This is a living document, it's unfinished and I will be adding more to it.
The First Experience with Vaccinations
My wife and I are fully vaccinated. I hated needles because I always felt nauseous afterward, sometimes for a few days depending on the vaccination. But beside that don't recall any terrible experiences.But sometime shortly after my first son was born, we took him in for his first, or one of his first, vaccinations.
It was a three in one. Meaning there were three vaccinations being injected at the same time.
I don't recall what the other two were, but one of them was Rabies.
At the time, I didn't really know what Rabies was. But I knew it was a nasty one.
We asked the doctor if we should be aware of any potential complications, they said no - in so many words.
Not long after we got home, Owen started to cry. Crying quickly became screaming. And the screaming just kept going.
Obviously, we called the doctors office right away. They reassured us it was probably nothing and to wait it out.
But the screaming wouldn't stop. It was obvious something was wrong. But an infant can't communicate so we had to figure it out ourselves. It went on for hours.
During this time we researched symptoms of each of the vaccinations and then I realized he was kicking his legs, one more than the other. I noticed the leg he was kicking less was seized! His thigh was hard as a rock. Instantly, I realized, this is Rabies! So we called the doctor back and they maintained a position of being completely unhelpful.
I was so mad. So, so very angry. I trusted these doctors to educate me and give a vaccination that would protect my family. Instead, I found us alone in our apartment wondering if my child would even survive being told there was nothing they could do!
Now, I have had many wonderful doctors and nurses. So don't interpret this as a discredit to doctors and nurses.
What this experience lead us to was that we are responsible for our health and we decide what goes into it. Because, when it really counts, were the only one who will definitely be there when something goes wrong.
Taking Responsibility
We had thoroughly educated ourselves on vaccinations before this point. But without experience you lack confidence. We read a book or two, asked our doctors what they thought, got counsel from friends and family, and researched it on the internet. But we still - ultimately - had complete trust in our doctors prior to this experience. I think, subconsciously, we viewed doctors as someone born with a super power that us laymen could never possess.
After this experience we realized that we simply couldn't trust our doctors without verifying what they were advising and telling us.
This philosophy, later, saved my daughter from horrific consequences when she was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis. And myself from extreme consequences as I faced symptoms of Chron's Disease.
Self Diagnoses
Self-diagnoses is dangerous.
But so is driving.
And many, many, other things we must do in life.
There's a quote that has helped me immeasurably throughout my life: "In the multitude of counselors there is safety." Proverbs 11:14, the Bible.
To self-diagnose does not mean you go with your gut and that's it. Or that you do a little research on the internet and call it good. Or any one thing.
It means you assess the situation, research the topic from multiple sources (meaning published books, from authors with professional qualifications, etc...), seek counsel and opinion from verifiably qualified professionals but ALSO from people with first hand experiences - whether they're professionals or not.
You'll find that the CDC, health institutions, the government, the media, etc... caution or blatantly shame self-diagnoses. I believe this is not because they are actually against it, but because they find that many people don't know how to cite their sources and use basic logic and reason.
Sometimes you really do just have to trust the doctor blindly. I learned that when I severed part of my hand on a sheet of metal and had to get surgery right away. I'm so thankful for their experience and swift resolution.
But after my surgery I was given Vicodin for pain. I went against my instinct to allow the pain and I took it - desperate for sleep. But after just a day and a half I could see why someone would become addicted and noticed it impaired me. So I stopped. My doctor didn't like that. But the fact is I didn't need that. And yet my doctor pushed me to continue taking it.
That pressure is understandable, but also slightly inappropriate. When you need anti-viral medication because you could die: that is an appropriate time to pressure someone. When it's less than that I firmly believe there should be no pressure. Simply education of facts, with an opinion and then it's done.
When Doctors Can't Be Trusted
Many years later, my daughter, at 3, had swelling around her knees and pain in her elbows. If felt like she had water balloons around her knees. And we, later, learned the pain in her joints wasn't really pain but a discomfort that you feel if you've sat still for too long - like on a long drive and you need to stretch.
When we were first told by a Specialist doctor, he explained she would have to come in monthly for the rest of her life - at least until 18 - and receive steroid injections into each of her joints.
We asked what alternatives there were, and what had been tried, and he - dismissively - said there were none and promptly followed it up with asking when we'd like to schedule the first injections.
Within just a couple of days we found numerous sources - including people with RA - that found removing gluten - which is NOT naturally occurring in the majority of foods and when it is it's literally like 100 times less than what you find in man-managed foods - cured them.
So we got her a blood test. I think it was $150. From a local naturopathic clinic. I don't mean hippy-dippy naturopath. I mean a clinic full of doctors with the same education, and beyond, that of the doctors we saw in the traditional hospitals. It came back and we saw she was allergic to dairy and gluten, as well as slightly to a few other things.
We removed the gluten and six weeks later her symptoms were completely gone! A year later we took her back to the doctor and - admitting he had never seen it before - cleared her as clinically cured.
Clinically cured is not the same thing as just lacking symptoms. It means there is no evidence she ever even had RA! Think of it like the highest honor you can receive in school.
It was liberating and hardened our belief in trusting our instinct when it's balanced with proper self-diagnoses.
When Institutions Can't Be Trusted
I believe in the necessity and benefits of institutions of many kinds. Including organizations like the CDC, the federal government, privately owned media, and beyond.
But I also believe they are imperfect and must be held accountable and restricted from monopolizing things.
For example, I don't know anyone who hasn't had the flu. Multiple times. I also don't know anyone who has died or had complications from the flu unless they were a newborn, very elderly, or had existing health complications.
Yet, the CDC's official page on the flu lists the first reason that they recommend every person gets it is because of the possibility of death.
Now, I think the CDC is an amazing organization that is consistently saving millions and millions of lives. I love them and what they do. But I also believe this presentation is manipulative and misleading.
Did you know that the flu virus mutates every year? And since vaccines can only be made from an existing virus, that means the flu shot you get this year is made from last years strain. And it takes 6 months to create mass quantities of a virus so they can't even vaccinate using early strains for the current year at this time.
This is why the flu vaccination is notoriously ineffective.
Take, for example, the CDC's own data on mortality rates. Keep in mind this is not people who only had the flu, this is people who had the flu but may also have had other existing (and known) complications.
The grand total for deaths in 2018... 184. Not 184,000. Just 184. There are over 325,000,000 people just in the US.
For comparison, according to National Geographic, your chances of getting struck by lighting at 1 in 700,000. That's just each year. In your lifetime it's actually 1 in 3,000.
So, conservatively, you're 464 times more likely to get struck by lightning than to die from the Flu. Unless, of course, you're over the age of 5 and under the age of 65 and then it's virtually impossible. 😂
As most of us know, local news hypes the truth. I live in Wilsonville and Sherwood, Oregon. If you watched just the news about these cities you would be left with the impression we have a lot of fires that endanger everyone in the city, there are hostage situations often. Children get hit by cars frequently. And many other extreme scenarios. All have happen in our city! But about as many times as you can count on your fingers and spread out over about 20 years. It's actually one of the safest places to live in the country!
Institutions like local and national news, the CDC, the WHO, our federal government, etc... All have a unique role in the world that creates a bias. Bias is not bad, it's natural. We all have them. But when accepted without "a multitude of counselors" it can create fear and panic where it wouldn't be otherwise. This can result in laws being passed punishing families or individuals who don't get certain vaccinations.
If the Vaccination doesn't hurt you, why not get it?
Apart from the prick of the needle, if getting every available vaccination didn't hurt you - why not do it just to be safe?
I think that's a valid question. And it was my reasoning for getting vaccinated until I learned how vaccinations are made and that many are proven to cause or be linked to things like Down Syndrome.
This, ultimately, is the most compelling reason I find to avoid vaccinations unless they're absolutely necessary.
{I'm working on the rest of this segment}
Resources
I strongly recommend reading these resources as you make your own decisions.
- https://www.nvic.org/about.aspx
- https://www.cdc.gov
- https://www.who.int/
