Got whooping cough booster today

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

I took a booster today of adult type tetanus-diphtheria-pertussis (whooping cough) vaccine since it had been over 10 years. In adults with a cough lasting more than 2-3 weeks, 1 in 4 may have adult whooping cough. This "childhood" disease is not just for kids.

Clues: cold-like symptoms followed by weeks of a cough that comes in jags, is so forceful that it almost can make you gag (hack, hack, hack, gag, spew for the musically-inclined), and just doesn't go away for weeks. Many seem like asthma and in fact might be temporary bronchial spasm after a flu-like illness. But many are whooping cough (pertussis).

One booster after age 50 is probably all you need ever (assuming you had the primary series decades ago). Won't worry about those nicks, cuts and punctures I get working in the garden either. I think it's good medicine.

Other vaccines for the seniors: I think quite a few primary care docs get lax about immunizations in adults. Next up is zoster vaccine (for shingles) after age 60 but I'm gonna watch that research for a while. I don't trust Merck's post-marketing surveillance so I'll wait for the CDC to monitor it a while. Pneumococcal vaccine after age 60 has proven save and modestly effective but not as much as had been hoped for. I'll probably take it. As a health care provider I've had hepatitis B vaccine.

 

[Dawg52]

I took a booster today of adult type tetanus-diphtheria-pertussis (whooping cough) vaccine since it had been over 10 years. In adults with a cough lasting more than 2-3 weeks, 1 in 4 may have adult whooping cough. This "childhood" disease is not just for kids.

Clues: cold-like symptoms followed by weeks of a cough that comes in jags, is so forceful that it almost can make you gag (hack, hack, hack, gag, spew for the musically-inclined), and just doesn't go away for weeks. Many seem like asthma and in fact might be temporary bronchial spasm after a flu-like illness. But many are whooping cough (pertussis).

One booster after age 50 is probably all you need ever (assuming you had the primary series decades ago). Won't worry about those nicks, cuts and punctures I get working in the garden either. I think it's good medicine.

Other vaccines for the seniors: I think quite a few primary care docs get lax about immunizations in adults. Next up is zoster vaccine (for shingles) after age 60 but I'm gonna watch that research for a while. I don't trust Merck's post-marketing surveillance so I'll wait for the CDC to monitor it a while. Pneumococcal vaccine after age 60 has proven save and modestly effective but not as much as had been hoped for. I'll probably take it. As a health care provider I've had hepatitis B vaccine.

I've never had a doc recommend a whooping cough vaccine. I'll ask him about it. Keep us up to date on the shingles vaccine. I'm still a young pup but when I reach 60, I'm more than willing to take it if it's effective.

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

Thanks, Rich. I never thought of that.

 

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

I've never had a doc recommend a whooping cough vaccine. I'll ask him about it. Keep us up to date on the shingles vaccine. I'm still a young pup but when I reach 60, I'm more than willing to take it if it's effective.

Odds are you have had it - adults who get tetanus vaccine usually get it as a diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis combination. The brand name is "Adacel."

 

[Martha]

If you have had pertussis can you get it again? I have had it and did not think to ask.

 

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

If you have had pertussis can you get it again?

Yes - immunity wanes over decades. The newer vaccine contains "acellular" pertussis which does not cause the disease itself (some vaccines and smallpox actually cause a mild form of the disease being vaccinated against, or a disease similar to it).

 

[Marquette]

Odds are you have had it - adults who get tetanus vaccine usually get it as a diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis combination. The brand name is "Adacel."

My wife got a tetanus shot a few weeks ago. They offered her one with the combo or just straight tetanus. The doc didn't exactly go out of his way to explain the difference (quote "it's got a little something extra in it to make it more powerful")... good thing she ended up going with the combo I guess.

 

[Nords]

In my 20s & 30s I used to hear the following at least once a year: "That'll probably leave a scar, and you're going to want to get a tetanus booster..."

I wonder if they were actually DPT. I'll add that to the "Age 50" list, just slightly ahead of "colonoscopy".*

* Here, REWahoo, lemme get that for you: "Of course a colonoscopy is slightly behind everything else!"

 

[DblDoc]

In my 20s & 30s I used to hear the following at least once a year: "That'll probably leave a scar, and you're going to want to get a tetanus booster..."

I wonder if they were actually DPT. I'll add that to the "Age 50" list, just slightly ahead of "colonoscopy".*

* Here, REWahoo, lemme get that for you: "Of course a colonoscopy is slightly behind everything else!"

Unlikely. The recommendation to give the DPT is only about a year old - and it took our pharmacy a year to stock it . The old regular "tetanus" booster was DT (diptheria and tetanus).

DD

 

[Urchina]

I had my yearly physical a couple of days ago and my doc recommended it at the time. Glad to see she's up on it (but then, she rocks). DH and I will go in for it in a couple of weeks, as soon as she figures out if all of our recent power outages have messed up her stored vaccines.

Rich, any difference in Merck's "recommendation" for the shingles vaccine if you have / haven't had chickenpox? I'm too lazy to go quiz PubMed and read the literature.

 

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

Rich, any difference in Merck's "recommendation" for the shingles vaccine if you have / haven't had chickenpox? I'm too lazy to go quiz PubMed and read the literature.

My understanding (see if your doctor agrees) is that most people who swear they never had chicken pox actually did (in fact almost all of us did before the pediatric vaccine became available). They just didn't get the rash and passed it off as a cold. You can tell by checking a blood test, but the cost of doing that combined with the fact that almost everyone tests positive led to the alternate strategy of just immunizing all adults who don't have contraindications.

If you were born before 1980 (and are not either pregnant nor a health care provider) you can presume you had chicken pox. If you are in one of the other groups, you can check a blood test and proceed accordingly.

Here is a general immunization link - click on the MMWR link (kind of technical).

 

[Khan]

My understanding (see if your doctor agrees) is that most people who swear they never had chicken pox actually did (in fact almost all of us did before the pediatric vaccine became available). They just didn't get the rash and passed it off as a cold. You can tell by checking a blood test, but the cost of doing that combined with the fact that almost everyone tests positive led to the alternate strategy of just immunizing all adults who don't have contraindications.

If you were born before 1980 (and are not either pregnant nor a health care provider) you can presume you had chicken pox. If you are in one of the other groups, you can check a blood test and proceed accordingly.

Here is a general immunization link - click on the MMWR link (kind of technical).

Thank you for that link.

Can you give advice on how to find a doctor or a hospital?

 

[nwsteve]

Rich
We got our shingles vacine last month. No side effects.
However, we did a surprise the medical practice practically forced us to go to a pharmacy to get it. Only trouble insurance did not cover when administered by pharmarcy. DW and both use the same clinic but different practioners. I kinda push the question when I got mine and the clinic did it. But when DW asked for her, she was told no-way! My doc should not have done mine and no more shots would be done in the clinic--they would write the perscription but you had to have the pharmacy administered. Since the shingles vacine is $200, a bit of hit given it would have been covered if the clinic would have done. Is this a trend for all immunizations?
I am not sure if I should be upset with my clnic management or the insurance company--any guideance?
Thanks

Nwsteve

 

[Notmuchlonger]

Thank you for that link.

Can you give advice on how to find a doctor or a hospital?

I can help.


dayton ohio hospitals - Google Search

 

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

Rich
We got our shingles vacine last month. No side effects.
However, we did a surprise the medical practice practically forced us to go to a pharmacy to get it. ...
I am not sure if I should be upset with my clnic management or the insurance company--any guideance?

In yet another perverse flaw in our health care reimbursement system, it sounds as if your doctor's office basically lost money every time they gave a zoster shot. At $200 a pop, they probably paid $140; add the cost of storage, record-keeping, additional personnel cost and a likely reimbursement (MC and Medicaid) of perhaps $110, it becomes like the old comic routine: they lost $40 each shot, but make it up in volume. What can they do?

I've been in private practice (a long time ago) and remember such issues. They are much worse now. Vote carefully in November, though it is not clear to me who will have the most coherent plan.

 

[Walt34]

Clues: cold-like symptoms followed by weeks of a cough that comes in jags, is so forceful that it almost can make you gag (hack, hack, hack, gag, spew for the musically-inclined), and just doesn't go away for weeks. Many seem like asthma and in fact might be temporary bronchial spasm after a flu-like illness. But many are whooping cough (pertussis).

Wow, glad you posted that - I've had exactly those symptoms for about three weeks but it's now going away. Guess I'll call my doc anyway and ask. I figured it was just a cold that was taking longer than normal to get better.

I'm just not one to call the doc for every sniffle.

 

[windsurf]

My wife and I have exactly the symptoms you describe. She went to the doc and was prescribed antibiotics (without a culture though we've both hacked up purulent looking stuff). We both feel better after a few weeks of it playing tennis, biking and the like but still fall into the violent cooughing jags several times a day. Is it just a matter of letting the immune system fight it off?

 

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

Once you're a few weeks into it, antibiotics probably have limited benefit, but the usual 5% side-effect rate. Pertussis rarely causes serious long term effects in otherwise healthy adults.

 

[W2R]

Wow, glad you posted that - I've had exactly those symptoms for about three weeks but it's now going away. Guess I'll call my doc anyway and ask. I figured it was just a cold that was taking longer than normal to get better.

I'm just not one to call the doc for every sniffle.

Glad to hear that you are starting to feel better!! Three weeks of a bad cough like that sounds miserable.

Thursday I developed a minor cough and chest congestion, which is not bad but is making me feel more sympathetic than usual.

 

[mickeyd]

I took a booster today of adult type tetanus-diphtheria-pertussis (whooping cough) vaccine since it had been over 10 years. .

I just got a re-vaccine also a few days ago. I was advised that this combo (Tdip?) is the only way that they can administer tetanus. No more Tetanus only is produced. Is this true?

 

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

I just got a re-vaccine also a few days ago. I was advised that this combo (Tdip?) is the only way that they can administer tetanus. No more Tetanus only is produced. Is this true?

Don't know and not able to verify at the moment, but I can think of a limited scenario where tetanus alone would be appropriate: a tetanus prone wound > 5 years after Tdap (where only the tetanus piece needs to be recharged).

Maybe DblDoc can help.

 

[REWahoo]

I wonder if they were actually DPT. I'll add that to the "Age 50" list, just slightly ahead of "colonoscopy".*

* Here, REWahoo, lemme get that for you: "Of course a colonoscopy is slightly behind everything else!"

Yep, colonoscopy always brings up the rear.

 

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

Yep, colonoscopy always brings up the rear.

As usual, REW, you're a little behind.

 

[JanF]

My DH had pertussis last year and spent several days in the ICU with laryngospasm, it took him 6 months to completely get rid of the cough. It made everyone we know a believer in getting immunized. (But I still haven't rushed out to get the colonoscopy! I know,I know...)

 

[mickeyd]

Last year I received the Pneumonia vaccine which I understand is good for 15 years or so. If I do not have the Alzheimer's bug in 2022, I hope that I can remember to get a recharge on that vaccine also.