Melinda:

I keep hearing how 'rare' serious side effects are, yet the stories never end. Most are serious neurological disorders, autoimmune disorders and even death. SIDS is listed as a side effect on some childhood vaccines. How many people never even give that a thought if their baby dies? SIDS is just SIDS...no reason necessary, right?

People never bother to read the inserts. No one looks at the adverse affects or the ingredients. Many doctors are not even aware that certain people should not get certain vaccines and give them anyway. According to the inserts on many vaccines, pregnant women and those who are immunocompromised should not have some vaccines. People trust and get them anyway. There is a lot of research lately stating that those who have the MTHFR gene are more susceptible to neurological vaccine-induced injury.

Does anyone agree that Hep B does not need to be given to newborn children? Anyone? Can you give me a good reason why it should be given if the mother does not have Hep B? Below are the adverse affects listed on the package insert for Hep B. Would you seriously risk this for your newborn (hours old) knowing full well that they are not at risk for Hep B?

6.2 Post-Marketing Experience

The following additional adverse reactions have been reported with use of the marketed vaccine. Because these reactions are reported voluntarily from
a population of uncertain size, it is not possible to reliably estimate their frequency or establish a causal relationship to a vaccine exposure.

Immune System Disorders
Hypersensitivity reactions including anaphylactic/anaphylactoid reactions, bronchospasm, and urticaria have been reported within the first few hours after vaccination. An apparent hypersensitivity syndrome (serum-sickness-like) of delayed onset has been reported days to weeks after vaccination, including:

arthralgia/arthritis (usually transient), fever, and dermatologic reactions such as urticaria, erythema multiforme, ecchymoses and erythema nodosum.

Autoimmune diseases including systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), lupus-like syndrome, vasculitis, and polyarteritis nodosa have also been reported.

Gastrointestinal Disorders
Elevation of liver enzymes; constipation

Nervous System Disorders
Guillain-Barré syndrome; multiple sclerosis; exacerbation of multiple sclerosis; myelitis including transverse myelitis; seizure; febrile seizure; peripheral neuropathy including Bell's Palsy; radiculopathy; herpes zoster; migraine; muscle weakness; hypesthesia; encephalitis

Skin and Subcutaneous Disorders
Stevens-Johnson syndrome; alopecia; petechiae; eczema

Musculoskeletal and Connective Tissue Disorders
Arthritis
Pain in extremity

Blood and Lymphatic System Disorders
Increased erythrocyte sedimentation rate; thrombocytopenia

Psychiatric Disorders
Irritability; agitation; somnolence

Eye Disorders
Optic neuritis; tinnitus; conjunctivitis; visual disturbances; uveitis

Cardiac Disorders
Syncope; tachycardia

www.merck.com/product/usa/pi_circulars/r/recombivax_hb/recombivax_pi.pdf

I took that acid reducer, Acifex, without much thought. It wasn't really working though, so I asked my GP to raise the dose. I realized that I was on a very low dose. She refused and said there are too many side effects. I'd always thought it to be an innocuous medication and thought her statement was odd, so I looked it up. I had been using it long and would have used it long-term. Here is the list:

Oncologic

Any drug which increases gastric pH would be anticipated to stimulate release of gastrin. Animal studies have demonstrated an increase in plasma gastrin concentrations following the administration of rabeprazole (the active ingredient contained in Aciphex) In addition, lifelong high-dose animal studies have revealed a dose-related increase in the incidence of gastric enterochromaffin-like (ECL) cell carcinoids (especially in female rats). However, to date, human studies of up to 1 year have not found any suggestion of gastric carcinoid formation due to rabeprazole use.

Oncologic side effects have not been reported.

Gastrointestinal

Gastrointestinal side effects have included diarrhea, nausea, abdominal pain, vomiting, dyspepsia, flatulence, constipation, dry mouth, eructation, gastroenteritis, rectal hemorrhage, melena, anorexia, cholelithiasis, mouth ulceration, stomatitis, dysphagia, gingivitis, cholecystitis, increased appetite, abnormal stools, colitis, and esophagitis. Rarely, cholangitis, duodenitis, salivary gland enlargement, and thirst have also been reported.[Ref]

Nervous system

Nervous system side effects have included headache (2.4%), insomnia, anxiety, dizziness, depression, nervousness, somnolence, hypertonia, neuralgia, vertigo, convulsion, abnormal dreams, decreased libido, neuropathy, and tremor. Agitation, amnesia, confusion, extrapyramidal syndrome, and hyperkinesia have rarely been reported. Hand and facial numbness have also been reported.[Ref]

Endocrine

Endocrine side effects have included gynecomastia, breast enlargement in females, and breast tenderness.[Ref]

Dermatologic

Dermatologic side effects have included rash, pruritus, sweating, urticaria, photosensitivity, and alopecia. Rare reports of dry skin, psoriasis, and skin discoloration have also been reported.[Ref]

Hepatic

Hepatic side effects have included rare cases of hepatic encephalopathy, hepatitis, hepatoma, and fatty deposits in liver.[Ref]

Respiratory

Respiratory side effects have included dyspnea, asthma, epistaxis, laryngitis, hiccup, and hyperventilation. Rare reports of apnea and hypoventilation have also been reported.[Ref]

Genitourinary

Genitourinary side effects have included cystitis, urinary frequency, dysmenorrhea, and dysuria. Rare reports of impotence, hematuria, orchitis, and urinary incontinence have also been reported.[Ref]

Cardiovascular

Cardiovascular side effects have included rare reports of angina, tachycardia, sinus bradycardia, palpitations, hypertension, myocardial infarction, syncope, angina pectoris, bundle branch block, palpitations, supraventricular tachycardia, and peripheral edema. Electrocardiogram abnormalities have also been reported.[Ref]

Hematologic

Hematologic side effects have included rare reports of anemia, ecchymosis, lymphadenopathy, and hypochromic anemia.[Ref]

Hypersensitivity

Hypersensitivity side effects have included fever, allergic reaction, chills, malaise, and face edema.[Ref]

Metabolic

Metabolic side effects have included weight gain, gout, dehydration, and weight loss. FDA warns that prescription proton pump inhibitor (PPI) drugs may cause low serum magnesium levels (hypomagnesemia) if taken for prolonged periods of time (in most cases, longer than one year). Patients who develop hypomagnesemia may experience seizures, dizziness, abnormal or fast heart beat, or skipped heartbeat, jitteriness, jerking movements or tremors, muscle weakness, spasms of the hands and feet, cramps or muscle aches, and spasm of the voice box.[Ref]

Musculoskeletal

Musculoskeletal side effects have included myalgia, arthritis, leg cramps, muscle spasm (tetany) bone pain, bone fracture, arthrosis, bursitis, and rarely rhabdomyolysis. Hip fracture and muscle stiffness have also been reported.[Ref]

An increased risk of hip fracture has been reported. This risk is significantly increased among patients prescribed long-term high dose PPIs.[Ref]
Ocular

Ocular side effects have included cataract, amblyopia, glaucoma, dry eyes, and abnormal vision. Cornea opacity, blurry vision, diplopia, eye pain, and retinal degeneration have been reported rarely. Ocular lesions have also been reported.[Ref]

Psychiatric

Psychiatric side effects have included insomnia, anxiety, depression, nervousness, somnolence, abnormal dreams, decreased libido, agitation, amnesia, confusion, and panic reaction. A least one case of marked anxiety associated with panic attacks, night terror (pavor nocturnus), episodic mental confusion, and attention deficit has been reported.[Ref]

A 55-year-old female with dyspepsia experienced marked anxiety associated with panic attacks, night terror (pavor nocturnus), episodic mental confusion, and attention deficit coincident with rabeprazole therapy. She presented with the neuropsychiatric manifestations 10 days after being administered rabeprazole 20 mg per day. Within two days of discontinuing rabeprazole, she recovered completely.[Ref]

Renal

Renal side effects have included at least one case of interstitial nephritis.[Ref]

A 57-year-old male with diverticulosis, esophageal reflux due to diaphragmatic hernia, and eczema experienced interstitial nephritis coincident with rabeprazole therapy. He was administered rabeprazole 20 mg daily for esophagitis. Renal biopsy revealed interstitial nephritis with unspecified glomerular sclerosis with predominantly interstitial changes. His condition improved when rabeprazole was withdrawn.[Ref]

Those of you with hair loss should check with your doctors. Steroids can be a cause of hair loss and possibly Promacta, but people with autoimmune disorders can also be prone to alopecias. There are some hair treatments that can help. Sometimes the hair isn't actually falling out; it can break close to the root from being dry and appear to be falling out. Many drug stores carry hair products that can repair the damage.

CD8+ T-cell deficiency is a feature of many chronic autoimmune diseases, including multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, Sjögren's syndrome, systemic sclerosis, dermatomyositis, primary biliary cirrhosis, primary sclerosing cholangitis, ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease, psoriasis, vitiligo, bullous pemphigoid, alopecia areata, idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy, type 1 diabetes mellitus, Graves' disease, Hashimoto's thyroiditis, myasthenia gravis, IgA nephropathy, membranous nephropathy, and pernicious anaemia. It also occurs in healthy blood relatives of patients with autoimmune diseases, suggesting it is genetically determined. Here it is proposed that this CD8+ T-cell deficiency underlies the development of chronic autoimmune diseases by impairing CD8+ T-cell control of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection, with the result that EBV-infected autoreactive B cells accumulate in the target organ where they produce pathogenic autoantibodies and provide costimulatory survival signals to autoreactive T cells which would otherwise die in the target organ by activation-induced apoptosis. Autoimmunity is postulated to evolve in the following steps: (1) CD8+ T-cell deficiency, (2) primary EBV infection, (3) decreased CD8+ T-cell control of EBV, (4) increased EBV load and increased anti-EBV antibodies, (5) EBV infection in the target organ, (6) clonal expansion of EBV-infected autoreactive B cells in the target organ, (7) infiltration of autoreactive T cells into the target organ, and ( development of ectopic lymphoid follicles in the target organ. It is also proposed that deprivation of sunlight and vitamin D at higher latitudes facilitates the development of autoimmune diseases by aggravating the CD8+ T-cell deficiency and thereby further impairing control of EBV. The hypothesis makes predictions which can be tested, including the prevention and successful treatment of chronic autoimmune diseases by controlling EBV infection.

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22312480