"I am the 70s child of a health nut. I wasn't vaccinated. I was brought up on an incredibly healthy diet: no sugar til I was one, breastfed for over a year, organic homegrown vegetables, raw milk, no MSG, no additives, no aspartame. My mother used homeopathy, aromatherapy, osteopathy, we took daily supplements of vitamin C, echinacea, cod liver oil..
I had an outdoor lifestyle; I grew up next to a farm, walked everywhere, did sports and danced twice a week, drank plenty of water. I wasn't even allowed pop; even my fresh juice was watered down to protect my teeth, and I would've killed for white, shop-bought bread in my lunch box once in a while and biscuits instead of fruit like all the other kids. We only ate (organic local) meat maybe once or twice a week and my mother and father cooked everything from scratch - I have yet to taste a Findus crispy pancake and oven chips were reserved for those nights when mum and dad had friends over and we got a "treat."
As healthy as my lifestyle seemed, I contracted measles, mumps, rubella, a type of viral meningitis, scarlatina, whooping cough, yearly tonsillitis, and chickenpox, some of which are vaccine preventable. In my twenties I got precancerous HPV and spent 6 months of my life wondering how I was going to tell my two children under the age of 7 that mummy might have cancer before it was safely removed.
Anecdotal evidence is nothing to base decisions on. But when facts and evidence-based science aren't good enough to sway someone's opinion, then this is where I come from. After all, anecdotes are the anti-vaccine supporter's way. Well, this is my personal experience. And my personal experience prompts me to vaccinate my children and myself."
"I won't go into industrial exposure, as it does not apply to the majority of us, but in addition to off-gassing from products like carpet, upholstery and combustibles, formaldehyde is all around us. The NIH Report on Carcinogens, 12th Edition, profile on formaldehyde states that it is in the "air, soil, food, treated and bottled drinking water, surface water and groundwater". Our primary route of exposure is breathing it, indoors or outdoors. Much of this inhaled formaldehyde comes from car exhaust, tobacco smoke, power plants, forest fires and wood stoves. Outdoors, we are exposed to anywhere from 0 to 100 parts per billion (ppb) every day. Indoors, it can be as much as 500 to 2,000 ppb (temporary housing such as that used after hurricane Katrina measured from 3-590 ppb). To a smaller degree, we ingest it in our food and water (the average American diet contains about 10-20mg of formaldehyde from things like apples, carrots, pears, milk, etc.), as well as some exposure via cosmetics.
Yep -- and least there was back in the early 1960's. (My college roommate got hers back then, too.) When I was little we played outside a lot in fields and woods. We would get covered with poison ivy -- like 50% of our bodies. Then when I was 6 or 7, my siblings and I got a series of 4 shots (big, painful ones in our backsides). After that, I never got more than a small little patch of poison ivy. My college roommate and her brother's experience was the same.
I don't know exactly what was in those shots ... but they worked and that one series remained effective throughout the rest of my childhood.
I have a question, OP, were your parents fully vaccinated? It is astounding to me that fully vaccinated parents are the ones making decisions about how they are not going to vaccinate their children.
As my mother will tell it, and I will concur, "back in the day" there was not the illusion of a "choice". The appointments were made, you had a little book to record the vaccines, along with the timeline. This is when you would bring the baby in for checkups. It was not something that one thought they could NOT do.
It only takes one time to see a newborn infant on a vent due to over-eager child visitors (who were not vaccinated) infecting the infant with a illness that the baby was too young to be vaccinated for. Or the multiple complications that come from a child who ends up with measles, whopping cough.....
Oh, and as a complete aside, my very, very favorite patients (ha ha) are the 18-21 year old young adults, who are moaning and groaning about "having had every illness" due to not being vaccinated, that their parents are "whacked" and that now that they are going to college or travelling the world, or doing charity work in other countries they HAVE to be fully vaccinated. And multiple injections severly limits the social life you know....
I always figured they were something like that. But then ... why were those 4 shots effective for so many years afterwards? Wouldn't they have worn off fairly soon? The protection from those 4 shots (1 per week for 4 weeks) lasted throughout my childhood. Just curious.
The fact that many people don't vaccinate anymore makes me sad. People believe whatever is on the internet. What is going to happen is if the vaccinated population rate gets under 85% diseases like small pox and measles are going to come back and become rampant. We need to get the accurate information out there and not just hey vaccinate your kids. We need to back up why people need to get vaccinated with cold, hard facts. I honestly think it is going to take a small pox outbreak in the U.S. to get people to understand why they need to vaccinate. Only until something drastic happens will people's minds change. I got my flu vaccine this past winter and I am so glad I did. I have not gotten sick once.
"I am the 70s child of a health nut. I wasn't vaccinated. I was brought up on an incredibly healthy diet: no sugar til I was one, breastfed for over a year, organic homegrown vegetables, raw milk, no MSG, no additives, no aspartame. My mother used homeopathy, aromatherapy, osteopathy, we took daily supplements of vitamin C, echinacea, cod liver oil. I had an outdoor lifestyle; I grew up next to a farm, walked everywhere, did sports and danced twice a week, drank plenty of water. I wasn't even allowed pop; even my fresh juice was watered down to protect my teeth, and I would've killed for white, shop-bought bread in my lunch box once in a while and biscuits instead of fruit like all the other kids. We only ate (organic local) meat maybe once or twice a week and my mother and father cooked everything from scratch - I have yet to taste a Findus crispy pancake and oven chips were reserved for those nights when mum and dad had friends over and we got a "treat."
As healthy as my lifestyle seemed, I contracted measles, mumps, rubella, a type of viral meningitis, scarlatina, whooping cough, yearly tonsillitis, and chickenpox, some of which are vaccine preventable. In my twenties I got precancerous HPV and spent 6 months of my life wondering how I was going to tell my two children under the age of 7 that mummy might have cancer before it was safely removed.
Anecdotal evidence is nothing to base decisions on. But when facts and evidence-based science aren't good enough to sway someone's opinion, then this is where I come from. After all, anecdotes are the anti-vaccine supporter's way. Well, this is my personal experience. And my personal experience prompts me to vaccinate my children and myself." Growing Up Unvaccinated - Voices for Vaccines
Arguments can definitely be made for both sides of the fence. I think it is a concious decision for a parent, be that for or against. The reality is, that there are consequences for either choices and whether a parent is willing to assume the responibility for that choice. I personally have vaccinated my own children, and have seen the side effects of a vaccination causing problematic symptoms. I assume the risk for my child and pray that I am doing the right thing. Add this topic to the list of: Parenting aint' easy 101....
The fact that many people don't vaccinate anymore makes me sad. People believe whatever is on the internet. What is going to happen is if the vaccinated population rate gets under 85% diseases like small pox and measles are going to come back and become rampant.
My brother-in-law lives in the UK, where vaccination rates have fallen so far that some areas, primarily in Wales, have measles outbreaks.
My state has the lowest vaccination rate in the country, and the last last 2 years have seen whooping cough outbreaks. I have 2 babies on the way, and 1 will be medically fragile to the point where she may not be vaccinated on time. Anti-vaxxers scare me, especially when they have no problem risking other people's lives becasue of fears about unspecified "toxins!!!!".
Specializes in Emergency/Trauma/Critical Care Nursing.
The fact that many people don't vaccinate anymore makes me sad. People believe whatever is on the internet. What is going to happen is if the vaccinated population rate gets under 85% diseases like small pox and measles are going to come back and become rampant. We need to get the accurate information out there and not just hey vaccinate your kids. We need to back up why people need to get vaccinated with cold hard facts. I honestly think it is going to take a small pox outbreak in the U.S. to get people to understand why they need to vaccinate. Only until something drastic happens will people's minds change. I got my flu vaccine this past winter and I am so glad I did. I have not gotten sick once.[/quote']
Unfortunately when some people base their medical "facts" off people like Jenny McCarthy, I'm afraid that even a small pox outbreak may not convince them. I can see the anti vaccine groups saying that small pox is cyclical and would come back around every so many years with or without the vaccine...
I always figured they were something like that. But then ... why were those 4 shots effective for so many years afterwards? Wouldn't they have worn off fairly soon? The protection from those 4 shots (1 per week for 4 weeks) lasted throughout my childhood. Just curious.
That is all I could find, but I would be interested to find out if it was something else.
wtbcrna, MSN, DNP, CRNA
5,128 Posts
"I won't go into industrial exposure, as it does not apply to the majority of us, but in addition to off-gassing from products like carpet, upholstery and combustibles, formaldehyde is all around us. The NIH Report on Carcinogens, 12th Edition, profile on formaldehyde states that it is in the "air, soil, food, treated and bottled drinking water, surface water and groundwater". Our primary route of exposure is breathing it, indoors or outdoors. Much of this inhaled formaldehyde comes from car exhaust, tobacco smoke, power plants, forest fires and wood stoves. Outdoors, we are exposed to anywhere from 0 to 100 parts per billion (ppb) every day. Indoors, it can be as much as 500 to 2,000 ppb (temporary housing such as that used after hurricane Katrina measured from 3-590 ppb). To a smaller degree, we ingest it in our food and water (the average American diet contains about 10-20mg of formaldehyde from things like apples, carrots, pears, milk, etc.), as well as some exposure via cosmetics.
What many people may not know is that our own bodies produce and use formaldehyde as a part of our normal metabolism (Final Report on Carcinogens Background Document for Formaldehyde [PDF], 2010). When we are exposed to methanol (e.g., via inhalation or ingestion of foods like citric fruits and juices, vegetables or fermented beverages), our bodies break it down into formaldehyde and other byproducts. Our bodies produce formaldehyde as a result of DNA demethylation (an important process for controlling gene expression, e.g., in developing embryos) and other biological processes. It is such a regular part of human metabolism, that our normal, naturally produced blood concentrations are generally about 2-3μg of formaldehyde per gram of blood (or about 2.12-3.18μg/mL)*. And it is actually a pretty important chemical; our bodies use formaldehyde to form DNA and amino acids (Toxicological Profile for Formaldehyde [PDF], ATSDR, 1999)." http://www.harpocratesspeaks.com/2012/04/demystifying-vaccine-ingredients.html
Or about 8000mcg/8mg per person of formaldehyde….