How you know you're entering your second childhood

[neadods]

How you know when you're entering your second childhood... you get vaccinated. Again!

There are now two confirmed cases of the measels in the greater DC area, and according to the CDC, there is a question of the efficacy of the vaccine in the prime years I would have gotten jabbed. On the basis of "can't hurt, might help" I've signed up to get the adult MMR next week.

I've actually had the second M in that combination, so whatever vaccination I got either didn't take (if it was MMR) or was the pre-MMR version.

You'd be surprised how hard it is to get adult vaccs. Fortunately, my doctor pointed me at Passport Medical, which does vaccinations for travel. I said I was going to the UK (true, if not true in the near future) but frankly, "I'm going to Fairfax" counts these days!

Comments

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

OT but I sent you a PM earlier - a Holmes exhibition coming to London.

[redpanda13.livejournal.com]

I haven't had the jab but I did have measles-- prevented me from going to the Philly Zoo with my first-grade class, so I was pretty horked off.

Now I need to worry about shingles, having had chicken pox as well....

[not-hathor.livejournal.com]

oh boy. I'm of an age when asked when I had my shots for.... fill in the blanks.... I honestly have to say "I never have", because I had Mumps, Measles, Chicken pox, AND Scarlet Fever (I think that's the 'Old-School' name for Ruebella)all before I reached Second Grade. AT my last physical, my doctor talked to me about the shingles vaccine and I had to tell him, 'Too late, already had an outbreak ten years ago'. Sigh. Feeling old.

Polio? Don't think I got the shot since I don't have a scar; they gave us a syrup/serum in a sugar cube. To this day I don't eat sugar cubes, because it tasted so nasty!

[badgermirlacca.livejournal.com]

I had measles (and had shingles, a dozen or so years later), and I know I've been vaccinated against everything there is (military brat) but have no records, so... But I won't even get flu shots now. Tetanus, yes, but for the rest? I HATE needles.

[melusinehr.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow, thanks for the heads up. It looks as though I haven't been to any of the affected locations in the last few months, though I've definitely been to some of them in the past. Fortunately, I don't need new MMRs, but I can sympathize re: getting them as an adult; I had to get two new polio shots before starting law school because my only accessible records were in a format didn't show whether I got all three as a kid.

[amethyst-hunter.livejournal.com]

Something I didn't know until just recently: if you've ever had chickenpox, you need to get a shingles vaccine around age 50 - apparently the virus for shingles is very similar to/the exact same type as the one for the pox, which can put you at possible risk for shingles flare-ups later in life. (And I had the pox BAD as a kid. Most miserable 2 weeks of my entire 6th grade life.)

[suze2000.livejournal.com]

I didn't even know there was a shingles vaccine. I must ask my doc about that. My aunt got it maybe fifteen years back and was off work for three months!

There seems tone some confusion above amongst the commenters about measles, chicken pox and shingles. Measles and chicken pox are two separate viruses, though both are common childhood illnesses, only one hangs around in the nervous system with the aim of waiting until you are a little run down in late middle age to cause shingles: chicken pox. You can't get shingles if you've never had chicken pox.