Jabs

[freakyschizogirl]

Hi all

Just a quick question for the experts, i've had to have Hepetitus B jabs for work but the first course hasn't built up a sufficient immunity to it so they are recommending i have a second course. Do you guys think its worth it? Could the Wegs and medication be stopping this jab from working??

Cheers

[Psyborg]

I'm not sure, but it seems like maybe we'd have issues reacting normally to immunizations due to immune suppression? Just speculation on my part, I hadn't considered it much before you asked

[freakyschizogirl]

lol well i did tell them of my disease and the medications i was on and they didnt seem to think it was a problem. And we get the winter flu jabs so didnt think immunizations would be affected, but i could be wrong.

[Hammy8241]

Hi Sam, As long as the immunizations are not of the 'live' type then there are no problems as i understand it. I've had the hep b jab too. Reckon that the 1st jab did not work as you are 'Special'!

[Sangye]

Could the Wegs and medication be stopping this jab from working??

Cheers

Well, this is the big question, isn't it? I'm not a proponent of vaccinations and when I've pinned down my doctors none of them have an answer.

Vaccinations work by injecting a foreign substance (eg virus) and forcing the body to make antibodies to it. Those antibodies supposedly become part of the permanent antibody memory in your body. The cells that make antibodies are a type of WBC-- the B cells. The problem is that immunosuppressants lower the B cell population. This does 2 things: 1) It prevents or (at best) greatly diminishes your body from making antibodies when the vaccine is injected, and 2) It eliminates your body's antibody memory.

Rtx is the most likely to do this, since it destroys the entire B cell population. But any of our drugs can do it. So when you get a vaccine, did your body actually respond like it should? The only way to tell is to measure antibody titers, as you have done Sam. Some doctors will say that even if your body only generates a small response it's better than nothing. I would argue that given the harmful ingredients in vaccines that is not necessarily true.

Personally I think it's ludicrous for me to do any vaccination when I'm getting rtx every 6 months. I don't have any B cells to make antibodies, and I wouldn't retain the antibody memory even if I managed to form one. We each have to make this decision, of course. I encourage you to look at the science on both sides and make a decision based on that.

[pberggren1]

Thank you very much for this post Sangye and to Sam for starting this thread.

[freakyschizogirl]

Hi Sam, As long as the immunizations are not of the 'live' type then there are no problems as i understand it. I've had the hep b jab too. Reckon that the 1st jab did not work as you are 'Special'!

Sometimes i think i'm too special!!

Thanks for the advice Sangye, dont think my company would pay out another £30 an injection and i dont know if i wanna keep getting poked all the time! I will definately have a think on it.