Has anyone else found that reflux has lowered their child's immunity to everything? Because of this lowered immunity, we have been questioning whether or not Evan (age 2 years as of today--the 25th) would be a good candidate for the chicken pox vaccine. What do you think? It costs a small fortune here in Ontario, but the provincial health care plan pays for children who are at a higher risk to be vaccinated. They cover children in foster homes, but I think that my child is at a higher risk than those kids, because his immunity seems to be lowered everytime his reflux kicks up.

ACK! Yes, definitely my 3 yr old gets whatever is around and I think his immunity isnt what it could be. He is undernourished because he doesnt like to eat and its been a major challenge to get him to eat at all. Anyway, kids who are underweight usually do have compromised immune systems, I dont know if there is a specific link with reflux but definitely there is with undernourishment. Ask your GI doc to help you, I'd go for the vaccine and try to get the cost covered. GOod luck!

I'm a big advocate for imunizing children so I say absolutely !!!!

I've only the one child so I don't know if her immune system is the way it should be or if it is worse than other kids. I do know that she tends to get just about every cold and flu going (although last fall she didn't get strep despite playing for the afternoon with a little girl who had strep - we didn't know it at the time). I tend to agree with the other ladies, go for it...as long as the ped thinks it's a good idea.

Thanks for the imput everyone. I've already asked the nurse practitioner to look into it.

How long does it take for the vaccine to take effect?

Hi Janette! :D
I haven't been able to find the exact answer, but I did get some info. from one of the numerous pages on the web with info. on the vacinne, here it is:


Q - My child has never had chickenpox and she just came into close contact with someone with chickenpox. Would receiving the vaccine now prevent her from getting chickenpox?

A - Yes, varicella vaccination may prevent or modify chickenpox if administered up to 3 days, and possibly 5 days, after a close exposure. If you or your child comes into close contact with a person with chickenpox and you have not had chickenpox or the vaccine, contact your health care provider for vaccination.

According to this Q & A, in my opinion, it must be effective within the first couple of days of having it administered. The website I found this info. at is http://www.cdc.gov/nip/diseases/varicella/

Also, good news if you don't already know, the chicken pox, meningitis and pneumonia vaccine will become available to all children, free of charge in September of this year. Free, that is, if you don't consider that we'll now be forced to pay annual health premiums in the amount of $300.00-$900.00. A little gift from the new McGuinty government I guess. A lot of other health care services such as chiropractor and optometrist visits as well as physiotherapy, have been removed from the "free" list as well. So, 1 step forward, 2 steps back I guess...Anyways, hope I answered your question and all is well. Take care, :D

Evan had a low grade fever (38.5 C) from Sunday through Tuesday. Tuesday night he started with a rash on his face. By this morning (Wednesday), his face, chest, belly, back and groin area were covered. I took him into the doctors's office this afternoon. They can't confirm whether or not it is chicken pox. It really depends what the rash does over the next 12 to 24 hours (blister, pop, crust over). The nurse practitioner told me that if it is chicken pox, she has never seen a child with so many spots. Oh joy! So much for the vaccine working in that case...Anyway, the vaccine works at 98% or so at six weeks after the vaccination, according to the information that is in the vaccination box.

Yes, Stacy, it's good news that we'll have the free vaccinations for our kids. I believe it doesn't start until September. We sure do seem to be losing a lot, though. How are the families with one stay-at-home parents supposed to cough up that much money. You can be sure that they'll be doing without. Too bad the government isn't taxing the higher income people at a higher level. The average one income family with kids has to pay pretty close to the same amount per year as the $72 000 + people. Thanks for the website info. I'll check it out later.

Oh no! Sounds like all the effort you put into trying to make sure your boys didn't get the chicken pox didn't work...poor thing :cry: . Hopefully it will be short and painless for u all.
The health premiums we will have to pay will be based on the amount of income we bring in anually. Anyone making less than 20,000 for example, will be exempt, while those who make more than 200,600, will pay the full 900.00. There is some talk that those with extended coverage thorugh their employers may get a break if the employer will cover the premium. But, obviously a lot of employers, especially with a substantial work force, will pass the premium right on to their employers. It's so frustrating that the government is making almost impossible to get by nowadays. My husband works full time at the casino, and before my maternity leave, I was making over $11.00 an hr. working full time and still sometimes it wasn't enough. Now, since the accident and being on maternity leave, things are very tight and are seemingly about to get tighter. It scares me to think about what the future might bring sometimes, trying to raise 3 kids in this crazy world! :evil:

I believe it's people making $72 000 plus per year that have to pay the full $900. Unfortunately, the families loving closer to the poverty line still have to pay $300 or $400 in premiums. That's going to hurt for sure! Why can't they look at family income and include how many people have to survive on the yearly pay before doing any deductions? One person living on $30 000 per year can afford to pay the premiums much more easily than a family of 10, for example. What next? :roll:

Hey Janette,
Here's the breakdown of the health care premiums I found on the net:

BREAKDOWN:

Those earning up to $20,000 a year will pay zero.

Those earning $20,000 to $36,000 will pay $150 this year, $300 next year and subsequent years. Those earning $36,000 to $48,000 will pay $225 this year, $450 next year and subsequent years. Those earning $48,000 to $72,000 will pay $300 this year and $600 next year and subsequent years.

Those earning $72,000 to $200,000 will pay $375 and $750 next year and subsequent years.

Those earning more than $200,000 will pay $450 this year and $900 next year and subsequent years.

It doesn't matter how you look at it, we're all in for a big loss when it comes to our paycheques and health care in this province. If you think about it, the vaccines that will become "free" in September, including the chicken pox vaccine, aren't really going to be free at all when all is said and done. It's just another clever way the government will try to convince us that we are getting something for free. And who's gonna suffer the most? Our kids of course. Shame on them. There's gotta be a better way. \

I hope Evan's doing ok, keep us posted :D

We've learned that Evan will, thank goodness, keep his physiotherapy. Even though the centre that he goes to bills OHIP, they do some fundraising and they also fall under the "hospitals" category.

By the way, I learned late this morning that Evan doesn't have chicken pox after all. He hasn't blistered, so it's some other kind of virus. The doctor's office is trying to round up a viral swab (you'd think they'd keep them on hand! :roll: ), so that Evan can be tested.

If we made $48 000 plus (especially the low premiums rates for $72 000 plus) we wouldn't seem to miss it as much, but this is sure to hurt families with only one income! Yuck! (And this is moving forward???)

Well that's good news about Evan's physio...but bad news I guess about the spots? If it's not chicken pox, do they have any idea what else it might be?? As if dealing with reflux isn't hard enough, now you've gotta deal with this. Poor thing, hope that doctor tracks down that swab fast and you can get some answers :)
Isn't it just awful about the premiums? I read somewhere that another province was thinking about the same type of health care premiums (maybe Newfoundland??) but the government backed down because of extreme opposition from the public. Maybe we can fight the power here too and get somewhere :? Who knows... My heart does go out to the single income families who are struggling already...how much more do they think we can take? They think they have a homeless problem (especially in Toronto), it's only gonna go downhill from here...

They found a viral swab and we hurried into the doctor's office. As with any virus, they have to do the results through public health, so we'll have to wait a good three weeks for the results. By then, Evan will be well anyway, but at least we'll know what he caught. Whatever it is, he either caught it where he goes for physio, speech and occupational therapies or at the circus--all last week-end.

I know what you mean about one income families! We've had to become just that because of Evan's health, cutting our income in half. Besides, at this point, I'd have an awful time finding a sitter who could and would take care of Evan properly. What sitter would want to spend 1 1/2 hours per meal, and 1/2 hour to one hour per snack? He's better off with me at home anyway. At least that way he's getting the maximum food and therapies possible.