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Kathryn
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| Posted: Dec 29 2010 at 12:17pm | IP Logged
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So I posted over in the prayer forum and am wondering now how to safely build my immunity. I guess I see now where this came from...I had a "mild" cold virus along w/ the rest of the family 2 weeks ago and of course sleeping may be 5-7 hrs a night and never in one stretch w/ a nursing baby and I hadn't been taking my prenatal multivitamin and all the Christmas planning and a few other family medical scares I suppose have me on high stress.
I bought some Ensure Immunity builder drinks b/c it's so hard to eat w/ all the sores in my mouth too but now I'm wondering if my prenatal vitamin would give me too many of certain vitamins/minerals? Should I buy a separate vitamin booster for now? I'm trying to rest but still not getting more than 2 hr stretches b/c of the pain and then baby wakes to nurse. Hopefully the antiviral starts working.
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Kathryn in TX
(dd 16, ds 15, dd 8, dd 5)
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: Dec 29 2010 at 1:01pm | IP Logged
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Echinacea is known for helping rebuild immunity.
I might also add the homeopathic Rhus Tox that's supposed to help against chicken pox.
Elderberry is a good anti-viral, specific for the flu, and we find that it really helps us stay well.. I'm not sure I would combine it with a prescription anti-viral but I would use it after that was gone.. we usually use it for everyone at first sign of illness.. if someone is sick everyone not sick gets a single dose per day while the sick person gets 3-4 doses a day.j But we also take it when we've been out where there's lots of germs or sick people.. you know those days when you hear coughing all over the church during Mass 
My understanding is you need the higher doses of vitamins while nursing as well as while pregnant.. baby gets first dibs and you get what's left over.. so you get run down if you don't have enough. In other words breastmilk gets certain components as long as your body has them.. and too bad if there's not enough left over for you.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
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CrunchyMom
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| Posted: Dec 30 2010 at 2:44pm | IP Logged
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I'm not sure about what triggers the shingles, but I have read doing vax research that chicken pox is one of the most resilient viruses in the world and has survived in just about every civilization all over the world. Reason being, your immunity from having had it as a child is "kept up" because you are exposed to it. If you are not being exposed enough, the virus starts "worrying" it might be dying off and reintroduces itself in older generations through shingles. So, a child (or anyone who hasn't had it) can catch chicken pox from an adult with shingles.
Some people speculate that there will be an epidemic of shingles in our generation because the chicken pox vax is becoming so prevalent in children and adults are not being exposed enough to the disease to maintain their immunity.
Anyway, that doesn't really help you currently, but I had never really understood the relationship between shingles and chicken pox and how it worked and found it fascinating when I did!
The number one way, imo, to boost your immune system, in addition to making sure you are not deprived of any vitamins, is to make sure your gut is healthy. I'd take heavy duty probiotics, and if you can manage to get them naturally through cultured foods (kefir is a great source and superior to yogurt for this), all the better.
Also, taking vitamin C to bowel tolerance is something I would do with any serious illness. I typically use emergen-c, but I have friends who find Sodium Ascorbate Powder to be easier on their stomachs.
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Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
My Symphony
[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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Kathryn
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| Posted: Jan 05 2011 at 7:11pm | IP Logged
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I asked the doc yesterday if I was increasing my children's chances of getting shingles by having them vaccinated and he said you cannot get shingles w/o first having the chicken pox. And he said that the chicken pox vaccine is really a "money" thing. I can't believe he said it that but it keeps parents in the workplace and kids well. I always considered vaccines to be to "save lives". However, I suppose if it prevents my kids from getting shingles someday by avoiding chicken pox, it's worth it. ?
I guess there's sooo much debate in this issue and so many studies to support various views. 
I'm doing pretty good on the immunity building and hope to stay diligent with that and not fall into bad habits again.
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Kathryn in TX
(dd 16, ds 15, dd 8, dd 5)
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JodieLyn
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I think you might want to do a lot more research into the vaccine preventing shingles. That doesnt' make sense to the little I know about how vaccines work. And I thought I've been hearing there's a lot more cases of younger people gettign shingles since the vaccine.. even kids.. which was almost unheard of before the vaccine.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
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CrunchyMom
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I think that because of the way the chicken pox virus operates specifically, it is your exposure that maintains your immunity *once you've had it.*
One of the criticisms of the vax that I hear is that it needs frequent boosters in order to remain effective. This would makes sense if one loses their immunity when not frequently exposed.
I assume that the vaccine would prevent you from getting shingles if it worked and prevented you from getting chicken pox to begin with (though, I know that some vaes will give you mild cases of the disease, and I'm not sure if this is one of them. If that's true, I would question its ability to prevent shingles). There is some debate about its efficacy, though. (Even non-vaxers don't debate the efficacy of many other vaccines, just the risk). So, unless one continues to get the boosters into adulthood, I also assume that they are at risk for contracting the actual chicken pox as an adult which probably isn't much better than shingles?
The posters at my pediatrician's office for chicken pox are all about not having to miss school or work (unlike the big iron lung in the poster for polio), so, even the marketing for it seems convenience and money driven rather than health.
I personally think given the tenacity this little bug has shown over centuries and its relative mildness as a disease when normally introduced in early childhood, it was probably not the wisest disease to begin vaccinating against.
However, now that the vax is so common, it is really complicated trying to weigh the pros and cons of vaxing, what age to do so, whether one seeks out natural immunity by contracting the disease, the unethical origins of the vax itself, and how to weigh into all that the risk and recent high incidence of shingles! Its a mess!
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Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
My Symphony
[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: Jan 05 2011 at 8:51pm | IP Logged
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very quick.. about to run out the door
Quote:
The Varicella Zoster (chickenpox) vaccine is made from the Oka/Merck strain of live attenuated (weakened) varicella virus. The virus was initially obtained from a child with natural varicella, introduced into human embryonic lung cell cultures, adapted to and propagated in embryonic guinea pig cell cultures, and finally propagated in human diploid cell cultures. The vaccine contains sucrose, phosphate, glutamate and processed gelatin as stabilizers.
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So you're being given a weakened form of the virus.. in other words.. contracting chicken pox at a level that allows you to build immunity but not get sick.. so.... getting the vaccine will give you the same type of immunity as getting chicken pox at a weak level
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
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JennGM
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CrunchyMom wrote:
One of the criticisms of the vax that I hear is that it needs frequent boosters in order to remain effective. This would makes sense if one loses their immunity when not frequently exposed.
I assume that the vaccine would prevent you from getting shingles if it worked and prevented you from getting chicken pox to begin with (though, I know that some vaes will give you mild cases of the disease, and I'm not sure if this is one of them. If that's true, I would question its ability to prevent shingles). There is some debate about its efficacy, though. (Even non-vaxers don't debate the efficacy of many other vaccines, just the risk). So, unless one continues to get the boosters into adulthood, I also assume that they are at risk for contracting the actual chicken pox as an adult which probably isn't much better than shingles?
The posters at my pediatrician's office for chicken pox are all about not having to miss school or work (unlike the big iron lung in the poster for polio), so, even the marketing for it seems convenience and money driven rather than health. |
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I don't have the statistics, but I did hear there is a rise in shingles from those who had the shot. The immunity goes away, like Lindsay mentioned. It's not the same as getting the chicken pox completely.
So my deduction is that shingles happens whether you had the full blown chicken pox or had the immunization.
My fear is the vaccination doesn't affect the immune system the same. So while I'm nursing, since I had the chicken pox, my child is pretty safe, a lighter case or nothing at all (I've seen this growing up in my own family).
Now the mother isn't passing the same king immunity with a vaccination. Is her baby in utero now at risk? Is her nursing child more at risk?
But then again, what is the "risk" of chicken pox. Growing up, it was a terrible inconvenience, itchy, and the risk of scars. At older ages there are higher risks.
I'm just hoping my boys get it soon....
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Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to  & ds1  '03 & ds2  '07
Family in Feast and Feria
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4Real Forums : Our Lady of Good Remedy and Care
Topic: Shingles...help me rebuild immunity
