Gardasil (HPV vaccine) can lead to MS

patientx · Post by **patientx** » Fri Oct 16, 2009 9:09 am

LoveActually:

Sorry that you are having to deal with this. It's just gotta suck all around.

In general, MS by itself doesn't compromise the immune system and doesn't really open you up to increased risk of infection. On the contrary, sometimes you will read that the immune system is over-stimulated. (To me, this seems like an over-simplification, given how complex the immune system is.) So, I don't think having MS would increase your risk of getting HPV.

Of course, I'm not a doctor, nor any kind of health professional, so don't take this as expert advice.

Loobie · Post by **Loobie** » Fri Oct 16, 2009 9:37 am

LA,

I have to echo what PX says about the immune system. Since this all happened I've been sick with flu, sinus infection, etc, hardly at all. I wasn't sickly before, but I'd get a couple sinus infections a year and the flu and plenty of colds. I just don't seem to get sick anymore (knock on wood). Whether that means that your immune system is cranked up and fighting that stuff off at the door I'll never know, but I think he's right that just having MS doesn't put you at risk for infections.

Totally sucks ass about your husband's indescretion. I wouldn't imagine that there is any way in hell that you will ever be able to NOT think there is a connection. I'm also very sorry you are going through this on top of looking at an MS diagnosis, you have to not be in a very good spot right now and I hope better days are ahead. Take care.

gibbledygook · Post by **gibbledygook** » Fri Oct 16, 2009 11:21 am

http://theologyofthebody.blogspot.com/2 ... along.html

From CBS news

WASHINGTON, August 19, 2009
Gardasil Researcher Speaks Out
"Public Should Receive More Complete Warnings"
Comments By Sharyl Attkisson .

Amid questions about the safety of the HPV vaccine Gardasil one of the lead researchers for the Merck drug is speaking out about its risks, benefits and aggressive marketing.

Dr. Diane Harper says young girls and their parents should receive more complete warnings before receiving the vaccine to prevent cervical cancer. Dr. Harper helped design and carry out the Phase II and Phase III safety and effectiveness studies to get Gardasil approved, and authored many of the published, scholarly papers about it. She has been a paid speaker and consultant to Merck. It’s highly unusual for a researcher to publicly criticize a medicine or vaccine she helped get approved.

Dr. Harper joins a number of consumer watchdogs, vaccine safety advocates, and parents who question the vaccine’s risk-versus-benefit profile. She says data available for Gardasil shows that it lasts five years; there is no data showing that it remains effective beyond five years.

Read Judicial Watch reports on Gardasil
Dr. LaPook’s Story on HPV
Attkisson's Exclusive Report on Gardasil

This raises questions about the CDC’s recommendation that the series of shots be given to girls as young as 11-years old. “If we vaccinate 11 year olds and the protection doesn’t last... we’ve put them at harm from side effects, small but real, for no benefit,” says Dr. Harper. “The benefit to public health is nothing, there is no reduction in cervical cancers, they are just postponed, unless the protection lasts for at least 15 years, and over 70% of all sexually active females of all ages are vaccinated.” She also says that enough serious side effects have been reported after Gardasil use that the vaccine could prove riskier than the cervical cancer it purports to prevent. Cervical cancer is usually entirely curable when detected early through normal Pap screenings.

Dr. Scott Ratner and his wife, who’s also a physician, expressed similar concerns as Dr. Harper in an interview with CBS News last year. One of their teenage daughters became severely ill after her first dose of Gardasil. Dr. Ratner says she’d have been better off getting cervical cancer than the vaccination. “My daughter went from a varsity lacrosse player at Choate to a chronically ill, steroid-dependent patient with autoimmune myofasciitis. I’ve had to ask myself why I let my eldest of three daughters get an unproven vaccine against a few strains of a nonlethal virus that can be dealt with in more effective ways.”

Merck and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention maintain Gardasil is safe and effective, and that adequate warnings are provided, cautioning about soreness at the injection site and risk of fainting after vaccination. A new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found while the overall risk of side effects appears to be comparable to other vaccines, Gardasil has a higher incidence of blood clots reported. Merck says it continues to have confidence in Gardasil’s safety profile. Merck also says it’s looking into cases of ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, reported after vaccination. ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that attacks motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord. Merck and the CDC say there is currently no evidence that Gardasil caused ALS in the cases reported. Merck is also monitoring the number of deaths reported after Gardasil: at least 32. Merck and CDC says it’s unclear whether the deaths were related to the vaccine, and that just because patients died after the shots doesn’t mean the shots were necessarily to blame.

According to Dr. Harper, assessing the true adverse event risk of Gardasil, and comparing it to the risk of cervical cancer can be tricky and complex. "The number of women who die from cervical cancer in the US every year is small but real. It is small because of the success of the Pap screening program."

"The risks of serious adverse events including death reported after Gardasil use in (the JAMA article by CDC’s Dr. Barbara Slade) were 3.4/100,000 doses distributed. The rate of serious adverse events on par with the death rate of cervical cancer. Gardasil has been associated with at least as many serious adverse events as there are deaths from cervical cancer developing each year. Indeed, the risks of vaccination are underreported in Slade's article, as they are based on a denominator of doses distributed from Merck's warehouse. Up to a third of those doses may be in refrigerators waiting to be dispensed as the autumn onslaught of vaccine messages is sent home to parents the first day of school. Should the denominator in Dr. Slade's work be adjusted to account for this, and then divided by three for the number of women who would receive all three doses, the incidence rate of serious adverse events increases up to five fold. How does a parent value that information," said Harper.

Dr. Harper agrees with Merck and the CDC that Gardasil is safe for most girls and women. But she says the side effects reported so far call for more complete disclosure to patients. She says they should be told that protection from the vaccination might not last long enough to provide a cancer protection benefit, and that its risks - “small but real” - could occur more often than the cervical cancer itself would.

"Parents and women must know that deaths occurred. Not all deaths that have been reported were represented in Dr. Slade's work, one-third of the death reports were unavailable to the CDC, leaving the parents of the deceased teenagers in despair that the CDC is ignoring the very rare but real occurrences that need not have happened if parents were given information stating that there are real, but small risks of death surrounding the administration of Gardasil."

She also worries that Merck’s aggressive marketing of the vaccine may have given women a false sense of security. "The future expectations women hold because they have received free doses of Gardasil purchased by philanthropic foundations, by public health agencies or covered by insurance is the true threat to cervical cancer in the future. Should women stop Pap screening after vaccination, the cervical cancer rate will actually increase per year. Should women believe this is preventive for all cancers - something never stated, but often inferred by many in the population-- a reduction in all health care will compound our current health crisis. Should Gardasil not be effective for more than 15 years, the most costly public health experiment in cancer control will have failed miserably."

CDC continues to recommend Gardasil for girls and young women. The agency says the vaccine’s benefits outweigh its risks and that it is an important tool in fighting a serious cancer.

Dr. Harper says the risk-benefit analysis for Gardasil in other countries may shape up differently than what she believes is true in the US. “Of course, in developing countries where there is no safety Pap screening for women repeatedly over their lifetimes, the risks of serious adverse events may be acceptable as the incidence rate of cervical cancer is five to 12 times higher than in the US, dwarfing the risk of death reported after Gardasil.”

LoveActually · Post by **LoveActually** » Fri Oct 16, 2009 12:42 pm

Thank you patientx and Loobie.

Glad to hear all the immune info and it's relation or non-relation to MS. Ya know, I haven't even had a cold in the last 3-4 years (knocking on wood). It's been nice. Now, I'd trade the vertigo for a cold any day but what can ya do.

I am definitely, 100%, connecting his infidelity with the possible HPV. He knows it and he's taking the blame, as he should. Even if it's not his fault. But it is. LOL!

I'm definiely at the bottom of this roller coaster ride. I try to joke about things a lot and see the positive but I'm losing faith. Fast. Just a self pity thing I'm going through I guess. I have some pent up aggression, maybe I should take up boxing.

Thank you again.

lyndacarol · Post by **lyndacarol** » Fri Oct 16, 2009 4:47 pm

LA--You asked:

Are immune systems weakened due to MS?

It has always been my understanding that in MS the immune system is heightened.

Mike56 · Post by **Mike56** » Sat Oct 17, 2009 1:00 pm

Hey LA

I always read your posts with interest because like you, I am still looking for some kind of dx, MS or whatever. So sorry about your husbands innability to keep his pecker in his pants! A very dangerous game to play for both of you.
After being faithfuly married for over 32 years I was a little insulted when my doctor had me tested for Syphalis (spelling?). I tested negative by the way...., but still.....

Mike

LoveActually · Post by **LoveActually** » Sat Oct 17, 2009 1:59 pm

Thank you lyndacarol. I find it strange that our immune system is heightened but isn't that what's attacking the myelin? I could be wrong, I get a lot of this stuff confused. I guess MS is a love/hate relationship within our body. Doing some good (very little), and doing some damage.

Mike,

I can totally understand you feeling insulted about a test like that. What pisses me off is that I'm the one being embarassed by walking into my GP to request STD and bloods tests, and I'm the one embarassed when my new GP say's, "Well Sarah, you may have HPV."

To be honest, I had no idea where HPV came from when she said that. I just thought it was an issue with my cervix or something. After googling I learned that it was an STD, and soon after my husband got a pretty ugly text messages from me.

So anyway, it's good to hear that there really are faithful guys out there. I was starting to believe that this was just a 'man thing'. And I wish you luck on your diagnosis. I'll be updating my "Unfortunately, I'm Back" post shortly, my MRI yesterday was a pain.

Thanks for the comment Mike.

Loriyas · Post by **Loriyas** » Sat Oct 17, 2009 4:17 pm

LA
Trying to get a diagnosis of MS (or not) is a roller coaster by itself. And you have these other issues to deal with so you are entitled to a little self pity! Stay strong and be extra kind to yourself. Everything will sort itself out (at least eventually) and you will be stronger for it. Feel free to vent at this site. We will all try to help you in any way we can.
Lori

HarryZ · Post by **HarryZ** » Sat Oct 17, 2009 4:57 pm

LoveActually wrote:Thank you lyndacarol. I find it strange that our immune system is heightened but isn't that what's attacking the myelin?

There are some docs who feel that one's immune system is simply reacting to inflammation around the myelin. In other words, it's another mechanism that is causing the inflammation and the immune system is doing what it is supposed to do but ends up causing more problems.

Don't you think it is strange that after decades of MS research, nobody has been able to PROVE that MS is an autoimmune disease. It is still a theory and every single immune altering drug that is used on MS has minimal if any benefit.

Harry

patientx · Post by **patientx** » Sat Oct 17, 2009 4:57 pm

LoveActually wrote:I'm definiely at the bottom of this roller coaster ride. I try to joke about things a lot and see the positive but I'm losing faith. Fast. Just a self pity thing I'm going through I guess. I have some pent up aggression, maybe I should take up boxing.

I think you could be forgiven if you don't exactly find the positive in your situation. The boxing might be good idea, or maybe a workout with the heavy bag.

So anyway, it's good to hear that there really are faithful guys out there. I was starting to believe that this was just a 'man thing'.

It is a man thing, but fortunately not all men. I've seen this with people I knew (or thought I knew) pretty well, and I could never understand the cheating thing - but maybe I'm naive.

Just_Me · Post by **Just_Me** » Sun Oct 18, 2009 5:15 pm

Just commenting on a few points...

MS may be an overactive immune system but the drugs to treat it can lower your immunities.

Gardasil is supposed to protect from cervical cancer, not just genetal warts. And teaching teenagers to keep their legs closed isn't going to stop cervical cancer...it strikes married women too. BUT as its a newer vaccine there is no way I'm giving it to my girls, espec after the reports of side effects.