Trying to find out if I've had measles & mumps vaccinations

MoneySeeker1

I do know I've had a polio injection at some point. I was not very happy when someone about the same age as me commented recently that they had had it by sugar cube, as I was made to have an injection by needle and subsequent mark for that is also still there on my arm. So I think it could have been that polio injection-by-needle. Smallpox is another possibility of course.

EDIT; Just googled quickly and can see that polio injections by sugar cube (instead of needle) would have started shortly after I'd already had it by needle. So, thankfully, there is an explanation as to why I had that method.

bouicca21

I have a vague memory of a polio outbreak and my mother insisting that it had been spread via water, I think it was a drinking fountain, though part of my brain is saying it was from kids playing in the local stream.

Debran

I remember joining a large queue at the main clinic in the city where I lived to have the polio injection. It would have been about 1959-60.

theoretica

I believe before MMR the rubella vaccination was only given to girls and at about puberty as it is so serious in pregnancy.

lr1277

I too am worried about whether I have had the equivalent of the MMR jab as I wasn't sure I have had those diseases when I was younger. According to my mum, I had chicken pox but not the others. Also I was born in another country and my mum remembers me having some jabs but she couldn't say which one.
So my pharmacy offers various vaccinations. Cost for the MMR vaccine is £75.
However speaking to the pharmacist he did say there was a (small) risk of some kind of brain damage with the vaccine (can't remember the exact wording he used). So even if the surgery won't offer you the vaccine, you could speak to your gp about taking the vaccine as an adult.

uknick

Thanks for the answers. I've sent an email to the practice manager to ask what they think is the best way to proceed. I'm guessing it'll be an appointment with my GP to discuss the issue.

Private blood tests are about £100 and then the MMR is about £150. But, I'm a little hesitant to take that path until I've chatted to the GP. In any case, most private blood tests companies want a GP referral before doing the test, so I'll need to talk to my GP anyway and ask them to do a referral.

barbiedoll

I had the full range of vaccinations when I joined the NHS, including hepatitis B and MMR. They did do a blood test too, which showed that I already had immunity to mumps (which I can remember having as a six year old), rubella (don’t remember ever having it) and measles, which I definitely didn’t catch, despite my brother and sister both having it at the same time. I assume that I either had an extremely mild case of measles, or my body just made antibodies as a result of me being in close contact with two sufferers?

I also had a tetanus booster a few years ago....which I know is actually the combined jab which also contains the diphtheria and polio vaccines. No ill effects from any of them!

It’s very considerate of OP to think of the possibility of passing on measles to very young babies, or to children who may not have had the vaccine. If only everyone were so thoughtful.

MoneySeeker1

barbiedoll wrote: »

I also had a tetanus booster a few years ago....which I know is actually the combined jab which also contains the diphtheria and polio vaccines. No ill effects from any of them!

That has got me worried I've not been told the truth about an injection I had then!

I'd not had any injections at all as an adult - until someone caused me to have an injury on rusty metal and the doctor said I needed a tetanus injection because of that just-in-case. Finally, I had that injection. I was told it's "a tetanus injection". Nothing was mentioned about it having "anything else" in it. So it wasn't a "booster". It's the only tetanus injection I've ever had to my knowledge.

Was it just the "tetanus injection (ie only)" that I was told - or would it have included these other things as well (ie diptheria and polio) and been a combined injection?

I would like to know if I've been told the truth about what it was - ie only a tetanus one.

halogen

I wasn't allowed to get the measles vaccination (I was before MMR) as a kid so I had the disease instead. I don't remember it as anything other than a mild flu that kids got.

I also had mumps- again mild flu with some swelling.

Chickenpox I remember as the worst one.
I did get Rubella, Tetanus, TB and Polio jabs though.



I was shocked when I saw an episode of ER about 15 years ago that the doctors were unable to recoginse the symptoms of measles as it was so common when I was young

sheramber

http://vk.ovg.ox.ac.uk/tetanus
A tetanus booster may be recommended for adults who have an injury and are not sure about their tetanus vaccination history, or for travellers to countries where tetanus may be more of a risk. The vaccine offered is usually the Teenage Booster vaccine.

http://vk.ovg.ox.ac.uk/teenage-booster-vaccine