You read it right. My child got chicken pox. Gasp! A “vaccine preventable” disease? Yes, and she survived. In fact, it was everything the media said it wasn’t.
I know, you were led to believe it was a deadly disease and saw the story of a child who died 13 years ago from chicken pox who didn’t have a spleen, couldn’t be vaccinated with varicella, couldn’t be around kids who were recently vaccinated with varicella (read 5.4 and 12.2 of this insert and 5.8 of this insert), or vaccinated children whose immunity to chicken pox had worn off, or vaccinated adults who no longer had immunity, or really anyone who had any kind of sickness. I’m not sure what is more tragic, the death of a child or the fact that the death of a child was used to emotionally manipulate us into vaccinating our children.
As a parent, I never take kindly to emotional manipulation techniques so I decided to do my research instead. Here’s why we didn’t vaccinate against chicken pox, and following is the natural protocol we used to manage our child’s symptoms at home.
Chicken pox is not a life threatening disease. Never has been. Never will be. Then again, I don’t consider my life when I reach for a glass of water, walk across a street, open my window, or take the stairs either (as more people die each year walking across the street and falling down their stairs than those who died from chicken pox prior to the vaccine).
“Chickenpox is a mild and common childhood illness that most children catch at some point. […] In fact, chickenpox is so common in childhood that over 90% of adults are immune to the condition because they’ve had it before. (A definition from the UK, a country that does not recommend routine chicken pox vaccination of children.)
The chicken pox vaccine has never been proven safe or effective. Pre-licensure studies were done using other vaccines as controls or adjuvants also contained in the vaccine being tested. No inert placebos were used and no placebo-controlled trials were carried out using the current vaccine. It states this explicitly in the vaccine package insert.
The combo MMR/Varicella vaccine is even worse. There were no proper safety studies done and post-marketing reports include side effects ranging from candida, psychiatric disorders, reproductive damage, respiratory infections, aseptic meningitis, arthritis, and numerous diseases that would have been called “polio” prior to the change in polio diagnostic criteria, to brain damage, nerve damage, gastrointestinal disorders, and death.
As a parent, I require proper safety and efficacy studies that meet the standards of evidenced based medicine and at this point, using bacon grease as a placebo would yield more accurate data.
The safety of the vaccine ingredients are more of a question mark than the ingredients in McDonald’s mystery meat. Here are the ingredients in the varicella vaccine:
“[Ingredients include] sucrose, phosphate, glutamate, gelatin, monosodium L-glutamate, sodium phosphate dibasic, potassium phosphate monobasic, potassium chloride, sodium phosphate monobasic, EDTA, residual components of MRC-5 cells including DNA and protein, neomycin, fetal bovine serum, human diploid cell cultures (WI-38), embryonic guinea pig cell cultures, [and] human embryonic lung cultures.”
So we’ve got GMO sugar, an ingredient that compromises kidney function (especially in children under two who do not have fully functioning kidneys), an ingredient associated with immune system dysfunction and neurological damage, an ingredient associated with anaphylaxis and food allergies, a known endocrine disruptor, an ingredient classified as a hazardous waste and fungicide/herbicide, another fungicide, an ingredient that can cause hyperkalemia, heart, and kidney problems, a hazardous waste associated with intoxication and death, a chelator (dangerous for treating autism but supposedly okay to inject into your kid), aborted baby cells, DNA, and protein, an antibiotic, cow serum, cells, DNA, and protein from a different aborted baby, guinea pig goodies, and dead baby lung cultures.
Not a single one of these ingredients are proven safe to inject into a child. Not a single one of these ingredients are without the potential for adverse reaction. Think I’m going to sign my kid up for this? No.
Let’s pretend the chicken pox vaccine and it’s ingredients are 100% safe. (I know…Aladdin is outside my window right now with his magic carpet). I still wouldn’t give it to my child because the chicken pox vaccine does not provide lifetime immunity (if any) to chicken pox, only gives up to 10 years of “protection,” shifts the risk of exposure to an age group where symptoms are more severe, and increases my child’s risk of getting shingles as an adult. But don’t worry, we developed another vaccine to “fix” the little problem we caused when we started mass vaccinating against chicken pox.
Reduction of childhood varicella by vaccination might lead to increased incidence of adult zoster [shingles]. Vaccination of the elderly (if effective) should be considered in countries with childhood varicella vaccination programmes. – The Lancet
If there is less chickenpox in children then there will be no boosting of immunity by exposure to chickenpox for middle and older aged people and thus there will be more shingles, at least until all the elderly have been vaccinated as children but this assumes that immunity conferred by vaccination is lifelong. – The Postgraduate Medical Journal
The chicken pox vaccine is not effective (unless you’re gauging its effectiveness at giving your child rheumatoid arthritis). My definition of “effective” is,
“a vaccine that yields something even remotely close to the lifetime immunity that exposure to the wild virus would provide and does not cause severe adverse events (including death) and the very disease it is designed to prevent.”
How does the Varivax vaccine measure up? Fail.
The chicken pox vaccine sheds, but I didn’t tell this to my daughter because I’d prefer not to pass on the sentiments of intolerance, immaturity, bullying, and bigotry I see going on around me because that’s just not cool. It was after all, our decision not to vaccinate and I’m not crude enough to require a list from other parents of what vaccines were given and whether said children are past the post-vaccine, should be quarantined, 6-week viral shedding window. (Read a really interesting article here.)
Really though, it all boils down to this:
Do I really want my daughter to be worried about contracting chicken pox if she decides to get pregnant someday? No.
Do I want her infant to be at risk for contracting chicken pox from both unvaccinated and vaccinated alike because my daughter didn’t have protective antibodies to give her? No.
Do I want her to have to live with the fact that at any time, her artificial vaccine-immunity could wear off? No.
Do I want her to have to continuously get vaccinated throughout her life, exposing her to both immediate and accumulative risks of the vaccine? No.
Do I want her to have a higher chance of contracting chicken pox as an adult, when the disease is more severe? No.
Do I want to increase her risk of contracting shingles? No. It is an unarguable fact that getting chicken pox as a child and being exposed to children who have chicken pox throughout your life is protective against shingles. (See here, here, here, here, and here.)
We know that exposure to chickenpox can significantly prevent or delay shingles (by exogenous boosting of immunity).
[Likewise] Having a child in the household reduced the risk of shingles for about 20 years, the more contact with children the better, and general practitioners and pediatricians have a statistically significant lowering of risk.
Oh snap! You mean my child could get protection against more serious diseases by being exposed to chicken pox? Call me crazy, but I sided with the research and experience of everyone who has had chicken pox and decided that the risks of a mild, childhood illness and the benefits of lifetime immunity (and protection against shingles as an adult) far outweighed the risks of an ineffective chicken pox vaccine, the temporary (if any) immunity it gives, and the side affects, which include all of the side effects that could accompany the rare case of severe chicken pox, plus brain encephalitis, cerebrovascular accident, transverse myelitis, Guillain-Barré, Bell’s palsy, seizures, aseptic meningitis, Stevens-Johnson Syndrome, shingles, and chicken pox.
So, what was the chicken pox really like? It’s a few days of a rash, itching, and “Sid the Science Kid.”
It all started one cold day in December. I noticed what appeared to be a zit on the back of my daughter’s neck. I even tried to pop it. (Gross, I know. But who can resist a good zit?) This wasn’t acting like your normal zit and I wondered if maybe we had something serious on our hands. Despite being deemed incapable of using my brain as a mother, I decided to take a quick glance at my daughter’s back to see if Mr. Zit had some friends. Sure enough, they were faint but they were there and I diagnosed our child with chicken pox.
What does chicken pox look like? This.
Wait, that picture isn’t scary enough.
Did we take her to a doctor? Of course not.
Chicken pox is contagious. If your child were recently vaccinated, you would (should) avoid public places, like schools, stores, hospitals, and amusement parks. Since my unvaccinated child had chicken pox, we avoided public places, including doctor’s offices. (For the sake of full disclosure, we did go to Grandma’s house. She said, “bring her over!” and big girl wanted to show off her chicken pops.)
How did we treat it? With pure quackery of course.
It’s thanks to this common sense quack medicine that we’ve never had to take our children to a doctor or give them any type of medication. It’s great. You should try it.
The Natural Protocol for Chicken Pox
Cost: $3
What you’ll need:
1. Footie pajamas
2. Oats or epsom salts
3. Essential Oils
4. Netflix
5. Fort building supplies
Instructions:
1. Put your child in footie pajamas so that they can’t scratch themselves. (If you think your child is good at wiping, forget this step like I did and you’ll find out otherwise.)
2. Bathe as needed and use 1/2 cup of oats and a few drops of lavender or thieves (or equivalent) essential oil. I don’t know if oats work but it’s an old folk remedy and my nurse mama told me to do it, so what could it hurt?
3. For itching (this is golden), put your kid in an epsom salt bath. I only did this one time (on day 3) when my daughter complained of itching. I used 1/2 cup of epsom salt and a few drops of essential oil in the tub right before bed. It dried out her pox and she fell asleep.
4. Distract. Make a giant fort, stuff your faces with healthy snacks, and watch “Sid the Science Kid.”
People have told me that I would change my stance on vaccines if my child got a “vaccine preventable” disease. Well, she did but my stance hasn’t changed because an informed decision isn’t based on emotional circumstances and the bad science vaccines are founded upon and supported by hasn’t changed. I would never risk the effects of a vaccine, for this.
Disclaimer: I am not a doctor and this is not medical advice. This post is my personal opinion based off of my personal research and experience. If your child has symptoms you cannot manage at home, go to your super awesome, open-minded doctor.
Photo Credits: Self and (featured image) Morgue File
our 2.5 was ill almost all thr time since going to kindergarten. so we were umable to vacinnate. now he has CP. for me it looks like both ways are equal. either way i am scared
Very interesting article. I can argue though on a point. I had chicken pox as a child. Now by age 60 I have had shingles twice.
Yes, shingles is something you can get if you’ve had chicken pox. I would assume you can also get it post vaccination. From what I understand you can’t get shingles until you have had one or the other. I would never vaccinate for either though. We also had whooping cough, and it was miserable BUT I still would not have vaccinated for it. If you educate yourself on natural remedies the side effects can be minimalized and are nowhere near as bad as the irreversible side effects of vaccines.
I completely agree with this article! It amazes me that they push vaccinating against chicken pox then give the live shingles virus which can infect others with chicken pox. It’s the most ridiculous merry go round I’ve ever heard of. As I type this, 4 of my children and one granddaughter are covered with chicken pox and I’m jumping for joy! Contracting the actual chickenpox pox helps build strong immunities against other diseases later immune life.
Loved your article!! I have a 4 year old son and I dont want to vaccinate him but dont know how to get him into contact with anyone with chicken pox bc everyone seems to be vaccinated……wondering how your kids contracted it? I think its important for him, but i also dont want to go to extremes that ive been reading online of getting infected clothing mailed to them…..
We live in Kentucky and all 4 of my kids plus my granddaughter has the chicken pox now. Wanna visit and share a cup of coffee lol
Your daughter was adorable…”I got chicken pox from a chicken” lolol! somewhat true by proxy 🙂 great blog…thank you.
Thanks for reading Melissa! <3
I’ve just got to comment, even though this article is older. It is so much harder when they are older! My older kids got it when they were 1.5 and 4.5 (and it was much as you describe, low temp and few spots and a day or two of itchy) and now my younger crew has it 15 years later at 9, 12, and 13 (many more spots, more blisters, more pain and itching throughout the whole illness not just at the end). I was unable to find it to expose these guys younger, but if I had known how much harder it would be on them I would have tried harder!
Hi.
I am late in the game with my comment/Question.
My !6 year old daughter in unvaccinated and has not yet had chickenpox. My 13 year old got a moderate case when she was 8 but my other 2 did not get it even though we did the whole clothes sharing, spit sharing etc. I had a titer done and she has not contracted it. I am worried about trying to expose her now due to how bad it might be and also worried about her getting pregnant in the future and contracting it? Her pediatrician thinks she should have the shot. She is very supportive to non vaxers. Thoughts?
should say 16 year old
I remember a situation about 20 years ago. I was a housekeeper for the hospitals O.R. One day the Employee healthtold me that I needed a chicken pox booster. I did get it but no one ever told me why. I thought maybe a child came to have surgery and wasn’t vaccinated.. So does this happen to the majority of us who did vaccinate? Interesting stuff to think upon.
I am researching this very issue right now, and have 19 & 17 yr old sons, 15, 13, 11, & 9 yr old daughters – none of which have been vaccinated for chickenpox, and have never been exposed. We think it is just now going around in our community, and this has caused a bunch of discussion. My oldest sons do not want to deal with as they think they will have to be out of work for a couple weeks, so want to get the vaccination. Thoughts on my 15 year old daughter? I keep flip-flopping on the oldest ones, but I know getting it naturally is best. Thanks for any thoughts!
This is the best article i’ve ever read on the issue- well done. It’s a hot topic amongst my mother and baby forum at the moment so i will share it.
My 2 (aged 18 mths and 3 years) are just ‘recovering’ from CP- to be honest, only for the spots i would not have known they were ill! A week at home playing with mummy, they were delighted with themselves.
Thanks Sheena! I’m glad you liked it. <3
Sheena,
That’s how my kids were, too! Well, one was itchy and whiney and the other looked like the spots were uncomfortable, but the traditional “sickies” (fever, runny nose, cough, upset stomach, headaches, etc) were nowhere to be found! They played, ran around, did school (at home), and ate normally. Were it not for the spots, no one would have known. I’m sure everyone thought they were deathly ill because I quarantined them for a month (they got them two weeks apart from each other) and was afraid to tell people that they had the “dreaded” chickenpox, when in reality they were on the verge of breaking down the house in boredom!
First of all I’ll start out by saying my youngest child is unvaccinated. But before I started researching vaccines and the problems associated with them my oldest son had all of his shots through kindergarten ( including the chicken pox vaccine). So he was supposed to be protected right?!… at the age of 8 he broke out with shingles… Supposedly that’s not possible. I would have rather he broke out with chicken pox, at least he wouldn’t have been in such pain induced agony.
I have a question. We have friends coming in from out of town this week and their older daughter – age 15, was recently vaccinated and just developed the chicken pox rash yesterday. Her younger, unvaccinated siblings have all developed spots as well – I am assuming due to shedding from the vaccine. I do not vaccinate my children anymore. My older daughter was vaccinated to varricella one time before entering kindergarten, but we pulled her out of school in 1st grade and began homeschooling. My younger daughter has not been vaccinated yet. I don’t want them to stay away, but I fear exposing her to the vaccine induced form of chicken pox. We all have very strong immune systems now. The girls have not been to the doctor for a sick visit in over 4 years. I am building their immune systems as we speak with vitamins and colloidal silver. Should I worry about the vaccine induced virus or should I welcome her exposure to it? Thoughts??
From personal experience, I exposed my kids to other kids who got chickenpox from a little friend who was shedding from a breakout rash after being vaccinated. Her kids’ chickenpox cases were not serious…that was from direct exposure to breakout from the vaccinated child. My kids were directly exposed to hers. My youngest got it first, and my oldest two weeks later from his sister. My daughter (2) had a fever for two days, and spots began with one and quickly increased for 3 days. She had them pretty bad before they began to scab and heal, but hers did not itch too badly and my topical essential oil treatments seemed to help (there are lots of good recipes) as did baking soda baths. She also never slowed down…played constantly and had no loss of appetite. I never got to snuggle her like I planned. My son (6) got it two weeks later, he had no fever, and we thought he was going to skip it completely. The day we found the first spots he had been hiking and only felt a little tired. He also had no loss of appetite, was completely restless and irritated that we were stuck at home, and his worst complaint was the itching. Topical treatments and baths did not work for him, so we broke down and gave him benadryl for the last two days. He picked a lot so he has a few scars on his stomach…my daughter did not scratch, which was good because the majority were on her face. She has no scars.
I would not be terribly concerned with the vaccine strain of the virus, my kids got good strong cases, that originated from a vaccine breakout, with no complications and didn’t even act/feel sick. They were uncomfortable, but they didn’t have classic symptoms of being ill, like fever, headache, body aches, coughing, sore throats, etc. I babied my son with movies to combat the boredom, but my daughter wouldn’t even slow down to watch anything or snuggle. One interesting fact, another family exposed their four kids for 3 days in a row to my daughter through sharing of lollipops, wiping snot off mine onto hers, and sharing water cups (we are usually careful about NOT exposing our kids to every cold or flu that is being passed around), and NONE of them got sick. We are both a little confused about how that’s possible. Whether it’s vaccine strain or wild, allowing your healthy kids to get the illness will leave them with better protection later in life. It will also boost your immunity while caring for them. Good luck with whatever you choose.
So if I understand what you are saying. Your kiddos were exposed from a vaccine shedder??? My question is, sorry if you’ve answered it in these long comments, how does one tell f it’s from a shedder or the wild strain???
In this instance, the original child had received the vaccine within the week that the child began having a case of “breakout” chickenpox (from the vaccine). They are then actively contagious and other children were exposed. Some doctors say that it’s not contagious, some admit that it is. My children were secondarily exposed to the children exposed to the original child. Yes, it’s quite the chain. Interestingly, my sister’s youngest child, who was around one, was also directly exposed at the same time as mine and did not contract chickenpox. When my youngest was contagious (my children were sick two weeks apart…my son did not contract it from the initial exposure, but rather from my daughter) we had some friends come over for a “party” for three days in a row which included some pretty out-of-character sharing, and NONE of her four children got sick. So it is likely that they got at least some immunity…though, possibly short lived.
I Wish I Had Chicken Pox! How did your children get chicken pox if they have been vaccine?
My children were unvaccinated. The only exposure my daughter had to chicken pox was via a recently vaccinated child. 😉
So does this provide immunity???
I know this is a late comment but my three kids were all vaccinated. 2 of them came down with the chicken pox at different times. The efficacy rate is very low for chicken pox it’s really a joke that kids are required to have it in my state. They were perfectly fine after a couple of days just like the rest of us who had it as children.
I must admit, now that both children have completed their experiences with chickenpox, that it WAS terrible. For me. Neither one was “sick” enough for me to snuggle with. They were going, going, going, and constantly playing and being pretty stinking normal. My youngest got it first. She had a low-grade fever for two days (not bad enough to slow her down), a snotty nose (which I could attribute to teething at the same time) and a fair number of pox for about 5 days. I tried to snuggle her, but alas, all she wanted to do was play and run around squealing like all healthy two-year olds do all day. After oatmeal/baking soda baths and treatment with EO’s, she didn’t even seem to itch much. The worst part was that I don’t get to snuggle her much and only seem to be able to is when she is sick…but she didn’t act sick so I didn’t get to snuggle. Two weeks later, my 6 year old son got it…I was prepared for this now. We went hiking last Saturday, and he seemed a little whiny about hiking and took more breaks than normal…but , when we sat down to eat lunch we saw the spots. No cold-like symptoms, no fever, no runny nose, no loss of appetite…just spots. We went home and I treated him with the same arsenal plus a few different things. He was bothered by the itch, and that’s all. We continued with his homeschool as normal as the pox increased and subsided. He also didn’t want to snuggle, but I let him watch a little more TV to make him feel like I was babying him a little. I think he will be the “man-flu” type of guy who wants to be babied for the slightest sickness. I never use medication, but no topical treatment was helping, so I gave him two doses of Benadryl over the course of 6 days of itching. And it gave him some much needed relief and naps. I gave him melatonin at night to help with sleep as well so itching wouldn’t keep him up, but so that his body could heal better. Both are fine and glad it’s over. I just wish I could have snuggled with them :-). Now they are protected for longer than a vaccine can offer, my husband and I have had our “boosters” through re-exposure, and we no longer have to be on the “hunt” for this particular mild vaccine preventable former common childhood illness. When your kids are healthy, there is little danger from many of these illnesses.
Again Thanks for the article!
Let me just say that my only vaccinated child (vaccinated until 4) got the chicken pox anyway (regardless of having the vaccine) at 9 year old and carried it home to my then 4 year old and 4 MONTH OLD. Guess what…..NO ONE DIED!
Everyone did fine…
I had the chicken pox naturally as a child. When I started nursing school as an adult, I was told I NEEDED the vaccine anyway. The vaccine GAVE me chicken pox again! So in my book…the argument FOR the chickenpox vaccine is dead.
Science is science….and it doesn’t get more scientific than natural medicine— the way things have worked forever.
I think you’re missing the big picture. 1 in 3 adults who have had chicken pox will aquire shingles. If you’ve never had chicken pox, you can’t get shingles. While chicken pox can be no big deal to otherwise healthy children (of course there is a chance of meningitis and encephalitis) …shingles can cause long lasting or lifelong nerve pain. The varicella vaccine isn’t 100%…but now your kids will need the shingles vaccine instead.
Oh I get the math. I also understand that varicella vaccine is a live viral vaccine and by giving every child in America this vaccine, we are increasing their risk of getting shingles as an adult – at least that’s what the research shows (and common sense would tell us). I also understand that getting chicken pox and being re-exposed to the virus throughout the course of one’s life by children who develop the same negates the risk of shingles as an adult.
With respect,
Megan
yes. excellent counterpoint. and another good article! our kids were also fine when they had CP, and the risk of encephalitis & meningitis is the reason we avoid shots.
Hi Megan
Just wondering what your thoughts would be on an adult who has never had chickenpox before? Do you still think it is better without the vaccine?
Thanks
Melissa
Hi Melissa, Considering the vaccine could cause chicken pox (as well as many other side effects) and provides (very) temporary immunity, yes…I do. 😉
To Nicky –
Your argument does not stand. The fact is that if you had chicken pox naturally, you will have a slight chance to have shingles if you are unlucky (in the case of my husbands grandfather, his immune system was very low from all the diabetes, Parkinson’s and hip surgery medicine he is taking) or if you had a vaccine you are likely to have shingles when you are older or chickenpox. In both cases you may have shingles! I would opt to have it naturally and having my body dealing with it in its own pace. To me, the debate about having the chickenpox vaccine is pointless as there are no benefits, unless your child suffers from a very severe immune disease maybe?
To add to the discussion in general –
I was a 70s child and we have never been vaccinated against chicken pox, mumps etc. It is something we would expect to have as a child no biggie. No one I know at my time in school, or ever, have died of it. I actually never knew it could kill you until I lived in North America. I have now 2 children who have been vaccinated for polio and other more serious diseases but not to the ones referred above. My children survived chickenpox without any problems. I added to their bath a mixture of lavender essential oils, sea salt, chamomile tea and oats which I left in a muslim bag attached to the hot tap so the water could run through it. The bag then got squeezed until no more oat ‘milk’ could come out of it. Whenever the itch got bad, they hoped into the bath. I have also used bicarbonate of soda with filtered water to form a paste to dry them out. My little boy got it worse as he was still wearing nappies. It only lasted for about 4-5 days. In UK, Brazil and France (the places were I lived before) we all had chickenpox and I have never heard about chickenpox vaccine until I moved to Canada! Not long ago, There was a BBC documentary about diseases in children which researchers linked to living in a ‘sterile society’, where we are going berserk with cleaning and disinfecting every single corner of our houses and other places and the fact that children today don’t have as much contact with dirt, soil and playing outside made them more vulnerable to conditions such as asthma, eczemas, respiratory conditions, food intolerance and other ‘mild’ contagious diseases. The more we are naturally exposed to germs and bacteria from the natural world, the better and our immune system will be prepared to tackle diseases. Couldn’t that linked to some extent to the children that died from chickenpox?
I completely get protecting your daughter from chicken pox via vaccine or just letting them catch it and get it over with, but at the same time getting your child vaccinated will surely protect them from greater diseases. Chicken pox is so so mild and I hope your stance on vaccinations is not for all diseases because there are definitely some that will be better vaccine treated.
I was looking for where you got the information on the vaccine ingredients. Those were super disturbing to me. I’d like to see the source. Thank you. 🙂 I did look through the 13 page PDF you linked to and didn’t see it there. If it was there and I missed it could you tell me the page?
Hi Amber, all of my sources are hyperlinked in blue/green font. Here is the vaccine ingredient list: http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/pinkbook/downloads/appendices/B/excipient-table-2.pdf
Thanks for reading!
Megan
These kids weren’t quite so lucky
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2987974/Parents-heartbreak-baby-boy-dies-chickenpox-caught-big-brother.html
http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/parenting/baby/caring-for-baby/71486313/parents-shocked-after-boy-4-dies-from-the-chicken-pox
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2588446/Harmless-No-chickenpox-killed-one-boys-left-stricken-years.html
Rach, if I wanted to engage in emotional arguments, I would link to stories of vaccine injured children. I assure you, I could provide more than three links. As sad as these stories are, they don’t make vaccines any more safe or effective.
My siblings and I had chicken pox 73 years ago. My 88 year old sister got the shingles shot in 2006 and in 2012 came down with shingles. She was told the shot would prevent shingles…guess not! Now they admit it is only “50% effective” and is only good for three or four years. She was also told she got it because her immune system was down, but she has had kidney problems all her life and had lots of infections from it, so her immune system was low hundreds of times during her lifetime without getting shingles. I have trouble really believing the same virus causes chicken pox and shingles. They say shingles is not contagious; chicken pox is. Everyone I know who has shingles had the shingles vaccination sometime previously. I wonder if people who never had chicken pox have gotten shingles. Maybe the shingles vaccination itself puts you more at risk for the disease??
Just like anything else medicine or not
Vaccines and immunity CAN FAIL
But yes unless combined with another disease or if suffer from a weakened immune system chicken pox cannot kill on its own
Good job about not taking her to a doctor. Especially with chicken pox or any other disease, unless it’s becoming dangerous or isn’t too contagious, avoid the doctor and that waste of money 😛
Shedding???
My god, MARY It IS CALLED A CARRIER. Sometimes when you become immune or get vaccinated, you are safe from the symptoms but can’t eradicate the disease, so you can still spread it.
Mary Google Typhoid Mary now
I am 57 years old and as a child i had measles, mumps (both sides) and chickenpox as did nearly every kid i went to school with! Not one of us died or even came close, not one of us sustained any long term side effects from the disease! It was part of life! This modern day scaremongering is solely for the purpose of profits for Big Pharma and the Medical Mafia! I would have them all again rather than inject the concoction of toxic crap in vaccines!
Flu vaccines are the most obvious failures for all to see! You can watch people get the vaccination and then end up with the worst flu of the season and others who aren’t vaccinated won’t get it even though they may be around these people! I have seen this at work on numerous occasions. Just recently my wife (not vaccinated either) had a bad flu and i did not get it! I have never had a flu shot in my life! Now if i had have had a flu shot the medical profession would be claiming that it was the reason i did not get the flu from my wife! This would be purely false assumption on their part but they would still take credit for it even though it is impossible to prove!
I love this so much! I was literally just doing research bc I was slightly worried that my 6 year old girl (whom is unvaccinated) has not yet had chicken pox! I come from a family of nine children six are girls and of the 12 Cousin my daughter has 3 of them are fully vaccinated and the other nine are not but none have contracted chicken pox yet! This eases my fear bc I heard older they are the worse the chicken pox will be! I just want to have a chicken pox party and get this over with!
The chicken pox vaccine hadnt been invented or introduced yet, I’m 32. As a baby my mother had brought me to a “chicken pox party” and thought I’d just contracted a mild infection (I didn’t get sick at all). I definitely did not catch it as a baby bc sure enough just a day or two before Christmas break I came down with chicken pox. I believe I was 11 or 12, which is dangerously old to catch the disease.. I can remember clearly how terrible it was, and it lasted 2weeks (the entire length of Christmas vacation, back then it was 2wks not one). I believe the older you are the more symptoms that go a long with it. I was unable to eat with an unquenchable thirst, had uncontrollable fever, was in and out of lucidity, body aches, of course a severe and itchy rash, and the worst symptom I couldn’t even watch tv bc the light sensitivity was so bad, all I could do is sit in the dark.. I’ll never forget how terrible it was. Moral of my story? Just make sure your child really does indeed catch the chicken pox at the party… not before Christmas break or whatever PC word they use now to describe that break in winter
My mother-in-law works with elderly… Does the shingles vaccine shed? I know they have shot nurses that come to the nursing home often. I was just curious. My little guy was smothered and loved on by his grandmother the day before her shingles virus broke out-which is when the virus is supposed to be the most contagious (according to her doctor). Thankfully I had chicken pox as a child and gave him protection through my breast-milk and we got a healthy dose of exposure 🙂
Yes, the shingles vaccine does shed. So glad you were able to give him so protection. 😉
Megan you contradict yourself.
You say “gasp, a vaccine-preventable disease,” YOU SAY you don’t vaccine your children at all so you have to take out that factor.
What?
Yah that was confusing. I’m saying that even if a disease is vaccine-preventable, it doesn’t matter as you don’t vaccinate your children in the first place
I love this post and your stance on vaccines. Very similar to my own and the lifestyle I try to promote to others. One thing though….”Sid The Science Kid” is pro-vax. Check out the shots episode on YouTube. Hehe. Again, great post! Looking forward to seeing some of your other posts.
Good luck with shingles.
Thankfully, that risk is reduced since my child didn’t receive a live virus varicella vaccine.
Actually Shingles is a bigger problem post -varicella vaccine. If you look at the CDC statistics, shingles was unheard of in under 10 until the very year the vaccine came out. The first year had 3 cases of shingles in children and its gone up every year since then.
I want to thank you for your article and sense of humor concerning the whole topic of health and taking a natural approach. I struggle greatly with the topic because I believe God gave us an immune system to fight for us and good healthy food, spices, vitamins, oils to treat and use as remedies, but I have someone close to me that is a nurse practictioner and is very vocal about her medical opinion. I do have a question concerning the shedding. Since my kids have not been vaccinated, should I have my kids stay away from kids that have been recently vaccinated? If so, how long should we stay away from them? Once again, thank you for your advice and expertise on this topic. Many blessings to you and your beautiful family! <
Hi, great read.
I also had pox as a child & my unvaxed daughter caught it @3yrs. She was treated by myself with a mix of anti-viral essential oils and was completely better in 8 days while other kids were off kindy for 3 weeks.
Just a thought after reading theses comments- you could revisit the chocolate comment lol besides the immune reduction cause by sugar, chocolate afects the lysine/arginine relationship with relation to virus’s. Maybe a new post on lysine in virus treatment 🙂
Umm… maybe if you had vaccinated your kids, they wouldn’t have been off school for 8 days, because MAYBE they wouldn’t have caught pox because THEY WOULD HAVE BEEN VACCINATED.
If you want to be an anti-vaxxer, risk YOUR OWN life, not the lives of your children.
That’s funny. My child got chicken pox from a VACCINATED child. Maybe if that child wouldn’t have been vaccinated or would have been quarantined for the recommended six weeks, she wouldn’t have infected my child. Thank goodness my child wasn’t immunocompromised at the time. If you want to vaccinate, that’s your choice, but don’t pretend it doesn’t put your child’s health (or life) at risk…or mine.
My 3 children all got chicken pox from their grandfather who had shingles. They were 9 months, 2 years and 4 years old at the time. The 4 year old caught it first and had a very mild case. The other two then got it, pretty bad. Only had one awful night with baby who had a lot of pox in the diaper area. We survived. I now have a 2 year old who hasn’t had it yet and am pregnant. I’m hoping it will still be around to “catch” when new baby is old enough. Great article!
I had the chickenpox at age 2 and aside from a couple scars have no lasting negative effects. I don’t remember having them, but when it’s randomly come up in conversation with my mom there is no fear mongering or lamenting. My nephews both got chickenpox from their vaccinations.
chicken pox can be a pain yes, but if you research it enough and just check in with your doc your child should be fine.
In reference to your disclaimer: “Disclaimer: I am not a doctor and this is not medical advice. This post is my personal opinion based off of my personal research and experience. If your child has symptoms you cannot manage at home, go to your super awesome, open-minded doctor.”
I’m elated that you’re not a doctor and this isn’t expert medical advice. Rather, you have a mind, you can read, you can think, you can reason, use logic, critically think, you can research, and you can reach a conclusion that is blindingly razor sharp. That is called bucking the trend, frightening those who argue with emotion and most importantly, upsetting the very potential that the days of vaccines for immunity are on the way out. It feels sort of like when we learned that Santa Claus wasn’t real. Yes it hurt, dearly, but we also learned a life long lesson that day – from now on I will question everything. At least that was my experience.
Thank you James. I had to admit I expected a different type of comment when I saw that you quoted my “disclaimer.” Feel free to comment again anytime. You are awesome and so was your comment.
Thank you Megan. You are awesome too and I will continue to contribute dialogue that can make an authentic, positive and moving difference – precisely what you are doing here.
Please stop calling it CP.
CP usually stands for cerebral palsy.
“People have told me that I would change my stance on vaccines if my child got a “vaccine preventable” disease. Well, she did but my stance hasn’t changed because an informed decision isn’t based on emotional circumstances and the bad science vaccines are founded upon and supported by hasn’t changed. I would never risk the effects of a vaccine, for this.”
They meant if your kid got one of those preventable diseases and had one of those serious complications and they are right. If your kid had been unfortunate enough to get the encephalitis,you probably would regret not vaccinating her while paying her funeral or caring for your now disabled child(which you were trying to “avoid” by not vaccinating, remember?) . I hate people who can only be extreme. Sometimes it’s not black and it’s not white.Sometimes it’s grey.You know? All these extremists(on BOTH sides) do not appear as credible, rational people.
Yes, some children have had reactions to vaccines.Some have been ugly.Keep in mind though that in some cases the parents didn’t follow post vaccines instructions and that lead to complications.Keep in mind that in some cases the child was already sick but didn’t have advanced enough symptoms and the symptoms might have been exacerbated by vaccines. Keep in mind that some parents connect their kid’s illness with vaccines just because it happened some time after the vaccine. But yes, also keep in mind that some children have had extreme reactions to vaccines and vaccines do mostly ensure that a child gets the less severe form of a disease.
And on the other side, yes, the newer vaccines are rather suspicious.The HIV vaccine is downright shady in my opinion, the flu shot works only if you catch the strain you were vaccinated against, rotavirus vaccine efficiency is still debatable. The vaccines that have been around for a century however have proven to be efficient whether you like to admit it or not. Why is it that now that “modern” parents refuse to vaccinate their kids there are more outbreaks of diseases long forgotten? The MMR, DTP, Anti-Polio, Hep B do work, there is evidence out there whether you like it or not.
All in all, I think it\s a matter of not believing blindindly in any side but being an extremist who uses the phrase “Well my kid was vaccinated and he’s fine=all vaccines are safe” or “My daughter got chicken pox and is fine=it’s a lie that measles can be dangerous” really doesn’t convince me that I’m talking to rational people.
People have told me that I would change my stance on vaccines if my child got a “vaccine preventable” disease. Well, she did but my stance hasn’t changed because an informed decision isn’t based on emotional circumstances and the bad science vaccines are founded upon and supported by hasn’t changed.
Sure, it’s possible my daughter could have one of the extremely rare side-effects of chicken pox, but that still doesn’t make the vaccine safe or effective and because of this, I would never regret my decision to opt out. The citations are hyperlinked in blue/green font in this post. Thanks for your opinion! I value it. 🙂
This might be blunt but yes, I imagine it would be easier to live with the idea that “vaccines were bad and wouldn’t have helped anyways” since the alternative would be living with the idea that you might have killed/disabled your child by not vaccinating him.Who wants to live with that kind of guilt?
It’s a risk either way you look at it. Each parent has to decide which risk is the right one to take.
Would you play russian roulette with a revolver that has 6 chambers? What if I gave you a million dollars for 1 trigger squeeze? Would you do it? Let’s change it up, let’s say the revolver has 1 million chambers, still 1 bullet, and 1 million dollars for 1 trigger squeeze. Would you do it? If you did not play the 1 in a million odds would you regret losing out on a million dollars? If you did play and you just happened to be unlucky enough to catch the bullet, would you regret playing? You can avoid it all by simply not playing. How does this relate to vaccines? The crazy vaccine pushers will tell you that living without vaccines is like playing russian roulette, when in fact the exact opposite is truly the case. If you NEVER inject the foul vaccine substances into your blood, you will NEVER be harmed by any potential vaccine side effects. The effectiveness of vaccines has never been proven. So to say an unvaccinated person is anymore at risk than a vaccinated person is preposterous, especially when we see so many instances of the vaccinated people becoming sick with the very disease the vaccine was supposed to protect them from. Many people won’t even put $5 down at the black jack table for about 50/50 odds, but they will inject crap into their bloodstream without even knowing what it is. Life is dangerous… we all love to gamble.
I also had chickenpox twice as a child. Mild case the first time, much more severe the second. I remember both cases clearly. It was uncomfortable.
I would STILL not trade that experience for the vaccine. Sorry.
Is there a party house for Measles and Polio? I want to see those videos!
Chicken pox aren’t generally life-threatening, are they? No surprise with your experience.
The potential complications of chicken pox are like the potential complications of vaccination. They must be listed in the interest of full disclosure but your chances of having one of the potential complications with an otherwise healthy child is slim to none. 🙂
Your article is interesting. Over the last month there have been 6 different bloggers on other sites who commented that they developed shingles from being in contact with children who had recently been vaccinated for chicken pox. The Chicken Pox vaccine and the Shingles vaccines are the same virus. Here are some interesting articles:
Study Shows Chicken Pox Vaccine Responsible for Triggering Nationwide Shingles Epidemic
http://www.naturalnews (dot) com/038997_chicken_pox_vaccine_shingles_epidemic.html#ixzz2KJBlm2gW
Disingenuous CDC Study Confirms Danger of Chicken-pox Vaccine
http://www.ageofautism (dot) com/2009/11/disingenuous-cdc-study-confirms-danger-of-chicken-pox-vaccine.html
This is a conundrum. Chicken pox vaccine sheds and others can be infected from the vaccinated person. The Shingles vaccines has twice the virus in it and not only can the person injected develop shingles from the shot (my uncle did) , the virus can shed and infect others and give them either shingles of chicken pox if children. Some new literature has come out that shows an alarming rise in the number of children with shingles. If the CDC/Vaccine industry fear mongering campaign continues to be effective and more people offer themselves up for shots, the vaccine makers profits will go up. Can you guess who makes both vaccines? Merck. Some researchers say Merck created it’s own market from both vaccines and are profiting from the increase in vaccines due to their PR fear campaigns.
? Your sources state correctly that the virus in the vaccines can either directly or indirectly (through shedding) cause shingles. They do not say that exposure to humans with an active infection of chicken pox of the wild variety will cause shingles.
The author correctly stated, that exposure to children wih active infection of chicken pox of the wild variety will tend to protect adults from shingles.
No conundrum here.
You DO want to be around naural chicken pox.
You DO NOT want to be around recently vaccinated people.
PS when I was small, children went to school with chicken pox.
You’re a gem. Thank God for people like you. I could not say any of the above better so hope you don’t mind when I quote you. I never had chicken pox as a child. Or measles. My brother did, and I think my two older siblings did as well. Not sure how I escaped that. I did get the mumps though. The mumps sucked and it hurt. And yes, I watched a lot of TV and moaned for more hot chocolate. I hated it. Then again, I hate colds too. None of these were considered life threatening and my parents barely raised an eyebrow. Seemed everyone I knew got one or all of these three: CP, Measles, Mumps and we barely talked about it. My grandma showed me a little scar on her nose where she itched too hard way back. That was the only hiccup!
The fact that the media, government and big pharma are scaring us into thinking these are life threatening diseases is duplicitous and wrong (of course people can die from it, people also die from the flu, routine teeth abstractions, heat stroke, etc. but that is the exception).
They should just be honest and say, “big pharma would like you to continue to fund their lavish lifestyles as well as keep them rocketing on the stock market so please buy into our vaccine program, and while you’re at it, take Tylenol/Advil/whatever the moment you feel even slightly off. Why? Because we profit from it. As for a good rest/sleep, sunshine, hydration, exercise, fresh air and all those other natural FREE goodies, that’s just silly. You need to spend money to be healthy.” UGH!!!
Thank you!
Thank you so much for sharing your CP experience! I come from a family of 8. Over the 70’s and early 80’s we all had CP and with no complications. For most of us, my mom deliberately took us to play with other kids who had CP to expose us. It’s just what everyone did back then. She said out of all her kids, I had it the mildest and was the youngest to have it. I was 2 or 3. I had a brother who didn’t catch it until jr high and he was by far the most “miserable” according to her. I now have twin 2-year-olds…when they were born premature they spent 7 weeks in the NICU and were exposed to shingles by one of their respiratory techs!! The doctors pulled me aside one day and very seriously asked if I had actually had the CP and not vaccinated, because if I had them my kids would be protected by the passive immunity. Seriously, why are we vaccinating for this again? I really hope I get a chance to expose my kids while they are young.
Wow Sarah, thanks so much for sharing!
When I was a kid, the worst part about getting CP was that my brother gave them to me… and I got them on the last day of school! So my brother, who had missed a couple of weeks of school, had to go up and get my perfect attendance award for me. I was not amused. Other than that, it was watch TV, have mom make me lots of French toast and play with the puzzles my aunt brought over to keep my fingers busy and away from scratching!
My oldest daughter got them at age 3 from her cousin, a glorious spotty case that she showed no ill effects during whatsoever.
The rest of the kids got them while I was gone on a travel nurse contract in another state. My husband was Skyping me and said, “The kids have weird bug bites.” I was surprised, not a lot of bug bites in Idaho in the winter. I asked if they were around the kids ankles or wrists, thinking something was trying to get in through their snow suits. He said, “No, all over their tummies and chests.”
It was hard not to laugh while I asked him to please have the kids show me the spots over Skype. Sure enough, classic CP. Then I about lost it laughing. He was so funny, just kept stammering that he had no idea, they didn’t act sick, etc., etc.
Let us be clear about what the chickenpox label states. “The protective efficacy of VARIVAX was established by: (1) a placebo-controlled, double-blind clinical trial, (2) comparing varicella rates in vaccines versus historical controls, and (3) assessing protection from disease following household exposure.” The label goes on to state that 82-100% of chickenpox cases were prevented in 18 different clinical trials. It is true that the final product and dose regimen were compared to the placebo results from the first clinical trial, rather than repeatedly assigning children to a group knowing they would get sicker than the other group (repeating human placebo control groups is grossly immoral). The historical controls in question were collect in a chickenpox placebo control study in 1984.
If chickenpox gives lifelong immunity, why did my sister get it twice as a child?
Finally, I don’t consider the chickenpox a life-threatening disease, but before routine chickenpox vaccinations began, 1 in 60,000 chickenpox cases resulted in death and 2-3 cases per 1000 were hospitalized (http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/pinkbook/downloads/varicella.pdf). In the first 10 years of use chickenpox vaccine use, there were just over 5 adverse events per 10,000 cases (this is the rash, fever, and injection site reaction type) and 2.6 serious events per 100,000 (meningitis, encephalopathy), most of which were in children with serious underlying conditions (http://jid.oxfordjournals.org/content/197/Supplement_2/S170.full.pdf+html). The numbers are clear. The risk of serious complication is 100 times greater for the chickenpox than the chickenpox vaccine.
The placebo used are adjuvants (not inert substances) and “historical controls” are other vaccines. This is common knowledge and in the literature. Your sister was an exception to the rule. Before the vaccine there were about 100 cases of death per year per the CDC. Finally, I’m not sure how you can gather what the risk of adverse reaction is from the chicken pox vaccine since we don’t properly monitor adverse reactions. VAERS, as you know, is quite unreliable representing only 1-10% of actual adverse events. Judging by your other comments, I don’t think you’ll agree with any of my posts. 😉
Respectfully,
Megan
Megan,
We have agreed before, when you pointed out my confusion over Jenner and Pasteur. I agree that Jenner was credited with the smallpox vaccine. We all make mistakes. However, to continue to deny facts is not good. The literature shows many cases of vaccine placebos being saline (over 100 on clinicaltrials.gov, search for yourself). While it may take some careful reading of the label and associated references, it is clear that the chickenpox vaccine is compared to the initial placebo trial published in 1984. These are easily verifiable facts. It is a little less clear exactly what the placebo was, but there is no reason to believe it was another vaccine or an adjuvant. In all likelihood, it was water, sucrose, gelatin, sodium chloride, L-glutamate, sodium phosphate, potassium phosphate, and potassium chloride. In other words, an inert placebo.
The CDC also states that 100 deaths per year are prevented by the chickenpox vaccine (http://www.cdc.gov/chickenpox/surveillance.html). 100 less dead children seems good to me.
VAERS is a less reliable source of information. We agree again.
I had the chickenpox when I was 8, along with my entire second grade class. (Seriously, there were 7 kids who didn’t get it, out of almost 40.) It was a mild case. I remember itching and watching Pinwheel on Nickelodeon.
Fast forward… last September, at age 38, I had this odd rash… I went to the doctor… chickenpox! I had gotten it again. Neither of my unvaccinated children got it, though. They were adopted and formula fed, so breast milk had nothing to do with it.
I was definitely more miserable having it as an adult, but it wasn’t as bad as “they” make it out to be.
The chickenpox vaccine is simply a stupid vaccine. It makes no sense at all to vaccinate for chickenpox.
The only thing missing is.. yes she survived chickenpox. Most do. But having chickpox is what causes shingles when older. Shingles is the chickenpox virus the second time round when adults and you can get it repeatedly as an adult.
Thanks for the comment! Chicken pox is varicella zoster and shingles is herpes zoster. The chicken pox vaccine is a live virus vaccine given to every child, which exposes them to a risk of shingles. That risk is increased because it prohibits them from getting it naturally and being re-exposed as they grow up, which is protective against shingles. Citations are linked in blue/green font.
I have a question. I am just trying to get a few things straight, and it’s not necessarily a vaccine question, but I had always thought that once you get chicken pox, the shingles virus then lays dormant in your system to possibly someday in the future be awakened by something, to produce shingles. So if you never get chicken pox (or the vaccine) you wouldn’t get shingles. Someone recently quoted something from the nvic that stated that being exposed to natural chicken pox means you’re protected from developing shingles. Does that just mean to keep yourself around kids with chicken pox to help fight off shingles? I know some elderly get shingles because they get the vaccine, but there are plenty of other elderly, who had chicken pox as a kid, didn’t get the shingles vaccine, and still get shingles. So are you saying that just being exposed to kids with chicken pox will help keep the chances down of shingles developing? Just trying to understand how getting natural chicken pox helps keep you from getting shingles, when I had always heard that you get the shingles virus once you get the chicken pox. Just need someone to explain it to me in plain english. Thanks.
You were correct in your first assumption. Shingles is a mutated version of chicken pox. If you haven’t had chicken pox you can’t get shingles (unless you come in contact with someone who has shingles and touch one of the sores) You can’t get shingles from the chicken pox vaccine, or the shingles vaccine. But you can get shingles repeatedly as an adult. So yes chicken pox is harmless, I had them as a child, for most people. There are complications yes, one of them being that you can now get shingles as an adult.
I just have a few corrections to your comment. You CAN get chickenpox and shingles from the vaccines (as well as measles from the MMR). For live viruses, it is a real possibility that you could have a breakout case of those diseases, though “rare” (plus the possibility of being contagious for up to a month to those with immune disorders) . Kind of like the live oral polio vaccine causing paralysis (polio), and mutating into a contagious version (as is happening in Europe now). And you CAN get shingles after getting the chickenpox vaccine, there are more young people now getting shingles than ever before because the vaccine introduces the virus, but the body does not make a full-on fight against it as it would via natural contraction, so the immunity wears off sooner and allows the dormant vaccine-introduced virus to cause shingles sooner.
Thanks for correcting Sara. Yes, you can get shingles from the chicken pox vaccine and there are plenty of studies in the PubMed database that show such.
Yes, continuing to allow yourself to be exposed to kids with chickenpox will boost your immunity and ward off shingles. That’s one reason why some other countries like Great Britain have not mandated chickenpox vaccine. They realize that it’s not such a terribly dangerous disease and that it benefits the entire community to be exposed to children who get chickenpox (you know, REAL herd immunity).
What a wonderful list of reasons not to get the chicken pox vaccine. I was already convinced, because when I was in elementary school, getting the chicken pox was like winning the kid lottery, the next best thing to getting to go to Disney World. 2 weeks off school! It was a vacation. But maybe the future husband might feel better to read this someday?
My brothers and sister and I all had mild cases. My mom said she could have sent us to school saying it was just mosquito bites. Itching wasn’t even a real problem. What I think of first when it comes to my family and the chicken pox was my little sister loudly pointing out a kid with chicken pox to the adults arriving at the church nursery after the service..
My Dr. mom used to go out of her way to shake the hand of kids in our neighborhood she heard had chicken pox. She said it kept her from getting cold sores for a year.
chickenpox doesn’t prevent shingles. I had chickenpox at age 5 (not a mild case – I still remember how sick I was) and then got shingles at age 16 and then again at 28 – I wasn’t vaccinated for chickenpox (it wasn’t part of the program back then) but I was for everything else and I still got measles and mumps as a child. When I had my twins, the main reason I hesitated to vaccinate was vaccine sloughing – it is a guarantee that whatever one of them gets, the other will 4 days later. I was worried because I felt if I vaccinate, they will get these illnesses but if I don’t vaccinate, the sky will fall – and my husband strongly believes in vaccinations despite the fact his daughter from his first marriage got alopecia right after her second dose of MMR – I digress….anyway, our twins are now 4 and remain unvaccinated – the sky hasn’t fallen and I am not afraid to deal with these illnesses should they happen thanks to people like you sharing your experience of ‘survival’.
Twinmom, Thanks for your comment and for sharing your experience. You could get shingles whether you have had chicken pox naturally or via the vaccine but what the science shows is that incidence of shingles has increased since we started vaccinating because of the lack of re-exposure we get to wild chicken pox. 🙂
it’s great you have an outlet to share your personal experience. .. however, May I suggest you move your “disclaimer” to the beginning of your article.
This article rubbed me the wrong way for one reason (and no it’s not vaccine related), you severely down played the condition of chickenpox.
As a perfectly healthy child in the early 80’s, with no underlying medical problems, why did I end up in the hospital for over a week with chickenpox? And last I checked I did have a spleen. If this is just a “crash on the couch for a few days rash” why did I have a temperature so high that I had to have ice baths several times a day in the hospital because the iv antibiotics weren’t bringing my temperature down? Why, before the vaccine, did 1/400 kids end up in the hospital with severe chickenpox? Why, during this period, did over 100 kids die a year from the condition?
Chickenpox can be serious, and not just for those with underlying health problems, even for some very healthy people it is serious.
I don’t have an issue on discussing whether one should vaccinate ones kids, instead it’s that you severely down played the many complications that can come with chickenpox. You choose to scare readers with ingredient lists, and hypothesized articles on the possibility that the vaccine may lead to the increase of singles, or if they vaccinate they could potential catch the disease as a pregnant adult. Well why worry if you do catch it? It’s just a itchy scratchy problem right?
No, it’s not. Chickenpox is serious. Here’s my scary list: dehydration, pneumonia,
bacterial infections, strep infections, sepsis
toxic shock syndrome, joint pain, brain infection…
PTL if your child gets it and survives with a minimal reaction. Vaccine or no vaccine if your child gets chickenpox contact your doctor (by phone sure), keep your child’s provider informed on your child’s health. Don’t web-md it, chickenpox can scar you, literally, for life. A symptom from chickenpox can lead to a life altering disability. I don’t know where I stand yet on vaccinating my son, but I know if he shows any signs of chickenpox I’m not taking chances, I’m calling an expert right from the gate.
Abby, Thanks for your comment. I appreciate your thoughts; however, I encourage you to read my post and the citations hyperlinked in blue/green font. You’ll find that many of the answers to your questions were addressed in my post. Although I convey my position in an entertaining manner, it is always fact-based and heavily referenced.
Regards,
Megan
This is not minimize what you went through. Unfortunately some children have underlying conditions that cause viruses to be more aggressive that were never diagnosed. In the 80’s which is when my children got chicken pox, no one was talking about weak immune systems, underlying conditions etc. Symptoms were just treated and that was pretty much it when it was one of the childhood illness and parents didn’t break a sweat for the most part. Chicken pox circulated around the entire school system and just eventually petered out. My 3 kids had it. No problem Also, what most people don’t realize is viruses mutate from person to person so what may be mild in one person is more aggressive in another. This is a major problem with vaccine development-the virus mutates. There is a lot going on with vaccines that the public has never been told. However for the most part-childhood illness are non-life threatening, except in your case.
Ouch! Glad to hear your ok now! My uncle is legally blind & has a ton of other problems from my nana having chickens pox while pregnant . That was in the mid 1900s though. I actually vaccinate but am not a nut accusing others who chose not to that they are bad parents. If youre responsible and choose for the right reasons then that’s wonderful. I’ve read that chicken pox cause more issues like bacterial infections and other serious skin related problems. Death rate is around 100 a year, which isn’t really too bad. The biggest pain is the infections which hospitalize >10,000 people. I really respect your choice to not vaccinate bc you believe it’s best & not bc you’re on a power trip or think everything is a dang conspiracy!
Tara,
I haven’t really been following this thread but can I say this is one of my favorite comments? You are refreshing.
Thank you!
Megan
“… as more people die each year walking across the street and falling down their stairs than those who died from chicken pox prior to the vaccine).”
That’s a great argument.
More people die from car crashes than have serious vaccine complications. In fact, auto accident is the leading cause of death for young children. So I guess you don’t have to worry about vaccine complications since I assume you drive a car. Making the most statistically dangerous thing to your child…you.
Sorry Todd, you lost me with that one.
So glad your little one is feeling better. Chicken pox is a vaccine all of my kids will get, simply because when I was in third grade a boy in my class had chicken pox that settled in his lungs, and he nearly died. After months (more than 6) in the hospital, being on life support, and having a school counselor come in and gently tell our class his parents might pull the plug if he didn’t get better it was an experimental treatment from the university of Michigan that allowed him to recover but with hearing loss. When he was back in school the next year he wore hearing aides that were connected to a special microphone our teacher had to wear. I realize this situation is rare, but it does happen. I had chicken pox and survived as a child but I had a classmate who almost didn’t. We all try to make the best choices we can for our families, and my choices are greatly influenced by this experience.
K.M. Logan,
Thanks so much for sharing. I’m so sorry to hear about your classmate. Unfortunately though, there are emotional arguments on both sides. Children have died, been left permanently brain damaged, and have suffered severe adverse reactions from this vaccine, a vaccine which also can and does cause chicken pox.
I definitely don’t think we should ignore these emotional accounts but I think we should base our decision on whether or not we believe the vaccine is safe or effective…regardless of whether one decides to vaccinate or not. And I agree with your last sentence. All we can do is make the choices we feel are best for our children. 🙂
You will never hear me blame a parent for making an agonizing, research driven, choice for their child. I just know I’ll never be able to shake my personal experience.
I completely understand. Thank you for being honest. 🙂
That was a horrible situation, but just to let you know…BOTH of my kids got Chicken Pox not long after the got the vaccine. (They had the shots at the same visit) So, getting the vaccine does not necessarily mean they won’t also get the disease.
Both of my girls got chicken pox within the last 3 weeks. It’s unfortunate you don’t hear of too many kids getting it anymore, because when your (MY) kids got it, people look at you as if they had Ebola. They were covered head to toe also, but seriously only had one bad day. Right smack in the middle. Yep they survived! Imagine that! Lol My daughter was the only child in her entire school who got them (that I still know of), and you should have heard the nervousness in the school nurses voice when I told her my daugther would be out for the week. I feel like saying “why are you so nervous and afraid… Esp if majority of the kids here are vaccinated… It should work then right????” Smh.
needless to say- I’m happy my girls now have immunity to this, we are now back to fully functioning schedules! My daughters are 7 and 3.
So will your baby never get chicken pox because she is immune from your antibodies from breastmilk or will she just get them later? I’m sad I didn’t know about all the issues off vaccines before! I’m afraid my children may not get these mild diseases to protect them from the more difficult ones as my 3 year old twins were fully vaccinated and my almost two year old was vaccinated up til his 12 months (though there is still hope for him!) Any suggestions on how to find chicken pox to give my children? 🙂
Baby would not be expected to be immune to chicken pox after 6-8 months when placental immunity has faded away, but there are immune factors in breastmilk that will give baby some protection (as was clearly the case here). We are all at risk of getting these diseases as adults whether we were vaccinated as children or not. 🙁
Was breastmilk “clearly” the case here? I don’t know. One of your commenters stated getting chicken pox a second time at age 38 and neither of her adopted, formula fed children got it. So, maybe it’s just not that infectious.
What kind of counselor goes into a classroom of school kids and tells them that their classmate’s parents might “pull the plug?” Really? Kids that age do not need to be told these kinds of things. My daughter would have obsessed over that for months.
I was raising my kids in the 90’s before CP came out. My oldest daughter got them when she was 2 and my son was 2 months old. I was nursing him and he never got them. (I had had them as a junior in high school, about 5 years before) later on, after his 3 sisters were born, all three girls got them and neither my oldest daughter got them again, or my son who was 6 years old. He has never had them and now he is 25.
When he was in high school, he got a rash that was painful and kept spreading. I took him to the doctor who told me he had shingles. I actually disagreed with him and told him my son had never had chicken pox and the his rash was not following a nerve path and not manifesting as a typical shingles rash. He would not listen to me, insisted my son had chicken pox and I didn’t know it (!!) and that he had shingles.
A week later he still wasn’t better and I took him to a different doctor who took his history for 5 minutes and then said, “I think this is staph,” which made perfect sense. They key part was that he had been a week-long wrestling camp and we figured he picked it up there.
Anyway…..got off on a tangent. I won’t vaccinate my kids for chicken pox either for the very reason you alluded to in your piece….a chicken pox infection can help with overall immunity. It is incredibly unfortunate that there are those who shake in fear over this very very mild disease. The focus being on the very few who do have complications from the disease, as being the benchmark people use to pressure others into vaccinating, is mind boggling. You really ARE more likely to die crossing the street or worse yet, medical malpractice.
I actually had the chickenpox twice lol. About a year later, the dr said I didn’t have a severe enough case the first time. Even if my kids have to go through it twice, I’m still not vaccinating. I remember my parents duct taped oven mitts to me and my brother’s hands lol. it wasn’t scary at all , it was a time we got anything we wanted from our parents 😉
My sister and I are actually starting to worry that our kids may not get chickenpox, or measles for that matter, when they are young enough to safely handle them. Her kids are 11 and 10, mine still have more time (5 and 16 months). I wish it was still “politically correct” to hold chickenpox “parties” and that we wouldn’t be criminalized for actually considering it, because we always hear about friends with kids getting over chickenpox and wish we had known before. Vaccination is not an option, but it’s rotten that it is possibly becoming the only option because “science” has messed up the true protection of natural herd immunity that comes through generations of exposure, contraction, then immunity…followed by cycles of exposure that “boost” the natural immunity acquired earlier in life. Now, without repeated vaccination with unknown effectiveness, the majority of the population cannot be truly immune and are more at risk for complications from what are usually benign childhood illness. “Science” (or Big Pharma) has broken the protective cycle that has kept adults safe from shingles and, initially, chickenpox for hundreds of years.
I’m from New Zealand (where we don’t vaccinate for chicken pox). I got a really bad case of chicken pox when I was 4, had over 2 weeks off from kindergarten. I was covered in spots and am permanently missing a few eyelashes from where one of my spots was. You know what I remember most about having chicken pox? My kindergarten had a TV for 2 of the weeks I was off sick, so I missed out on that! I think a few missing eyelashes and disappointment about missing some educational TV series for lifelong immunity that I will be able to use to protect my future babies is a pretty sweet trade off! Good on you!
I had chicken pox as a child. I had a dose of shingles at 65. After 3 days (tried treating myself and the spots were still there), visited a Chinese herbalist who gave me some ground herbs (1 scoop in hot water, 3 times a day). Symptoms disappeared after 3 days. She advised, no chocolate, no nuts and no bananas. No more shingles. A friend’s wife decided against going to the Chinese herbalist and 12 months later was still on “pain management” for her shingles.
What!? No chocolate? I couldn’t do it. Okay, if I had shingles maybe I could. Huge win for Chinese medicine. 😉
I got shingles a couple of years ago after an incredibly stressful period of time. I knew the symptoms and suspected shingles before I got the rash and when it appeared like clockwork on day 4, I went IMMEDIATELY that day to the doctor and got a prescription for Valtrex and took it faithfully for the next 2 weeks, every eight hours without fail. I watched my grandma suffer with shingles at the end of her life, so I knew what to look for and to get it treated ASAP if it ever happened to me. Early treatment was most definitely key. I never had another problem again.
Yes! Mine all had chicken pox too and I am so glad for it–especially for my daughter who can pass immunity through her breast milk one day. Nature knows what she’s doing.
Under the “vaccines don’t work anyway” column, my colleague’s fully vaccinated son got the chicken pox. Her doctor told her the vaccine doesn’t prevent chicken pox, but only causes it to be a milder case when the child gets it. I call it pharma offering their products in the form of pre-medication. Or they make it up as they go. Whatever.
I had chicken pox when I was 2 and I am just fine, do have one scare, but I had a case worse then your daughter as I got it from my older brother, I stayed home with mom and he brought it home from kindergarten and thus had what was common a worse case because of the intimate exposure, that what my mom says. It was hard for my parents to prevent the scratching as they said I didn’t sleep for 48hours( the worst of the rash) and they were exhausted, I had it for about a week with the rash lasting about 5 days I believe, I was covered head to toe with pox. I’m just glad I got them before the vaccine came out as my parents would have vaccinated me, they did my younger brother and he still got 2 mild cases of chicken pox.
A great read. The only thing I would add to your protocol would by homeopathic Rhus Tox. As always Megan, you are a sane voice and a strong advocate of practical solutions. Thanks for the read.
You kow the old chicken pox parties moms used to hold to make sure all their kids got chicken pox? I suggest those moms who still want their kids to get the real deal–please invite grandmas and grandpas over to decrease their risk of shingles! I would love to spend time with spotty little ones in exchange for never getting shingles!
But shingles is a reactivation of the chicken pox virus in the host, not chicken pox itself. Grandma and grandpa without chicken pox immunity (natural or vaccine) would develop chicken pox from a toddler with a new chicken pox infection. I don’t think you understand how this works.
Thank you for article I had chicken pox in the 90’s junior high actually and did just fine!! With 3 kids now I’m starting to worry about everything we did with shots like why did we do more searching about these? Now on no more shots!!