Nurses health problems & vaccinations

P_RN, ADN, RN · Mar 30, 2002

When you say WE think...do you mean you or do you mean your physician?

My BIL has CIDP and his neurologist said it is idiopathic....not vaccine or radiation (ie. where he worked for 30 years) related. What treatments has your son had?

Frankly I am quite concerned about our niece's children who have never had any vaccines. She home schools them. I wonder what will happen when they go "out into the world?"

I do have an autoimmune disease and have had only the HepB vaccine in the past 25 years. I have had 3 flu shots since 1976 though. I guess they are vaccines too.

Home Health Columnist / Guide · Mar 30, 2002

Check out the Vaccine Education Center created by Children's Hospital of Philadelphia .

Has factual information and is a non-phamaceutical supported site. I've found interesting info including bioterrorism here .

http://vaccine.chop.edu/about.shtml

Marijke · Mar 30, 2002

Yes a lot of RN's have some kind of auto immune disease. However more and more research is indicating that these conditions could be caused by some kind of bacterial infection. The medical setting is just an excellent way of picking up bugs. There are some doctors who are treating patients with fibromyalgia for example, with long term antibiotics, with some very good results.

Nurses also almost always have to do shift work and those shifts are enough to make anybody ill. They are proven to shorten our lives by several years, and I think they could contribute to the auto immune disorders.

I would be very scared to work in hospitals without the protection of some of the vaccinations I received. I think the potential risk of the shots are still a lot smaller than the diseases themselves. Hepatitis B for example is a very scary disease and easier to get than HIV, a minute virus load is enough.

I do understand you are reluctant to get the vaccinations, but I think they have the potential to save your life one day.

Marijke

carlalogan · Mar 31, 2002

P_RN...I feel like it was his vaccinations and his neurologist says it could definitely be a possiblity. We are trying to get him admitted to Scottish Rite Hospital for a further opinion because his symptoms aren't "textbook"...not that there is one with his illness. He has not received any treatments yet...just testing. His onset and recovery is incredibly fast compared to others so they are not sure what to do...which is why we are seeing someone more experienced with pediatric cases.

I think vaccinations as a whole are the most safe route to take, but for those that do not fair well with them...it is so unfortunate because it could have been avoided and those that were previously healthy have a life altering problem.

Thanks for the replies! I really feel empowered hearing other opinions about this.