I had a full day of Mom Stuff yesterday. Not much computer time. Here’s what I caught up on this morning.
Of course, Harper Lee.
Lots of people are linking to this Rebecca Traister’s article. Meh. I feel like it’s all been said before.
Do you sympathize with anti-Vaxxers?
Apt. 11d 
The sympathy thing was easier before I read this guy.
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I felt the same way about R. Traister. I love it that all these younger women journalists are having babies and writing articles about this but I’m kind of like “hello, I went through this 10 years ago”…without any paid leave (I had to use my own vacation and sick time and then took unpaid leave). Then again, I can only hope it will lead to actual change.
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“Do you sympathize with anti-vaxxers?”
Only if they have actual autistic children.
If they explicitly say that vaccines are too risky for their kids but that their kids will be protected by the fact that most everybody else’s kids are vaccinated–no sympathy. No sympathy at all.
(By the way, middle aged 11ders, have you thought about asking about a chicken pox shot? My husband got chicken pox in the past year in his 40s, much to both our surprise and the doctor’s.)
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I’ve been meaning to look into the shingles vaccine. I’ve had chicken pox, but I’m hearing that the shingles vaccine is additional protection.
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I second the shingles advice. I have a good friend who had a very bad shingles episode that left him with permanent neuropathy at age 39.
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My husband’s grandmother got Shingles when she was 93 – we promptly got the CP booster shot after that. Do NOT want.
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Jeff O’Neal of Book Riot has some interesting thoughts about the Harper Lee novel. I see parallels with Vivian Maier in terms of someone possibly taking advantage. http://bookriot.com/2015/02/04/uncollected-thoughts-new-harper-lee-novel/
And MH – if you can avoid shingles, do it. My husband had it 10 years ago and it’s brutal!
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I sympathize with anti-vaxxers in the sense that I relate to their fear of autism. And hey – we all need to admit – not all medical advice has stood the test of time. Doctors have said things are safe, and later found that they weren’t.
BUT – that doesn’t mean all doctors’ advice can be thrown out the window, especially when the stakes are super high for other people’s kids. And the very harsh rhetoric on both sides of this debate is not leading anyone to change their mind.
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Yeah, I got shingles during the last stage of dissertating. Mid 30’s. I still feel a twinge in my back from time to time.
They don’t give the shingles vaccine to people under 60 at this time.
The anti-vaxx conspiracy got started because of fake research and Oprah Winfrey. Sure, medical research gets some things wrong, but we still get antibiotics when we have an infection. I don’t know of anybody who questions that. Honestly, the anti-vax-autism connection was entirely silly, but it was borne out of the real and natural urge to protect kids. The trouble is that the natural and understandable parental instinct is actively hurting others and is based on silliness.
It’s funny how tea parties like Rand Paul are also questioning immunization. It was white suburban moms who started the anti-vaxx movement, not the right wing. Both groups are also questioning the Common Core. What do they have in common? Control freaks. Politics makes strange bedfellows.
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I didn’t realize there was an age limit. The age limit was lowered to 50, but the recommendation is still 60 and over. Some insurance won’t cover it until you get to 60. Mine will cover at 50, but that’s a few year away.
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Yes, it’s interesting how the anti-vaxx movement crosses party lines. Sort of reminds me of Everett Dirksen’s line about how there are two parties, the Stupid Party and the Evil Party, and every once in a while they get together and do something stupid and evil, and that’s called bipartisanship.
Did I quote that line here before recently? If so, I apologize; I must be getting old.
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That’s OK!
It means you can get the shingles vaccine. That’s good!
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No sympathy whatsoever for anti-vaxxers, but, I’ve also realized that not having any sympathy and screaming at them does not get the result I want. I realized that years ago. I’m feeling kind of like media people are waking up and reaching the screaming stage I was at 10+ years ago on the subject, and not completely thinking through how to be most effective.
I do think that we need to tighten restrictions on attendance in public schools without vaccinations. I hope the current increase in concern is going to shift opinion on those changes. It was easy to give into the personal exemptions when we all felt protected anyway; but, they’re a classic example of something that only works if it is rare. I am as pro-vaccine as they come, but I briefly considered signing the “personal belief” exemption section of a vaccine form because that was so easy, in comparison to having to search through my medical records for the vaccine dates/information (because, it’s just that easy in my state).
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“They don’t give the shingles vaccine to people under 60 at this time.”
But who knows what will happen in the next few years?
I’m so thrilled that they now offer the nasal Flu Mist for adults now, so it’s not necessary to get a needle in the arm.
I also think it’s great that our pediatrician’s office is now offering to give booster shots (like for whooping cough) and flu shots to adults that live with pediatric patients. It has the potential to really streamline and simplify the whole process.
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Also the clinics — we recently had to stop in at the doctor on a vacation, and we used a health clinic (and paid out of pocket). For some kinds of care, that makes a lot of sense. If you can stop buy and get a flu shot when you pick up your shampoo, some people (the ones who have the cash), are probably more likely to do it.
(I’m always surprised by how much needles affect people’s decision making, but, that is another positive, and an example of how you have to deal with the public health concerns the people actually have, and not just yell at them for being stupid).
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Yes.
Over at Skeptical OB, a couple of people have wondered how much of certain views is just poorly disguised needle-phobia.
Not liking seeing babies cry has to be contributing a lot to resistance to the newborn Vitamin K shot.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/more-parents-nixing-anti-bleeding-shots-for-their-newborns/
Figuring out how to do the stuff as gently as possible (and publicizing the improvements) could do a lot of good.
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It’s clear to me that the answer to “when will we stop punishing them for it?” is never. But, I wouldn’t be so harsh. I realized in our sick leave discussion here that I have a difficult time thinking through the practicalities of sick leave policies. It is difficult to have a job that is uniquely filled by you and also be able to have the time off when you need it. So, there will always be a cost to needing flexibility.
And, yes, like the discussion of the fate of graduate students, I feel like we recycle the discussion over and over again. It seems like nearly every woman faces “If you’re a person who has worked ambitiously, energetically, and efficiently for decades, it can be wildly discombobulating to find yourself suddenly tripped up by your own body” and is shocked. I’m older than some of you, and I remember thinking that the problems of how to integrate motherhood and work were all solved (at least, if you had money, support, etc.) and was shocked when I realized babies don’t sleep on schedules.
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Or worse yet, they can adjust their schedule to be asleep when you’re gone and awake when you’re home.
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I understand people are worried about autism and other health effects of vaccinations as young children, but does anyone actually believe that giving their 6 year old a vaccination will produce a dramatic effect? I don’t see why people are anti-vax at all, but especially not militantly anti-vax forever.
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6-year-olds don’t get any vaccinations, according to the current schedule. Off the top of my head, vaccinations start at birth and run for about two years, then there’s a two year break, and then there’s a whole bunch of them at 4 and then some for older tweens.
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I think Dana’s question is, even if you refuse to vaccinate your two year olds because you think it causes autism, why not vaccinate those children when they are six? That might be a good question to someone who is focused on the autism issue, but it won’t cut much ice with those who have a general aversion to artificial substances, Western medicine, etc.–what someone on another thread called “brown ricers.” In practice, I suspect that the autism fearers are mostly “brown ricers,” who latch onto the autism issue to buttress a position already taken for more fundamental pre-existing reasons.
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Brown rice is really good. You just have to get the kind with the bits of carrots and peas and egg in it.
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“I think Dana’s question is, even if you refuse to vaccinate your two year olds because you think it causes autism, why not vaccinate those children when they are six?”
There actually is an alternate vaccination schedule promoted by one of the Drs. Sears, although I’m not personally familiar with it–so a lot of people who worry about vaccinations are already delaying and spacing them.
In practice, the little itty bitty kids are much more vulnerable to various bacterial and viral crud, so I personally would not delay a minute later than necessary. (We got a dramatic example of this some years ago when both our 3.5 year old and 10 month old baby got rotavirus right before the rotavirus vaccine came out in the US–the big kid only had to have a few hours in the ER being rehydrated on an IV, while the baby had to have an overnight stay to rehydrate.)
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My experience with the “brown ricers” as you call them is that it’s a LOT of magical thinking – you find that “right” combo of natural supplements/foods and you’ll be safe from all sorts of cancers, autism, [insert calamity that falls on the just/unjust], etc.
And it can be as rigid a way of thinking/living as any extreme right-winger. Another version of Y81’s stupid party/evil party but in dogmatism.
I see lots of it out here on the Left Coast.
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Sandra said:
“My experience with the “brown ricers” as you call them is that it’s a LOT of magical thinking – you find that “right” combo of natural supplements/foods and you’ll be safe from all sorts of cancers, autism, [insert calamity that falls on the just/unjust], etc.”
Steve Jobs?
Over-optimism about the benefits of breastfeeding probably enters into a lot of anti-vaxxing–a lot of people believe that their babies couldn’t possibly die or be seriously harmed by a childhood illness as long as they are breastfed.
So, maybe dialing down the breastfeeding hype is a piece of the puzzle–breastfeeding is good, but it’s not THAT good.
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I forgot about Steve Jobs and his attempts to naturopathy his way out of pancreatic cancer.
I think I’ve mentioned before that I believe that the benefits of breastfeeding are partly the breastmilk and just as much, the attachment to one caregiver. Both contribute to a stronger immunity and well being. However, not enough to save you from all calamities.
I wonder too if the “brown ricers” are influenced by age as well. When you are young you feel like you are invincible. Perhaps an outlier peer here or there may have cancer or some other “bad thing”. It’s only when you hit your 40’s and above that you start to experience illness, aging parents, career changes, and other things that can be out of your control.
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“I wonder too if the “brown ricers” are influenced by age as well. When you are young you feel like you are invincible. Perhaps an outlier peer here or there may have cancer or some other “bad thing”. It’s only when you hit your 40’s and above that you start to experience illness, aging parents, career changes, and other things that can be out of your control.”
That’s probably right.
My feeling is that you don’t see quite as many people trying to fix everything with herbs and berries over 50.
Related:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/02/03/gnc-target-wal-mart-walgreens-accused-of-selling-fake-herbals/
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Just as an FYI, I pulled together a lot of chats in the past couple of weeks into an article. No 529s, but it includes anti-vaxxers, the common core, conspiracy theories, tea partiers, and more. I’m editing today. It will be in the Atlantic next Tuesday. Thanks, guys.
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Good luck. If you’re discussing the Tea Party, I hope you capture my contempt for the “government spending that helps me is required, government spending that helps you is unconstitutional” part of it.
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Yay!
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