Ahh weird, I don't know if you can get 'mild' shingles, but that's what I had. Or it could be because of the tablets! I did have an achey back for a couple months afterwards, but I got a week off work which was great because I didn't feel ill haha.

My mom has had shingles THREE times in her life, I do hope a predisposition to it isn't genetic lmao!

@Winged Centaur: I have heard of people getting chicken pox three times. It's rare, but it's not impossible. My mom thinks I had very mild chicken pox when I was two, and obviously like you didn't develop much of an immunity to it.
I have since worked with children with it and have not gotten it again touch wood!

@Acid Fairy: Maybe you can get mild forms? I have no idea. I just remember going to the doctor and he asked me if I'd ever had the chicken pox. I was super excited when I said, "YES I HAVE, HA HA!" and then he explained to me what shingles was, lol. It was the worst thing ever (at that point in my life my immune system was like, shot, because I barely took care of myself also). However I did get some medication to help with the rash symptoms. But it still just, hurt like a beeyatch.

@Acid Fairy - Vaccines do not guarantee immunity. So even if he was vaccinated, there is still a chance that he could still get the disease it was supposed to prevent. However, to answer your question, no I won't feel guilty. Because I firmly believe in the fact that these "preventable diseases" can be treated. I will NEVER deny him medical care. But at the same time, I will know for sure that he definitely developed immunity against something rather than a shot that doesn't guarantee a thing.

@Acid Fairy - Vaccines do not guarantee immunity. So even if he was vaccinated, there is still a chance that he could still get the disease it was supposed to prevent. However, to answer your question, no I won't feel guilty. Because I firmly believe in the fact that these "preventable diseases" can be treated. I will NEVER deny him medical care. But at the same time, I will know for sure that he definitely developed immunity against something rather than a shot that doesn't guarantee a thing.

To each their own. It may not be gross to you, but that's disgusting to me. Injecting foreign animal cells into my son's muscle tissue is not something that I am fond of.

Oh I can see how that would be disturbing to someone... it's just not to me lol.
I figure, we (or well most people) eat meat anyhow. Parts of animals are already absorbed by my body. If the meats a little under-cooked at some point there's probably blood (or residue of it) going into my body as it is. People in other parts of the world eat monkey, and I'm sure the kidneys get eaten by some people.

I mean it's gross... but it's life.

I never had the chicken pox...I'm 30

@Greta: if you can, get the vaccination. You don't want the dreaded pox! ;D

@ Acid Fairy: I know. My mom keeps telling me and I keep forgetting to ask my Doctor!

or she could have her immunity tested for it too! she might be naturally immune, some people are.

Really?? I thought there was no escape from the pox! ;D (I do love being dramatic.)

lol! if i remember right my dad is naturally immune to it. and TB too, but thats because his mum had tb when he was pregnant.

I think it's neat how kids can get immunities from their mothers. ;D

even more amazing when it comes to breastfeeding, if you breastfeed when your child has vaccinations, it makes the vaccinations more effective because the mother's body is reacting to the vaccination and producing antibodies to fight the pathogens too.
breastfeeding sends its own immunities and in the first year of my DDs life, i caught three nasty bugs that she didnt because i fed through them. then if she did get sick, i could feel like i was doing something because my own body would use its immunity to fight off her bug too. its amazing how the human body works.

I didn't know breast milk did that ;D Although it does make sense!
Learn something new every day!

Yeah but our stomach acid is in the works with that. Stomach acid doesn't work when something is injected into the muscle.

@MaVieAramis: but if your son gets something he could have been immunised against and gets pretty ill, are you not going to feel guilty knowing you could have prevented it? I'm all for avoiding illness so I'd be like inject them with everything haha ;D

Acid Fairy - But there's another side of the coin too! What if you gave your child a questionable vaccine and he or she had a terrible adverse reaction? Remember, vaccine injuries happen everyday (so much so that Americans have a compensation fund for victims of the injuries). Shooting our kids up with every vax available is no guarantee and that idea carries its own risks. So no matter what you choose - there is so risk/benefit analysis that must be done.

I don't think I'd feel so bad because that's just bad luck - but if they got an illness that could have been prevented, I'd just feel terrible. Also, I know of no one who has had adverse reactions to vaccines but I do know of people who have had illnesses that they could have been vaccinated against, so in my experience, the vaccines seem the safer option.

Also, there's the whole thing about herd immunity - my ex couldn't have many jabs because he has an egg allergy and a few years back there was a measles outbreak in his town - thankfully he never came into contact with anyone who was carrying the virus so he was extremely lucky. Measles as an adult is awful, especially for men. I think as a responsible citizen, it's my duty to help maintain that herd immunity as much as possible.

@Acid Fairy: I completely agree with you. A bad reaction to a vaccine is just [imo] bad luck. I'd rather at least attempt to vaccinate my child and have them get a bad reaction, than not do it and see them get insanely sick from what I could have prevented in the first place.

@Acid Fairy and Jessica: I also get the adverse reaction thing. If you get a vaccine and you have an adverse reaction, like you said it's just luck of the draw. I mean it'd be like this: say your child had an ear infection. You give them penicillin and then you find out your child is allergic to penicillin.... does that mean anytime your child has an illness you're not going to treat it because they had one adverse reaction to a drug that most people can tolerate? If you did that you'd be insane right!? Kind of the same deal with vaccinations.

@meesa: EXACTLY. You don't know going in that your kid is allergic to stuff. Obviously if you did you wouldn't give them something that they were allergic to.

Sorry for the double post - computer acted up.

Futhermore, we rarely get sick because we take supplement of Echinacea, Cod Liver Oil and Vitamin C. All of those things support a very healthy immune system. Last summer, my son had Fifths Disease which is in the Measles family. The doctor kept asking me if he had a fever. I simply told them that I wasn't aware because he wasn't acting any differently. The rash was there for about 2 weeks.

The bonus in all of this - he will never get it again. And he was fine, acting like his normal self throughout it all.

@MaVieAramis: I had fifths disease when I was little! And I got my MMR vaccine some time before that ;D

Did his face get super super red? I have pictures of me with it, it's so funny!