General Chat

I think it is an amazing idea and would definitely have allowed my girls to have it.
But I did not realise that they were only doing one age group.
You ask though , it would be worth a try.
Good luck with it.
Deanna X

Please, please, please do not listen to the scaremongering about Gardasil.

"HPV is a sexually transmitted disease and actually the fundamental way to protect your daughters is to instill in them enough self esteem to insist they are protected by condoms during sex."

Yes --- AND HOW DOES THIS PROTECT THEM AGAINST INFECTION IF THEY ARE SEXUALLY ASSAULTED???


I had a cervical cone biopsy some years ago. Sounds simple. Wasn't. General anaesthetic -- carries its own risks. Essentially had my cervix removed. (Cone biopsies vary in extent -- because of the lesions I had, mine was rather extensive.)

This could affect a woman's ability to carry a pregnancy to term.

So was I one of the ones who got cervical cancer?

No -- but quite possibly ONLY because I had regular checkups and a conservative doctor and a conservative gynecologist -- "conservative" in the sense that they preferred not to take risks with my health and life.

Is it okay to have what happened to me, as long as you don't get cancer? I don't think so. And I'm the one it happened to.

I likely had HPV at one time. I don't know when or how I got it. But it might have been when I was raped.

I think the 1% get cancer stated by someone here is nonsense anyway. One thing is that a woman may HAVE HAD the virus and not have it at the time the cancer is detected.

There is NO proven connection between the vaccine and Guillain Barre or any other negative outcome. NONE.

If you care about your daugthers, get them vaccinated.

It's as simple as that.

Also, please note -- this is *NOT* a "medication".

This is a VACCINE. It consists of dead virus. Just like all the other vaccines children get.

The fact that it is a vaccine against a disease that is transmitted by sexual contact is completely irrelevant to what it is.

Jeannette -- "If HPV is surpressed then it will give the other 30% of cancer causing viruses a better chance of getting a hold."

Can you cite your source for this?

Here's a very useful page from the Health Canada website:

http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/std-mts/hpv-vph/hpv-vph-vaccine-eng.php

Obviously anyone with specific concerns based on other things they have read will find that somewhat simplistic.

It isn't good enough to have concerns, though -- they have to be based on something real. I've done a lot of reading on this, and have never found anything.


The brouhaha seems to be based exclusively on two things:

- the fact that some ignorant fundamentalists think that taking steps to protect children against harms that can result from sexual activity (consensual OR non-consensual, always remember) will encourage children to engage in sexual activity, which they think is a bad thing

- the fact that the vaccine is produced by Merck-Frosst, a corporation that some are, with reason, suspicious of


Suspicions about the messenger aren't in themselves enough to reject the message -- an important protection for girls against serious harms later in life.

SALUTES JANEY

SO WELL PUT AS ALWAYS

THANK YOU

GlaxoSmithKline’s cervical cancer vaccine, Cervarix is being used in the UK rather than the vaccine produced by Mercl-Frosst

Side effects that occurred during clinical trials with Cervarix were
as follows:

Very common (side effects which may occur in more than 1
per 10 doses of vaccine):
• pain or discomfort at the injection site
• redness or swelling at the injection site
• headache
• aching muscles, muscle tenderness or weakness (not caused
by exercise)
• tiredness

Common (side effects which may occur in less than 1 per 10
but more than 1 per 100 doses of vaccine):
• gastrointestinal symptoms including nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and abdominal pain
• itching, red skin rash, hives (urticaria)
• joint pain
• fever (≥38°C)

Uncommon (side effects which may occur in less than 1 per
100 but more than 1 per 1,000 doses of vaccine):
• upper respiratory tract infection (infection of the nose,throat or trachea)
• dizziness
• other injection site reactions such as hard lump, tingling or numbness.

for full info leaflet visit
http://emc.medicines.org.uk/emc/assets/c/html/displaydoc.asp?documentid=20207

I have found more than private practice offering it to girls aged 9-26 (for payment obviously) so you should be able to get it Kate, but you may have to pay if your GP wont offer it on the NHS

And thank you Webster!

The side effects associated with this vaccine are consistent with those associated with any vaccine.


Lemme tell you about the time I got a second tetanus vaccination within a year of the last one I'd had ... thought my arm would fall off from the muscle pain ...

OMG Janey when my son had his pre-school booster for DPT the whole of his arm from his elbow to his shoulder swelled and was bright red.....still took my daughter before she started to have hers done though before she started school

As I said earlier , please read before adding , it is available in Family Planning clinics , don`t need to pay,
Ros xx

Thanks Rosalyn I missed that, was responding to the person who said their daugher had been refused the injection

btw the pct i work for has the school nurses doing the vaccine, they are talking about having to employ extra staff to try to help with the back log. The SN's are already flat out with the governments requirements to weigh and measure all the year six kids, reception kids and provide support for parents along with their work with families with special needs and safeguarding, who would be a nurse?? lol

She said her Gp wouldn`t do it cos she was 18 but a lot of them haven`t yet signed up to do it in the surgeries yet--finances , space , time etc, Ros xx

And one more thing that should be added -- the vaccine does not mean that women, and girls who have been sexually active, should not get regular PAP smears. Pre-cancerous conditions are increasingly being detected in very young women.

The vaccine does not protect against *all* causes of cervical cancer. It is still important to get regular testing. PAP smears can detect early changes that can lead to cancer, and procedures such as cone biopsies may be advisable.

A woman with stage III cervical cancer has a less than 50% 5-year survival rate. PAP smears have dramatically reduced the number of deaths from cancer, but they only work if you get them.

yes thanks Rosalyn i did read back and see that, miss read first time round. I didnt realise some GP's hadnt signed up for it.

are you a nurse wbfc?
Ros xx

work in commissioning at the mo Ros

In Britain (well England anyway) smears are only given to women aged 25 or over.

Well ... in Britain, it's time smears started being given to any sexually active female person!

Or any female person suspected of having been sexually assaulted or abused at some time. It doesn't matter how the sexual contact occurs, the virus, like other STDs, can be spread, and the precursors of cancer can be present.

Seriously, cervical lesions and cancer are increasingly being seen in university-age women.

Forgive me for being a bit of a proselytizer. I did lose my cervix to the standard procedure for preventing cervical cancer where there is a pre-cancerous condition: removing a great chunk of the cervix.

It isn't important just to prevent cancer -- it's important to prevent that having to be done, too.

am waiting for my letter at the moment - daughter not amused at having to have it, but I think it's for the best. there will always be a point at which a condom is not used - even if it's not until in a stable long-term relationship - but if the other party has had unprotected sex before, then there is a good chance you will get this HPV.

is it really 3 injections? she will NOT be happy about that!

asked at the GP about it the other day and in our area they are being done in schools, not at the doctors. otherwise I don't think they would cope!

Maz. XX