakes]

I have decided not to give DD the vaccine. I've explained that before she is sexually active there are many things she needs to address, this being one of them. There is always much more to the conversations, but it would be more info than needed for this thread.

[mirlee]

Absolutely not! My niece will not be getting that toxic shot. It is unnecessary.

[mirlee]

As for anyone who is considering this, 11 girls have died as a direct result of this "immunization" and many more have been seriously compromised. http://www.cogforlife.org/gardasildeaths2.htm

There is also this, http://v.mercola.com/blogs/public_bl...ise-29768.aspx

A review of the National Vaccine Information Center revealed the following, quite alarming, statistic about this unnecessary vaccine: 2,207 adverse reactions to Gardasil have been reported. Among them:
5 girls died
31 were considered life-threatening
1,385 required a visit to the emergency room
451 of the girls have not recovered as of July 2007
51 of the girls were disabled

(this was as of August 2007. I read that 11 girls had died)

You have no idea if there is something in your body that will trigger a reaction. No vaccine is perfect and no test is perfect. There are a few vaxes that I will support, this is not one of them.

[ma_vie_en_rose]

My DH's ex wife had my 9 almost 10yo DSD vaccinated a few motnhs ago without discussing it at all with DH. We knew this was coming and had been researching it. However, we assummed she would talk with DH about it before approving it for his consent. We were wrong. It makes it even more frustrating because from everything we researched, we have decided not to vaccinate our girls until much furth er research has been done. He wanted the oppritunity to share his feelings on it with her since she does not research vaccines at all. Luckily, DSD had no adverse reaction to it at all. We also plan to talk a lot with her about how it does not prevent all forms of the HPV as she gets older.

[ArielMomma]

Originally Posted by mommyinIL1976

One of my closest friends was diagnosed with cervical cancer (from HPV) at age 31. It progressed to uterine canver and eventually invaded the rest of her body despite agressive chemo and radiation treatments. She passed away last year at 33. My 11 yo dd will be getting the vax at her back to school physical this fall. And I really don't care what others think about it. :

Me too

My best friend died and my second best friend is infertile due to a hysterectomy. I have a third not so close friend who had two miscarriages as a result of the treatment for HPV.

My daughter has already got the shots and I feel so relieved.

[FondestBianca]

Interesting to see the many points of view here. I am still a bit up in the air about the many sides of this vaccine, it's uses, intentions, risks, and even moral standpoint in relation to young girls getting it.

Also wanted to mention that as with any vaccine or medication there are risks of injury or death. Of course more reseach would hopefully cut down on those problems. But, as another person said, our overmedication of things such as this do create an imbalance with our relation to nature. It mutates the more we try to irradicate it with non natural measures. In fact there may not be many or any natural measures (beside not involving one's self in sexual activity) to prevent or treat this issue. Some doctors also now believe that your body CAN in fact fight off HPV rather than the early perception that assumed it was a virus that could and would lay doment forever in your body ready to act at any moment.

It has become more common now and has found to be able to sit, without detectable symptoms (even through blood test or tissue sample) for years, even decades within an infected person. There is also a ton of contraversey around this as well. Some say it can always be detected and therefor you can know imediatly after testing if you are infected. There are probably people reading this very thread who have all the reasons in the world to assume they don't have it but, in fact do! Scary thought.

Also, for parents with high trust in their teens: it is true that many tees will tell their parents prior to making the decision to have sex, and even more that will tell their parents after only doing it for the first time (but, they could contract HVP the first time so in some cases that wouldn't help) BUT, I do hope that parents know the following: A lot of teens will not tell their parents when they have started participating in things like heavy petting (with skin to skin contact but no penetration, oral sex, etc. HPV CAN be contracted through those other acts. Just a heads up for any parents who were under the impression it could only happen from genital to genital contact.

I also agree that the ads are very missleading and make it seem like it is a vaccine for cervial cancer when in reality it is far from it.

Interesting topic. Glad I have plenty of time to figure it out before my dd is even close to her teens.

I personally think it is a pretty touchy subject and perhaps parents should not have a say in this... meaning, maybe the vaccine should only be avaliable to those 18 and over and able to legally decide for themselves. And what about the male species getting the vaccine so they don't pass it on to their partners??? What, they don't get cervical cancer so they shouldn't care? Hmmm....

[Ruthla]

I'm not convinced that the vax is safe OR effective. My daughters won't be getting this one.

[mamaniq]

Although it doesn't prevent infection from the virus, getting a regular pap test can detect pre-cancerous cells on the cervix. If the pre-cancerous cells are removed the risk of cancer goes down enormously. There are also 'lifestyle' factors (like smoking) that increase the risk of HPV infection developing into cervical cancer.

I can't imagine what it is like to lose a loved on to cervical cancer. The marketing of this vaccine seems to be targeted at promoting fear of this awful disease, but as pp's have said, it really is misleading. A woman still should use condoms/abstinence and get regular pap tests. I wonder if some will think the vaccine means they won't have to.

The accuracy of the pap test is not 100% but it when I weigh that against the possible risks of the vaccine I think I will be encouraging my daughter to get to know her body and how to take care of it, like regular pap tests and wise sexual choices.