I told my pediatrician I'm not vaxing

[deena]

You all converted me. blech. But here I am, "on the other side". Mostly because my pediatrician poisoned my child with acid reflux medicine and a naturopath healed him. So my trust of conventional medicine - wavering in the first place- took a major nose dive.

He's ten months old and hasn't been there since his two months and, truth be told, I'd rather never bring him for a check-up again. But I need her for referrals and medicine. so whatever. Plus, I didn't want them to accuse me of medical neglect. I have yet to navigate the legality of all these decisions. So I dragged my butt there and prepared myself for the angry speech. Which was about as bad as I thought it would be. I told her that I wasn't doing it light heartedly and she was like, "you giggle but it's not funny". I TOTALLY giggle when I'm nervous. So I tried to put a sober face on then.

His pediatrician started to make a case for DTaP and I immediately jumped in to say that that was the one vaccine I had wanted to give him but when I researched it I found that there was dairy in it and he is allergic to dairy. She said that she has patients that are so allergic to dairy that one taste of it they have to go to the emergency room and they get that vaccine. I looked at her kind of blankly. She was expecting me to be like "Oh, of course, go ahead then and give him the vaccine with an ingredient he's allergic too". Instead I said, "well, I'm still not giving it to him". We both kind of just stared at each other like we were at an impasse, which we were. I bet you she wouldn't give an egg based vaccine to a child allergic to eggs. I bet she didn't even know about the dairy thing. Because it's a very little known fact. I bet you those kids who got it went home and had bad reactions that she isn't even aware of.

I had to refrain myself from debating her and just nod. I couldn't bite my tongue though when she said that 250 people got the measles in a recent outbreak. I looked at her with fake incredulousness and said, "there were 250 unvaccinated kids?" Knowing full well that most of them were vaccinated. And she was like "well, not kids, but people" Totally proving to me her ignorance. I wish doctors would educate themselves on both sides of the issue. Then she transitioned into "That guy got sent to jail" which was a terrible transition because I"m thinking the guy who brought the measles virus in town? But I eventually figured out she was talking about Andrew Wakefield, of MMR vax study fame. I wanted to be like, "that's a witch hunt" but instead I made a mental note to look into it further since I'm not really informed on that.

Finally she ranted a little about Jenny Mcarthy and how she can say what she wants without getting sued, whereas she-herself would get sued if there's a vaccine reaction. And in my head I'm like because that's bull. If something went wrong the government insurance program would pay up and that would be the end of it.

So, I thought that went pretty well considering. I should get a sticker for keeping my mouth shut.

[Leslie_JnJs_mom]

You know if I ever decided to go non vax I would just see a family doctor. They dont ask I dont tell.

[MercyInDisguise]

Originally Posted by Leslie_JnJs_mom

You know if I ever decided to go non vax I would just see a family doctor. They dont ask I dont tell.

Oh, they ask alright.

[DoulaClara]

Sometimes you have to poke around. I feel fortunate that we've been going to a vax-choice-friendly doctor for the last five years. He does vaccinate, and he does recommend certain ones (about four), and abhors certain other ones, and will. Not. Do the Gardasil one, but he always leaves it up to the parents. He's a DO, and may we be so lucky to find someone of his ilk in NY. We don't agree 100% about vaccines, but he knows that firing patients over vaccines, or even making a toddler-esque stink over non-vaxing patients, is detrimental to his practice, and doesn't help families or children in the slightest. Maybe someone in your area has a good recommendation?

[HomeyT]

I brought our little man in to meet the doc yesterday...you know just incase we need one in the future....and totally got the vax talk... She even mentioned grave stones etc. Shock! Total guilt trip. Like we weren't making an informed decision. Anyhow thanks for sharing your story! I was feeling down about my visit your shared experience gives me comfort!

[ReedleBeetle]

Wait...wait....?!?!

Yeah......it does say Deena.

hold on....


Yep.....that's her picture.

Wait.....wha?




I'm so......surprised and impressed! Kudos for coming and even letting us know you switched sides and double kudos for keeping your head so well!!!

[deena]

Originally Posted by DoulaClara

making a toddler-esque stink over non-vaxing patients,?

So true

---------- Post added at 09:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:12 PM ----------

Originally Posted by HomeyT

I brought our little man in to meet the doc yesterday...you know just incase we need one in the future....and totally got the vax talk... She even mentioned grave stones etc.

Wait, what? Like him dying or something?

---------- Post added at 09:26 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:15 PM ----------

TradCathMamma your example/discussion makes perfect sense but it's based on purely hypothetical numbers. I'd love to see the real numbers. Is the percentage of unvaxed cases really higher?

[kiloyd]

Good for you !

You could have just told her that you were delaying vaxing. But I guess that would have just postponed the lecture, huh?

[MrsHutch]

Can you tell me more about you saying he poisoned your child with acid reflux meds?

[deena]

Originally Posted by MrsHutch

Can you tell me more about you saying he poisoned your child with acid reflux meds?

What I've learned through this experience is that Acid Reflux medicine masks the issue. It prevents the symptom but doesn't treat the problem. The problem of food allergies. I realize that most kids are helped by acid reflux medicine and that's the end of it. I think the difference is that their food allergies are less serious. Kalel is allergic to corn, soy, wheat, tomatoes, lemons, lime, coconuts and peanuts. And severely allergic to dairy and eggs. These might be temporary - I'm not sure how this works -most of these are my allergies.

So the ramifications of masking the food allergy is that that food is doing serious damage to the gut. And after six months of damage, it - being the center of the immune system - is shot. Suddenly my kid is breaking out in a rash from head to toe. Reacting to everything in the environment and every food I ingest (him via breastfeeding).

The doctors don't know what to do with (we live in Boston - where the best Doctors in the world are). They say "give him benedryl and lubricate his skin". Seriously?? Palliative medicine???

I took him to a Naturopath who put me on an elimination diet and started healing his gut with fish oil and probiotics.

So there you have it. Conventional medicine doesn't even understand something as basic as this. ALSO, I had to diagnose the acid reflux myself (With the help of you guys) because when I presented the symptoms to my pediatrician she didn't think anything of them.

[J3K]

That illustration (the vax efficacy) only works if you assume that vaccinating makes you immune.

[deena]

I'm adding something to the original post but putting it here since you guys probably won't reread it.

His pediatrician started to make a case for DTaP and I immediately jumped in to say that that was the one vaccine I had wanted to give him but when I researched it I found that there was dairy in it and he is allergic to dairy. She said that she has patients that are so allergic to dairy that one taste of it they have to go to the emergency room and they get that vaccine. I looked at her kind of blankly. She was expecting me to be like "Oh, of course, go ahead then and give him the vaccine with an ingredient he's allergic too". Instead I said, "well, I'm still not giving it to him". We both kind of just stared at each other like we were at an impasse, which we were. I bet you she wouldn't give an egg based vaccine to a child allergic to eggs. I bet she didn't even know about the dairy thing. Because it's a very little known fact. I bet you those kids who got it went home and had bad reactions that she isn't even aware of.

[MiriamRose]

If a doctor ranted to me about Jenny McCarthy I would and say "I don't even know who that is. What does she have to do about my decision about this?" because I hear her name brought up a lot (by people trying to invalidate someone's decision not to vax) but I honestly have no idea who she is. Nor have I heard or read anything by her in any of the sources I've used to inform myself.

---------- Post added at 05:45 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:44 PM ----------

And also if you need a mainstream doctor for the referrals and stuff, I would switch to a family doctor who is better informed and more respectful.

[ValiantJoy07]

woke doctors can be so frustrating. I don't jot vaccinate lightly..but after researching the history of vaccines and experiencing some horrible reactions I don't vaccinate lightly either (we delay and are very selective.

[J3K]

*rubs hands manically and goes in search of another pro vaxer to convert.....*