04 Mar 2010

My 15 year old daughter got 2 out of the 3 required Gardasil shots in the fall of 2009. Two weeks after her first shot, we were in the emrgency room with severe abdominal pain, weeks of tests showed nothing wrong, after her second shot the paid increased and caused a new pain in her back. We again went to ER more weeks of tests - nothing. Was sent to a specialist, he did extensve tests and stated that she was fine, maybe lactose intolerate maybe. 2 more trips to ER with abdominal and back pain, visit to surgeon, removal of her gallbladder. The surgeon had never seen a gallbladder that was so bad, especially in a 15 year old. During the surgery they did x-rays for her common bile duct, and now it shows some abnormal signs, (possible blockage) we go to see a new surgeon next week. All previous doctors will not listen to me when I tell them Gardasil caused all this. She was healthy, athletic. No I worry she will never get to play sports again. She does not know about the issue with her common bile duct, I did not want to concern her with all that she has been through, but with the appointment next week I guess I have to tell her. I pray for all the girls effected by the vaccine including my own

—Posted by Haysmom

17 Feb 2010

I have to have 3 shots. once every 2 months

—Posted by Anonymous

29 Jan 2010

How did it go with the gyno? There was some evidence in the trials that women who already had HPV when they got the Gardasil shot had a very significantly higher risk of developing cervical cancer. Merck shuffled the trial data to make the numbers go away - I'm sure some of the 're-dos' were legitimate, but hmmm - and got the increased risk down to where the FDA would approve it although they expressed concern. Also, Gardasil is far from 100 percent effective. There are multiple strains of HPV that aren't covered by the vaccine, and you could have picked up one of those; also, Merck's trials show only a 17-45 percent reduction in cervical lesions etc. overall, even though the vaccine is very effective against the two strains it does cover. Your doctor wouldn't tell you all this because he probably didn't know. Merck has done an excellent marketing job that fails to properly inform the patient AND the doctor about pros and cons, as an editorial and a paper in JAMA acidly pointed out. Doctors tend to do what the AMA advises and rarely put in the time to research and discuss pros and cons with a patient. Gardasil isn't a cure all and has actually done harm in a handful of cases. It may turn out to be a miracle, who knows, but I'm not getting it for my girls.

—Posted by KJ