Here is some history. I will be as brief as possible. My daughter had her first Gardasil vaccination November 2007. Her second vaccination was in the beginning of February 2008. Immediately after her second vaccination, Victoria experienced severe diarrhea and was nauseous for about eight weeks. On March 31, 2008, she had her first seizure. After several emergency room visits, she was diagnosed with conversion disorder. My daughter has treated with many neurologists, all of whom will not relate my daughter’s seizures to Gardasil. Meanwhile, there quite a few hundred people that I have found over the internet through my numerous postings and through Erin Brockovich, and their daughters are all experiencing the same symptoms, which occurred after the Gardasil vaccination. My daughter has had CT scans, MRI’s, MRA’s, EEG’s, blood work and was hospitalized at an epilepsy center for two separate weeks in 2008. Iinitially, she was put on many different seizure medications. All tests have normal results. Although her SED rate seems to be high each time and she did have protein in her urine which doctors do not seem concerned about..

Doctors recommended that my daughter treat with a psychiatrist and I complied. However, the psychiatrist did not believe that my daughter had conversion disorder. My daughter has seen several neurologists, a psychiatrist, psychologist, several neuropsychologists, an immunologist, several infectious disease doctors, and also treated a wellness center.

My daughter currently experiences fhe following: non-epileptic seizures, migraines, fainting, tremors, twitches, numbness, staring episodes, tingling, eye pain, joint pain, neck pain , memory loss, confusion, regression and chronic fatigue . She has not been in school since September 2008 — she should be a senior in high school. Her teachers helped her to complete her junior year by sending work home. My daughter can never be left home alone. She can’t go to school, go out with her friends or work or has little “normalcy” in her life.

I do not know which way to turn for help. We have seen so many doctors and I can’t seem to find anyone willing to help my daughter except for one psychologist, who “talks” to her to try to work through her stress. I continue to take my daughter to the psychologist although I do not believe that my daughter’s symptoms are stress related. There are so many other girls who have the same symptoms as my daughter and the one thing all the girls seem to have in common is the Gardasil vaccination.

Although, we are on a fixed income, I have expended many thousands of dollars in an effort to seek medical opinions and assistance. Although we do have medical insurance, it is very difficult to find doctors willing to treat my daughter who accept our HMO.

We are in desperate need of medical treatment for my daughter. I have run out of ideas, finances have dwindled and I do not know which direction to turn.

Any thoughts are most appreciated. Thank you.

Jodi Speakman
Jodispeaks@aol.com

Men are carriers of HPV (and often the primary means of infection for women). because of this, women who are exposed to HPV are at risk of developing cervical cancer. Because cervical cancer can be severe if not identified soon enough, doctors recommend the vaccine for women, such that if they are exposed, they will be protected.

The vaccine immunizes girls from 4 strains of HPV. Two of the strains, strains 16 and 18, are responsible for causing 70% of cases of cervical cancer. Strains 6 and 11 are known to cause 90% of genital warts. So while it does not immunize against all strains of HPV that cause cervical cancer or genital warts, it effectively immunizes girls against the strains that are known to cause harm most of the time. Not all strains cause cervical cancer or genital warts, which is why the vaccine only immunizes against 4 strains that cause the majority of complications, and not the other 100 or more.

Doctors also recommend the vaccine around age 9 or 11 because these are ages in which girls are most likely NOT having sexual intercourse. By immunizing them before they are exposed to HPV through sexual activity, it ensures that the vaccine has the highest chance of being effective, rather than when a girl already has strain 16, 18, 6, or 11, because if she has one of those, then the vaccine will not be able to immunize her against that specific strain.

There are a few reasons to immunize boys/men. As stated before, boys and men can be (and often are) carriers of HPV. When having intercourse or engaging in sexual activity with others, they can pass it to them. So one reason to vaccinate men is to effectively limit their potential to spread it to women (and therefore limit women’s susceptibility to HPV complications such as cervical cancer as well as their own ability to pass it to other sexual partners). As Ellyn stated, there are no reliable tests presently that can detect asymptomatic HPV in men.

Additionally, Betsy unfortunately neglects to mention that men and boys who engage in receptive anal intercourse are at high risk for developing anal cancer as well. And unlike cervical pap tests for women, anal pap tests do not detect sings of possible anal cancer as effectively. They often require several follow up paps just for a result that may not even be more than a normal and benign anal growth.

Of course, it may be easy for Betsy to neglect to mention the health risks to young boys if she chooses to ignore the fact that same-sex attracted young men exist (or even if they do, if they’re worth caring about) until we recognize that these boys and men are part of our world, too–they are our sons, our brothers, fathers, uncles, cousins, our children’s close friends, or our own friends. Their health is important, too.

Women, too, are at risk for developing HPV-related anal cancer through transmission during anal intercourse, which the research shows, more abstinence-only indoctrinated teenagers are turning to in a misguided belief that the health and moral “rules” of non-vaginal intercourse do not apply to anal intercourse. And as mentioned before, an anal pap smear is not as effective in that detection as it is for cervical cancer.

Finally, just as the vaccine protects against cervical cancer, it also protects against genital warts in both men and women.

So there are plenty of reasons to vaccinate girls AND boys if you actually stop to think about what the research says and what HPV can cause.

And finally, I’d like to point out that the argument that vaccinating boys and girls from dangerous strains of HPV will somehow provide “consent” to engage in unsafe sexual behavior is tired and sensationalized. By the same rationale, providing your child with ANY form of immunization would clear them for unsafe behaviors. When you vaccinate your child from the flu, does that mean you encourage them to run around in the cold naked? Does making your child wear a seat belt tell them that it’s okay to drive recklessly? Does wearing a bullet-proof vest mean that it’s fine to recklessly fire a gun? Certainly not.

HPV vaccine is another layer of insurance and protection. Having it does not give an individual the freedom to be sexually reckless and unsafe and does not diminish the authority of you as a parent. To think that is nothing more than paranoia and irresponsible parenting.