Vaccinations - need advice

[fluffhead]

We're coming up on the 15 month checkup, and our pediatrician has been nagging us for the last 2 checkups to decide whether to get a chicken pox vaccine or not.
Has anybody had bad experiences with this vaccine?
What's your feeling about it? On the one hand I figure let her get the sickness, strengthen immune system, yadda yadda, and on the other I don't want her to be sick, and I certainly would prefer to deal with a healthy baby than a sick one.
There's another issue - I've never had it, though once I had my titer checked, and it was high, which implies that I must have been exposed at some point.

[DCJenn]

My husband usually recommends that the kids get the vaccination- for a variety of reasons.

My personal experience has been that a very close friend of my family developed shingles (same virus) as an older man and they became so painful that he ended up killing himself by sitting in his car in the garage with the motor running.

another issue is that chicken pox in an adult male can cause sterility. (not an issue here but.. something else to consider)

I just remember sitting inside while my brother and dad played outside in the snow- and I have scars all over my body from "the pox"

Let us know what you decide-

Jenn

[fluffhead]

My personal experience has been that a very close friend of my family developed shingles (same virus) as an older man and they became so painful that he ended up killing himself by sitting in his car in the garage with the motor running.

Yikes
From what I understand, though, you can still get shingles even if you've had the chicken pox vaccine.
I had a friend in college who got shingles from having his immune system weakened from chemo (hodgkins). He said it was bad, but they gave him morphine, which must take the edge off.

[PrincessFiona]

chicken pox

We did make the decision to vaccinate, but I regret it in a way now. During my MS program (Mol Bio with emphasis in Micro) one of the things that we talked about was the fact that too little is known about this vaccine. Chicken Pox can be devastating in adults....and the immunization may not confer lifelong immunity. For the most part, chicken pox in children is not fatal...this is really more of a convenience vaccine in many ways??? In any case...we vaccinated them because...I got vaccinated. During my first pregnancy I was exposed to chicken pox...and the ob did a titer just to make sure...and I had NO immunity...so...somehow I managed to miss out on the childhood version. We decided to vaccinate because I, of course, don't want to get chicken pox now.

If we had it to do over again......ooooooooops, WOW...We DO! OMG!!! I think I'd skip the vaccine and let nature work it's immunological magic.

Kris

[Rapunzel]

I had my oldest vaccinated with the varicella vax. He developed a mild case of chicken pox (torso only). Subsequently I decided to do some research on the varicella vax. What I came up with is that it is unknown if the vax is still effective after a person reaches adulthood. Chicken pox is MUCH more likely to result in hospitalization and death when contracted in adulthood as opposed to childhood. I decided not to have my three daughters vaccinated until more is known. I would much rather have them develop chicken pox by contracting it rather than vax at this point. That may very well change later on....

Another issue to consider is this: If most American children end up getting the varicella vax the possibility of my children developing chicken pox naturally as children is very low. And, therefore, the liklihood of them contracting it in adulthood instead goes up.

Also, if you send your child to public school you will have to have him/her have the varicella vax OR have medical/religious reasons for not doing so.

I think my opinion on the varicella vax is subject to change as more information on its duration and effectiveness is known. At this moment, however, I am not having my three daughters vaccinated against chicken pox.

btw- One can get shingles at any time in life if chicken pox has been contracted by vax or naturally at all. The virus that causes chicken pox "lives" dormant in the body and can become activated in nerve tissue causing shingles for a variety of reasons. The varicella vax does not protect against shingles - in fact it introduces the virus that causes shingles into the body (same thing happens when you contract chicken pox as an illness as well).

[mommax3]

Our three boys have all had the vaccination (the youngest just recently) with no problems. We held off with our oldest for a while because the vaccination was new and my husband wanted to research it. Whatever he found out (I knew at one point, I swear, but the kid is almost 8 now ) put his mind at ease, so we got it for him and the subsequent two as well.

Sally

I didn't vaccinate my first three boys because .... it really wasn't available or was just new and I passed! How old does that make me sound?!!!! They all got the chicken pox and they all got SEVERE cases. Tyler managed to get roseola and chicken pox the same week! I felt so bad for them. Both Jacob and Tyler have noticeable scars on their face too. SO ... I decided to let Dallin get the vaccine. He had no reaction to it.

I have known a few kids who still got chicken pox later but the case was very mild. I guess we will have to see what happens in the future as far as whether is will protect him in adulthood.

Robin

[SueC]

We did go ahead and get the girls vaccinated for chicken pox. I wasn't really sure about it, though. I had the same concerns that maybe it would be better to go ahead and get it over with when they are kids then risk the vaccination wearing off by the time they reach adulthood. My husband was more concerned about shingles and so did want to do the vaccination. Him being the doctor, I deferred to his judgment. I am interested to see what the long term effects may be!

I didn't vaccinate my twin daughters because they got chicken pox at 15 months. It was horrible. They were literally covered with spots everywhere, including in their hair, in the corners of their eyes, and in their diaper area. But, they were too young to really be effective scratchers, so they have no scars to show for it.

I have read that the vaccine can wear off after about ten years or so, so what I have read is that it's recommended to get boosters periodically. Not sure if that is current info, but just what I have read.

I am grateful that my girls got it, although I didn't leave the house for three weeks because they got it back to back. I nearly went nuts, but you never know when you'll run into an inimmune pregnant woman in the mall or something. So I stayed home to protect such a person. In retrospect, I am glad we now don't have to worry about chicken pox.

I developed shingles in university, and it wasn't too bad, really. Just some blisters on my torson and some minor pain. And no ghost pain afterward, which is what I hear can be horrible. Interesting to find out that the vaccine doesn't protect kids from this. In fact, time will only tell how well this vaccine does. It might be fantastic, but maybe not.

If I were doing this from scratch with another baby (and I likely won't have another), I would let them reach puberty, and then vaccinate if they hadn't had chicken pox by that time.

Janet

We chose to give our daughter the vaccine when she was one....and she got chicken pox from it! It was a rather mild case but definitely the chicken pox.
So, now we don't have to do the booster at age 5 or whenever it is.
I think what frustrated me most about it was the PA's insistence that either 1) it wasn't chicken pox because that reaction was rare or 2) it was chicken pox but she caught from another child. Even though it is rare it has to happen to someone! She definitely had chicken pox as verified by our neighbor pediatrician. To the best of my knowledge, she wasn't exposed to the chicken pox and it was a mild case consistent with the side effect type. My feeling is that the she did get it from the vaccine. She was home with me that summer and the only public place we went around that time was the Children's Museum. The visit to the Children's Museum was one day outside of the incubation period.

I agree with Rapunzel that as more children receive the vaccine the opportunity for non-vaccinated children to catch chicken pox by a reasonable age goes down considerably.

Now what I am going to say will make me sound like a terrible parent...
My wife being a pediatrician knows, literally, years more about vaccinations and shot schedules than I do. I know that we have a shot record for Drew, DW probably has it committed to memory, but I can't tell you what shots he has had except for first shot of Hep-A which just happened at 3yrs. He hasn't had chicken pox, but also hasn't been exposed to other kids frequently since he is a stay at home with Dad kind of kid.

[SueC]

I can't either!!! I have friends whose spouses are not in the medical profession and they know exactly which vaccinations their kids are due for and what they are getting next. I feel almost negligent for being kind of clueless--I could look at the records to see what they've gotten so far, but I just assume our ped. knows what he is doing and he is friends with my husband so I assume they are on the same page about the whole thing! I actually had to ask my husband if we did the chicken pox vaccine becuase I really didn't know!

[Rapunzel]

Well, I can relate. I feel kind of bad sometimes too because I get neglectful with my children's vaccinations. I generally run about two to six months behind on their vaccination schedule after they hit about nine months old. I just get so lax about things and I don't know if that is OK or not to be honest! None of our pediatricians have "chastised" me about it so I haven't leaned towards the idea it is horrible, but it still makes me feel a bit neglectful! Oh well!

[fluffhead]

yeah I know - I'm never sure which round of dpt or polio we're on, but our pediatrician made a big deal of this one being OUR choice rather than a scheduled mandatory kind of thing, so I'm all in a dither about it.
And I must say, you guys haven't helped - with your differing opinions.
Why couldn't you all respond with one voice? 8)

Anyway, I'm inclined to hold off, and if she doesn't get it by adolescence, to go ahead and do it.

[Rapunzel]

I think that is going to be my plan as well.