The HPV Vaccine Gardasil Almost Killed Me

First, I am not a medical doctor, nor do I have an opinion on the national debate about Gardasil (the HPV Vaccine). I understand there is a heated national debate about the effectiveness, dangers, problems with some of the studies done ... and I am not qualified to comment on these things.

I did, however, get the vaccine last winter, and it almost killed me and my baby - the Gardasil caused a birth defect that put my life (and my baby's life) in jeopardy. When I say "almost" killed me ... I had only a 1 in 3 chance of surviving; my baby had a 1 in 10,000 chance of surviving.

So I am not here to tell you the drug is safe or not. I am not telling you to get the vaccine or not. I am just giving you my story so you can have a FULLY informed decision ... knowing that I would NEVER have had the vaccine if I had known the risks, and I'm lucky I'm alive today.

I am 25. There was a grant for young women to get the free Gardasil vaccine, so my doctor recommended it. I was on birth control at the time (Micronor) - my husband and I were planning on having kids, but we were planning to wait a few years.

I am normally against vaccines, but my husband's ex-wife was raped by a youth minister related to the IHOP movement, who gave her HPV, and obviously my husband was exposed. (*It broke up their marriage, and caused her to spiral into depression. The minister has had several other similar allegations, but is still working for the church as far as I know).

Anyway, the Gardasil apparently nullified my birth control, and we got pregnant! I was warned about getting pregnant while having the vaccine ... but nobody told me it would nullify our birth control. Micronor has a 99.99% effective rate, so the vaccine is definitely credited for my pregnancy.

Please take note of this: If you get the Gardasil vaccine, it may nullify your birth control!

On with the story: we're both health food nuts - we exercise, take lots of vitamins, see an herbalist and a naturopath, eat organic raw vegetables.

So Gardasil at the time was a series of 3 shots (now it's 2). The first shot nullified the birth control, after the second shot I started experiencing health problems I had never had before (such as arthritis), and when I went to the doctor to check out these problems, that's when we found out we were pregnant ... with TRIPLETS! 

At that point they should have stopped giving me the Gardasil - the insert clearly says do NOT give to pregnant women. I had to look up after the fact, it was not part of any of the drug disclosures I received at the doctors office.

But they gave me the third shot anyway, and that night I was on the floor in pain, and hemorrhaging. We didn't want to go to the emergency room because our insurance at the time had a $5,000 deductible, so we called the Planned Parenthood where I got the vaccine, and they could not have been more callous - they just didn't care, basically hung up on me. My husband was frantically calling different nurses hotlines while I was in the bathroom hemorrhaging blood. After a couple hours the bleeding stopped, and I don't want to be too graphic, but the Gardasil insert warned that getting the shot could result in spontaneous abortion, and that's exactly what had happened. I was sure I lost all the babies.

After dozens of phone calls into the night, my husband found a midwife that we could see the next day. We had an ultrasound ... and there was one baby still in there! Frankly this was a miracle.

The rest of the pregnancy seemed quite normal, but one night, with three weeks to go, I started getting contractions. I knew something was off. 

I had just had a prenatal appointment the previous day, and so I knew we had 3 more weeks to go. But she wanted to come out. The delivery went fine (my husband delivered, with the assistance of midwives), and she came out and despite being early was healthy and beautiful.

After handing me the newborn, my husband noticed a problem - the umbilical cord was not in tact! There was 6" missing from the cord.

Basically, the little arteries and veins were the only thing connecting the placenta to the baby. The Wharton's jelly around the umbilical cord was missing. After the fact the midwife showed us the literature - a child's chance of survival with a defective umbilical cord were 1 in 10,000, but she had made it! 

I, however, was not in the clear - because the Wharton's jelly was missing, after delivery my cervix closed before I could deliver the placenta! With the placenta stuck inside me, I hemorrhaged (again) and could have bled to death. My chances of survival were 1 in 3. It was an extremely serious and intense situation - my husband grabbed the baby and got out of the way, the midwives called 911 and put them on speakerphone, they were sending both an ambulance and a medevac, they didn't know which hospital could get me in right away, I had only minutes before hemorrhaging to death. 

My quick thinking midwife saved my life - she reached, and with her fingers, pried open my cervix, with one hand, had me push while she pulled with the other, and we got the placenta out.

I signed a release form for the placenta, because they are doing a medical study on it. It was very rare. She should have been miscarried. The doctors credit my commitment to exercise and health foods, otherwise she would have died in the womb, or during delivery.

Obviously we're both lucky to be alive, despite this vaccine. But here's something even more troubling - I asked the doctor if they had heard this before, and he said yes there are reports of problems, but no studies. I asked how to report this - he didn't know.

So I contacted Merk, the manufacturer. They said they don't have any other reports like this, and yet they have no reporting or feedback system either. So how can consumers know there are problems if there is no system in place to report problems?

I called the clinic where I had the vaccine - they didn't know how to report problems with the vaccine. I called the State, and I contacted the FDA - nobody wants to hear about problems with this vaccine.

I've read hundreds of stories online (discussion boards, blogs, etc) about similar problems with this vaccine. And yet, Merk reported that millions of young women have had this vaccine since 2006, and they report ZERO birth defects or significant side effects. Excuse me?

If nobody is following up on the vaccines, how can we spot problems that become trends? If nobody (doctors, hospitals, clinics, state, fed, etc) is collecting data on this, how can Merk say confidently that they have zero problems? Shouldn't they be legally obligated to say, we don't compile data? We haven't done any follow-up studies?

Also, if it has killed one or both of us ... would it have been reported? Who, exactly, would have taken the time to connect our deaths with the vaccine? The answer is nobody. My husband is livid, but who is out there to listen? The local TV channels aren't interested in the story because Merk is a heavy TV advertiser.

Anyway, that's my story. I'm lucky to be alive despite this vaccine. I get cold sweats every time I think of it, and my eyes tear up, thinking that this stupid vaccine may have killed my daughter. I pray it didn't cause any permanent damage in my daughter. She's only weeks old at this point - only time will tell.