So, like, I was recently hanging out at the vet’s office, totally eavesdropping on these two older ladies chatting it up. And guess what? They were going on and on about this measles outbreak in Texas. I couldn’t help myself—I had to jump in on the convo.
One of the ladies, the one with the thick glasses, shared that she lost a bunch of her sight from having measles as a kid. She was totally baffled why parents nowadays are so hesitant to get their kids vaccinated. She was like, “If they had gone through measles themselves or seen someone else go through it, they’d be all about those vaccines instead of downplaying the disease.”
It got me thinking, you know? So I put out a call on social media and in the First Opinion newsletter, asking peeps to spill the tea on their experiences with vaccine-preventable illnesses. And let me tell ya, I got tons of emails with peeps vividly describing the pain and discomfort of having even “mild” cases of measles, mumps, and pertussis, even after all these years. And not gonna lie, some of the stories were quite recent.
Peeps talked about not just the physical stuff, but also the emotional side of being sick. Like, the weird remedies their moms tried, the vibe of chilling in the dark, the fear, and even one person mentioned having a spiritual vision. There were also stories about how tough it was to see a sibling sick, or going to school with peeps dealing with the long-term effects of polio and the general fear of these gnarly diseases.
Some docs who treated vaccine-preventable illnesses also wrote in, sharing some pretty intense stories of complications and even death. And even though some of the deets from patients are kinda fuzzy ’cause it’s been like, forever, and medicine has changed a bunch over the years, one thing that hasn’t changed is that there are still no antivirals to treat measles.
As of Friday, there have been 1,001 confirmed cases of measles in 31 states, and over 10,000 cases of pertussis reported, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
I totally edited some of the submissions for style and clarity, and some peeps asked to only use their first name or keep their name on the DL.
‘All that hard-won immunity gone’
I’m 83 and had chickenpox as a 3-year-old. I remember being so sick—couldn’t even keep water down and was super thirsty at the same time.
My bro and I had mumps, which turned into meningitis when we were like 11 or 12. We were mega ill, couldn’t handle light, had to chill in a dark room for weeks, and were totally debilitated until we finally got better. We were lucky our parents were docs and my grandma helped care for us. But if it wasn’t for them, who knows if we would’ve made it through.
I got lymphoma in my late 60s and lost all my childhood immunities, so I had to get all those usual childhood vaccines. All that immunity I had fought for was gone!
— Fran Martin
‘The worst childhood illness I had’
I had measles as a kid, around 8 years old in like, 1960 or something. ‘Til this day, when someone mentions “measles,” I cringe inside. I had a high fever, and I swear it was like the worst illness I had as a kid. I also had mumps and rubella. Back in the day, everyone was getting the measles, it was like a rite of passage in elementary school. I’m glad I didn’t know how dangerous it could be when I had it—I feel like knowing would’ve made me even more scared and could’ve messed with my recovery.
Growing up at the end of the polio epidemic, I heard about peeps whose siblings had it and knew peeps who were affected by polio. Every year we had these scary assemblies at school about polio, iron lungs, and people who couldn’t walk. I’d go to bed hoping I wouldn’t get polio.
I was lucky the Salk vaccine was available early in my childhood. We hated those shots, but after those assemblies, there was no question about getting the vaccine. In fifth grade, the whole school got the Sabin vaccine. After that, the assemblies stopped, and polio wasn’t talked about as much.
Peeps these days haven’t really experienced these diseases like we did. They’re lucky. Some don’t realize how serious these infections can be. It blows my mind that some peeps wouldn’t vaccinate their kids against measles or polio. Hopefully, it doesn’t take more deaths for peeps to realize that natural remedies probably won’t cut it and that vaccines are the way to go.
— Aviva Gans Rosenberg
The long-term effects of congenital rubella syndrome
In the late ’50s, my mom was a teacher in NYC and got exposed to a student with rubella. Rubella is usually mild, but if preggo peeps get it in the first trimester, there’s a high chance their baby will have birth defects, like congenital rubella syndrome (CRS). My mom was preggo and was super worried. Turns out, my sis was born deaf, and it took a while for my parents to realize that was the deal. My sis is retired now, had a long career, and has a fam. She’s a pro lip-reader and uses tech and sign language.
I think CRS isn’t talked about enough. Rubella is less visible than measles, so there could be small outbreaks happening without peeps knowing for years. We might only realize it when there are random cases of stillbirths or kids with deafness, developmental delays, cataracts, or heart probs.
— Howard P. Forman, M.D., kinda adapted from Bluesky
Post-polio syndrome
One of my close buds died from post-polio syndrome like 12 years ago. She caught it as a med student in South Africa prolly in the early ’60s. She spent time in an iron lung and was paralyzed for a bit. She missed a year of med school relearning how to walk. Her limbs were always weak with muscle loss. She died from breathing probs ’cause her torso got too weak to breathe later in life. It was tough seeing her waste away over the years, breathing less and less effectively.
Her dad made her go to med school after their 3-year-old died from diphtheria at home. She never forgot the horror of watching her sis die. That was back in the ’40s when deadly infections were common. In my big SoCal high school, tons of kids limped from polio damage in the early ’50s.
Get those vaccines, yo. I used to work at a vaccine clinic, and almost every fam that came in for school shots also got the HPV series if they were old enough. Our peeps were mostly new immigrants who’d seen way too many diseases in their home countries.
— Roxanne F.
