Gardasil Vaccine: Is it all that it's cracked up to be?

This story hits pretty close to home for me...
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"Government officials advise that all girls, starting at age 11 or 12, be vaccinated against cervical cancer. Yet, two new studies raise questions about the safety of the vaccine.

Doctors had recommended that all young women receive the Gardasil shot to prevent a sexually transmitted virus that can cause cervical cancer.

"It's for her own health," one mother said. "I did it."

More than 7 million American women have had the Gardasil shots. Most of the side effects are mild like dizziness, headache and fainting."

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When I had my last appointment at my OBGYN, my doctor recommended that I get the Gardasil vaccine. I figured it wouldn't be a huge deal. I had seen the commercials, and I thought it couldn't do anything but help me. Sure I had heard about the side effects on the commercials too, but I had never really had any bad reactions to vaccines or any sort of drug before, so that didn't stop me.

So I got the first shot that day. I felt a little dizzy after the shot, but doctors make me nervous and I figured that was why I was feeling so weird.

Then I went home. For the next week I suffered almost every single side effect listed on the commercial:
* pain, swelling, itching, bruising, and redness at the injection site
* headache
* fever
* nausea
* dizziness
I was laid up in bed for almost 5 days. After that, I wasn't sure if I wanted to continue with the series of three shots. I talked to a close family friend, and she suggested I stop.

When I went to the doctor a few weeks later for my annual check up, I asked my nurse, and my doctor about the side effects I suffered. They both brushed them off, saying I must have gotten sick simultaneously as I got the vaccine. That it was a coincidence. When I told my doctor I wanted to stop with the series, he still pushed that I get the rest of the series.

Needless to say, I left the doctors very upset. Why would my doctor want me to continue with something I suffered from? I am in a long term monogamous relationship with someone who is HPV free, and if things don't work out, I would never sleep with someone who I didn't trust.

I stopped getting the vaccine. And now I am glad I did. Because now they are starting to realize the great negative effects it is causing.

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"However, two new studies published in the Journal of the American Medical Association identify 12,000 medical problems after vaccination, including 700 reports of serious complications from taking Gardasil such as blood clots, autoimmune disorders and 32 deaths.

Gardasil has been controversial since it was introduced three years ago. Parents voiced concerns about vaccinating their children against a virus that is sexually transmitted.

Merck, Gardisil's maker, has been criticized for rushing the vaccine to market and encouraging large-scale vaccination campaigns.

Now there are new worries about its safety.

Doctors say it is not only risky but it may not even do what it's designed to do."

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I don't know how much I can trust my doctor anymore...