This was meant to be part of a little series I was writing called, “The Good, the Bad, and the Frustrating.” I was covering a lot of H1N1 information. But honestly, I got pretty burnt out on H1N1. Not to mention, the entire discussion among parents about whether or not to get the vaccine is kind of pointless when it’s so difficult to get the vaccine in the first place. Our pediatrician still doesn’t have it, and the local clinics are screening carefully now to only give shots to those in high risk groups without regular medical care.  Our son is prone to getting croup, and since we fly every winter for the holidays, I just really wanted him to get that immunity. I would have gladly foregone getting shots for myself, but a month ago, the LA clinics were just doling them out to anyone. It didn’t seem like a big deal.

So the main side effect of my own H1N1 nasal spray has been a lingering sense of guilt that I took someone else’s dose.

Still, even when the vaccinations are hard to get, I hate to hear misinformation that scares parents away from getting them. So I wanted to go ahead and post this article, which I started a while ago, in response to an essay by Dr. Lauren Feder.

This essay by Dr. Feder popped up on my mom support board recently, posted by someone trying to be helpful and informative.  I went and grabbed it from Dr. Feder’s website, and here it is, with my comments.

» Continue reading “Some Notes on Dr. Feder’s Essay About H1N1 Vaccinations”

I’m not pregnant yet and my husband and I have been trying for a while, which is pretty fun, but we recently went to a doctor to help things along a bit. (That’s a subject for another post.) When I mentioned to a friend of mine that that we are going to need a little help from the doctor, my friend looked concerned and said, “I prefer Eastern medicine to Western Medicine in general. Western medicine waits until you’re sick to do anything, but Eastern medicine is about overall health and preventive care.” He then went on to say that Western doctors want you sick because that’s how they make their money.

» Continue reading “Post #2 Electric Boogaloo or Why I Trust My Doctor”