This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Community: Knowledge & Support

Hello,

I have recently commenced training to become an Occupational Therapist. I have been symptomatic for MS for 7 years. I am currently undiagnosed though my doctor has told me that he believes I have MS and it is only a matter of time before my formal diagnosis. However I have been looking after myself and I am fairing very well.

I am scheduled to have HepB vaccination for my first hospital placement. I loath to introduce this pathogen to my immune system for fear of speeding up the course of my MS.

Research is mixed.... What are your thoughts on the HepB vaccination and MS?

Thank you, Abe

If you need it for work what can you do? I personally would avoid all vaccines. I know the flu one sent my MS into a whole new stratosphere. (but thats just me, others have had no issues at all)

I have always felt the rabies vaccine triggered my ms. My neuro and GP will tell me absolutely not. However, the package insert of the vaccince lists multiple sclerosis as a side effect. Think of it this way....if ms is immune related then any change to the immune system will change the ms. Please don't listen to the experts...they view vaccines as a way of controlling disease that will harm the general population and if MS is a side effect then better the MS then the actual disease. You need to worry about yourself and yes if I were you I wouldn't get any vaccine. I would rather switch occupations before I subject myself to a disease such as MS, especially knowing what condition you health is in right now. Good Luck....

Hi Patticake,

Thank you for your input. I've just been going through my immunisation history.

I have already been vaccinated for HepB and A in 1998 for travel. So do you think the damage has already been done and the damage will be relatively minimal if I have the vaccination again? Or do you think it's foolhardy to have the vaccination again.

Has anyone else got any input?

Thank you

Hi Abe,

I pulled up info from the NIH, because I wondered if a second vaccination was even necessary. Also, I wonder if you may be required to have this vaccine in order to even work in your field. There may be a policy at the hospital where you're going to be placed, due to the possibility of coming in contact with contaminated blood. You should first show them that you HAVE already been vaccinated. See the short quote below, but there is plenty of other info there also.

Here's the link:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/drug ... 07014.html
And here's a quote from the link:



Good luck!

_________________
Dx'd with MS & HNPP (hereditary peripheral neuropathy) 7/03 but must have had MS for 30 yrs before that. I've never taken meds for MS or MS symptoms except 1 yr experiment on LDN. (I found diet, exercise, sleep, humor, music help me the most.)

P.S. and an FYI. I'm first in line for the flu vaccine every year. And I'm completely Medphobic otherwise. We had a particularly virulent flu that swept through 20 or so years ago and I spent about 2 weeks incapacitated and wishing I were dead. This was the coughy/achy one, not a stomach virus, and it was the REAL flu, not the usual miserable viruses that people call the "flu" whenever they get a bad cold. I will never forget the misery and will never stop getting the flu shot. The REAL flu was absolutely worse than anything else I've experienced with 38 years of MS. I would think that Hep B would be just as nasty (see description way below).

The memory of that flu feeling is also one of the reasons I avoid interferons. I can't imagine giving myself that type of misery regularly, even on a smaller scale.

Another quote from the NIH site:

_________________
Dx'd with MS & HNPP (hereditary peripheral neuropathy) 7/03 but must have had MS for 30 yrs before that. I've never taken meds for MS or MS symptoms except 1 yr experiment on LDN. (I found diet, exercise, sleep, humor, music help me the most.)

Hi LR1234, I can withdraw from the course before the vaccination. I actually chose this profession because I hope it to be relatively low stress and offer opportunities for part time work so I don't have to put my body under too much stress whilst still making a living. Having said this I'm not sure what I would do in place of Occupational Therapy; I feel like it could be a good career for me.




Hello euphoniaa,

I have let the faculty know that I've already been vaccinated. However to work in a hospital environment in this capacity one has to be vaccinated against HepB every 5 years. I feel I could do a lot of good as an Occupational Therapist and I find the profession interesting. However I do not want to make the disease in my body worse.

Currently I am unsure to what extent having the vaccination would really effect my health.

Thank you for any additional input.

Well, Abe, OT sounds like a great field for you, and I really can't tell you what you should do, of course. It sounds like you've done research on your own, but for those who haven't, here's a link to the Centers for Disease Control, where they reviewed many of the studies that have been done examining HepB and MS.

I'll add the link to this page: "FAQs about Hepatitis B Vaccine (Hep B) and Multiple Sclerosis" Within the article, there are descriptions of the results to many of those studies and plenty of references. Hope some of this helps someone to make a decision.

http://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/Vaccin ... hep_b.html

I'll also add that I'm so weird that I've had horrible reactions to foods, meds, vitamins, supplements, omega 3s, etc. However, I've never had a single problem with any vaccination, or with the typical foods that MSers are cautioned against, like gluten and dairy. And I keep charts of symptoms and lists of the food I eat every day. Go figure. We're all unique.

_________________
Dx'd with MS & HNPP (hereditary peripheral neuropathy) 7/03 but must have had MS for 30 yrs before that. I've never taken meds for MS or MS symptoms except 1 yr experiment on LDN. (I found diet, exercise, sleep, humor, music help me the most.)