HPV Vaccine Gardasil

[spinsterkitten.livejournal.com]

I'm currently dating a guy who believes he has HPV. [ Past girlfriend has come up with it very recently, but he has no outward signs ] The relationship may (hopefully) turn serious so we've decided to wait for sex. I have an appointment to get my first injection of the HPV vaccine this friday. Has anyone also received the vaccine? From what I read on Merck's site it goes into the muscle, which I'm terrified of needles. And there were some side effects such as soreness at the injection site and upset stomach. I was just wondering if anyone has gotten the vaccine and if you had any side effects? Sadly the only place that has the vaccine has it hiked up to 450 for the entire series and of course insurance doesn't cover it at the moment.

Comments

[arseaboutface.livejournal.com]

I've never had the vaccine, but from a long history of shots, might I suggest bringing a really, really good book or magazine with you? It's always helped me to be reading when they do the injection. Good luck. :}

[rearrangedfaith.livejournal.com]

stomach aches usually are caused by taking whatever on an empty stomach.

if you want to get it, don't think about the pain. there was a study showing that the anticipation of pain made the pain a lot worse than it would have been.

[snowmentality.livejournal.com]

I know this is true when I give blood. I prefer that the tech not even tell me when she's about to stick me, because if I'm warned, I'll tense up my muscles and that makes it hurt so much worse. If I'm relaxed and not expecting it, the needle just goes in and I barely even feel it. So yeah, I imagine shots are the same way. (The last shot I had was a flu shot, which is subcutaneous rather than intramuscular, so it wasn't as much of an issue....)

[girlofthemirror.livejournal.com]

Try to relax, tensing the muscle is what makes it uncomfortable. I'm a bit holeless with needles, but I have found that it is really helpful just to completely ignore it. Talk to te nurse about what ever the hell comes into their head and then you generally don't even notice it/ I find that thinking about it makes me all panicky and scared and worried but if I just pretend really hard that it isn't happening then it's much more okay.

[stumbling-in.livejournal.com]

I got the first shot of the vaccine today (my aunt and her daughter both had cervical cancer) and my arm did hurt a little afterwards, I got kind of groggy, and I got a headache.

However, I normally react this way to most shots, so I have a feeling it has to do with how you normally react to shots.

When injecting me though it hurt more than regular shots, it just felt like stuff was building up inside of my skin and it hurt to raise my arm immediately afterwards, but the pain subsided very quickly.

[sandi1743.livejournal.com]

Are you just guessing that your insurance does not pay?
If you have found out for sure that it does not, they are to give a reason why not in writing that you can then go back and refute. I called my insurance company as soon as it was approved and asked if they had made a decision about it yet. Their reply – “yes we’ll pay for it and no we do not care how old you are!”
They also said that they had gotten a number of letters from participants before it was approved thus when it was finally approved the company knew that it was something that their members wanted.
Good luck.

[roseyposey01.livejournal.com]

The vaccine is for high risk but prevents some low risk too. The vaccine does not cover all high risk or low risk either, only the most common strains. Gardisil is not being marketed as an anti-genital warts vaccine because that makes it quite controversial.

[nephron.livejournal.com]

It's certainly available in Australia, just came out on Monday.

There's another one from a rival pharmaceutical company that hasn't come out yet, though.

[roseyposey01.livejournal.com]

It's been available in the U.S. for a couple/few/recent of months I think, you just have to call around and see who has it. Not everyone's carrying it yet, but people seem to be pretty psyched about it.

[https://users.livejournal.com/-----lain/]

Fantastic! I know it's not exactly what you were looking for, but I'm so happy and proud of you for waiting until you get the vaccine. I have HPV. Men are not able to be tested for it, so it is likely that your bf does have it. That doesn't mean he is dirty or anything, he's just someone that got a very common disease. I only wish I could have gotten this vaccine years ago before I was given HPV... (I even had every single partner get tested before sex, I didn't know HPV was something that didn't come up in tests for men back then). Sad. Just think about how lucky you are to not get HPV while you get that shot and all will be well! :) Good luck!

[scien.livejournal.com]

Just for the record: the vaccine does not protect against all strains of HPV, only some of them, which is why it isn't going to make pap smears obsolete. It's possible that the one/s he has will not be covered. However, you're absolutely doing the sensible thing, OP.

Another detail - the strains that cause warts and the strains that show up on pap smears are completely separate. (The vaccine protects against some of each). Thus, if his ex has just found it in a checkup, you would not expect any 'outward signs'.

As for the injection, everyone's right to say 'relax'. Speaking as someone who used to be scared, and injections hurt a lot, you'd be amazed how painless they are when you're genuinely relaxed. Breathe, chat, keep your mind off the subject, you'll be fine. And really, you get so many thumbs up from me for getting the vaccine.

[roseyposey01.livejournal.com]

Just as a question, because I'm curious, women can get tested for high risk HPV by paps, right? Can women also get tested for any other HPV strains through blood tests? I know men can't be tested, but can women?

[scien.livejournal.com]

No, people only find out they have HPV when it shows up in some way - warts or cervical dysplasia (what paps look for). Many infections of HPV are symptomless and temporary - somewhere around 3/4 of sexually active Americans have been infected with it at some point in their lives, and most probably, never noticed.

It's not transferred by fluids but by (genital) skin to skin contact, so even when you're having 'protected' sex by using condoms, you're still likely to get it, so no wonder everyone's got it :) But, as I said, it's not generally a big deal.

Two excellent resources on HPV are:
http://www.nci.nih.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/HPV
http://www.ashastd.org/hpv/hpv_learn.cfm

And one on the vaccine:
http://www.cdc.gov/std/HPV/STDFact-HPV-vaccine.htm

[roseyposey01.livejournal.com]

Sigh. Thanks for the info. I'm super paranoid about getting HPV or HSV so...yeah. It sucks to hear things like "you never really know until..." but thanks anyway. :)

[scien.livejournal.com]

Well, but if you think about it while ignoring the social stigma of OMG STI, does it actually matter if you get infected with HPV and it goes away before it has any effect on your body?

As soon as it starts to show itself, you'll find out. I don't have a problem with that, personally.

dude, proofreading

[scien.livejournal.com]

'you're likely to get it so everyone's got it'?

If I'm this zen, it's probably because I need some sleep *wander off*

[ellinht.livejournal.com]

I would get the vaccine but I can't afford it and really don't think I will within the next few lifetimes, so unless it is subsidised I will just have to take the risk... well I will be as careful as possible but you know :P

[snowmentality.livejournal.com]

Found out today that Gardasil is available at my student health center....but not covered by my insurance. Curses!

Hopefully insurance will start to cover it soon. It is a new treatment so they might be wary.

I'm even at very low risk for HPV, but just on general damned principles, I want the vaccine. Because who knows what could happen in the future?