Trouble With The HPV Vaccine - Do You Really Want To Be "One Less"

I’m sure most, if not all of you, have heard something about this from somewhere. It’s been all over the news in recent weeks.

Apparently there have been over 8,000 adverse reactions to the vaccine, including Guillain-Barre Syndrome, which is an autoimmune disease.

Here is a recent article about adverse reactions to the vaccine from CNN.

You can also find information about adverse reactions to Gardasil from a report by the National Vaccine Information Center here.

Or you can Google HPV vaccine or adverse reactions to HPV vaccine, or some similar combination of terms, and find plenty of information.

To my knowledge, the first adverse reaction the news reported was that some people getting the vaccine nearly fainted and that many said the vaccine was rather painful.

Well, when I got my first HPV shot in October, I had an adverse reaction. A few minutes after I received the injection, I got dizzy and my legs went numb. I had never had a reaction like that to a shot before. Luckily for me, after about a half hour of lying on an exam table, I did feel a little better and was able to leave the facility where I received the shot.

Prior to this, since I was having other health issues, I confirmed with the two doctors I was seeing at the time that it would be okay for me to get the vaccine. I also confirmed this with all of my doctors before receiving the other two, which I had no reaction to.

And as for the pain, in my mind, it was the most painful of any vaccine I’ve ever had, including those protecting against tetanus and meningitis.

I know that some of the reactions have come from girls and women who were younger or older than the recommended age range. However, I’m sure there have been fair amounts from people who fell into the age range and thought that they were doing themselves good by getting the vaccine.

So I guess the question is, do you want to be “one less” person to get the vaccine?