HPV Vaccine: Mandatory?

[AlexMack]

Originally Posted by KSigkid

Absolutely - I was talking yesterday about how it has almost become the thing to do to ignore doctor's advice. I can understand getting a 2nd opinion on things, or doing a little research, but at the end of the day I would hope people would listen to their physicians. There's a reason why people aren't just out there self-medicating and doing surgeries on street corners.

Internet doctors are the worst kind of people. Those people sit on their computers all day, looking up websites and diagnosing themselves then dragging all this research to their physician and demanding drugs for their 'diagnosis'. The internet was the simultaneous best and worst thing to ever happen to medicine. There's way too much information out there and in the hands of a layperson, it's dangerous.

[33girl]

My favorite quote on this is from somebody's LJ icon:

"If television's a babysitter, the internet's a drunk librarian who won't shut up."

Any time I've looked up a diagnosis online, I've become convinced that I'm going to die unless I bathe myself in bleach and eat nothing but brown rice. It's like the Brady Bunch episode where Peter had 2 pages of the medical book stuck together and thought he had sleeping sickness and was going to die. It's ridiculous.

[AlexMack]

Originally Posted by 33girl

My favorite quote on this is from somebody's LJ icon:

"If television's a babysitter, the internet's a drunk librarian who won't shut up."

Any time I've looked up a diagnosis online, I've become convinced that I'm going to die unless I bathe myself in bleach and eat nothing but brown rice. It's like the Brady Bunch episode where Peter had 2 pages of the medical book stuck together and thought he had sleeping sickness and was going to die. It's ridiculous.

Yeah, it's easy to freak yourself out. Back when I had my mystery leg pain, all I could do was research on the internet because none of the doctors knew what was wrong.
Oh, and if you might have a serious chronic illness like MS, don't do research until you know for sure. Seriously, that funny shaped freckle looks like melanoma, your left arm feels funny and tingly so you're having an MI, You moved the wrong way suddenly the other day and now you have a disk herniation that needs surgery. Outside medical journals and reputable sites (I only trust http://www.medlineplus.gov, webmd.com is run by drug companies) there's a lot of biased shit to wade through.

[texas*princess]

Personally, if I were a parent and had a daughter, I would definitely have a talk with her but ultimately make the decision.

I realize we take tons of immunizations as children, but those have been around for a VERY long time.... and I feel like this one is still way too new for me to be comfortable with it.

Has it been tested for long term effects? How do we know this vaccine might cause other types of medical problems?

Based on a news story, the vaccine only guards against a very very small percentage of strains of HPV (I think the total number was something around 4 out of 28) and the medical field wasn't even 100% sure that those 4 (or whatever the number was) are the "main ones" that cause cervical cancer.

I don't like that Gov. Perry used his "exective order" before letting the people know what was going on and giving our elected officials a chance to speak for us. If that's what he's gonna be like, I only see him as another "W" if he truly is going to run for President like some reports say he might.

[KSigkid]

Originally Posted by 33girl

My favorite quote on this is from somebody's LJ icon:

"If television's a babysitter, the internet's a drunk librarian who won't shut up."

Any time I've looked up a diagnosis online, I've become convinced that I'm going to die unless I bathe myself in bleach and eat nothing but brown rice. It's like the Brady Bunch episode where Peter had 2 pages of the medical book stuck together and thought he had sleeping sickness and was going to die. It's ridiculous.

Absolutely - I had a heart condition that got repaired last year; it was semi-serious, but one of the first things my parents read about it said something like "leading cause of immediate cardiac arrest." That didn't exactly help their handling of the situation, and I ended up having hourly messages seeing how I was doing until they talked with my cardiologist.

Knowledge is power, and I understand the benefits of having access to this information, but I think sometimes things can go too far. At some point, you just have to trust your doctor (whether it's a 1st, 2nd or 10th opinion).