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Has Achieved Nirvana |
CNN probably isn't the best source of medical info, but I think the article I posted earlier in the thread might shed some light on the various issues relating to the pertussis vaccine. Here's the link again in case you missed it: https://www.cnn.com/2016/02/05...ccination/index.html
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Has Achieved Nirvana |
Shingles works from the inside of your body outward. It is caused by chicken pox virus that is lying dormant within the nervous system. You can tell by looking at someone which nerve pathway is involved. I'm pretty certain you can't spread shingles around on your own body, just as you can't give someone shingles because you have it. You *can* give someone the chicken pox if they haven't already had it or been vaccinated for it. People who haven't had the chicken pox (on their own or via vaccine) can't get shingles, either. Detailed explanation and diagram That said, you do have to be very careful if you have a shingles outbreak on your face, as it can affect the nerves to the eye and damage vision as happened to your friend. I smacked the top of my head on the corner of a cabinet many years ago, and about three weeks later I developed shingles lesions that started at the point of impact and spread to my face. I saw my ophthalmologist, and soon as she looked at where the lesions were showing up, told me that my eye would be fine because it was a different nerve cluster that was involved.
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Has Achieved Nirvana |
About the shingles vaccine.
https://www.npr.org/sections/h...o-adults-avoid-shots
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Gadfly |
I thought about this thread the other day, after getting woken up by a coughing fit in the middle of the night for the first time in months. At this point, it has been over a year since my initial infection and I honestly think there's been some kind of permanent damage because I still have coughing fits pretty regularly -- it wasn't bad over the summer, but if I spend any amount of time outside in the cold air, I pay for it by hacking my lungs out for the next several hours. I saw that they are now "marketing" the whooping cough booster to adults (except it's still the tdap combo, which means I can't get it. ) https://www.aboutwhoopingcough.com/index.html There's a map on that site which shows the number of reported cases of whooping cough and it doesn't look that bad (PA had 10-15) - but remember that if you don't go to the doctor and get them to run a test while the bacteria is still active and culturable (meaning within the first two weeks), your case won't be reported (so none of my family's were and that's 5 cases right there!). I would love to see an accurate map. Anyhow, just wanted to repost my psa to consider getting vaccinated - apparently, at least in my case, the damage from whooping cough can be permanent or at least last a whole lot longer than the 6 months I was told. | |||
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Has Achieved Nirvana |
Give yourself some time, Lisa. I have found that, for me anyway, coughs can last a VERY long time, and I have to be patient. But that's a really long time. I hope there's no permanent damage. | |||
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Minor Deity |
I didn't know that there was a limited time that the culture would detect pertussis. My symptoms were so much like yours that I wonder if I didn't have it last winter. They did the test more than a month after I got sick.
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Minor Deity |
Big bummer, Lisa, having an apparent relapse of whooping cough! Until I read this part of your thread, I hadn't realized that having it once does NOT convey lifetime immunity. Having had it as a fairly little kid (7 or 8) I thought the flip side was at least, I was protected. Will make sure to ask for a booster - also to try to get on the waiting list for Shingrix.) (I remember whooping way back then, and although I don't recall anything like your nightmare, it WAS very unpleasant. Yes, that very distinctive WHOOOOOP stands out.) I guess for those who get these illnesses as adults, it seems unspeakably stupid in retrospect to have foregone a vaccine that could have spared one all that major discomfort. I've heard really bad things about shingles - wish they'd get going on their backlog. My now-deceased neighbor suffered greatly from shingles. Since he also had a hereditary disorder which weakened him, I believe the shingles in combination caused his relatively premature death. Nothing to take a chance on skipping, unless one knows for sure one has some autoimmune hypersensitivity. (Still baffled and sympathetic about your families' unusual and horrible level of pertussis contracted as adults. Thanks for the heads up!)
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Does This Avatar Make My Butt Look Big? Minor Deity |
I wonder if I had whooping cough. In mid October, I got a mild cold that turned into a terrible cough. It has been six weeks, and I still don’t have full lung capacity. Thing is, I did have a pertussis booster this summer. My sister has it now. She is hacking her lungs out. | |||
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Gadfly |
Mary Anna - the doc told us that culturing past the 3 week mark from the onset of symptoms will almost always be negative and that for best chance of getting a positive culture, you need to test within the first 2 weeks. Of course, that is in the window where you still think it's just a cold and don't go to the doctor, or if you do, the doctor says it's just a cold and sends you home. So I'd bet that there are very very few positive cultures relative to the actual number of cases. Cindy - they do say the vaccine has a 20% failure rate -- as in it just plain doesn't work in 20% of people. So who knows. I will say that I don't really feel like my lung capacity is impacted and I never did -- this cough is/was all in my throat - a horrible tickle/scratchiness that I just couldn't shake or suppress. But the whole time I was breathing fine (well, when I wasn't coughing) and I never had any other symptoms -- not even so much as a runny nose. It was all just a cough. Who knows! | |||
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Has Achieved Nirvana |
https://www.nbcnews.com/health...udy-suggests-n982816
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Minor Deity |
Sounds sensible that there has been a mutation requiring a new and effective vaccine (and booster) for pertussis. How great it will be when the new vaccine comes out! Also, probably a new test for patients who appear to be suffering from pertussis but who are not diagnosed as such (why so many of you have had and heard of people having apparent - awful - pertussis while being told the titer comes back reading differently). I confess to having a ghastly expectation that this new vaccine when available will come out at a nightmarish price on account of the new patent. Isn't this the way of Big Pharma and those who are permitted by them, to purchase patents and thereby gouge vulnerable patients? As if the recent insulin gouge weren't enough!? Speaking as someone long-suffering from TRD (Treatment Resistent Depression), I was very excited to learn that the ketamine trials for depression have finally proven effective. Within days, the banner headlines reporting this breakthrough announced (without the fanfare it deserves), what the actual cost of treatment will be - several thousand $/month. (I'm blocking out the exact figure). Of course, that doesn't mean depressed people overseas won't be able to afford relief...while those in the US shell out for most of the R&D (or in most cases, just stay depressed.)
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Has Achieved Nirvana |
With grandkids on the way, Sharon and I both had to get vaccinated so we can be allowed in the hospital for the delivery. I don’t know if this is a hospital requirement or something the Moms want but we got our shots last week. Hope they work.
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What Life? |
For reporting purposes alone, I'd think their would be test for antibodies. They could test for IgM earlier, and IgG later in the disease course. No therapeutic help but def helps w epidemiology.
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