Kentucky Governor deliberately gave his kids chicken pox

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Kentucky Gov. Bevin Says He Deliberately Exposed His 9 Children to Chickenpox

I got chicken pox when I was 12 back when there wasn't a reliable vaccine, but I wasn't that sick from it and got better in about a week. Which is weird because they say the older you are when you get it the worse it is. When I was a kid chicken pox was something lots of kids got, it wasn't seen as seen as life-threatening or even all that big of of a deal, unlike measles or whooping cough. Of course, now I have to worry about the shingles, which is a million times worse than chicken pox, and get vaccinated when I'm older.

I actually started coming down with it on the end of March Break and the next weekend was Easter, so I didn't see getting a week off of school as something to complain about, either. But now I guess I'm lucky I didn't get really sick and die.

My brother didn't get it until he was an adult and caught it from his two stepdaughters, but they all survived as well. But then again, anything can end up killing you, even a sniffle.

Those of us who are older probably don't find this all that shocking. When I was a kid it was just expected that you'd get chicken pox. I wasn't affected too badly, but a friend of mine still has chicken pox scars. That's the most serious side effect I've seen.

Its pretty cool that we have a vaccine now. I don't have kids, but I'm totally for the vaccine.

There was no measles vaccine until I was 2 years old.

I had the measles when I was 2.

I don't agree with anybody being deliberately exposed to any disease.

I'm a "millennial" and yet I don't see why this should be a problem. I wish my parents had done the same thing to me.

Because there's a vaccine for it.

And there's the potential to get shingles if you get chickenpox. Shingles is no picnic....

There's a vaccine for shingles now, also. Yeah, a number of my family members had it -- not fun!

I wouldn't have myself vaccinated for anything as trivial as chickenpox, personally. I'm not an "antivaxer" at all, but I don't trust pharmaceutical companies unless I have to.

It's the thing about shingles that bothers me.

And about exposing people to diseases deliberately. There's something about this that doesn't sit well with me. I wonder if a greater prevalence of a disease could increase its overall virulence.

How long have vaccines been used and how long were the drug trials for them. I've never been vaccinated for anything and I'm 36 and healthy, with a kickass immune system.

Also, I've never had a flu shot and when I get the flu, which is rare, it's never severe and gone within 3 days with no medication. I get exposed to it, so it's not a lack of exposure.

I had chicken-pocks when I was a kid, it was no big deal for me. Had it twice and never since. I have never experienced shingles either. Am I just an Alien or lucky to have a strong immune system?

You're lucky, then.

I am a strong believer in vaccines. Without them, kids would still be dying of diphtheria.

Many diseases have bee sharply reduced or eradicated due to vaccines.

I'm not the type to go to doctors, either. I only take ibuprofen or Tylenol if I have a headache.

When I was in my 20's, I used to get high fevers pretty often, though I never had any serious illnesses. I've always caught frequent colds (but not this year, for some reason). I went to the doctor even less frequently then.

Doctors do freak me out though, I don't trust them. I got health insurance at age 33 and started going to the doctor for mental health issues and he put me on Lamictal for bipolar, never gave me any kind of warnings. Two years later I was having chronic gastritis, still do actually. So I decided to look it up and learned that in a 6 month drug trial 25% of patients showed build up of Lamictal in various organs, you can never get rid of the build up and it leads to organ failure. No one even told me this, that is pretty messed up, so I see how people can not trust doctors.

I have three adult children. When they were little there was no vaccine for chicken pox and by the time it showed up two of the three had already had the disease. It was new, and somewhat controversial at the time. My third child could have had it but we hadn't gotten to it yet I guess, and then she got chicken pox at two years old while we were living in Europe. None of them had any issues and it was very very common at the time for parents to purposefully get their kids exposed. I don't think there was a lot of information circulating about shingles. This was before personal computers were common. They did all have MMR, DPT, polio vaccines, etcetc.
I had chicken pox disease, as well as mumps, German measles, 3 day measles, 7 day measles, mononucleosis, strep etc. I've got a great immune system now and still test positive for antibodies to several of them.
I'm pretty anti medical care but did opt for the new shingles vaccine. The first one hurt my arm noticeably for a few days. The second one was hell - like a full blown flu for about 24 hours.Knocked me in my back. Don't know if I would willingly go through that again but shingles looks pretty scary and we weaken as we age.