Study Day 4 and 5 – Staying Strong

Study Day 4 and 5 – Staying Strong

It is Saturday, and while everyone is out enjoying the beautiful SoCal weather, I am still confined to a medical lab facility for testing a new flu vaccine.

Yesterday was day 4 of the confinement period and the only new development was a pounding headache; my first and only symptom thus far.  Not bad given that I had the H1N1 flu virus sprayed into my nose a couple days ago. This is the day, I am told, where symptoms may start to appear. My temperature and vitals remained perfectly normal all day despite the headache. Hard to say if the headache is due to the virus or simply propping my head up to watch televsion and work on the computer all day but in either case, I’ll take it over getting the flu especially one as bad as the H1N1 variety.

This is good news though, even if it is due to the virus it means that my body is successfully winning a fight with it without any significant symptoms of an actual flu. Thats important because my getting out of here sooner rather than later depends on my body’s ability to get rid of the virus as soon as possible. My earliest possible departure from here would be Monday the 16th. The way this study is conducted is that the only way I will be cleared to leave is if i have two days worth of nasal swabs (done twice a day unfortunately) to come back free and clear of any virus or infection. Of course they do this to ensure we aren’t exposing anyone, that we may come into contact with after we leave, with the virus. Pretty good idea I think, Im sure you all will appreciate not getting the flu from me!

In any case, that means my nasal swabs today and tomorrow have to be completely clear of any infection if I am to go back home on Monday. As of right now I’m still feeling strong and great, minus the headache, so keep your fingers crossed for me.

Controversy:

Yesterday i dropped some knowledge on vaccines and how they work, and today I’m going to zero in on the recent controversy surrounding them. Given that vaccines have, in a sense, erradicated deadly diseases from our lives some people might wonder why there are a select few, Anti-Vaxxers as they are called, who refuse and hate them with a passion?

“A little knowledge is a dangerous thing”

Lets face it, no one in their right mind wants their kids or loved ones to suffer a deadly, painful or otherwise dangerous disease. Anti-vaxxers are no different. Just as in my industry, fitness and nutrition, there is a big problem with information. Today anyone and there 4 year old can access google and get information at the speed of light, on any subject imaginable, and lets face it, unimaginable too! But the thing is that a quick google search only SUPPLYS information, its up to you to sort the good from the bad, interpret the info logically, and  get ENOUGH GOOD information and understanding to be able to form a conclusion.

The Anti-Vaccination movement begun in 1998 when a British Doctor who published a study (click to read his paper) on a link between the MMR (Measles, Mumps, Rubella) vaccine and Autism. What he concluded was that there seemed to be a link between being given all 3 vaccines at once and the development of autism in childeren. Now imagine the news getting a hold of that; “Is your child’s vaccinations causing Autism? Find out on News at 11”. Thats enough to scare any parent. The newscaster would then probably say something like “A study recently published by a British Doctor shows a startling link between childeren being given the MMR vaccine and their chance of developing Autism.” Think about it, how many of you have fallen into that trap? You see a news report that says a link has been found between MMR vaccines and Autism, and soon you tell a friend “Did you hear? On the news last night they said that vaccines cause Autism!” And boom, you just fell victim to ” the danger of a little knowledge”. Yet the news didn’t actually say that all vaccines cause that, nor did the study, that the news report refered to, ever say that the MMR vaccine causes Autism. I’ve read the study personally and here is a full quote from his paper in the context of his conclusion: “We did not prove an association between measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine and the syndrome [autism] described. Virological studies are underway that may help to resolve this issue.”

I should also mention that the medical journal that published his paper shortly retracted it after determining that it was erroneous and made unsubstantiated claims not backed by scientific evidence. You shouldalso know this “study” was done on only 12 childeren aged 4-10, 11 of them boys and one girl. Now does that sound like a a great study that should cause us to abandon vaccinations? No, but with the little information you are given by the news or social media or blog articles, you would have never known that it was a poor study done on 12 people, hardly a representation of the world’s population. He goes on to state that boys are more pre-disposed towards autism to begin with and that only 8 of the 12 examined actually had autism. So based on 8 out of 12 kids in 1 study in England that SUGGESTS a link between Autism and the MMR vaccines we now have the Anti-vaxxer movement and the resurgence of some very dangerous diseases, the like of which have not been seen since their near eradication over 50 years ago with the vaccination era.

Are anti-vaxxers crazy? No, they are people who deeply care of the health of others as much as anyone. Are they severely misinformed or not
informed enough? Yes, 100% yes. I urge all of you whether you agree with vaccines or not to always try to dig beneath the surface when making serious decisions regarding your health. Do more than just listen to one doctor, or one news report or something your friend once said. Do your due diligence; get online, there is a wealth of GREAT information as well as bad. Have discussions with people regarding your findings, talk to those who have a better understanding of that field, read the text of studys rather than depending on someone to interpret them for you and GET INFORMED.

Is science always right? Hell No! But every advancement we have today, whether technological, medical etc came from science based investigation and experimentation…through being able to have your results reproduced in real life instead of just a theory or belief written on paper. Science may not be 100% right BUT it is the BEST method we have available to us to understand the world and what happens in it!

I did get a little off topic and I’m sorry. I wanted to talk about controversial components to vaccines today but as Was writing I felt the need to help everyone understand the larger controversy, how it began and why it is unfounded. My next post I’ll finally get to vaccine components and which ones fan the flames the most and why. Till then, Stay Healthy. Filipe OUT!