Gardasil and merck

My 13 year old daughter was injured by Gardasil and completely disabled for the past year. Merck got it right when they used the slogan "One Less" for Gardasil. Because of Gardasil, my daughter was "One Less". She was "One Less Student", "One Less Active Child", "One Less in every aspect of her life". Take it from a mother who has spent the past year sitting by my child's bedside wondering if she would die in her sleep. INVESTIGATE BEFORE YOU VACCINATE. DO NOT trust your doctor to make this decision. If you want to understand Merck's role in the medical community, investigate some of their former wonderdrugs such as VIOXX and then marvel at how many people died from it before it was pulled off the market. The CDC AND FDA need to do their job and get this off the market before more children are harmed. The public is not aware of VAERS and the #'s are grossly understated. I have had to tell my child's doctors about VAERS and make them file reports or she would not be one of the current statistics in VAERS. Even then, her information has not been entered correctly so I know that VAERS is not what it should be. Please do not let this happen to your child.

My 9 year old daughter got her first shot in Dec. 2008 and her second in Feb. and the last in June. We have have been to the doctor a lot of times due to headaches with the doctor's opinion being that it's "allergies". She is now on allergy shots with still no relief from the headaches. I listened to her pediatrician and got her the shots. I feel so bad now after reading all the problems others are having with this vaccine. She also has had a change in her attitude aggression,moodiness,cries often, and she says she's depressed. If anybody has any suggestions for us please let me know. I love my little girl and know I'm worried.

My 15-year-old daughter experienced alopecia (bald patches) after the first injection. We didn't initially connect it to the vaccine. Then, after the second shot, her thick long hair thinned significantly. She will NOT be getting the third injection Gardasil is poison. Anyone else who has experienced hair loss, please post a comment with information on how long it took to come back. She cries daily about this and it breaks my heart.

I can't believe that after months of searching for an answer to my daughter's health problems I may have found it! My daughter was a healthy, active happy child until recently. She is 17 and started experiencing joint, bone and muscle pain and swelling, unexplained rashes, migraines, tingling in her hands and feet and was diagnosed with neurocardiogenic synchrony (heart rate and bp out of synch) shortly after her first shot (she was 14).

We have been to a rheumatologist for the joint pains, they did blood work and there is a marker for some sort of auto immune disorder, but nothing specific.

I never connected the dots to the shots. In January of this year she started having severe diarrhea, stomach and intestinal pains. She has no energy, the most basic activities wear her out. We ended up at a gastroenterologist looking for a diagnosis (they thought it was Crohn's or lupus). All the tests have come back negative, they said she had gastritis and blew us off. She is on medicine for the intestinal pain, a prescription for an antacid for gastritis and an anti-inflammatory for the joint and bone pain.

She was a straight "A" student up to January and has had to finish her junior year at home. It has been a very stressful experience for all of us.

I want to share information with everyone regarding the filing of Vaccine Injury Compensation (VIC) claims. I realize that many of you have probably already initiated action, but, if not, you may want to consider doing so.
I have posted a couple of times before regarding my daughter's reaction to Gardasil. Here's a brief summary: At age 19, she had 2 shots (Sep & Oct 2007). For 9 weeks in late 2007, she suffered severe GI problems, along with many other incapacitating symptoms, but no seizures. She recovered from the constant GI problems but has continued to experience occasional flare-ups. (Prior to the shots, she had NO history of such problems.) She also began to experience debilitating problems during menstruation, and in Oct 2008 her annual pap test showed precancerous cells, as did a follow-up pap test in Feb 2009. (In Sep 2007, she had a normal pap test.) Her next GYN appt is in May.
In light of her continuing problems and the alarming information in the Jun 2008 Judicial Watch Report regarding (1) the 44.6% increased chance of developing precancerous lesions if certain (undetectable) conditions existed prior to vaccination; (2) the fact that Merck does not know if the Gardasil vaccines are carcinogenic; (3) the fact that it is unknown if Gardasil will have long-term effects on fertility; (4) the fact that the final report on Gardasil's safety is not due until late 2009; and (5) etc., etc., etc., we have decided to file a VIC claim. She is still on our insurance bc she is 20 and a full-time college student, however, her future insurability once she becomes independent is a concern.
Information on filing claims is at www.hrsa.gov/vaccinecompensation. I called the Clerk of US Court of Federal Claims at 202-357-6400 and within minutes he e-mailed me a list of attorneys who specialize in VIC claims. I called a nearby attorney, and he returned my call in less than a day and provided very helpful information. Generally speaking, claims must be filed within 3 years after the first symptom of vaccine injury and injury must last more than 6 months, or claims must be filed within 2 years of vaccine-related deaths. (This is not intended to serve as governing guideline; please refer to the website for complete information.) So, in my daughter's case, the 3 years will be up in Oct 2010. The attorney advised that we need to get started now to collect all the medical records and allow at least 6-8 months for review and processing (after medical records are obtained). The up-front cost is minimal ($250 to file, but assistance is available in cases of financial hardship, some doctors/hospitals may charge for records reproduction, but that's about it, as it was explained to me.)
I know that many of you are still trying to get your daughters through their Gardasil ordeals and may not have a lot of time to devote to this, but I wanted to alert you to the time limitations. Unfortunately, none of us know what complications our daughters will experience in the future from Gardasil, so it's something we should all consider.
Good luck to everyone. I pray daily for the thousands of girls who have been injured by Gardasil.

To ilovesummer: I'm glad that you may be one of the lucky people that have had no side-effects....yet. You need to go to the medalerts.org website & do a Basic Search, using HPV4 in the Vaccine field and also indicate "yes" beside the Died? field and you will find that 33 deaths have been connected to this vaccine - are these families just looking for something to complain about? If you are looking to the CDC, FDA or Merck for whether or not this vaccine is safe, you are looking in the wrong place honey. Money & politics are a big driver in the pharmaceutical industry; go to
****** and search "how the pharmaceutical industry educates doctors". I couldn't figure out why the Regional Health Officer & doctors in my area were pushing this vaccine so aggressively so I researched as many different angles that I could think of until I finally found it: in the last couple of years, Merck donated about $143 million to our biggest university - would you look a gift horse like this in the mouth, and endanger losing a donation like that?? Look up Vioxx, also brought to us by Merck, courtesy of the FDA, which ended up killing approx. 40K people, and surprise, internal e-mails are now coming to light (at trial) that show that Merck knew about the cardiovascular dangers of the drug all along, but gee, for some reason they didn't share that info with the FDA or the medical community. It seems they are very selective about the info that gets released about their drugs/vaccines...hmm I wonder why...

Oh and by the way I have had the Gardasil shots and I have had NO side effects and I feel great!!! I think people are just looking for excuses to blame Gardasil!!

My 13 year old daughter had her third shot on 02/16/09. Her first two shots did not seem to be a problem. She said her arm hurt really badly after the shot, and the next day she complained of leg pains she hadn't had before. Within a few days, she had a high fever with body aches like the flu, except it wasn't the flu. She felt better, but a week later she still had a low grade fever. She was tested and had strep throat, and was treated with anti-biotics. A week later she started having stomach cramps and diarrhea. It's now March 18th and she still has diarrhea. I think it's criminal this vaccination is being given to our young women. How on earth could anyone think "possibly" preventing HPV and/or cervical cancer is worth the risk of what my daughter and so many others are having to go through?

My 15 year old daughter had her second shot 2/5/09. She has fainted twice, and once had seizure like episode. All her muscles seemed to tighten on her, her breath became short, she was crying out in pain, but remembers none of these things. They ran tests (EKG, CAT, blood work) in the ER that showed no reason for concern and diagnosed her with syncope. After researching (a little too late) this drug and other's reactions I am convinced this drug is causing these health concerns. She is sick to her stomach and experiences tingling in her hands and arms. Her muscles hurt, her back hurts, and two weeks ago she was a model of health. She is feeling better in the last two days and we are praying for a full recovery - however, we will not let this rest until we have answers. Please keep posting and spreading the word! If Gardasil is as bad as it appears we must band together and get it off the market!!!

When my daughter was 15 her dr suggested she get the vaccine. Trusting the doctors advice, i ok'd it. The first two injections were fine. Immediately after receiving her 3rd, her arm, neck, and shoulder got really sore and then about two weeks later she developed severe pain in her upper abdomen causing her to pass out. That was on November 22, 2007 and she hasn't been the same since. She has suffered severe pain, nausea, dizziness, fatigue, IBS, anxiety attacks and depression brought on by the sickness. Our life for the past year has consisted of going to doctor after doctor trying to figure out what is wrong with her. She has been diagnosed with mono, UTI's, had her gal bladder removed, etc. Funny, they diagnose her with all these things but no treatments have worked. She went from being a very beautiful, active 15 year old girl with lots of friends and activities to barely being able to get out of bed in the morning. My question is, does anybody know how to help or what to do ?

Like many of the other stories my daughter was a happy healthy 14 year old high school freshman prior to receiving the Gardasil vaccine. Now she is chronically ill suffering from pancreatitis, gastrointestinal disorders including extreme nausea,vomiting,and diarrhea,headaches,blurred vision,pain,fatigue,hypersensitivity to light and sound,and has had pneumonia twice.We have recently spent 8 weeks in two different hospitals to return home with still no answers as to how to end this nightmare. She has a central line so that we can give her IV nutrition TPN and Lipids, is on 5 nausea medicines and 1 pain medicine every 6 hours round the clock just to keep her comfortable. We are going to take her to Mayo's with the hope they can help us, I refuse to accept the fact that this is what her life has become and that our only option is to treat the symptoms. The doctors so far are completely clueless without it being in black and white on a piece of paper from a test result they seem to dismiss you with out any compassion at all, I wonder if they would have that same additude if this was their daughter. If anyone out there has found any kind of help please let me know. I can't believe Merck is still being allowed to poison our young girls while the FDA looks the other way!

30 seconds after i received my injection i felt like i was going to pass out. I also felt like i was going to throw up. I advised the front desk they ran and got my doctor.she came and got my baby and carried him to the back for me and i laid down for a few min. I feel fine now but I have always been great with shots so I figured might as well have it insurance pays for it. I thought it was very strange, she said thats a common reaction???? I asked if there were side effects before the shot and she sad no.

My 13 year old sister is a normal active teenager. She received the first Gardasil shot last October with Hep B. In November, she received the second Gardasil shot with the meningitis vaccine. Right before Christmas, she started experiencing tingling in her hands and fingers. Two days before the New Year, her knees swelled three times their normal size and were extremely painful. It took two weeks for her knees to become only slightly swollen. Several doctors and a specialist in pediatric arthritis later, she was diagnosed with chronic arthritis. She had no previous joints issue at all. She has been on medication for a year. We can only hope she has juvenile arthritis and that it will go in remission. Unfortunately, her wrists have started to hurt recently.

After much research by my mom and myself, we have come to the conclusion her spontaneous arthritis was a result of Gardasil. Most likely the combination of Gardasil and the meningitis vaccine was the cause. It should be noted that the FDA allowed Merck to fast-track Gardasil for approval. The Gardasil vaccine was never tested with the meningitis vaccine; however, most physicians give multiple vaccines at one time.

Oh my goodness.....my daughter, age 17, had her first injection in June 2008, started losing her hair w/in a month. We thought it was form straightening, some high lightening etc. She had blood work done which showed she was anemic...strange, as 2yrs prior her blood work was stellar, and she had not changed her diet, or physical activity. She increased her iron and protein intake (along w/ supplements).....three months later, and after her second injection, iron was still anemic....worse actually, and her hair loss significant.I found this website last night....and I am floored......I called MERCK today and spoke to a representative wh o was not aware of the hair loss issue, but said that in their case studies, Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia was a side effect.....which leads to hair loss itself.....so I am researching now what to do next.....anyone else have this issue??????

READ THIS BEFORE YOU GET VACCINATED:

This is from Merck's website:

Serious Adverse Reactions in the Entire Study Population
A total of 237 subjects out of 25,274 total subjects (9- through 45-year-old girls and women; and 9-through 15-year-old boys) who received both GARDASIL (N = 13,686) and AAHS control (N = 11,004) or saline placebo (N = 584) reported a serious systemic adverse reaction following any vaccination visit during the clinical trials for GARDASIL.

Out of the entire study population (25,274 subjects), only 0.05% of the reported serious systemic adverse reactions were judged to be vaccine related by the study investigator. The most frequently reported serious systemic adverse reactions for GARDASIL compared to AAHS control or saline placebo and regardless of causality were:

Headache ,
Gastroenteritis ,
Appendicitis ,
Pelvic inflammatory disease ,
Urinary tract infection ,
Pneumonia ,
Pyelonephritis ,
Pulmonary embolism .
One case (0.007% GARDASIL: 0.0% AAHS Control or Saline Placebo) of bronchospasm; and
2 cases (0.02% GARDASIL: 0.0% AAHS Control or Saline Placebo) of asthma were reported as serious systemic adverse reactions that occurred following any vaccination visit.
In addition, there was 1 subject in the clinical trials, in the group that received GARDASIL, who reported two injection-site serious adverse reactions (injection-site pain and injection-site joint movement
impairment).

Systemic Autoimmune Disorders in Girls and Women 9 Through 26 Years of Age

In the clinical studies, 9- through 26-year-old girls and women were evaluated for new medical conditions that occurred over the course of follow-up. New medical conditions potentially indicative of a systemic autoimmune disorder seen in the group that received GARDASIL...includes all subjects who received at least one dose of GARDASIL.

Of the 10,706 who received Gardasil:

120 developed Arthralgia/Arthritis/Arthropathy
4 developed Autoimmune Thyroiditis
10 Coeliac Disease
2 Diabetes Mellitus Insulin-dependent
2 Erythema Nodosum
27 Hyperthyroidism***
35 Hypothyroidism†
7 Inflammatory Bowel Disease‡
2 Multiple Sclerosis
2 Nephritis¶
2 Optic Neuritis
4 Pigmentation Disorder§
13 Psoriasis#
3 Raynaud's Phenomenon
6 Rheumatoid Arthritis††
2 Scleroderma/Morphea
1 Stevens-Johnson Syndrome
1 Systemic Lupus Erythematosus
3 Uveitis

6.2 Post-Marketing Experience
The following adverse events have been spontaneously reported during post-approval use of GARDASIL. Because these events were reported voluntarily from a population of uncertain size, it is not possible to reliably estimate their frequency or to establish a causal relationship to vaccine exposure.

Blood and lymphatic system disorders: Autoimmune hemolytic anemia, lymphadenopathy.
Gastrointestinal disorders: Nausea, pancreatitis, vomiting.
General disorders and administration site conditions: Asthenia, death, fatigue, malaise.
Immune system disorders: Autoimmune diseases, hypersensitivity reactions including anaphylactic/anaphylactoid reactions, bronchospasm, and urticaria.
Musculoskeletal and connective tissue disorders: Arthralgia, myalgia.
Nervous system disorders: Dizziness, Guillain-Barré syndrome, headache, motor neuron disease, paralysis, seizures, syncope sometimes resulting in falling with injury, transverse myelitis.
Vascular Disorders: Deep venous thrombosis, pulmonary embolus.

Pediatric Use
Safety and effectiveness have not been established in pediatric patients below 9 years of age nor in pediatric males of any age.

I'm 18 years old and live in Florida, while at the gynecologist for a routine visit my doctor strongly suggested that I start the Gardasil 3 shot cycle. After checking with my mom (who was unfortunately given biased information from my doctor without first doing research on the product) agreed since we both figured that my doctor would be knowledgeable enough on the subject (or you would think since she was the one administering the drug.) The first two shots went fine and I had no reaction at all. After the third shot (in October of 2007) I woke up the next morning with swollen hands and extreme swelling at the injection spot. I immediately returned to my gynecologist where I was told “there is no possible way you can be allergic to this medication” by my doctor, and that those reactions would go away in a few days. A few days following this I developed sores in the back of my throat and under my tongue, however my gynecologist still insisted there was no possible way it was an effect of the Gardasil (EVEN THOUGH IT WAS THE VERY NEXT DAY) & I had no previous illnesses. Within the week following I developed body-wide hives so severe that I cannot sleep and they affect my breathing. I’ve seen several doctors (allergist, dermatologist, primary physicians, and immunologists) none of which can determine why exactly I have these hives, besides that it is a “drug reaction” (it took 11 vials of blood to determine that). However when one of my dermatologists questioned Merck about it they simply said that there is no evidence and I cannot sew!!! That’s all they cared about! A law suit! WHAT EVER YOU DO, DO NOT GET THIS SHOT, TELL EVERYONE YOU KNOW! It has ruined my life. As an 18 year old girl living in Florida I love to go to the beach however because of these hives they get so severe when I’m exposed to sunlight I can no longer go. It’s also extremely embarrassing when people stare at them since they cover most of my body on a daily basis.

If you know of anyone developing alopeica areata(hair loss which causes bald spots on the scalp) after receiving the Gardasil shot, please call and report to Merck at 1-800-444-2080. They must be made aware of all of the symptoms associated with this shot.

my 12 year old daughter received 2 shots and we noticed a bald spot on the back of her head. A couple weeks later, it is getting worse, she now has at least 3 bald spots. She has very fine hair and is trying really hard to hide the bald spots, 2 in the front of her scalp. I know this is a result of the Gardasil shot. She will not be getting the 3rd shot. All of the doctors recommend this shot. Its only been out on the market a few short years, and i believe more research is needed. My daughter is to the point of tears every morning trying to fix her hair to cover up the bald spots. A dermatologist has diagnosed her with alopecia areata. There are new spots appearing all the time and I am worried that she will lose all of her hair.

My daughter has been losing her hair (see previous post) and had a full blood workup done, testing for thyroid problems..etc. EVERYTHING came back normal, and her hair is still falling out. She has had 2 of the 3 shots and will NOT have the 3rd. Although I do see re-growth, I do not and will not allow the 3rd shot. I have sent my report to the FDA and will be calling Merck next. This is ridiculous and my heart breaks every time I look at my beautiful little girl. She started high school this year and had to get her hair cut differently just to cover her baldness. Self esteem is shot... and there's nothing that can be done here???? Everyone (including lawyers) seem to turn the other cheek... how sad.

Here is our daughter's story, and believe me the tears are pouring down my face as I am writing this.
Our daughter, who had completed her series of 3 vaccinations has been experiencing considerable hair loss. Her first shot was in May 24, 2007, the second on July 26, 2007 and the third and final on November 27, 2007.
Here are the other specifics....our daughter was 13 turning fourteen.
She has had every blood test imaginable to rule out the obvious which may cause hair loss such as thyroid disease, polycystic ovary disease, diabetes, and the list goes on and on. Everything came back negative. We even have a future appointment scheduled with a rheumatologist this coming November 08. We have seen the Endocrinologist and two dermatologists (a scalp biopsy proved negative to any infection, disease, etc. Granted, she had a typical amount of stress during the school year, as any young teen would, but nothing to cause this. Everyday our daughter says to us, "you should see how much hair fell out in the shower today". She's so afraid to brush or comb it because of the extreme shedding. She literally, to date has half the amount of hair she had one year ago. Let me tell you she had beautiful hair. The hair loss is becoming quite visible at the forward part of her scalp. This has been devastating, hair is everything to a teen. (to anyone this is devastating) We must also mention that her periods have been totally out of whack. She went 6 months at one point without one. It finally came back, but it is so sporadic, getting every two weeks, at times extremely heavy, etc...
She also complains of intermitent dizziness. We are reporting this to Merck today (the Co. who makes this horriffic vaccine), along with the FDA. If anyone else is experiencing anything close to what we are, we all need to pull together and make the public aware of what's happening so we can prevent this from happening to our loved ones.
Please share your experiences. Feel free to write me if someone you know is going through this same tragedy.

Let me start by giving you some history.

My sister is a 22 year old girl who worked full time and was never seriously ill until this summer.

During the last full week of June my sister started having headaches. She told me that these headaches were like none she had ever had before. Days later she started complaining that her legs and wrists hurt. She said that her legs were so tired and achy she could barely walk up the stairs. At that time I dismissed what she was saying. My sister constantly wears heels and I chalked up the complaint to a pair of shoes that were not yet broken in.

By July 4th, the headaches were so intense that she went to urgent care. The physician she saw in urgent care gave her an antibiotic and sent her on her way. By July 7th, she was having difficulty standing up and walking was almost impossible. My sister started complaining about severe joint pain. Her ankles began to swell and her stomach appeared distended.

On July 8th, my sister went to her primary care physician. I believe he sent her for an x-ray and said that she had a cyst on her sinus cavity which was causing her to have severe headaches. He then gave her another antibiotic and referred her to a rheumatologist never even thinking that these two symptoms may be related.

On July 10th, my sister saw the rheumatoid arthritis doctor her pcp referred her to. He dismissed her complaints saying that she probably has some form of arthritis, but that there are over 800 forms and it would takes months to pin point exactly which one she has. He then gave her a prescription for Celebrex and sent her on her way. She spent the entire week in bed because her joints were so swollen and achy that she could not move. She actually crawled to go to the bathroom.

By the middle of the following week, my sister's stomach began to burn. She contributed it to being a side effect of the Celebrex and stopped taking it on July 21st. We had no idea that the pain was so bad. My sister's last normal meal was on July 22. By the 23 she had no appetite and could not go to the bathroom. On July 24, the stomach pain was so bad that she could not work, or sit, or function. All she did was cry. She went back to her primary care physician who then prescribed her prevacid to help with the so called indigestion. He told her if the pain continues she could call him. On July 25th the pain became unbearable. My sister called her PCP as directed and he told her to go to the ER. Never once did he say he would meet her there! I brought my sister to the ER where they did an x-ray and cat scan of her stomach. They found nothing. At that time my sister had not gone to the bathroom or had anything to eat since the 22nd. The physician in the ER said that she was literally "full of shit" and needed to go home and take a liquid laxative. My sister is only 22 and my parents were away on vacation. We were stupid and didn't know any better and were so happy that they didn't find anything that we accepted his findings and got out of there.

My sister took the liquid laxative prescribed by the ER physician as soon as we got home. We waited anxiously for it to relieve her stomach pain. After many hours the laxative did not work and my sister ended up back in the ER. This time she was screaming in pain. One of the doctors there told her that if she couldn't calm down she needed to leave her ER. My sister did just that. At this point my parents (back from vacation) took my sister home and called Digestive Disease. A doctor there told my mom to give my sister 2 Enemas. He said that should relieve her pain. My mother followed the doctor's orders, but the pain did not stop. Sunday, July 27th my sister was right back in the ER - this time at another hospital. This time my sister was admitted to the hospital for severe stomach pain. After 5 days and numerous tests my sister was discharged. The doctors found nothing in her cat scans, x-rays or ultra sounds. The pain was more manageable (she was on morphine every 2 hours) and they said she was ok to go home.

August 1st my sister had a great day. She was sitting up in bed and seemed to be in good spirits. The following day she couldn't get out of bed. This time it was neck pain. My sister said the pain in the back of her neck was so severe that she could not lift her head up or move it side to side. By August 4th she was admitted to the hospital again. This time we brought her to University Hospital in Syracuse, NY. We were sure to get some answers there...or so we thought. As soon as my sister arrived in the ER they started treating her with antibiotics. They were certain she had an infection. They then told us they would have to do a lumbar puncture to check her spinal fluid for infection. We thought we would finally have an answer to what was wrong with my sister, so we agreed. The spinal fluid came back fine - no infection. At that time they admitted her to the hospital. While at University Hospital my sister was treated by a team of doctors. They tested my sister for lyme disease, west nile, lupus, leukemia etc. They performed a spinal tap, cat scans, x-rays, ultra sounds, blood smears, etc. All of these tests came back negative. The doctors could find nothing abnormal except for an elevated white blood count -22,000 (it was also very high during her last hospitalization), an elevated C reactor and a very high SED rate. After 4 days of numerous tests and pain killers (first morphine, then Dilaudid, then Dilaudid with a fentanol pain patch) they discharged my sister. The head doctor told her that he believed she had viral meningitis and that it would eventually work its way out of her system. By this point my mother and I were skeptical. We did the research and viral meningitis should only last approximately 10 days. Mig had been sick since the last week in June. No one was putting all these symptoms together. On the day of her discharge my sister started getting her stomach pain back. The pain was mostly on the left side of her lower stomach - under her belly button. Again she was told the pain was due to constipation and she should buy some Miralax when she got home.

My sister was home for a mere 2 days before she would be hospitalized again...for the 4th time. Her stomach pain was back and worse then before. My family could not believe this was happening. My sisters spirits were down and the excruciating pain was making her mentally unstable. This time the ER physician recommended a hematologist come in to see my sister. We just wanted answers so we agreed. This hematologist, Dr. R stated that she believed my sister had drug induced lupus. We were shocked as my sister was tested for lupus twice before and both times the test came back negative. Dr. R explained that she believed my sister got drug induced lupus from the Gardasil shot. My entire family was shocked. We had never heard of any severe side effects like this from the Gardasil shot. Dr. R asked my sister for her permission to test her again. My sister agreed and a week later my sister learned that she was positive for drug induced lupus. My entire family was so happy that my sister finally had a diagnosis and could begin treatment. We were told that after a 6 week steroid treatment (Prednisone) my sister would be back to her old self. We were ecstatic!

My sister was home from the hospital and on the steriod treatment for 10 days when things started to go wrong again. The doctors were very concerned with the dosage of Prednisone that my sister was taking (80mg. I'm not sure how many times a day). They cut the dosage down in half over the course of a few days to prevent kidney damage and other side effects. Once the Prednisone was decreased, my sister started getting sick immediately. Her forearms were very weak - she could not put any pressure on them. Her shoulders would tingle and she would get shooting pains down her right arm. One of her doctors believed she was developing fibromyalgia and prescribed her lyrica. Shortly after my sister began taking lyrica she started seeing stars. She had double vision and a migraine that would not go away. My mother called her doctor and told him about this. His answer was for my sister to stop taking the Lyrica. She did immediately.

On August 29th, my sister still had a migraine. This was day 3 without a break. She woke up early Saturday morning and began vomiting every 30 minutes. After a few hours of non stop vomiting my mother called her doctor. His nurse practitioner was on call and she told my mother to take my sister to the ER immediately. My mother went back into my sister's room to tell her they had to go back to the hospital and she found my sister having a seizure. My sister has no history of seizures. My mother called 911 and the ambulance came to bring my sister back to the ER...her 5th hospitalization.

Shortly after arriving at the ER, my sister had another seizure. Immediately after the seizure the ER doctor ordered my sister to have an MRI. My sister had one during her last hospitalization only 2 weeks before. That MRI was normal. This one was not. There are lesions all over my sister's brain. The neurologist told us that he cannot believe she does not have permanent damage. According to him there is no oxygen going to her brain.The neurologist also explained to us that her brain looks as though she has been poisoned. He said that her MRI is very similar to an MRI of a patient who has been poisoned with antifreeze. Later I learned that Gardasil has both aluminum and sodium borate (which is in both rat poison and cockroach killer). However, according to the doctor once your brain looks like my sister's all the poison is out of your body. My sister's team of doctors started debating as to whether this could all still be from the Gardasil shot...my sister's last shot was on 02/22/08. Some believe that the side effects started off as mild, but since they were left untreated for so long they've turned into a serious neurological problem. They told my family the only way to truly know what is going on is to do a brain biopsy.

Yesterday, my sister was transferred to Mass General in Boston. We were hoping for a bigger hospital, better technology, more seasoned doctors. So far my sister has been treated badly. When my mother told the doctors' about the Gardasil shot and the devastating effects it has had on my sister they dismissed it. When my mom asked the doctors to test my sister for heavy metal toxicity they completely ignored her. I fear that she will never get the proper care.

I have already posted my side effects to Garasil previously...I have severe alopecia. This started over a year ago and is getting progressively worse. I just wanted to take a minute to urge all of you to do TWO things.

1) Submit your side effects to the FDA Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS); here's the link: https://secure.vaers.org/VaersDataEntryintro.htm

2) Call & report this to the MERCK National Service Center: 1-800-NSC MERCK (8am - 7pm ET)

Thank you for taking the time to do this, I know that it can be time consuming; but maybe we can prevent someone else from having the same miserable experience.

this might help anyone who is looking for more information. This site is trying to get the FDA to investigate more into this drug:
******
Under the "documents uncovered" area, it lists SEVERAL woman who have been hospitalized from this shot from Jan. 2008. Very scary stuff.

also, a post the one of my friends sent me from a news story:

10 deaths have been linked to Gardasil since September 2007, and there have been 140 reports so far this year of serious side effects such as miscarriage and Guillain-Barré syndrome.

Well. We’ve already lost 18 girls, some as young as 12, in the effort to spare them from the mere possibility of cervical cancer later in life. Others have developed debilitating and potentially life-threatening ailments within weeks of being vaccinated, and others still have had spontaneous abortions or given birth to babies with birth defects.

Also consider this: Cervical cancer usually develops in your late 20s to mid 30s. The protection period of Gardasil is estimated to be 5 years. That means, if you receive your first set of shots when you’re 10 years old, you’d need at least 2 to 4 additional booster shots to make it through your 30s. And THAT means you’ll have to expose yourself to the potential side effects of Gardasil over and over and over again.

But now to the real clincher, and I want you to read the following section as many times as you need to let this truly sink in…

U.S. statistics show there are 30 to 40 cervical cancer cases per year per one million women between the ages of 9 and 26, which is the age bracket that Gardasil targets (and was tested on).

According to Merck, Gardasil was shown to reduce pre-cancers by 12.2% to 16.5% in the general population. So, instead of ending up with 30 to 40 cases of cancer per million, per year, in that age bracket, the HPV vaccine can potentially bring it down to 26 to 35 cases of cervical cancer.

What that means is that you would have to vaccinate one million girls to prevent cervical cancer in 4 to 5 girls.

Further, about 37 percent of women who develop cervical cancer actually die from the disease, so vaccinating ONE MILLION girls would prevent 1 to 2 DEATHS per year, at the bargain-basement price of $360 million per year, plus potentially lifelong suffering for an untold number of women, which has no price tag.

Is this REASONABLE?

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After having the third shot I noticed my hair began falling out (July 2007). It is now over a year later and after having numerous blood tests, visiting a dermatologist and doing tons of research, I have concluded that gardasil must be causing this. My hair continues to fall out, I have bald areas around the crown of my head and my mood is very depressed by this. I also experienced soreness in my legs and joints but these are not constant. My periods also are out of whack. They can be between 28-50 days apart. I would not recommend anyone getting this vaccine. I wish my OBGYN had not sold me on it. I was 31 when I got it but she said age didn't matter, she said one day insurance companies would cover this vaccine for all women no matter what age they are. I paid $190.00 a shot and now I have a thin head of hair that may one day soon be bald if it doesn’t stop falling out. I think they should take this vaccine off the market. If anyone else has had severe hair loss, has it stopped falling out after a certain point?

My daughter is 15 and on Thursday June 5, 2008 she received her second shot of Gardasil. A couple of hours later she complained of difficulty breathing. I took her to the ER where the doctors made me feel like I was crazy to think it was a reaction to the Gardasil shot. They said she might have asthma. They gave her a Nebulizer treatment that didn't help and sent her home with a prescription for Albuterol which too did not help. I took her in to see her Primary care doctor who said the same thing, it could not be the shot and diagnosed her with Bronchitis. She has no signs of bronchitis, no wheezing, cough or phlem. I then took her to see an allergist who again said the same thing, not the shot. He to said she may have bronchitis. They have given her 4 types of medication and none of them have helped. Today is day 10 and she continues to have difficulty breathing. Is there anyone else out there with these same symptoms?? If so I would really appreciate and advise you can give..